DAILY NEWS
Moonlighting, Rahm’s union busting, ‘free’ trade’s toll…
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
LOCAL
► In today’s Seattle Times — ‘We got it all’ in arena deal, council member says — The announcement that the Seattle City Council had reached a revised agreement with investor Chris Hansen to build a $490 million arena drew widespread support from city and county business and political leaders Tuesday, and from sports fans who celebrated the possible return of the Seattle SuperSonics. Even Port of Seattle officials, who had warned that the Sodo location could put at risk $3 billion in annual revenues and 33,000 maritime jobs, sounded more optimistic.
► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Pacific County public safety workers will vote on contract — A new contract for the non-deputized employees of the Pacific County Sheriff’s Department will be voted on by members of its union, with voting concluding on Sept 17, according to a press release issued by Teamsters Local 252.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Red Lion outlines attempts at sale, merger — Red Lion Hotels Corp. managers said that they’ve contacted more than 70 potential buyers but have failed to find offers to buy the hospitality chain.
PORT OF SEATTLE
► At SeattlePI.com — An ‘appearance problem’ at Port of Seattle — “We don’t have an actual conflict here, but we have an appearance problem,” commissioner John Creighton told his colleagues. The commissioners, on the receiving end of 2,000 e-mails, agreed to hire an outside counsel.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Effort to check voter rolls dropped — Washington can’t use immigrant registration records from the U.S. Homeland Security Department to verify names on its voter rolls, state elections officials said Tuesday. The reason: The state doesn’t have a system that requires proof of legal residency before issuing a driver’s license, which is needed to use the federal system.
CHICAGO TEACHERS
► At WBEZ.org — Janitors plan one-day solidarity strike with teachers — In a show of solidarity, some janitors may be joining Chicago teachers on the picket lines. The president of SEIU Local 1 says many of the 1,500 janitors who work in Chicago public schools have wanted to join striking teachers. The union has filed a notice that could make that possible.
► At In These Times — Director of private school where Rahm sends his kids opposes testing for teacher evaluations — Instead of sending his kids to public schools, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s children attend one of the most elite prep schools in Chicago. But the prep school’s director agrees with Chicago Teachers Union on a key issue: “Measuring outcomes through standardized testing (is) misguided.”
► In today’s NY Times — Chicago teachers’ strike puts Obama at odds with key part of political base
► In today’s Washington Post — In Chicago, a Democratic civil war (by Harold Meyerson) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel made clear from the start he had no interest in working with the teachers, and the teachers reacted as angry and aggrieved partisans. If this war within the Democratic Party spreads beyond Chicago, it doesn’t augur well for the future of education or the party. If Democrats are bent on committing suicide, the Emanuel mode of union-busting looks like a fine place to start.
ALSO at The Stand — Why Chicago teachers went out on strike
‘FREE’ TRADE
► At TPM — Apple supplier Foxconn comes under fire before iPhone 5 launch — A new series of reports allege that the Taiwanese company has been exploiting Chinese student interns from vocational schools to build the iPhone 5 in its Chinese-based factories, effectively taking advantage of “work study”-like programs and paying the interns very little for long hours of potentially dangerous factory work.
NATIONAL
► In today’s NY Times — Health care premiums rise slightly — A family with employer-provided health insurance now pays just under $16,000 in annual premiums, an increase of about 4% over a year ago, according to a study by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Individual policies purchased through an employer rose even less, increasing just 3% from last year. Workers at places with more low-wage employees paid on average $1,000 more in premiums than those working at places employing more higher-earning workers.
► In The Hill — Unions vows to fight extended pay freeze in spending bill — Federal worker unions said Tuesday that they will work to reverse an extended pay freeze contained in the six-month continuing resolution coming to the House floor on Thursday. The bill continues the two-year-old pay freeze beyond Jan. 1 until March 27. President Obama had sought a 0.5% increase for civilian workers starting in the new year.
► At AFL-CIO Now — State Supreme Court to hear Pa. voter suppression case — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday against the state’s voter suppression law that Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) said “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 9 a.m.