1. Thanks to automatic federal budget cuts, layoffs are about to hit at South-central Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The AP reports: Nearly 250 workers at the site got pink slips this week, and cleanup will likely be slowed by the cuts. Earlier this month, state and federal officials announced that six tanks on the reservation are leaking radioactive waste.  

2. Also at the AP: State senate Republican leaders are now vowing to increase funding for higher education in Washington state by $300 million.

How they're going to pay for it, however, is anybody's guess.How they're going to pay for it, however, is anybody's guess; so far, their answer is that they'd "reprioritize" spending to make higher education a priority.

The state's Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will announce how much money the legislature has to spend at its meeting tomorrow at noon in Olympia.  

3. At Seattle Transit Blog, mayoral candidate and former Seattle City Council member Peter Steinbrueck makes his case for what he calls "doing density right," arguing that density should be "channeled into Urban Centers and Urban Villages as called for in the city comprehensive plan," as opposed to single-family neighborhoods.

(Steinbrueck, as we've reported, has been a vocal opponent of the current proposal to increase density in South Lake Union, and is the favored candidate of the old-school, anti-density "Lesser Seattle" crowd.)

Although Steinbrueck's piece for STB is even-keeled, the same can't be said for his comments on yesterday on Facebook, when the former council member got into a scrap with density proponents, including his former legislative aide Roger Valdez.

4. The News Tribune profiles political opponents state Rep. Jan Angel (R-26) and  state Sen. Nathan Schlicher D-26),  who could end up running against each other for a special state senate election this fall.

Both argue that the opposing party is blocking their ability to pass major bills to prevent them from scoring wins that could help them come election time.