Thursday, October 25, 2012

BOEING

► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing rakes in cash as production soars — Boeing’s commercial-jet business continues to boom even as the global economy flags. Soaring production rates at the final-assembly plants in Renton and Everett are raking in cash, and on Wednesday the airplane-maker reported a strong financial performance in the third quarter and raised its profit forecast for the full year.

► At SPEEA.org — Profits top expectations, pace of negotiations picks up — As corporate executives announced $1 billion in quarterly profits to Wall Street, Boeing negotiators on Wednesday showed signs the company’s continued success, coupled with the overwhelming rejection of the original offer, is making movement possible. Wednesday’s negotiations were marked by a new spirit of collaborative problem solving. The company and the union exchanged proposals on medical and pension issues.

► At HeraldNet.com — A turning point in Boeing-SPEEA negotiations?

► At Boeing.com — Boeing projects $820 billion market for 7,290 new airplanes in North America — Boeing forecasts single-aisle airplanes will grow to 69 percent of the total North America fleet by 2031.

STATE ELECTIONS

► In the Seattle Times — Reject I-1240, sending public money to charter schools (op-ed) — I-1240 would use your taxpayer money to create 40 new publicly funded, privately run schools. These new charter schools would serve less than 1% of our students and would be unaccountable to voters. The real problems we have to solve are overcrowded classrooms, outdated technology and textbooks, and not enough teachers. The recent state Supreme Court court ruling was unequivocal: We must give teachers and principals the resources they need to ensure that all of our kids succeed.

► In the Seattle Times — New Elway poll shows tight governor’s race, shift among women — The latest survey shows Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna with a two-point lead (47 to 45 percent) over his Democratic opponent Jay Inslee. The poll has a 4.5% margin of error and was conducted Oct. 18-21.

► At PubliCola — McKenna campaign blog trots out anti-gay rhetoric— Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna’s blog is pushing a homophobic and inaccurate talking point about the gay “lifestyle.” A post on his campaign blog about women’s perspective about McKenna says, “They don’t want free stuff, nor do they want their children being taught alternate lifestyles by strangers.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — After being called out, the McKenna campaign later removed the posting.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Elect Bob Ferguson (editorial) — The Herald Editorial Board strongly believes Ferguson’s experience, his bipartisan work on the county council, and sharp legal mind, (including his chessmaster’s ability to think dozens of moves ahead), clearly make him the best choice to run the state’s attorney general office.

► In The Stranger — The two faces of Gael Tarleton — The Seattle port commissioner and legislative candidate’s critics, especially former supporters, say Tarleton has a reputation for saying one thing and doing another, smoothing over the gaps with charm, grace, and an uncanny ability to sound progressive without making strong and consistent commitments on key issues: emissions, job conditions for port workers, transparency and accountability, coal trains and coal terminals, and more. Those critics say Tarleton frames herself as a champion of workers, the environment, and the public interest, but she backs moneyed and conservative interests when it counts.

► In today’s Columbian — Nearly 1 in 5 ballots returned in Clark County — So far, voter turnout is similar when compared to the 2008 general election.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — A perk for early voters? Less campaigning — Technology gives candidates and their campaign workers the power to figure out each day who’s sent in their ballots and who hasn’t. They won’t know how the ballot is marked, of course, but if you sent it back they will know you’re not worth bugging any more.

LOCAL

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Absent workers forcing ferries to cancel sailings — As a cost-saving measure, the ferry system in June cut back the number of staff on some boats to the minimum recommended for safety by the U.S. Coast Guard. Even though it amounts to a reduction of only one employee per boat — in most cases, from 11 to 10 — this has left no margin for error when even one worker doesn’t get to the boat for one reason or another and it’s too late to find an on-call replacement. Altogether, 37 sailings were cancelled in the summer season because of crew shortages, compared to four during the summer of 2011.

► In today’s Seattle Times — $3.7 million payout settles pay differences for light-rail work — Sound Transit settles a class-action lawsuit claiming 328 people who worked at Bethlehem Construction in Cashmere from 2005-07 should have been paid the same prevailing wage as workers on the Tukwila job site.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — County pleads with McKenna over suit — The Grays Harbor County commissioners are pressing Attorney General Rob McKenna to stop giving the Grays Harbor Superior Court judges a “blank check” for the judges to take “extremist legal positions” in their lawsuit against the county over budget cuts.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World —Oil export company looking at port — The Port of Grays Harbor has entered into a property access agreement with a Texas-based company now exploring the possibility of using marine Terminal No. 3 as a crude oil distribution facility for product produced in North America.

► At SeattlePI.com — Walmart in Seattle? The lowdown— There’s been talk that Seattle’s first Walmart might move into the Central District, prompting plans for a leafletting protest Wednesday at the supposed site. But no Walmart deal is in the works, a spokeswoman for the site says.

► In today’s Columbian — Clark County won’t need to tap its reserves — Revenues are $1.5 million greater than expected and expenses are $4.5 million under budget.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Big growth at UW-Bothell — An enrollment surge in recent years has helped the University of Washington’s Bothell campus surpass all of the other branch campuses in the state.

‘ECONOMIC TRAITOR’

► At Buzzfeed — Union Super PAC brands Mitt Romney as ‘economic traitor’ — Workers’ Voice, the AFL-CIO-affiliated super PAC is out with a harsh new ad campaign Thursday morning branding Mitt Romney an “economic traitor.” “Bain Capital is outsourcing jobs at Sensata Tech in Northern Illinois to China,” the website economictraitor.com states. “When executives from the new plant in China came in to visit the factory, Bain Capital made Sensata staff take down the American flag until they left.”

► At Big News Network — Sensata workers file complaints with NLRB — Workers at a Bain Capital-owned factory in Illinois filed unfair labor practices complaints after the company threatened a shutdown amid protests for sending jobs to China.

NATIONAL

► Today in the Hill — CEOs band together for $40 million campaign to urge action on deficit — Leading CEOs — including the heads of Microsoft and Boeing — are pressuring Washington policymakers to set aside their entrenched positions and strike a deal to resolve the “fiscal cliff” and cut the deficit. “What we’re trying to do is drive support for the radical middle, the 70 percent of us … that really want to do the right thing down the middle and recognize that the only way you can govern is through compromise,” said David Cote, chairman and CEO for Honeywell.

► From AP — American Airlines plans to hire 2,500 pilots — The airline’s CEO said the company expects to hire 2,500 pilots over the next five years as it ramps up international flights.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 9 a.m.