That 90,331 who applied for benefits last month beat the old record of 73,000 by a long shot.

Washington's Employment Security Department sent out this news release a few minutes ago. This morning, Washington State Labor Council representatives met with the ever-dwindling press corps in Olympia to lay out their agenda for the upcoming legislative session.

On the topic of UI (unemployment insurance) benefits and trust funds, labor council president Rick Bender said he hopes lawmakers will add $50 to the weekly benefits of those who are unemployed. The maximum today is $541 a week. The minimum is $129. The average is $350.

Labor also wants a change in the formula for computing benefits, one that would add an average of $8 a week to benefit checks.

Bender said it makes sense to add that money to everyone's benefit amount because that money gets spent right away and, therefore, is an immediate stimulant to the state economy.

Right now, state unemployment benefits can last 26 weeks, plus a 13-week extension from the feds. And Congress and President Barack Obama might add another 13 weeks in benefits.

That's one element of Obama's $775 billion economic stimulant package.

Bender also said with $4 billion in the UI trust fund, the state could hand out benefits for 22 months at current rate of unemployment, even if no more money came into the fund. (But money does come in to replenish the UI fund.)

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I learned today from Tacoma City Attorney Elizabeth Pauli that the charge that ex-sheriff candidate Robert "The Traveller" Hill faces in Tacoma Municipal Court of disrupting a public meeting stems from the Tacoma City Council meeting of July 15, 2008.

That was the meeting where Hill pretended to be phoning in during the public comment period.

The video below contains his exchange with Mayor Bill Baarsma leading to his ejection from the council chambers.

Those are the words of state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, chairman of the House Finance Committee.

Hunter was referring to the $766 million plan by the Washington State Trade and Convention Center to expands its squatting presence straddling Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle.

I was interviewing Hunter a few minutes ago while he was driving to the state capital. We were talking about the upcoming session.

"That plan is not ready for prime time," he said. "It may make sense to do a new convention center, but they are years and years and years (yes, he said 'years' 3 times) away from being smart enough about all the details to plan for a new center.

"They created that plan because they saw their money being stolen," Hunter said.

Hunter was referring to the move by the Legislature last year. Lawmakers took $57 million that the convention center had sitting around in its capital ($52 million) and operating ($5 million) budgets and plowed it into the STATE general fund. It was, indeed, a raid on their funds.

So, convention center folks figured the best defense is a good offense. They came up with a plan to spend (or commit to spend) all their money so the Legislature wouldn't keep stealing it every time they build up a surplus. Hence, the plan to double the size of the convention center.

For some background, here's a column that Peter Callaghan wrote last Sunday.

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The National Assessment of Adult Literacy released a report today that says literacy fell slightly in Pierce County from 1992 to 2003.

Nine percent of adults in the county lacked basic prose literacy skills in 2003, up from 8 percent in 1992.

The same trend can be seen in Washington as a whole, which went from 7 percent to 10 percent.

That rating included adults who couldn't pass a test or who could not be tested due to a language barrier.

As you might imagine, the scores are lower in some of the more rural ares of the state.

For more information visit nces.ed.gov/naal.

Get in line.

One of my readers from the "other" Washington forwarded me an e-mail about this so I Googled it and found out it was true.

I hesitate to say that Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt was being tongue in cheek, but he probably was.

Here's a link to the story on MSNBC. They say XXX DVD sales are down 22 percent.

I just listened to President Barack Obama's brief remarks on TV about his proposal for a $775 billion bailout package, and heard no specific reference to help for the poor porn guys.

As my D.C. reader said, "Only in America."

From Les Blumenthal in our D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON - He's been campaigning for it for weeks, but today it became official - Republican Rep. Dave Reichert was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The committee is one of the most powerful in the House, dealing with taxes, health care and trade.

Apparently Washington's 8th Congressional District has a reserved seat on the committee. Reichert's predecessors from the 8th, Jennifer Dunn and Rod Chandler, were also on the committee.

Not surprisingly, Reichert is thrilled, saying the appointment will "enable me to continue my tireless advocacy for enacting free trade agreements, keeping taxes low for families, business and individuals and ensuring access to affordable, high quality health care."

Reichert joins another Washington state representative, Democrat Jim McDermott, on the committee.