Wednesday, June 6, 2012

RECALL WALKER

► From Reuters — Gov. Walker survives recall in Wisconsin — Exit polls showed that Democrats had captured nearly 69 percent of the voters who made up their minds in the past few days. But it wasn’t enough as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a vote to keep his job on Tuesday. Walker out-raised his opponent 7 to 1 in a campaign that cost more than $63.5 million, a state record. That foreshadowed the edge that free-spending super PACs could give Republican candidate Mitt Romney in November.

► From AP — Wisconsin Senate power likely shifts to Dems — Control of the state Senate appeared to have been wrested from Republicans early Wednesday, as unofficial final results showed former state Sen. John Lehman ahead of GOP incumbent Sen. Van Wanggaard.

► From Gannett — Despite Walker victory, Madison protesters vow to keep up the fight — “It will be a struggle but we are not going to give up,” said Craig Spaulding, a Madison resident.  “Many people have said there’s this recall fatigue setting in and we won’t be able to keep up this intensity but we will, we will for the rest of our lives.”

STATE ELECTIONS

► In today’s Olympian — Petitions to arrive today, starting the marriage race — Ref. 74 petitions turned in this morning will put the brakes on same-sex weddings that otherwise would have been legal starting Thursday under the law passed by the Legislature last winter.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Delegates representing unions from across Washington state voted to endorse approval of Ref. 74, affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry.

► In today’s Seattle Times — PAC buys ad time opposing McKenna — Our Washington, a union-funded PAC opposing Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna, has reserved about $2.8 million worth of ad time statewide for the final month of the election.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Seattle Times — Buyers’ remorse over end of state stores as liquor price rises — Washington state’s new liquor-privatization law is challenging the basic idea that competition leads to lower prices. Less than a week after a historic change to liquor sales in Washington, many customers are complaining about bigger-than-expected prices.

ALSO at The Stand — Liquor privatization’s false promises exposed

LOCAL

► In today’s Seattle Times — Developers team up on 23-story hotel project near stadiums— Two of the SoDo neighborhood’s biggest developers are joining forces to build the second phase of Stadium Place, the ambitious high-rise project in CenturyLink Field’s north parking lot, and plan to break ground in summer 2013.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing, Air India reach agreement on 787 — The Boeing Co. and Air India have reached an agreement on compensation for 787 delays, clearing the way for Dreamliner deliveries.

► In today’s News Tribune — Huge budget gaps ahead for City of Tacoma— The city will face growing budget shortfalls over the next five years if it doesn’t change its financial ways soon, its top budget official tells the City Council.

► In the Wenatchee World — Layoffs, rate hikes may be part of Chelan PUD fiber future — The Chelan County PUD has proposed laying off four workers, deferring costs and increasing wholesale rates and fees to force its bloated fiber-optics-network budget onto a break-even track within five years.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Sheriff backs sales tax to fix budget shortfall — Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Tuesday that the ability of his office to fight crime is increasingly endangered by funding cuts.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — City Council approves anti-Citizens United resolution— Bellingham’s City Council has unanimously approved a resolution endorsing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.

► In today’s Seattle Times — UW students facing 16% tuition hike look for cuts but find little fat — Students are watchdogging the university’s billion-dollar budget to try to keep tuition costs down.

NATIONAL

► In today’s LA Times — Wal-Mart is driving down wages for warehouse workers, report finds — The world’s largest retailer has significantly outsourced its supply chain, hiring third-party companies to operate its warehouses and transport its good to stores. Those firms in turn often rely on poorly paid temporary workers, says a new report. That complex hierarchy of contractors and subcontractors has lowered the quality of warehouse jobs across the country, including in Southern California, where the mostly Latino workforce has been disproportionately affected, the study’s authors concluded.

► In today’s NY Times — Senate Republicans again block pay equity bill — A bill that would pave the way for women to more easily litigate their way to pay equality failed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday as Republicans united against the measure for the second time in two years.

► In today’s NY Times — Voters in California approve pension cuts — In San Diego and San Jose, voters overwhelmingly approved ballot initiatives designed to help balance ailing municipal budgets by cutting retirement benefits for city workers.

► In today’s Washington Post — Unions wield new power as shareholders (by Harold Meyerson) — By using the voting power of their pension funds, and by organizing shareholder opposition to excessive executive pay and corporate political donations, unions have begun to restore a modicum of accountability for out-of-control business leaders.

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.