Washington Post, Jan. 16: The next time you’re tempted to ignore a flight attendant’s plea to direct your attention to the front of the cabin for safety instructions, remember Thursday’s dramatic Hudson River landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549.

This crash could have been so much worse. That it wasn’t is a testament to a number of actors in the drama, particularly the pilots, that unfolded above the river’s frigid waters. One can only imagine the fear inside the cabin, especially after water started to fill it. That everyone got off the plane without life-threatening injury, despite the bone-chilling air and water temperatures, speaks of their pulling together in a time of crisis.

The stretch of the Hudson where Flight 1549 went down is served by a constant flow of ferries between Manhattan and New Jersey. Within minutes of the plane’s entering the water, eyewitnesses said, boats were on scene to help pull passengers to safety until New York law enforcement could get there to lead the rescue.

The lesson for everyone in all this is to pay attention to those preflight instructions. “In the unlikely event of a water landing” now has special resonance.

The Olympian, Jan. 16: Rep. Brian Baird and Sen. Maria Cantwell are leading the effort in the nation’s capital to make Washington’s sales tax exemption permanent.

It’s an uphill fight given the state of the national economy and the fact that this legislative fight has been waged – and lost – before.

But Cantwell and fellow Democrat Baird are undeterred. If they are unsuccessful, the sales tax exemption on federal income taxes disappears next year.

Cantwell and Baird were euphoric last fall when Congress passed a two-year exemption for the 2008 and 2009 tax years. Cantwell got the sales-tax deductibility for Washington residents into a major energy-tax bill, the second time she and Baird teamed up to pass the temporary deductions for seven states that have no income tax.

Baird said at the time that the tax break was worth $400 million a year for Washington taxpayers. Cantwell said it’s worth $600 per family. She predicted it is becoming such a part of the federal budget process that Congress eventually will make it permanent.

Maybe this is the year.

Dallas Morning News, Jan. 15: Yes, Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary-designate, should have paid his Social Security and Medicare taxes. The $43,000 mistake was not trivial, though the tax code is so convoluted that his error seems to have been an honest one.

In normal times, this might rise to the level of something worth caring about in the appointee process. But with the U.S. economy in its worst crisis since the Great Depression and Geithner widely regarded as one of the most capable economic thinkers we have, to make an issue of this is an insult to triviality.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., blocked Geithner’s scheduled confirmation hearing, purportedly so Republicans can study the issue more closely.

Nobody seriously believes that this thing will keep Geithner from taking over Treasury, which makes the delay seem like petty partisanship – something the nation cannot afford these days.

Meanwhile, in her confirmation hearing, Rep. Hilda Solis, Barack Obama’s choice for labor secretary, failed to cover herself in glory. Republicans peppered her with policy questions that were both serious and substantive – and she refused to answer them.

It’s reasonable for her to expect a fair hearing, but it is unfair to lawmakers to withhold answers to legitimate questions. It was a poor showing.

Still, you can understand, perhaps, how it got to this point in Washington. Since the infamous 1987 Robert Bork imbroglio, confirmation hearings have too often been less about a sober inquiry into a nominee’s qualifications and more about scoring points in a winner-take-all game of political gotcha.

This served the interest of political partisans, but it never did a thing for the public. It’s time Washington grew up.

Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 16: Apple founder Steve Jobs is one of the few business executives with a rock star-like following. For Apple, that is both a blessing and a curse.

That’s why news that Jobs was taking a leave of absence for health reasons drove down the company’s stock.

Apple fans, employees, investors and competitors have been keeping a close watch on Jobs’ health and noticeable weight loss for some time.

All of the concern and speculation underscores how much of an impact Jobs has had on Apple in particular and on technology in general.

Like it or not, given Jobs’ stature, he should be more forthcoming about what actually ails him.