I just got a call from the Washington Lottery, giving me a heads up that the winner is going to pick up his check at the Federal Way regional office in about 45 minutes.

Donald Pierce, 57, who lives in Tacoma, is a caregiver at a veteran's hospital. There are 2 Fred Meyer stores on South 19th Street. I'm assuming he got the ticket at the one at Stevens Street. Or maybe James Center.

UPDATE(4:14 p.m.) Here's the official news release sent out by the lottery folks. And we got of picture of the happy winner, too.

“I FELT EVERY EMOTION YOU COULD FEEL”
Emotional Caregiver for Veterans Wins $2.7 Million

TACOMA – Donald Pierce of Tacoma is a working single parent and commutes to Seattle every day to work at Seattle’s Veteran Affairs Hospital where he takes care of our nation’s war veterans. A nurse by profession, Donald is passionate about what he does and has been taking care of veterans for more than 32 years. The caregiver is in shock and is frequently emotional after winning $2.7 million playing Washington’s Lottery.

Donald checked his ticket at the Fred Meyer in Tacoma and saw the check a ticket machine read, ‘Jackpot.’ Thinking it was probably a $1,000 winner, he handed it to the customer service representative--who told him he won Lotto. Standing in a customer service line surrounded but other customers, he broke down in tears of joy and disbelief. “I felt every emotion you could feel!” recalled Donald through tears the next morning at the Lottery office. He went on to say that he just couldn’t believe it and had to check several times to make sure. “It was fantastic!” he said. Donald’s son Brandon was with him at the time and said people around them were cheering and congratulating them.

=> Read more!

This should be required viewing in Pierce County, considering how much of a presence DOC has in our county. I'm sure county Prosecutor Gerry Horne will be watching. He's a big fan of the state Department of Corrections. No, really. He is!

The show is on at 7 p.m. tonight, and again at 10 p.m.

TVW is on Channel 18 for Click customers in Tacoma. (Sorry, Comcast. I don't know where Television Washington is on your digital dial.) I'd check the TV log in the paper, but, well....nevermind.

Jim King says it's Channel 23 on Comcast.

Secretary Vail to Discuss Budget Cuts, New Laws in TVW Interview

OLYMPIA – Secretary Eldon Vail will discuss how budget cuts and new laws will impact the Department of Corrections during an extensive interview on this week’s edition of “Inside Olympia” on TVW.

The interview with host Austin Jenkins will cover a wide range of topics, including staff layoffs, prison unit closures, a reduction in the number of offenders under community supervision and ways in which staff members are helping the agency find ways to reduce spending.

“Inside Olympia” airs at 7 and 10 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays on TVW, Washington state’s public policy network.

You probably know this if you're out there looking for a job, but there aren't nearly as many job openings this spring as there were a year ago.

The state Employment Security Department reported that companies were trying to fill nearly 51,000 vacant positions last April. This April, it was only 32,635.

Your best shot at landing a job is in health care, retail, hotels. And even though demand for nurses has been cut in half, there are still in relative high demand.

Washington job openings continue to decline

OLYMPIA – Job vacancies in Washington in April were 35 percent fewer than six months earlier, according to the latest job-vacancy report from the Employment Security Department.

=> Read more!

Meetings will be held once a month on a rotating basis in Wichita, Kansas, Texas and South Carolina. (Just kidding, David.)

Gov. Gregoire announces aerospace council members

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the names of the members of the Washington Council on Aerospace, which she formed through an executive order signed in May. The council will oversee state efforts to ensure that Washington remains the leading location in the world in which airplanes are designed and built.

Gregoire created the council after the release of the Aerospace Industry Competitiveness Study conducted by Deloitte Consulting. The governor asked for the report to give her a clearer picture of what needs to be done to keep Washington’s edge as the state where the best airplanes in the world are built.

The members of the council are:

=> Read more!

King County Councilman Dow Constantine is one of five candidates in the running for the job to replace Ron Sims. His official kickoff is tonight.

The others are state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, state Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, County Councilman Larry Phillips and former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison.

Media Advisory:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sandeep Kaushik

Dow Constantine Campaign Kick Off Tonight;

Event Will Be Held at Historic Seattle Church Building Constantine Saved from Demolition.

Seattle (June 4) – King County Executive candidate Dow Constantine will officially kick off his campaign this evening with a major campaign event at the First United Methodist Church Building in downtown Seattle. The historic, century-old building was saved from demolition through Constantine’s efforts, and is now known as the Daniels Recital Hall.

All are welcome and there is no charge to attend. The event is open to the press.

The “Go to Church with Dow” Campaign Kickoff will take place:
Thursday, June 4 5 pm – 6:30 pm
(Dow will speak around 6 pm)
First United Methodist Church Building
811 5th Ave, Seattle

On the Crosscut blog this morning, David Brewster weighs in with a regional perspective on the Tacoma vs. Seattle bidding war over the Russell Investments headquarters. He makes an interesting point.

An old code of honor stipulates that Puget Sound cities don't bid against each other this way, since the goal is to keep the company here (as opposed to Tennessee, say), not to let local companies play one city off against the other. That code didn't survive the Great Recession, leaving all those vacancies in downtown Seattle.

No one seems to object, so I will. Not just on the obvious grounds of discouraging these kind of stick-ups, but also on regional planning grounds. The regional growth strategy, duly adopted and worshiped (at least verbally), is supposed to foster growth in metropolitan centers, particularly Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, and Tacoma. The point is to have several such centers, with residential growth alongside, so as to improve the job-housing balance — not to make everyone commute for 75 minutes to Seattle.

Read the whole post here.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy is seeking more spending cuts as the county struggles to balance its budget in the face of declining revenue.

In a memo sent yesterday to department heads and elected officials, budget director Pat Kenney directed general fund departments to cut another 1.25 percent from their 2009 budgets. That follows cuts of up to 3 percent for departments earlier this year.

Despite the earlier cuts, Pierce County still faces a projected shortfall of $13 million in its $281 million general fund as sales taxes, planning fees and other revenues continue to slump.

Kenney’s letter indicates two departments – corrections and human resources – will be exempt from the 1.25 percent cut.

“We realize that departments will have difficulty in meeting this objective, and that staffing and service reductions will likely result from these cutbacks,” Kenney wrote. “However, the current economic situation and projections for next year require that these reductions be made now. We thank all of you for cooperating in this very unpleasant endeavor.”

You can download a PDF copy of Kenney’s memo here.

Update: I just spoke with Pat Kenney. He said the spending cuts will save about $2.8 million. To help close the budget gap, he said the county also will rely on pension savings and lower department contributions to internal funds like facilities management and self-insurance. Meeting with Pat McCarthy shortly and hope to hear more.

Update2: I met with McCarthy this morning. She said she hopes this latest round of cuts will be the last for 2009. But more cuts are expected as the county prepares its 2010 budget this summer and fall.

McCarthy also explained why two departments – corrections and human resources – won't take cuts in this round. She said the corrections department is already over budget because of overtime needed to staff the jail, so it’s unrealistic to impose another cut. She said human resources took a huge cut – about 38 percent – in the last round.

Update3: McCarthy’s proposal may not be the final word on this round of cuts. There is a budget ordinance pending before the County Council that has no detail but which the council could use to place its own stamp on spending cuts.

The measure is on the agenda for next Tuesday’s council meeting. Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, said he isn’t sure whether the council will be prepared to approve a budget ordinance Tuesday.

He said council members want more detail on McCarthy’s proposal before passing judgment.

“Our responsibility ultimately is to balance the budget,” Bush said. “The executive’s responsibility is to give us recommendations on how to do that.”

I don't generally follow Wahkiakum County politics, but this came to me via e-mail. Krist Novoselic appears from time to time at legislative hearings, and, of course, he used to be a bass player for Nirvana.

Here's a link to Kelly Haughton's blog. That's where the big advocate of Ranked Choice Voting posted the announcement.