STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Revenue forecast could break Olympian logjam — Reports due out today will show tax collections rising and demand for costly public services falling, trends which two key senators said Monday should speed up deal making to end the stalemate which has dragged lawmakers into a second special session. (Watch LIVE on TVW — go ahead, we won’t tell anybody! — at 10 a.m. here.)

► In today’s Olympian — State caught in test of political power (editorial) — Some lawmakers insist a government shutdown won’t occur, while others aren’t so sure. Either way, Thurston County businesses and residents lose in this dangerous and unnecessary test of political power. It’s particularly galling that some state senators seem willing to hold the state budget hostage over a few individual bills that aren’t particularly pressing. It’s gratuitous leverage, for example, when Republican Sen. Don Benton continues to block budget progress over his bill to benefit the payday lending industry, which significantly contributed to his re-election campaign. That bill, and the Senate’s other policy measures still on the table can wait until the next regular legislative session. It’s only six months away, after all. Legislators shouldn’t waste time on such bills now, with our state poised to fall over a fiscal cliff in a matter of days.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — WSLC: Take workers’ compensation off the table

PLUS — Why workers’ comp? What’s the emergency? (June 14)

► From AP — Temporary Skagit River bridge expected to open this week — The fix, then a later permanent repair due this fall, will cost nearly $18 million. But when the work’s all done, Washington will be left with exactly what it had before: A functionally obsolete, fracture-critical 58-year-old bridge that could come crashing down the next time it gets smacked hard enough in the right place.

ALSO at The Stand — Coalition: Pass state transportation budget… now! (May 14)

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Government’s moral test (a must-read editorial) — In a June 14 letter to legislators and Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsch Sinai asked the state to pass a budget that embraces human dignity. The centerpiece is the state’s moral responsibility to preserve the safety net for the hungry, the sick and the homeless. It’s a powerful, transcendent message. … The Sartain/Weiner letter merits reflection among believers and non-believers alike. Lost in the special session’s noise over tax breaks and the estate tax is a sober discussion on the moral test of government. After funding K-12, then what?

BOEING

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing launches 787-10 with five customers — Boeing announced the formal launch of its 787-10 program at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday and says it already has commitments from five customers, including United Airlines. Boeing recently began assembly of the first 787-9 in Everett. That version of the aircraft holds between 250 and 290 passengers, about 40 more than the original Dreamliner, the 787-8. The 787-10, which will seat 300 to 330 passengers, is scheduled to begin assembly in 2017 with its first delivery the following year.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing launches 787-10, punts on where it will be assembled — In a briefing ahead of the launch, a top executive said Boeing hasn’t decided where the jet will be built. “When we’re ready to announce it, we’ll announce it,” said Scott Fancher, Boeing vice president of airplane development.

LOCAL

► In today’s Seattle Times — Taxi drivers stage protest parade — A noisy rally of taxi operators and drivers outside City Hall on Monday escalated tensions among three kinds of vehicle services competing to pick people up in Seattle: taxis, for-hire vehicles and ride-sharing companies. Joined by a short parade of taxicab drivers honking in support along Fourth Avenue, about 20 taxicab operators and drivers represented by Teamsters Local 117 said the city’s lack of monitoring of for-profit ride-sharing and for-hire services is unfair to law-abiding taxi drivers.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Seattle, King County must do more to protect taxi drivers (by Tracey A. Thompson of Teamsters Local 117)

► In today’s Oregonian — Judge throws out ruling that gave Port of Portland jobs to electricians instead of longshoremen – U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman issued an order vacating an NLRB decision, which found electricians were entitled to plug, unplug and monitor refrigerated containers. Problems related to the dispute at the Port’s Terminal 6 led to mile-long lines of trucks last summer, causing cargo vessels to bypass Portland.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Study finds state gains in new coal terminals — Building new coal terminals near Bellingham and Longview will have major economic benefits for the entire state, a new study conducted for the Washington Farm Bureau suggests.

NATIONAL

► At Politico — AFL-CIO wants original deal for undocumented workers — The AFL-CIO is detailing what measures it will and will not support as the Senate continues debating the mammoth legislation. On the approved list: keeping hard-fought labor protections for immigrant workers and making sure the pathway to citizenship is still attainable. And what they’ll fight: enacting additional barriers for undocumented immigrants to become legalized, denying immigrants federal benefits, and tampering with a new guest-worker program it negotiated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

► At Huffington Post — ‘Free trade’ was never really about trade (by Stan Sorcher) — Free trade agreements are bad for millions of people because they are not really about trade. More importantly, they limit the political process so investors are relieved of responsibility for protecting the environment OR recognizing labor rights or human rights, OR dealing with public health OR worrying about prudent financial regulation. The overall result is downward pressure that weakens our political and social values, eroding civil society and public interest in all countries.

► In today’s NY Times — U.S., Europe to start ambitious, but delicate trade talks — European Union leaders and President Obama announced on Monday the start of negotiations for a far-reaching trans-Atlantic trade deal.

► From AP — Supreme Court strikes down Arizona voter ID citizenship law — The Supreme Court announced on Monday it has struck down an Arizona law that required voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship before registering to vote. Seven justices agreed that the Arizona law oversteps the state’s authority by essentially invalidating the federal voter registration form.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The two dissenters? Right-wing justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

► At TPM — Report: 7-Eleven running ‘modern day plantation’ of undocumented workers — Federal officials on Monday seized 7-Eleven franchises in New York and Virginia as part of an investigation into a ring of undocumented workers who were allegedly forced to work slave hours in a “modern day plantation system,” ABC News reported.

► In today’s — Gallup: Only 23% of Americans trust newspapers, TV news — Both are still more popular than big business, organized labor, HMOs and Congress.

EDITOR’S NOTE — That just 20% of Americans say they have “confidence” in unions should surprise no one. Laws guaranteeing the freedom to choose unionization without intimidation or threat from employers have been whittled away and unenforced for so long that Human Rights Watch listed the United States right alongside repressive Third World regimes as a violator of the basic human right of freedom of association: “Legal obstacles tilt the playing field so steeply against workers’ freedom of association that the United States is in violation of international human rights standards for workers.” That’s why unionization rates have dropped to historic lows and that’s why few Americans are exposed to their benefits. Instead, they are exposed to a steady barrage of criticism of organized labor from right-wing politicians and corporate interests that control the commercial media and would like to see the freedom to choose unions eliminated entirely.

The good news: The poll found unions are TWICE as popular as Congress!

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In Sunday’s NY Times — Don’t blame the work force (editorial) — There is a durable belief that much of today’s unemployment is rooted in a skills gap, in which good jobs go unfilled for lack of qualified applicants. This is mostly a corporate fiction, based in part on self-interest and a misreading of government data. … What employers describe as talent shortages are often failures to agree on salary. If a business really needed workers, it would pay up. That is not happening, which calls into question the existence of a skills gap as well as the urgency on the part of employers to fill their openings.

Corporate executives have valuable perspectives on the economy, but they also have an interest in promoting the notion of a skills gap. They want schools and, by extension, the government to take on more of the costs of training workers that used to be covered by companies as part of on-the-job employee development. They also want more immigration, both low and high skilled, because immigrants may be willing to work for less than their American counterparts.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► Saturday from AP — State legislators edge closer to final deal — Washington lawmakers edged closer to a final budget deal Friday, aided by an agreement on fixing the state’s estate tax, the prospect of an unexpected revenue boost and fresh signs of compromise. Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom (R→D→R) said Senate leaders have largely backed away from two education policy bills that they had sought, but are still pushing for changes in the state’s workers’ compensation system and another education bill.

ALSO at The Stand — Why workers’ comp? What’s the emergency? — The financial condition of the state workers’ compensation system has improved with the economy. Lawmakers who warn of looming “tax increases” on employers have bad, outdated information. In fact, there is no reason to believe workers’ comp rates will go up in 2014, just as they didn’t go up in 2013 or 2012. So why is the contentious SB 5127 so urgent that it’s worth threatening education funding and a state government shutdown?

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Olympia freeze showing signs of thaw (by Jim Camden) — Senate leaders may give up on some policy bills but are holding firm on changes to the workers’ compensation system, which could be the biggest stumbling block to a budget deal. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan (D-Covington) said Friday those changes don’t have a direct connection to the budget and there’s no agreement in the House to take them up. With the new fiscal year, and a possible fiscal cliff, looming on July 1, the Legislature needs to focus only on the budget and the bills needed to make it work, and workers’ comp has no such tie-in, he said.

► In Sunday’s News Tribune — State lawmakers: Miles to go before they sleep (editorial) — The Senate and House absolutely must agree on three things: an operating budget, a construction budget and a transportation package that would pay for critical highway projects around the state — including the completion of state Route 167 between Puyallup and the Port of Tacoma. A couple of measures being pressed by the Senate aren’t worth fighting over. One is a move to “fix” compensation for injured workers.

► In today’s Olympian — Budget impasse has state employees fretting — Pam Olekas, a records clerk at Olympic Corrections Center in Forks, remembers getting paychecks in the form of IOUs as a California prison system employee when that state went without a budget more than two decades ago. She’s hoping a similar fate doesn’t befall her fellow Washington state employees, many of whom could be furloughed if lawmakers fail to reach a budget deal in the next two weeks.

ALSO at WFSE.org — What we know — or don’t know — about a potential state government shutdown

► From AP — First special session tally: 30 days, 0 bills, $77,000 — The Legislature’s first overtime session this year was the most unproductive gathering of lawmakers in state history. That doesn’t mean it didn’t cost taxpayers.

► In today’s Columbian — School superintendent urges legislators to pass budget — If state legislators don’t pass an operating budget within the next week, their failure to do so will cost Vancouver Public Schools an estimated $78,000, the equivalent of one full-time teacher, said Steven Webb, the district’s superintendent.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — New Skagit River bridge still ‘functionally obsolete’ — Millions of tax dollars are being spent to temporarily fix then permanently repair an I-5 bridge that collapsed into the Skagit River. But when the work’s all done, Washington will be left with exactly what it had before: A functionally obsolete, fracture-critical 58-year-old bridge that could come crashing down the next time it gets smacked hard enough in the right place.

ALSO at The Stand — Coalition: Pass state transportation budget… now! — A strong coalition of labor, business, environmental and local government interests have come together to urge the 2013 Legislature to pass a transportation package that makes a significant investment in Washington’s crumbling transportation infrastructure.

► In the Columbian — Sen. Patty Murray targets opponents of CRC — Pointing out the recent collapse of the I-5 Skagit River bridge, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Friday that opponents of the Columbia River Crossing project need to stop and think about what could happen if officials fail to replace the I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River.

► Today’s Fun Fakt™! — The county in Washington State with the highest percentage of same-sex marriages — where fully HALF of all marriages in the first three months of the year were same-sex couples — was Lincoln County! Way to go, Odessa and Davenport!

BOEING

► In today’s Seattle Times — Everett may be left out of Boeing’s 787-10 plans — Boeing’s biggest news of the Paris Air Show is likely to be the launch of the 787-10, the third and largest model of the Dreamliner, which is expected Monday. But Washington state could be out of luck when it comes to building the jet, interviews in Paris suggested Sunday. Final assembly of the 787-10 may be exclusively in North Charleston, S.C., where two-thirds of the fuselage is also fabricated and assembled.

EDITOR’S NOTE — But it’s not because of Washington’s “business climate” or some other such nonsense. Sources say it’s because of logistical constraints. The new South Carolina plant is big enough to fit four of the 787-10s nose-to-tail, which isn’t true in the two 787 assembly bays in Everett. Of course, that won’t stop some politicians and business lobbyists from claiming workers’ comp rates (or another competitiveness issue du jour) is the blame.

BONUS EDITOR’S NOTE! — According to the definitive state-by-state rate study, workers’ compensation coverage is more expensive for employers in South Carolina than it is in Washington State.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Delegation to tout state’s place in aerospace in Paris — U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen will lead 52 representatives of business, education and economic development from around the state. Washington also will have a 700-square-foot booth in an exhibit hall, where the state’s 100 years of aviation history will be emphasized.

LOCAL

► From AP — Hiring freeze eased at naval shipyard in Bremerton — The shipyard’s commander announced Friday he’s been authorized to immediately hire 256 new workers at the PSNS and Intermediate Maintenance Facility to replace those who have quit or retired since the hiring freeze took effect in January. The shipyard was about to hire 600 employees when the freeze took effect.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Victims’ group faces cuts in budget — There were cuts to the federal grants last year for crime victims support centers, but the state didn’t pass those cuts on to the local centers at the time. Now, the state has told the service centers to brace for cuts, including even fewer federal dollars because of the budget sequestration.

► In the Tri-City Herald– House passes defense bill with Hanford amendments — The U.S. House has passed the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes an amendment for establishing a Manhattan Project National Historic Park at Hanford’s B reactor.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Swedish/Edmonds plans $63.5 million expansion — The hospital plans a new two-story, 77,000-square-foot emergency department with a dedicated behavioral health unit and urgent-care center.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Weyerhaeuser to buy Longview Timber for $2.65 billion — Weyerhaeuser is buying Longview Timber for $2.65 billion from Brookfield Asset Management.

► In today’s Wenatchee World — Local team takes top honors at Lineman Rodeo — Journeymen linemen from the Chelan County PUD won top overall honors at the ninth annual Andrew York Lineman Rodeo on Saturday.

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — Choice of health plans to vary sharply from state to state — When a typical 40-year-old uninsured woman in Maine goes to the new state exchange to buy health insurance this fall, she may have just two companies to choose from: the one that already sells most individual policies in the state, and a complete unknown — a nonprofit start-up. Her counterpart in California, however, will have a much wider variety of choices: 13 insurers are likely to offer plans, including the state’s largest and best-known carriers. Obama administration officials estimate that most Americans will have a choice of at least five carriers when open enrollment begins in October.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In Washington State, nine health insurance issuers have filed with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner to provide 57 Qualified Health Plans totaling 229 plan options for individuals and families through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s new online health insurance marketplace.

► In today’s Washington Post — Republicans trying to use Obamacare to derail immigration reform efforts — Conservatives in both chambers of Congress are insisting on measures that would expand the denial of public health benefits to the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants beyond limits set in a comprehensive bill pending in the Senate.

► At AFL-CIO Now — More and more small businesses support paid sick days — Nearly 300 small businesses have joined a campaign to support laws that require employers to give their workers paid sick days. The businesses have endorsed the Businesses for Earned Leave campaign, a partnership of American Sustainable Business Council, the Main Street Alliance and Social Venture Network.

ALSO at The Stand — Tacoma Paid Sick Days campaign kicks off

► At AFL-CIO Now — Louisiana chemical explosion site hadn’t been inspected by OSHA for 20 years — The Geismar, La., petrochemical plant that exploded on Thursday has not been inspected since 1993. The blast at the Williams Companies Inc.’s olefins plant killed one person and injured 73.

► In today’s NY Times — Fight the future (by Paul Krugman) — The whole argument for early action on long-run fiscal issues is surprisingly weak and slippery. As I like to point out, the conventional wisdom on these things seems to be that to avert the danger of future benefit cuts, we must act now to cut future benefits. Because that time is not yet, influential people need to stop using the future as an excuse for inaction. The clear and present danger is mass unemployment, and we should deal with it, now.

T.G.I.M.

► In today’s Washington Post — Great Gatsby economics are no party for middle class (by E.J. Dionne) — “We have reached the point where inequality is hurting the economy,” says Alan Krueger, the outgoing chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “Today, a reduction in inequality would be good for efficiency, economic growth and stability.” Those two sentences should affect everything President Obama does in the economic sphere for the rest of his term.

EDITOR’S NOTE — But don’t hold your breath. Obama’s choice to replace Krueger as his top economic adviser is a guy who heralds Walmart as a “progressive success story.” He joins Obama’s new budget director, the former head of The Walmart Foundation, as key White House players who hail from the wage-and-economy suppressing retailer.

Have a great Monday!

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Legislature approves estate-tax change — Minutes before midnight, the Senate passed a change to the state’s estate tax that supporters called a technical fix worth $160 million and opponents called an unconstitutional “reach back.” Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill a half hour later, blocking the state from having to start mailing out as much as $40 million in refunds in the coming weeks. Those checks were set to go out at 8 a.m. today. The final agreement was a basic trade: The Senate would vote on the estate tax fix after it and the House passed reforms to the state’s Model Toxics Control Act. With that accomplished in near record time — the House spent only a few minutes debating a bill that most members hadn’t read — the Senate voted at 11:57 p.m. to allow the tax to be levied on certain trusts worth $2 million or more that are set up by married couples.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Sources tell The Stand that the Senate initially insisted on the House passing its workers’ compensation “reform” bill before it would fix the estate-tax loophole, but the House held strong in its opposition. Ultimately, they agreed to make the MTCA changes rather than take $160 million out of the Education Legacy Trust Fund and give it to some of Washington’s wealthiest people.

► At Slog, how yesterday’s drama played out — House, Senate agree on compromise estate tax fix, but Senate refuses to put it to a vote — “They decided not to decouple the estate tax from the broader politics,” explained (Rep. Reuven) Carlyle. In other words, although Republican leadership has fully agreed to the estate tax compromise, they are refusing to give it a vote unless Democrats cave on the GOP’s non-budget related policy wish list.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Inslee won’t attend Paris Air Show, Larsen to stand in — With a shutdown of state government looming, Gov. Jay Inslee announced today he won’t be traveling to Paris next week to hawk Washington’s aerospace industry. At Inslee’s request, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) will lead the state’s contingent.

► At Slog — Olympia Logjam: A Game Where Even Winning Is Losing

► In today’s News Tribune — Despite hopes of Senate majority, this isn’t 2003 (by Peter Callaghan) — In 2003, a narrow Senate majority controlled by Republicans ran the show in Olympia despite a Democratic governor and a House run by Democratic Speaker Frank Chopp. Reliving that decade-ago glory seems to be driving their strategy this year… A government shutdown is again looming, with great political risks for all involved. If that’s to be avoided, members of the Majority Coalition Caucus will need to acknowledge that 2013 is not 2003.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From our new favorite blog, by the UFWS (United Faculty of Washington State) — In dreams begin responsibilities (by Bill Lyne) — Anyone who has ever successfully negotiated a contract knows that the goal is not to win but to reach an agreement. Both sides start with dreams, find the responsibilities embedded in those dreams, and end with the reality of a deal that nobody likes, but everybody can live with. At some point during the negotiations, each side has to make a big move toward the other side, giving up things that they hold dear without compromising basic principles. … In the negotiations over the (Washington state) budget, the House Democrats made that big move on June 6.  They broke the hearts of a big part of their base, gave up their dream of a moderately more responsible tax structure, and passed a revised budget that was a shadow of their original proposal. That was the signal to the Republican Senate that it was their turn to make a big move.  So over the weekend they got together and passed… well, pretty much the same budget they’d passed a couple of months before. Only this time they did it with five fewer votes. To put it in the refined technical terms of bargaining, the Senate Republicans gave the House Democrats the finger.

LOCAL

► In today’s Olympian — New Evergreen College union ratifies contract — Members of a new labor union at The Evergreen State College ratified their first contract Thursday on a 52-2 vote, according to the Washington Federation of State Employees. The federation is the umbrella organization for the more than 55-member Evergreen Student Support Services Staff Union, which went on strike for one day last month after failing to strike a deal after 17 months.

ALSO at The Stand — WFSE unit ratifies contract with Evergreen State College (June 14)

► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing’s Renton plant bustling, despite job cuts elsewhere — Despite the recent spate of bad employment news from Boeing, there is only good news out of the jet-maker’s Renton assembly plant. Boeing expects to hire several hundred more Machinists there this year. The increase, driven by an ambitious ramp-up in output, contrasts with layoffs at the Everett widebody plant and the move of hundreds of other Boeing jobs out of state, which have prompted questions about the company’s overall plans here.

► In the PS Business Journal — Horizon Air, flight attendants reach tentative contract deal — The airline, a unit of Seattle-based Alaska Air Group Inc., said it’s reached a tentative five-year contract deal with its 500 flight attendants (AFA) that “includes pay raises, quality of life improvements and more flexible scheduling.”

► At Its Our Airport — State fines Alaska Airlines, contractors for workers’ toxic exposures — The state Department of Labor and Industries has issued new citations for multiple serious health and safety violations against Alaska Airlines and two of its contractors for failing to protect workers from exposure to corrosive cleaning chemicals, caustic jet fuel, blood borne pathogens, and body fluids including vomit, urine, feces and blood.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Low wages may be good for business, but who else? (by Shawn Vestal) — Occasionally, we hear from the business community about the wonders of the business climate in Idaho. Usually, though, those praising the Gem State’s business-friendliness don’t point out that one of the reasons is this: Employees are paid less — and in some cases a lot less — than most employees elsewhere.

CONGRESS

► At Politico — On immigration, hurry up and wait — The Senate finished its first week of debate Thursday on a massive immigration reform bill — with almost nothing to show for it. Senators delivered hours of speeches and filed dozens of amendments. But they never figured out a way to begin casting votes on all of those proposed changes.

► In today’s Washington Post — House leader proposes new postal ‘reform’ plan (our quotes) — The chief House architect of a Postal Service overhaul that failed to gain traction in the last Congress is back with new draft legislation that would allow the financially ailing agency to move to five-day delivery and ban it from entering no-layoff agreements with employees. To broaden support for a bill criticized by Democrats as too partisan and anti-labor, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is attempting to soften opposition with his new proposal, released Thursday. It would allow the Postal Service to scrap an annual $6 billion payment to pre-fund health costs for future retirees, a major concession that is likely to help the bill’s chances in the Senate.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The National Association of Letter Carriers says Issa’s new proposal “has a number of major problems.”

► In The Hill — GOP labor bills limit ‘micro unions,’ require secret ballots — Legislation introduced in the House and Senate on Thursday would cut back on the ability of unions to form among smaller groups of workers and require that workers use a secret ballot when voting to organize.

EDITOR’S NOTE — To be clear, which this story is not, the latter bill would prevent employers from voluntarily recognizing a union when a majority of their employees sign cards indicating they want one.

NATIONAL

► At AFL-CIO Now — Ohio union members stand with fired teacher Carla Hale — It was her mom’s obituary that got Carla Hale fired. The six words sealed the deal? ”Survived by Carla & her partner.” Hale, who taught physical education at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio, for 19 years, was fired in March, weeks after the obit ran. Hale said she was fired for being in a gay relationship. Now, local unions represented by the Central Ohio Labor Council are supporting supporting Hale in her fight to be reinstated.

► In today’s Washington Post — NSA revelations, modified wheat cast a pall on U.S. trade talks with Europe — Chances for a broad trade deal between the United States and the European Union are fading following recent revelations about U.S. electronic surveillance programs, oversight of genetically modified food and other issues, according to officials and analysts.

► In today’s NY Times — Sympathy for the Luddites — Today, a much darker picture of the effects of technology on labor is emerging. In this picture, highly educated workers are as likely as less educated workers to find themselves displaced and devalued, and pushing for more education may create as many problems as it solves.

T.G.I.F.

► This day in 1975, America hit No. 1 with “Sister Golden Hair.” Songwriter Gerry Beckley admitted the opening guitar riff was “inspired” by George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” a 1970 song the former Beatle was found in court to have “subconsciously” plagiarized from the 1963 hit, “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons. At press time, The Entire Staff of The Stand could find no evidence that America ever paid The Chiffons.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Seattle Times — Part-time school, college staff may lose health benefits — Thousands of part-time school employees and college instructors would be switched from state-funded health insurance to Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges under a complicated Senate budget proposal that backers say would save the state up to $57 million over the next two years. But so many different groups oppose the measure — including some of the state’s most powerful unions — that some think the Senate is using it as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations.

ALSO at The Stand — Senate targets health coverage for part-timers (April 24)

► From AP — State agencies prepping for possible shutdown — Gov. Jay Inslee held a cabinet meeting Wednesday night to discuss plans for what would happen after June 30, when the current budget cycle comes to an end. While the governor’s aides haven’t concluded which areas would need to shut down, they said potentially thousands of state employees could begin getting notifications about the prospect of temporary layoffs as early as next week.

TAKE A STAND!  Make sure you send a message to your state legislators telling them to reject all policy bills, avoid a state government shutdown, and pass the budgets!

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Get on with the budget (editorial) — Enough with the fresh hell. Budget and education first. Finesse a limited-revenue budget and then get out of Dodge. Please.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Inslee takes the gloves off, blasts GOP for stalemate (by Jerry Cornfield) — Washingtonians need wonder no more about Inslee’s approach to leadership. He’s a Democrat, not a diplomat. Tuesday’s 30-minute performance shows he’s shed any semblance of impartiality in negotiating a final budget agreement, enlisting with House Democrats for the final battles. No one could be happier than those Democrats, many of whom often felt his predecessor didn’t have their back on fiscal issues and too quickly ceded principle for a go-home arrangement.

► ALSO at The Stand — Inslee calls out Senate’s ‘ideological agenda’ — Watch TVW coverage of Tuesday’s press conference.

► In today’s Olympian — Last day for Legislature to act on estate tax — The Legislature must meet a late-night deadline Thursday for fixing a legal glitch in the Washington estate tax law or as many as 10 refund checks worth more than $13 million will go into the mail Friday morning.

► At PubliCola — A jolt in the making: Estate tax loophole — A $160 million Democratic house bill to close a loophole in the voter-approved estate tax law that benefits heirs of married couples has yet to be passed by the Republican-controlled Senate. The Republicans have cued up a version of their own — it amends the estate tax (passed in 2006 by 62% of the voters) to create a new loophole for family businesses.

LOCAL

► From The Lund Report — Regence outsources claims processing, membership to India — Regence BlueCross BlueShield is shifting its claims processing and individual membership responsibilities to a Fortune 500 company that outsources such work to India. In so doing, the insurer is laying off 23 employees in Oregon and another 33 employees are affected in the four state-region that includes Idaho, Utah and Washington where its non-profit parent company, Cambia Health Solutions, also runs health insurance plans.

► In today’s Columbian — Herrera Beutler voices ‘grave’ concerns about CRC to Coast Guard — U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) on Wednesday reiterated several worries and questions about the Columbia River Crossing as the U.S. Coast Guard mulls a crucial bridge permit for the $3.4 billion project.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

► At AFL-CIO Now — Working family advocates lobby Congress for immigration policy with roadmap to citizenship — On the first full day of the immigration reform debate in the U.S. Senate, more than 50 advocates and allies of working families flew to Washington, D.C., to ask members of Congress to support a common sense immigration process. Community leaders from nearly half the states in the union were in Washington to act as citizen lobbyists.

ALSO at The Stand — WSLC President Johnson in D.C. to push for comprehensive immigration reform

► At Politico — Polls: Huge support for immigration reform — In a polling memo set for release Thursday, Democratic pollster Tom Jensen and Republican pollster Brock McCleary reveal that their surveys found “overwhelming, bipartisan support for the bill” across 29 states.

► At Politico — Senate drops border security plan — The Senate took its first major vote on changing the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill Thursday, killing a strict border security proposal that would have delayed granting legal status to the 11 million living without documents in the United States.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Both Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted to table (set aside) the amendment in today’s 57-43 vote.

► At Politico — Why women have the most at stake with immigration reform (by Pramila Jayapal) — Immigration is rarely talked about as a women’s issue, but women and children make up three-quarters of all immigrants to the United States and 51% of undocumented immigrants are women. Previous reform proposals did not pay attention to the specific ways in which women were disproportionately burdened and would have continued to exclude millions of women. In contrast, the immigration reform bill now hitting the Senate floor gets a lot right for women — but there are still important fixes to be made to fully include women and families.

NATIONAL

► From ProPublica — Walmart accepted clothing from banned Bangladesh factories — Since the Rana Plaza building collapse killed more than 1,100 people in April, Walmart released a list of more than 200 factories it said it had barred from producing its merchandise because of serious or repeated safety problems, labor violations or unauthorized subcontracting. But at least two of the factories on the list have continued to send massive shipments of sports bras and girls’ dresses to Walmart stores in recent months, according to interviews and U.S. customs records.

► In today’s NY Times — Conflicting goals complicate effort to Trans-Atlantic trade deal — The leaders of the European Union, mired in recession and battered by increasing opposition from voters, are desperate for political success to promote economic growth. They are pushing for a rapid negotiation of a trade agreement with the United States aimed at expanding commerce and creating jobs. But many experts say any such deal faces long odds.

► In New York magazine — Obamacare, public opinion and conservative self-delusion — The nearly ubiquitous conservative belief that the public shares its passion for repealing Obamacare is a spate of self-delusion.

► In today’s Washington Post — With focus on middle class, plan aims to recharge economy — The liberal Center for American Progress will release an extensive plan on Thursday aimed at ­recharging the U.S. economy through a barrage of education, trade and other policies meant to boost beleaguered middle-class workers.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► At Huffington Post — What we need now: A national economic strategy for better jobs — Economic determinists — fatalists, really — assume that globalization and technological change must now condemn a large portion of the American workforce to under-employment and stagnant wages, while rewarding those with the best educations and connections with ever higher wages and wealth. And therefore that the only way to get good jobs back and avoid widening inequality is to withdraw from the global economy and become neo-Luddites, destroying the new labor-saving technologies. That’s dead wrong.

Other nations are implementing national economic strategies to build good jobs and widespread prosperity. The United States is not. Any why not? Both because we don’t have the political will to implement them, and we’re trapped in an ideological straightjacket that refuses to acknowledge the importance of such a strategy. The irony is we already have a national economic strategy but it’s been dictated largely by powerful global corporations and Wall Street. And, not surprisingly, rather than increase the jobs and wages of most Americans, that strategy has been increasing the global profits and stock prices of these giant corporations and Wall Street banks.

FIX MY JOB

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► At PubliCola — Inslee announces second special session, blasts Republicans — Gov. Jay Inslee denounced five “ideological” policy bills the Republican-controlled Senate has put on the table as must-have legislation. He said the “My way or the highway” stance has stalled budget negotiations.

This is a must-see TV, particularly for those who are used to governor’s of the recent past — Chris Gregoire and Gary Locke — who acted as referees. This is a defining moment for Inslee who took the gloves off Tuesday morning and joined the fray, squarely on the side of the House Democrats saying that the Republicans, who have refused to close the estate tax loophole for a $160 million budget line item (unless their policy bills are passed), were prioritizing tax breaks for millionaires over educating kids.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Inslee calls out Senate’s ‘ideological agenda’ — Includes TVW coverage of the entire press conference.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — July 1 budget deadline, or government shutdown — Gov. Jay Inslee is preparing today for the possibility that lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal in time to avert a government shutdown. Inslee will meet with his Cabinet this afternoon to sort out what might happen to public services and state workers if no budget is in place July 1 when the fiscal year starts.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Legislators locked in a fool’s game of chicken (by Shawn Vestal) — The problem with games of chicken is that the dumber driver wins. Whoever is most willing to crash the car wins. Who will win the game of chicken in Olympia? There’s not much question which side is more willing to crash the car. Senate Republicans — getting a feel for their new majority — seem to be doing their best impression of the intractable, immovable U.S. House of Representatives.

TAKE A STAND! — Send a message to your state legislators (again) urging them to reject the policy bills, avoid a government shutdown, and pass the budgets!

► At TheNewsTribune.com — State Revenue Dept. to send out 10 estate tax refunds worth $10 million starting Thursday — With no legal fix immediately in the offing for Washington state’s estate tax, the Department of Revenue is moving ahead and issuing $13 million worth of refunds — plus interest — starting Thursday. The refunds are necessary under a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that in effect left an exemption for certain married couples’ estates. The agency had been waiting for the Legislature to plug the loophole but can wait no longer, and additional refunds are expected in the coming weeks while waiting for lawmakers to act.

EDITOR’S NOTE — That’s $13 million coming directly out of the Education Legacy Trust Fund and going to millionaire families. The House passed a bill to fix this loophole, but the Senate has refused to do the same. The Senate is insisting on cutting future estate-tax rates before they’ll plug the loophole. Meanwhile, our schools are losing millions of dollars and the Legislature digs a deeper and deeper hole for trying to meet the Supreme Court order to improve education funding.

► At PubliCola — Isn’t it weird that… (Item #3) — …one of the Senate’s priority bills is a supposedly urgent workers’ comp reform bill that they say will prevent necessary rate increases that would otherwise be needed to make the fund solvent? With the economy picking up, rates were not raised this year and the (reserve) fund is growing. Indeed, it has already grown since its lowly $181 million in June 2010 to $953 million as of the end of last year.

ALSO at The Stand — Phantom workers’ comp tax hikes threaten government shutdown (June 10)

► In today’s News Tribune — State leaders agree on gas tax, but not on everything — The Republican transportation leader in the state Senate has prepared his own version of a gas-tax and fee-raising plan that could be taken up in the second special session that begins Wednesday. The proposal is a sign that a transportation tax plan is not dead, as it seemed to some lawmakers less than a week ago.

► In today’s Olympian — Saying ‘no’ to roads plan would jeopardize safety (editorial) — Years of underfunding the preservation and maintenance of our state’s roadways and bridges have created a rapidly deteriorating transportation system that is quickly becoming a liability to public safety and Washington’s economy. To remedy this situation, the Legislature must pass a 10-year transportation investment plan before it closes this frustrating 2013 legislative session.

► In today’s News Tribune — Dino Rossi has been quietly giving budget advice to Senate Majority Coalition — “I’ve had conversations with a lot of senators right from the start. They’ve been talking to me — how do you do this, how do you do that? I tell them what I did,” Rossi said in an interview this week.

EDITOR’S NOTE –  Actually, that explains a lot.

LOCAL

► In the Spokesman-Review — Liberty Lake lands new company, 400 jobs — Vivint Inc., a fast-growing provider of home automation products including energy management and surveillance, expects to create 400 jobs after opening an office in Liberty Lake this summer. The Provo, Utah-based privately owned Vivint said Liberty Lake was selected because of the area’s skilled work force and strong community support. Vivint considered 10 states for this expansion.

EDITOR’S NOTE — But wait, somebody said Washington State was a horrible place to do business. What’s going on here?

► In the Ellensburg Daily Record — Time to settle on fair and just contract with nurses (letter) — KVH Board of Commissioners: Arrogantly telling these professional nurses at KVH to pull their heads out of the sand as you did at a previous board meeting in which I attended is not negotiating in a fair and just labor contract. They and the community deserve so much more.

GET UPDATES on these contract talks at the Washington State Nurses Association website.

► In today’s Kitsap Sun — Sequestration shrinks Head Start across Kitsap — The cuts affect babies and preschoolers of poor families, some of them foster or homeless children, and some with disabilities.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

► In today’s NY Times — As Senate begins debate, organized labor makes immigration push — The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s largest labor federation, said it would take 50 union leaders from 27 states to Washington on Wednesday to lobby in the Senate and the House. The organization said it was also starting a call-in campaign by union members focusing on about two dozen senators, including lawmakers from Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee, who have not made public their positions on the legislation.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — WSLC President Johnson in D.C. to push for comprehensive immigration reform

► In The Hill — Immigration bill clears significant hurdle in Senate — Thirty Republicans, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), voted to take up the measure in the 84-15 vote, revealing a deep well of potential support.

► From AP — Boehner: Immigration bill can be signed by the end of the year — With the Senate ready to cast the first floor votes on a landmark immigration bill, House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday he thinks there’s a good chance the legislation can be signed into law “by the end of the year.”

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — Judge rules that movie studio should have been paying interns — A Federal District Court judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that Fox Searchlight Pictures had violated federal and New York minimum wage laws by not paying production interns, a case that could upend the long-held practice of the film industry and other businesses that rely heavily on unpaid internships.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Tell us: How can we raise awareness about the needs to raise wages and working conditions? — Join Saru Jayaraman on TODAY (Wednesday, June 12) from 11 a.m. to noon Pacific time for the sixth in the AFL-CIO series of live online discussions on how we build a movement for the future of working people. Click here to join the discuss. Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United — and the AFL-CIO — want to hear your ideas.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In today’s Seattle Times — Household wealth still far from recovery — Four years after the official end of the recession, the average American household has recovered only 62.8% of the wealth it lost in the crash, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The damage to families is substantial, affecting the ability of children to attend college and economic mobility. The report pays less attention to how persistent joblessness and federal austerity have made rebuilding household wealth more difficult, particularly for the hardest-hit groups. Nor does it account for intergenerational wealth, a valuable safety net that many lack. Also missing is an examination of how changes in the economy — a hollowed out manufacturing base, increased low-wage services and financialization — have contributed to the household burden. Until all these ills are addressed, we will continue to see a very dysfunctional recovery.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Olympian — Lawmakers, ‘out in space,’ need 3rd session — The philosophical gap between a Republican-steered state Senate and Democrat-controlled House over taxes and government reforms is driving Washington’s Legislature into a second, 30-day special session that is expected to start Wednesday morning. The new two-year budget cycle begins July 1, and agencies typically need an appropriation from lawmakers to spend taxpayer dollars. That is leading to fears — and heightening rhetoric — about who is to blame if the stalemate persists and government has to shut down.

TAKE A STAND! — Contact lawmakers again to avoid costly government shutdown — The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is urging all union members and community supporters to contact their state legislators immediately — even if you already have in recent days — to send a new message urging them to reject all policy bills, avoid a state government shutdown, and pass the operating, capital and transportation funding budgets. Here’s how to take action:

► In the Wenatchee World — Let’s do it and leave (editorial) — A short note to our state’s legislators: Compromise. Vote. Be done. We don’t think we are far off general public sentiment when we say we care very little about who is at fault for what, which side is obstinate, which irrational and which is unreasonable. … Lawmakers who find fiscal cliffs alluring should know public patience has limits, and failure to perform basic constitutional duties carries political risks they should give due consideration.

► From the WA State Budget & Policy Center — Senate ‘Education by Starvation’ proposal would fund education by cutting all other investments — A plan that State Senate leaders recently revived to fund education at the expense of all other vital services continues to be the wrong approach to fully funding our schools and poses a grave danger to Washington state’s economy. It would lead to deep cuts in investments beyond education that create jobs and help the middle class prosper.

► At Slog — Senate Republicans hold another budget deal hostage over drown-budget-in-the-bathtub measure — If it sounds familiar, it’s because it’s largely the same flawed policy that Rob McKenna made a cornerstone of his failed gubernatorial campaign. But that wasn’t the first time voters roundly rejected the idea. Tim Eyman’s 2009 Initiative 1033 would have imposed this same bullshit population-plus-inflation limit on all state and local spending; it was defeated in a landslide, 58 to 42. Republicans are attempting to hold a budget deal hostage to a policy that voters have already rejected twice in four years. So much for “the will of the people.”

► At PubliCola — Morning Fizz (scroll down to item #4) — Senate-side transportation committee co-chair, Republican Sen. Curtis King (R-Yakima) released his transportation funding package yesterday. Here’s how it compares to the $8.4 billion package that Democratic house transportation committee chair Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) has on the table.

AUSTERITY UPDATE

► In today’s Olympian — JBLM decides on 4-day weeks for civilian workers’ furloughs — Thousands of civilian employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will take unpaid days off on 11 straight Fridays in July, August and September — part of a plan intended to concentrate the impacts of Pentagon-mandated furloughs to a single day of the week.

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Coast Guard in Washington cutting back due to sequester — An at-least 25% operations cut in the Coast Guard’s District 13 has been implemented since April, as a way to cope with sequestration from the Budget Control Act.

LOCAL

► In today’s News Tribune — Temporary PLU faculty win right to unionize — Casting aside the university’s legal objections, the NLRB’s regional director has ruled that temporary and part-time faculty members at Parkland’s Pacific Lutheran University are entitled to hold an election in the fall to determine whether a union will represent them in negotiations with the school. SEIU Local 925 said the decision could set a precedent for temporary faculty members in universities around the country.

► In Saturday’s (Everett) Herald — Woman to start 300-mile wheelchair trek in Everett — For Tania Finlayson, anything is possible. Confined to a wheelchair her entire life with cerebral palsy, Finlayson today will start a 300-mile, four-day long trip driving her wheelchair from Everett to Oregon to raise $42,000 for Guide Dogs of America.

ALSO at The Stand — A 300-mile wheelchair ride to benefit Guide Dogs of America — Follow Tania’s progress here and make your contribution to support her efforts here.

► In today’s Daily News — Illinois-based KapStone to buy Longview Fibre – Longview Fibre officials said it’s too early to tell if Kapstone will add or cut employees or management, but they said they’re excited about the new owners. KapStone, founded in 2005, is a rapidly growing company that previously did not have operations west of the Mississippi River.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — DOT: Temporary bridge over Skagit River ready next week — State transportation officials say the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River should reopen sometime next week.

► In today’s News Tribune — Milton, Edgewood, Fife protest Pierce Transit cuts, propose new route — Milton, Fife and Edgewood have adopted a joint resolution rejecting Pierce Transit’s planned service cuts in the three cities. Instead, they propose an alternate route in hopes of softening the blow for riders in the area.

► In the Spokesman-Review — ‘They’re just waiting for all of us to die’ — Plaintiffs still seeking compensation for exposure to emissions from Hanford weigh modest settlement offers as they get older and their case drags on.

► In the Oregonian — Precision Castparts Portland workers vote not to unionize, but IAM will try again — Precision employees voted 1,258 to 932 not to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. A Machinists spokesman said would keep trying to organize Precision’s plants.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

► From AP — Obama pushing immigration reform with labor, business leaders — President Barack Obama is inviting law enforcement, labor and business leaders to the White House to show they support an immigration overhaul. The White House says Obama will speak Tuesday about the economic and national security benefits of a bipartisan bill. The first votes in the full Senate are scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

► In today’s NY Times — Immigration legislation draws many amendments as it heads to the floor — The Senate Judiciary Committee considered more than 300 amendments to immigration legislation last month before sending it to the full Senate, which is expected to begin debate on the bill on Tuesday.

► In The Hill — Senate GOP leaders face tough vote on immigration reform — The Senate’s highest-ranking Republican leaders face tough choices on immigration reform as they balance the needs of the national party against a possible conservative backlash.

NATIONAL

► At AFL-CIO Now — Letter Carriers’ drive collects 74 million pounds of food — The National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual food drive collected 74.3 million pounds of food and was the second most successful in the program’s 21 years. The food was used to restock food banks, pantries and shelters around the country. The total was an increase of 5% over last year and was the highest in a decade.

► In today’s Washington Post — TSA Knife Fight loss was not inevitable — It turns out, a knowledgeable source said, that the existing policy “depressed sales” because TSA would auction off the confiscated knives at a much-reduced price. So the leading knife manufacturers — Victorinox Swiss Army and Leatherman toolmaker, who had invested several hundred thousand dollars in a lobbying effort — wanted TSA to allow smaller keychain knives, not necessarily the larger 2.36” knives that the Europeans allow and TSA had planned to approve.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Union-made Father’s Day — Celebrate your dad in solidarity style this Father’s Day by getting him a gift that sports the union label. Check out some union-made Father’s Day gift ideas.

50 YEARS AGO TODAY

► In today’s NY Times — Kennedy’s finest moment — June 11, 1963, may not be a widely recognized date these days, but it might have been the single most important day in civil rights history. That morning, Gov. George Wallace, in an effort to block the integration of the University of Alabama, made his futile “stand at the schoolhouse door.” That evening, Boston NAACP leaders engaged in their first public confrontation with Louise Day Hicks, the chairwoman of the Boston School Committee, over de facto public school segregation, beginning a decade-long struggle that would boil over into spectacular violence during the early 1970s. And just after midnight in Jackson, Miss., a white segregationist murdered the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. But the most important event was one that almost didn’t happen: a hastily arranged speech that evening by President John F. Kennedy.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In Sunday’s Olympian — Legislature divided over policy bills — As Senate Republicans and House Democrats continue their staredown over a state budget deal in the last days of a special session that ends Tuesday, the Republican-led majority controlling the Senate still is holding out for changes to the state-run workers’ compensation system — or other reforms — before agreeing to raise taxes. Sen. Janea Holmquist Newbry (R-Moses Lake) contended Saturday that without further reforms, employers face hundreds of millions of dollars in premium-rate hikes to rebuild workers’ comp system reserves. “If we see inaction by the Legislature this year, it is a guaranteed tax on employers,” Holmquist Newbry said.

ALSO today at The Stand — Phantom tax hikes threaten state shutdown — But by any objective measure, the workers’ compensation system’s financial situation is far from urgent and simply does not support the dire warnings of tax increases much less a continuing political standoff that threatens a Washington, D.C.-style government shutdown in Washington State.

► In Sunday’s Olympian — Senate passes new budget plan — With just days left in an overtime legislative session, the state Senate on Saturday approved a budget plan similar to a proposal the chamber passed earlier this year during the regular session, but made some concessions on revenue if certain reform bills are passed.

► Today from AP — Senate proposes public vote on policy shifts — The Washington Senate proposed Sunday to have statewide votes on policies that would alter how lawmakers manage the budget and how school principals manage their teachers.

► At PubliCola — Budget breakdown: What’s on the table in Olympia — The Democrats blinked first in the face of a Republican refusal to raise taxes and scaled back their budget proposal this week: They’ve dropped B&O surcharge extension, losing an estimated $500 million in new revenue and scaled back a proposal to close 15 tax breaks — down to seven, losing about $250 million in new revenue. The bottom line? They’re taking in $790 million less in revenue.

► In Sunday’s News Tribune — Schools get priority over state bridges — The Legislature has to find more money for schools, and there’s growing agreement to do it by dipping into a fund that is supposed to be used to finance water, sewer and street projects.

► In the Spokesman-Review — Budget negotiations follow silly policy (by Jim Camden) — Among the bromides passed off as great wisdom during this special session of the Legislature is that budget negotiators should not — nay, absolutely must not, and therefore do not — negotiate a budget in the media.

► At PubliCola — Transportation funding: It gets worse (by Brendan Williams) — The economic and public safety necessity of improving transportation funding was highlighted by the collapse of an I-5 bridge section into the Skagit River. Yet it is, at best, unclear that a Republican Senate will even allow transportation funding to move forward. At least a few Clark County Republicans appear to hope the vital I-5 crossing between Oregon and Washington collapses into the Columbia River.

LOCAL

► In today’s Columbian — I-5 reopens at Salmon Creek — The Interstate 5 overpass project at Salmon Creek was scheduled to take 54 hours but was done in 25. The state DOT said that the contractor, Spokane-based Max J. Kuney, was able to get a quick start on the project by staging several of the huge girders that were being placed over the freeway on-site.

EDITOR’S NOTE — It’s nice to see the hard-working folks at DOT and its contractors getting positive press for being ahead of schedule, which they most often are, rather than just getting coverage when things go wrong.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — ILWU vice president cited for May 7 incident — A local longshore leader was the boater the Coast Guard cited for getting too close to a grain ship during a protest near Kalama in May, though it’s still unclear what his fine or punishment would be if he was found of wrongdoing.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Still no movement on Harbor Paper — It’s been more than three months since the owners of Harbor Paper announced a temporary closure to restructure management, and still many Grays Harbor residents aren’t sure if or when the mill will resume operation. And those who do know about the company’s operations are keeping mum.

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — What’s next for Social Security? (editorial) — In the deficit-obsessed, anti-tax world of Washington D.C., closing the shortfall in Social Security has come to mean broadly cutting benefits. That would be a mistake. The focus on benefit cuts also conveniently ignores the fact that benefits are already shrinking. Under current law, Social Security benefits will replace 31% of the typical retiree’s preretirement earnings in 2030, compared with 42% as recently as 2004.

► From AP — American auto industry about to go on hiring spree — The auto industry is about to go on a hiring spree as car makers and parts suppliers race to find engineers, technicians and factory workers to build the next generation of vehicles.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Good thing we didn’t listen to Mitt.

► From Bloomberg — Top Democrats ready to oppose views to pass immigration — Sens. Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer, with long records of supporting labor unions, gay rights and gun restrictions, are ready to vote against these constituencies to win passage of an immigration law. The second- and third-ranking Democrats in the chamber helped craft the bipartisan immigration bill the Senate will consider this week. They warn that attempts to amend the legislation for unions, gay-rights activists and gun control advocates could scuttle the most significant revision of U.S. immigration policy in a generation.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Democrats willing to vote against labor’s interests?! Not exactly “man bites dog.”

► In today’s NY Times — Senate digs in for long battle on immigrants — After seven months of steadily building momentum, the push for a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system enters its most crucial phase this week in the Senate, where Republicans remain divided over how much to cooperate with President Obama as they try to repair their party’s standing among Hispanic voters.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In today’s NY Times — The big shrug (by Paul Krugman) — For more than three years some of us have fought the policy elite’s damaging obsession with budget deficits, an obsession that led governments to cut investment when they should have been raising it, to destroy jobs when job creation should have been their priority. That fight seems largely won — in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like the sudden intellectual collapse of austerity economics as a policy doctrine.

But while insiders no longer seem determined to worry about the wrong things, that’s not enough; they also need to start worrying about the right things — namely, the plight of the jobless and the immense continuing waste from a depressed economy. And that’s not happening. Instead, policy makers both here and in Europe seem gripped by a combination of complacency and fatalism, a sense that nothing need be done and nothing can be done. Call it the big shrug.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► From AP — House approves revised budget plan — With lawmakers entering the final days of a special session, the House voted 53-35 to approve the budget. Democratic Rep. Ross Hunter said the budget moves toward the Senate’s position on some items and the House felt it was time to get the budget process started, since time is running out on the special session.

► In today’s Olympian — This is not why we elected them (MUST-READ editorial) — State House Democrats offered an olive branch to Senate Republicans this week, hoping to break the deadlock in budget negotiations before the end of the special session next Tuesday. The Republicans snapped the branch in half, apparently rejecting it without serious consideration. Voters can only conclude that Senate Republicans are not negotiating in good faith. Like their kindred spirits in Washington, D.C. — the tea party U.S. House Republicans — our state senators appear to have drawn a line in the sand on any new revenue. … Is this any way to run a state government? Isn’t the art of compromise the heart of the American political system? Why are state politicians taking us to our own fiscal cliff? Good government results when both parties negotiate in good faith and are willing to compromise for the greater good. As of Thursday, only one party appeared to be doing so. We urge Senate Republicans to govern responsibly.

TAKE A STAND — Tell your legislators to pass the budgets, and go home! — Enough is enough! Click here to send your legislators a message that it’s time to set aside contentious policy bills that didn’t have enough support to pass during the regular session. It’s time to pass the three budgets needed maintain our public and transportation infrastructure. Don’t hold these budgets hostage for contentious policy bills and force yet another special session!

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — House budget gives public some insight (editorial) — Sen. Rodney Tom huffed that the House was balancing the budget on the backs of students because its K-12 appropriation is about $150 million below the Senate’s. He did not mention the Senate move to raise the lid on the estate tax exemption to $5 million from $2 million, which will deprive the Education Trust Fund of about $500 million during the next decade. But then, he represents Medina, home of folks like Bill Gates.

► At PubliCola — Rodney Tom holds brief, bizarre press conference — Sen. Rodney Tom, the renegade Democrat who joined with the Republicans in the Senate to become the Senate Majority Leader of the Republican-dominated Majority Coalition Caucus, held a press conference Thursday in response to Wednesday’s release by House Democrats of a scaled-back budget proposal intended to reach a budget compromise. Tom’s response to the proposal was brief and bizarre.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Here it is. The fun begins at about 3:00 when a flummoxed Rodney Tom makes clear that he doesn’t understand the House budget proposal.

► In today’s Columbian — Local firms donated to anti-CRC effort — Three Southwest Washington companies are the top donors behind a lobbying effort to influence legislators’ views on the Columbia River Crossing project. Kanati Falls Ranch, a timber-management company in Washougal; DeWils Industries, a kitchen and bathroom cabinet manufacturer in Vancouver; and GT Properties, a real estate business in Vancouver, each gave to The I-5 Project Inc., the organization that hired a group of lobbyists to fight the CRC.

LOCAL

► In today’s Columbian — ILWU, grain firms remain deadloacked — More than three months in, the standoff between union dockworkers and United Grain Corp. at the Port of Vancouver shows no signs of letting up, even as Vancouver political leaders urge both parties to end the bitter battle. Although its workers have been locked out at both United Grain and Columbia Grain Inc. in Portland, the ILWU said Thursday that it’s winning support from labor groups across the globe.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Washington ranked 4th in GDP growth in 2012 — Washington state was near the top when it came to growth in gross domestic product last year, according to a new federal report. GDP in Washington grew 3.6 percent in 2012, ranking it fourth highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Uh-oh. More good economic news for Washington. Somebody call Richard Davis to do some more damage control.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Work on temporary Skagit River bridge faces challenges — The state Department of Transportation expects to meet its goal of reopening in the second or third week of the month.

AEROSPACE

► In the PS Business Journal — Boeing engineers’ union adapts to new world without pensions — Boeing union engineers (SPEEA) are gradually adjusting to a task most didn’t want: telling new hires how to manage their 401(k) retirement savings plans, instead of a pension.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing delivered 64 jets in May — Despite the 787′s grounding earlier this year, Boeing vows to deliver at least 60 Dreamliners this year. It delivered seven in May.

WALMART

► At AFL-CIO now — Report: ‘Walmart loophole’ allows big employers to undermine Affordable Care Act — Walmart workers use 40% more public health care assistance than the retail average. The company’s use of public assistance costs California $86 million per year, including $32 million for health care. And these figures could skyrocket next year when the ACA goes into full effect thanks to the “Walmart loophole,” allowing big corporations to easily skirt their responsibility by forcing workers onto public assistance.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Walmart workers rally outside shareholder meetings — Walmart workers, with assistance from the OUR Walmart campaign, launched the first prolonged strike in the company’s history, capping it with a rally on Friday outside the company’s shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Ark.

EDITOR’S NOTE — A Walmart Anti-Retaliation Rally will be held TODAY from 11 a.m. to noon at the Bellingham Walmart, 4420 Meridian St. Twenty one members of OUR Walmart from Washington State (including some members from Bellingham) are in Bentonville, Ark., for the shareholders meeting. In the past, Walmart has retaliated against and attempted to silence those who speak out. Support Walmart workers who speak out by attending this event!

► At Huffington Post — Walmart activism is affecting change at world’s largest retailer, organizers say — Janet Sparks has become involved with a nascent labor movement seeking to organize Walmart workers and her experience offers testament to the tenuous and hard-to-measure, yet nonetheless palpable, changes the movement says it has already achieved since first gaining consumer attention last year.

► In today’s NY Times — More dissent is expected over a Walmart scandal — A year after a shareholder meeting with strong opposition to Walmart board members after a bribery scandal in Mexico, many investors are asking why more change has not occurred.

NATIONAL

► At Democracy Now! — Obama-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership expands corporate lawsuits against nations for lost profits — The Obama administration is facing increasing scrutiny for the extreme secrecy surrounding negotiations around a sweeping new trade deal that could rewrite the nation’s laws on everything from healthcare and Internet freedom to food safety and the financial markets. A leaked chapter from the draft agreement outlines how the TPP would allow foreign corporations operating in the United States to appeal key regulations to an international tribunal. The body would have the power to override U.S. law and issue penalties for failure to comply with its rulings.

► In today’s Washington Post — House Republicans vote to resume deportation of young immigrants — The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to resume the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children, a largely symbolic move in the first immigration-related vote in either chamber of Congress this year and a measure of the daunting challenge facing supporters of a sweeping overhaul of existing law on the subject.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Washington’s GOP Reps. Herrera Beutler, McMorris Rodgers, Hastings and Reichert all voted for this. All of the state’s Democratic delegation voted “no,” including Rep. Adam Smith who said:

I was extremely disappointed that Republicans passed an amendment today that targets hundreds of thousands of DREAMers who, through no fault of their own, were brought to this country as young children.  These children have lived in the United States for years as law-abiding individuals, however the amendment adopted by House Republicans today, draws no distinction between DREAMers and criminals posing security risks to our communities.  We need an enforcement policy that focuses our limited resources on enhancing public safety by targeting serious criminals, not DREAMers.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Look behind the 175,000 jobs created in May — The 175,000 new May jobs marked 38 straight months of tepid job growth. Economists say the growth rate is too slow to fuel a healthy jobs recovery. This reinforces the need for Congress to repeal the sequester and its across-the-board cuts that will cost more than 750,000 jobs this year alone and are derailing the economic recovery.

► From AP — U.S. mulls withdrawal of U.S. trade privileges — A prominent Democratic senator Thursday pushed for suspending duty-free privileges to Bangladesh, saying it would send a strong signal that the United States is serious about protecting workers after hundreds died in the global garment industry’s worst accident.

► In today’s NY Times — The Spite Club (by Paul Krugman) — When you look closer at why some Republican-led states are choosing to opt out of a piece of ObamaCare, it seems the only explanation for it is sheer spite.

T.G.I.F.

► “What music are you listening to lately?” the Entire Staff of The Stand is never asked. Well, if you really want to know, it happens to be Vampire Weekend’s excellent new album “Modern Vampires of the City.” And today, as a special treat, we offer two videos from it. The first is the single “Diane Young” and, if you’ve heard it, you know it’s a bit of an ear worm. So if you don’t want it stuck in your head all day, go with the second clip (our personal preference), the band performing “Unbelievers” on Saturday Night Live. Enjoy!

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — House Democrats offer state budget compromise — House Democrats offered to trim spending and drop many proposals on taxes as part of a compromise they say would allow the Washington Legislature to pass a 2013-15 operating budget before time runs out in the special session.

► From AP — State Dems back away from business tax extension — Democrats in the Legislature are retreating from a plan that would have raised money by extending a business tax, as lawmakers seek an elusive budget compromise in the final week of an overtime legislative session.

► In today’s Olympian — State Senate cool to House plan to cut spending — In a bid to break a budget logjam, House Democrats put a new offer on the table Wednesday that sharply reduces their previous spending targets and tax-hike plans, but a Republican-led coalition that runs the Senate immediately threw cold water on the plan.

► In today’s Olympian — Liquor move sullies Costco’s reputation (editorial) — While state lawmakers sit idle, waiting for their respective party’s budget writers to find an acceptable compromise before the special session ends Tuesday, lobbyists for the giant discount retailer Costco are hard at work. They are once again trying to rewrite the state liquor laws in their favor. Fearing that voters would reject I-1183 because the state might lose hundreds of millions in tax revenue, Costco added language that requires retailers to pay a 17% fee on all sales, including those made directly to restaurants for resale. Just 18 months after getting voter approval on the initiative, Costco is now brazenly pressing state legislators to remove the 17% fee. If passed, 2SHB 1161 would deprive the state of tens of millions in revenue, and give Costco, and other big retailers, an inequitable and unwarranted advantage over other private liquor distributors.

► In today’s Olympian — Another GOP gift to the wealthy (editorial) — Republicans controlling the state Senate cynically used the urgency to fix an accidental loophole in the estate tax to benefit about 300 wealthy Washingtonians.

ALSO at The Stand — Senate is choosing millionaires over students

LOCAL

► From AP — Precision Castparts workers to vote on joining union — More than 2,000 local employees of Precision Castparts Corp. are deciding whether to unionize Oregon’s only Fortune 500 company besides Nike. Workers will vote Thursday and Friday in the companies’ Portland, Milwaukie and Clackamas plants whether to join the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers. The National Labor Relations Board will supervise the election in a secret ballot covering 12 factories. Employees have complained about mandatory overtime shifts that force them to work weeks at a stretch. Precision, which makes airplane and gas turbine parts, has a $6.8 billion backlog of unfilled orders.

► In The Stranger — Supersize my salary now! — Seattle’s strike was not only the latest in a rolling series of nationwide fast-food walkouts, it was proving to be the largest: By the end of the day, at least eight—and as many as 14, by some counts — local fast-food restaurants had been forced to shut down, at least temporarily. Many other stores were left to operate shorthanded. As one striker put it: “When a manager has to make fries, that’s a victory, too.”

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — New ferry dock in Mukilteo two steps closer — After many hang-ups and delays, two major developments this week have cleared the way for the state to begin building a $140 million terminal as soon as next year and be finished by 2017.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Environmental groups sue BNSF, coal companies — A coalition of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle, accusing BNSF Railway Co. and several coal companies of violating the Clean Water Act.

► From AP — Worker fired for stealing pie sues city — A Bridgeport public works employee who was fired by the mayor for shoplifting a $1.69 fruit pie is filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

► In today’s Olympian — Debunking myths about Obama’s Affordable Care Act — State Office of Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler delivered a mythbusting speech about the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, telling a lunchtime audience that changes set to take place in health care in 2014 are much better than what the current health care system has to offer.

► From CNBC — A reason for conservatives to love Obamacare — A rift between labor unions and the White House over coverage through Obamacare might be putting smiles on opponents of the health care law — as well as those antagonistic to unions themselves.

► In The Hill — Obamacare more unpopular than ever — A new poll found that 49% of people call Affordable Care Act a bad idea, about four in 10 say they will be worse off under the law, and 37% call the reform a good idea. A plurality, 39%, said the law won’t make a difference to them, while 19% said it will leave them better off.

WALMART

► In The Nation — Striking workers bring Bangladesh safety demands to Walmart’s headquarters — On a public sidewalk across from Walmart’s “home office” headquarters, international Walmart workers and fired warehouse workers joined striking employees in a demonstration calling for Walmart to avert future deaths in its international supply chain. On the other side of a narrow parking lot, a few of the blue-shirted Walmart employees brought to Bentonville by Walmart management began snapping cell phone photos of their striking co-workers, who sang, “Which side are you on Walmart…. Are you on the side of safety or on the side of murder?” Then a series of well-dressed Walmart staff began leading the blue-shirted employees in the company’s classic cheer spelling out its name: “Give me a W!” “W!” “Give me an A!” “A!”… “What’s that spell?” “Walmart!”

EDITOR’S NOTE — A Walmart Anti-Retaliation Rally will be held Friday, June 7 from 11 a.m. to noon at the Bellingham Walmart, 4420 Meridian St. Twenty one members of OUR Walmart from Washington State (including some members from Bellingham) are in Bentonville, Ark., for the shareholders meeting. The workers are standing together and speaking up to make change in their working conditions and for worker safety in Walmart’s supply chain. In the past, Walmart has retaliated against and attempted to silence those who speak out. Support Walmart workers who speak out by attending this event.

NATIONAL

► At Huffington Post — Grand Bargain loses center for American Progress support in major blow for austerity — The Center for American Progress, a pillar of the Democratic establishment in Washington is walking away from the broad negotiations aimed at reaching a “grand bargain,” the pursuit of a deficit-reduction deal that has dominated the political agenda since mid-2010. The idea of a grand bargain had little backing from organized labor and the progressive flank to begin with, but maintained institutional support from establishment forces in the party. CAP’s exit from the stage sends a powerful signal to the White House, leaving the president to craft a deal largely on his own, should he continue to pursue it.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This Grand Bargain nonsense has been a driving factor in efforts to cut Social Security benefits via a “chained CPI” index. So this is good news.

► In today’s Washington Post — Social Security, Medicare changes to put seniors at financial risk, report says –  Nearly half of the nation’s elderly population is “economically vulnerable” and would be particularly hard hit by even modest changes in the Social Security and Medicare programs being considered to slow the growth of the nation’s long-term debt, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute.

► At NYTimes.com — Heritage shock (by Paul Krugman) — A Heritage Foundation economist has been accused of presenting false, deliberately misleading data and analysis to the Senate Budget Committee. One does wonder whether Heritage may at this point be destroying its own usefulness. Its purpose was never to do real research; it was always a propaganda arm of the movement. But it was supposed to create a plausible illusion of intellectual rigor, good enough to take in gullible journalists. But is there anyone not a committed right-winger who, at this point, believes anything coming out of Heritage? And in that case, what’s the Foundation for?

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In today’s Washington Post — Go slower on free trade (by Harold Meyerson) — What’s in the (Trans Pacific Partnership) pact isn’t clear, as the administration has clamped a tight lid on the proceedings. What is clear, however, is that the era of free-trade deals has been one of growing economic inequality in the United States and the decoupling of U.S. corporate interests from those of the American people. These deals have done little to nothing to offset the job and income losses that U.S. workers have endured during this period.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

LOCAL

► At AFL-CIO Now — Belshaw factory strikers stand strong after rejecting unfair contract — IAM: “Since March 24, the employees have been diligently manning the strike line at the Auburn facility of the employer. Since the beginning the employer has taken the position that it would replace the workers if they did not cave and come back to work. Belshaw President Mr. Faw, through his labor negotiator, notified the union and its bargaining committee that it has replaced about 60% of the strikers and will continue to replace the remaining unless they accept the Last Best and Final document that was offered during mediation. That document was voted down unanimously along with the message, ‘We will not go back with less than we went out with.’ ”

ALSO at The Stand — International solidarity for Belshaw strikers

► In today’s News Tribune — Clover Park District to get $91 million to rebuild JBLM schools — The Defense Department is sending almost $91 million to Lakewood’s Clover Park School District to demolish and rebuild three elementary schools that serve students at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) has announced.

► In today’s Oregonian — Columbia River Crossing: One step forward, another back as Coast Guard hearing lets all sides sound off — The Coast Guard has veto authority over the project, and CRC officials expect the agency to decide by Sept. 30 whether to issue the necessary bridge permit. But the Coast Guard’s national chief of bridge programs told The Oregonian Tuesday that a decision may not occur by then.

► In today’s Columbian — Coast Guard hears CRC objections from project’s critics — In the first of two hearings hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard, much of the testimony focused on the proposed Interstate 5 Bridge replacement’s planned 116-foot bridge height.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Commissioners hear update on coal terminal permit process — A number of factors — including the need to be extra cautious in the face of public scrutiny — are contributing to the lengthy time its taking to process a permit for the proposed Longview coal terminal, Cowlitz County commissioners were told Tuesday.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Pasco hospital to stop delivering babies, cut 50-65 jobs — After almost a century of delivering babies in Pasco, Lourdes Health Network is closing its obstetrics department and laying off 50 to 65 people. Some of those jobs will be lost when Lourdes also closes its Connell clinic.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — PGE projects mean hundreds of construction jobs in Boardman, Dayton — Up to 800 construction jobs could be generated by two new power projects planned in Boardman and Dayton by Portland General Electric Co.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Estate tax plan moves forward in state Senate — Gov. Jay Inslee, clearly frustrated over a lack of progress in budget negotiations and a plan to fix a problem with the estate tax, accused the Senate on Tuesday of hurting schoolchildren to help multimillionaires. The Senate Republicans’ estate tax bill would eliminate about $500 million from the education legacy trust fund over the next 10 years, Inslee said.

ALSO at The Stand — Senate is choosing millionaires over students (May 31)

► In today’s News Tribune — Rep. Steve O’Ban will replace Mike Carrell in Senate — Narrowly deciding Tuesday to bypass the top choice of local Republican Party activists, the Pierce County Council appointed University Place Republican Rep. Steve O’Ban to the Senate. O’Ban is a lawyer known for taking on high-profile cases on behalf of conservative causes.

► In today’s News Tribune — Pierce County Jail crisis demands legislative fix (editorial) – Washington mandates that its counties bear all the costs of caring for jailed felons, including psychiatric treatment and expensive medical procedures. Nobody else does this outside of state prisons. The Legislature has an obvious interest in not watching idly as a major urban jail slides into crippling distress.

AEROSPACE

► From Bloomberg — Carriers in Japan resume 787 flights as 747 era ends — ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines, the world’s two largest operators of Boeing 787s, are counting on the Dreamliner to boost profits as the carriers dump their fleets of 747s that they relied on for decades.

► In today’s NY Times — Japanese pilots worry about repaired 787 jets — As Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner returns to the skies, Japanese pilots are nervous about whether they would receive enough warning about any hazards with the jetliner’s new battery system.

AUSTERITY

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Washington River Protections cancels tank farm furloughs — Nonunion workers at Washington River Protection Solutions had been required to take 2.5 to 6.5 weeks of time off between spring and the end of September because of the forced federal budget cuts called sequestration. That puts the final tally of furloughed workers at about 1,800 across the site, far less than the 3,000 furloughs once projected. Most of those remaining furloughs are for one week. However, many workers remain without jobs. TRIDEC estimates that 600 workers have lost jobs because of sequestration at Hanford.

► At AFL-CIO Now — Ironworkers call on Congress to fix crumbling infrastructure — After the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in Washington State, Ironworkers General President Walter Wise called on Congress to break the unprecedented gridlock and make immediate investment in rebuilding the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

► At TPM — House Republicans quietly return to budget stand-off mode — On Tuesday the House passed a measure directing House appropriators, in the absence of a budget agreement, to adopt spending levels in the Republican budget. That budget calls for enormous cuts to spending on everything from science research to education to health care, in order to rescue the Defense Department and other politically favored agencies from the ravages of sequestration.

► From Yahoo! News — Republicans: Is government union work delaying help for veterans? — Does a law permitting federal workers to do union work while on the clock at their government jobs shortchange veterans? That’s the suggestion from a pair of key Republican senators who have asked the VA Secretary for an accounting of what is known as “official time” at his agency.

EDITOR’S NOTE — These same Republicans have dismissed their across-the-board federal sequestration budget cuts as harmless, having slashed the budgets for programs supporting veterans on issues from housing to mental health, including the Labor Department’s VETS job-training program. And yet it’s now The Unions that are harming veterans. “Official Time” is a decades-old policy that has allowed agencies to expeditiously and effectively use employee input to make government more efficient and resolve labor-management conflicts. The only thing that has changed is America’s right wing has been emboldened by their rich benefactors to undermine and eliminate labor unions.

NATIONAL

► From AP — About 135,00 private-sector jobs added in May, short of expectations — A private survey shows U.S. businesses added just 135,000 jobs in May, the second straight month of weak gains. The chief economist for Moody’s Analytics blamed the slowdown on higher taxes and steep government spending cuts enacted this year.

► In The Nation — The most underestimated feminist in D.C. — In her fourth term, largely under the media radar, Patty Murray has become a major force in the Senate, and a leading voice for family-level concerns not often central to that body. She has been insistent on women’s issues such as healthcare, domestic violence and reproductive rights. Her status has been bolstered by two recent triumphs — a completely unexpected 2012 two-seat gain as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and piloting a federal budget though the Senate — that have helped make her Washington’s most underestimated feminist figure.

► In today’s NY Times — Advice and consent (editorial) — President Obama did his job with three fine nominations to a top appeals court. Now the Senate has a job to do.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► At AFL-CIO Now — Brooklyn Cablevision’s NLRB suit aims deep into agency — In January 2012, some 285 Brooklyn Cablevision workers voted to join the CWA and have since been in negotiations for a fair contract, with little success. In April, two National Labor Relations Board regional directors issued complaints against Brooklyn Cablevision for failure to bargain in good faith and for illegally firing 22 workers. Now the cable giant has filed a suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit claiming the court’s recent ruling that President Barack Obama’s recess appointments of three members to the NLRB are invalid should reach even deeper into the NLRB and invalidate decisions by the board’s regional offices.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In order to restore the rule of law, the U.S. Senate must end the Republican minority’s ability to endlessly filibuster NLRB appointees. What’s the point of having laws if political ideologues — who lost the presidential election and have been relegated to the minority in the Senate — can block their enforcement?

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.