You'll get an earful about how the state Children's Administration has continually failed to protect the children in its care.

You'll hear how Child Protective Services routinely sends children who are in protective foster care back to their abusive parents, where they struggle, or are beaten, or starved, or sometimes even killed.

Susan Peterson gets about five calls a day from new South Sound residents looking for a doctor who accepts Medicare, the federal government's health insurance program for people 65 and older.

"I always give them the same three names," said Peterson, administrator of the Thurston-Mason Medical Society, which represents about 600 physicians in the two counties. "They're the only ones that will take new Medicare patients."

With baby formula costing up to $15 a can, some new mothers in Thurston County say they're shocked that their food-assistance program could be cut.

"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be able to feed my son," said Amber Schlottmann, 22, the single mother of Jonathan Carter, 7 months. "Formula is so expensive."