NEWS ROUNDUP
USPS protests, Tri-Cities transit unrest, Prince shreds…
POSTAL SERVICE CUTS
► In today’s Columbian — Letter Carriers protest in Vancouver — The National Association of Letter Carriers union protested against U.S. Senate Bill 1789. The legislation would limit mail delivery to weekdays only and change door-to-door delivery to “cluster” delivery, in which neighbors would get mail from a centrally located cluster of mailboxes.
LOCAL
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — CH2M Hill plans up to 400 job cuts before late September— The layoffs will come in two phases with the first reduction in late June and the second in late September. Now CH2M Hill and its main subcontractors employ 1,807 people.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle Community College is right to scrap protest restrictions (editorial) — SCC is one of the most diverse two-year-college systems in the country. No way its students, many of whom fled countries where speech is hindered, would support limiting speech here.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Sullivan asks Reardon to move on garbage contract— The Snohomish County Council has grown increasingly frustrated with County Executive Aaron Reardon’s office over negotiating a long-term garbage contract.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► From AP — Attorney closer to filing suit over GOP Sen. Roach’s return— In a demand letter sent to the Senate last week, a senior Republican attorney wrote that all of the restrictions on Sen. Roach’s access to staff were lifted “solely for political reasons.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Those political reasons were for Roach to provide the 25th vote needed to seize control of the Senate and pass a doomed-from-the-start Republican budget that slashed education funding and safety net programs.
► In today’s Kitsap Sun — BC, WA ferry official explore benefits of working together — A proviso to the supplemental transportation budget aims for meetings between Washington State Ferries and BC Ferries to explore jointly buying 144-car vessels both systems can use.
ELECTION
► In today’s NY Times — Smokeless in Seattle (by Dominic Holden) — A momentous ballot initiative to legalize marijuana use for all adults in Washington State would wrest profits from murderous cartels while helping the beleaguered state budget.
► At PubliCola — Ferguson laps Dunn in fundraising for AG’s race
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Rep. Goodman ends bid for U.S. House seat in 1st
NATIONAL
► At AFL-CIO Now — Spotlight on ALEC grows, some big corporations drop membership— After a nationwide petition effort to persuade major corporations to drop their support of ALEC, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft Foods, Intuit, Wendy’s and McDonald’s have severed their ties with the right-wing conservative group
► At TPM — Cantor’s JOBS Act drives wedge between labor, Obama — Unions objected strongly before the legislation was enacted, and several weeks later, they’re continuing to air grievances.
► In today’s NY Times — Cannibalize the future (Paul Krugman column) — America used to be a country that thought big about the future. Major public projects, from the Erie Canal to the interstate highway system, used to be a well-understood component of our national greatness. Nowadays, however, the only big projects politicians are willing to undertake — with expense no object — seem to be wars.
► At Politico — John Mellencamp to Gov. Walker: Hey, I’m liberal — Liberal rocker John Mellencamp wants Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to know he supports collective bargaining and union rights and says Walker should be aware of that before using his song “Small Town” on the campaign trail.
TODAY’S MUST-HEAR
► With all due respect to Mr. Mellencamp, watch/listen as Prince shreds the second guitar solo during “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison, et al. We’re not sure about “greatest ever,” but pretty awesome.
Have a great weekend — brought to you by the Labor Movement!
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.