NEWS ROUNDUP
Times McCoverage, budget for the 1%, Girl Talk…
LOCAL
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Allied Waste workers stop work to support union in Alabama — Several thousand people and businesses in Snohomish County didn’t get their trash picked up because Allied Waste employees stopped work here in support of a union in Alabama.
ALSO see coverage in The Stand — because you won’t find coverage…
EDITOR’S NOTE — The Seattle Times does a good job of mocking opposition to the McDonald’s in this timely news coverage of a hearing that happened three weeks ago. The McDonald’s application has serious implications for Port labor policies and the existing SeaTac concessions workforce that go unmentioned in this article. See The Stand’s coverage of this issue, and why it matters.
► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — Olympic Medical Center, union reach agreement — Olympic Medical Center and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW have reached a tentative accord in their long-stalled contract talks. It is scheduled for votes by hospital commissioners and union members Tuesday — one week after a PERC mediator was slated to begin adjudicating the union’s unfair-labor practices complaint.
► In today’s Kitsap Sun — Shipyard, WSF mark beginning of 144-car ferry construction— Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) and Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) made the first arc welds on the keel at Vigor Industrial’s Harbor Island shipyard.
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Sargento to close Bellingham facility, lay off 54 workers — The plan is to cease operations of the 65,000-square-foot facility it leases at Bellingham Cold Storage in the next 9 to 16 months, with a final closing date to be announced later this spring.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► From AP — Gregoire pushes for compromise on state budget— Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday she is now pushing a compromise budget plan that would encapsulate many of the Legislature’s contentious proposals into one package.
► In the Seattle Times — Budget deal could solidify, or go nowhere, in next 48 hours — The governor would not discuss the sticking points but said there are half-dozen major issues being negotiated.
► In today’s News Tribune — On moral and financial grounds cutting Disability Lifeline doesn’t make sense (by Kathryn Crawford) — More than 15,000 people have been anxiously awaiting a decision from the state Legislature that will seriously impact their health — and possibly their survival.
► In the Seattle Times — McKenna supports ending tax breaks for big banks — The Republican Attorney General says he supports ending a controversial tax break for big banks that has long been targeted by Democrats. Ending the tax break for big banks would bring in about $20 million a year, according to estimates.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Record $540M lottery has states salivating over big tax jackpot — For most of the 42 states in which the Mega Millions tickets are sold, taxes on a lump-sum payment option to a single hometown winner could bring a tax bonanza for governments struggling through lean times. But not Washington, which has no income tax.
ELECTION
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Gregoire: Election in works to replace Inslee — The governor says a special election will be held to pick someone to serve the final weeks of former Rep. Jay Inslee’s term, but she hasn’t decided who will get to vote — those living in the old 1st CD boundaries or the new ones.
► At TPM — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recall vote officially begins — After more than a year of protests, legislative recalls, and petition drives that have made this Midwestern swing state a center of national attention, a state agency voted this morning to certify the recall petitions.
BUDGET FOR THE 1%
EDITOR’S NOTE — Every Republican from Washington state voted for this budget.
► In today’s NY Times — A cruel budget(editorial) — House Republicans approved a disastrous new budget that would shred low-income programs while giving the rich a tax break. And Mitt Romney has embraced it.
NATIONAL
► In today’s Washington Post — GOP blocks efforts to end tax breaks for Big Oil — President Obama called on Congress to end tax breaks for oil companies and Senate Democrats followed by forcing a vote to end tax cuts for the five largest oil companies, which Republicans resoundingly defeated.
► At AFL-CIO Now — Massey official pleads guilty in Upper Big Branch case — A former superintendent at the Massey Energy mine in West Virginia, where 29 miners were killed in an April 2010 explosion, pleads guilty to conspiracy to violate federal mine safety laws.
► In today’s Washington Post — Home health care workers deserve a living wage(by Dean Baker and Steven L. Dawson) — Recent debates in Congress over birth control and women’s health make it seem as if our representatives think that women should simply leave the workforce to care for their children and aging parents. But that isn’t going to happen. Americans are two-income families out of necessity. The country needs a national solution that helps us all meet our family responsibilities. That includes building a skilled, stable workforce by treating caregiving as real work and paying those who provide these services a living wage.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
► At Politico — States stick to health law strategies— So far, the states don’t show any signs that they’re going to change their implementation plans.
► In today’s NY times — Broccoli and Bad Faith (by Paul Krugman) — Nobody knows what the Supreme Court will decide with regard to the Affordable Care Act. But, after this week’s hearings, it it’s hard not to feel a sense of foreboding — and to worry that the nation’s already badly damaged faith in the Supreme Court’s ability to stand above politics is about to take another severe hit.
TODAY’S MUST-HEAR
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 9 a.m. These links are functional at the date of posting, but sometimes expire.