NEWS ROUNDUP
WA ♥’s ACA, immigration reform progress, problem with paychecks…
Monday, March 11, 2013
LOCAL
► In the Seattle Times — Olympia hospital workers plan to strike Monday over health costs — If more than 500 service workers and others at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia go on strike Monday morning as planned, it will be the largest health-care strike since 2004, union officials said.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Providence workers strike over health cuts
► In the Bellingham Herald —Bellingham’s working waterfront: Can it continue? — With big changes expected as the community considers waterfront redevelopment, a group of marine business owners hope that industry remains intact. They are forming an industry association to explain to the Port of Bellingham the importance of marine businesses when it comes to jobs.
► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Smoking ban on Grays Harbor County worksites considered
HEALTH CARE
► In Sunday’s Spokesman-Review — A large dose of reform: Washington embraces Affordable Care Act — Health care, American-style, is about to undergo the biggest change since the enactment of Medicare 48 years ago. In quiet office buildings far from the glare of television cameras, officials worry that people who need these changes have no idea what’s coming. Health insurance is complicated, and there’s been no lack of controversy to obscure the emerging structure of reform. But in Washington state, reform is becoming reality, more rapidly than in most areas of the country.
► In today’s Washington Post — Paul Ryan calls for Obamacare’s repeal — Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal is sure to encounter stiff resistance from Democrats in Congress who are committed to protecting Obamacare. That push back is likely to complicate Obama’s efforts this week to reach a grand bargain on the budget.
► At Politico — Frustrated GOP health staffers jump ship — Since the election, one top Republican health policy staffer after another has fled the Hill for consulting and lobbying gigs that promise better pay, fewer hours and less obstructionism.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In the News Tribune — State decides to outsource web work to private company — State government plans to outsource the operation of Access Washington to a private company at no cost to state taxpayers. Kansas-based NIC Inc. will recoup its expenses — along with a profit — for running the Web portal and other “e-government” services for the state. But the money will come from transaction fees on businesses that, for example, want information about vehicle licenses.
EDITOR’S NOTE — So, the state pays nothing, but businesses/individuals will pay new fees for formerly free public information so this Kansas company can make a profit.
► In the News Tribune — Peacemaker in Tacoma teachers’ strike likely doomed — Barely 18 months after teachers in Tacoma went on strike over their district’s proposal to give principals more authority over teacher placement, the Legislature is poised to derail the plan that helped make peace between the union and school system.
► In the Olympian — State Democrats may have to listen to GOP transportation ideas — Hoping to persuade Republicans to support a major gas tax increase, Democrats may have to take seriously some GOP proposals about how state money is spent on road projects. One bill would require the state DOT to explain why employees were not fired after mistakes of more than $1 million. “Take the pontoon fiasco. I can’t think of a corporation or business, however small or large, that somebody wouldn’t have to resign because they cost the shareholders or owners that kind of money,” said Rep. Steve O’Ban (R-Tacoma).
EDITOR’S NOTE — Mr. O’Ban, meet Mr. McNerney. Mr. McNerney… Mr. O’Ban.
BOEING
► From AP — Boeing moving simulators to Miami — The company will move its Seattle-area flight training operations to Miami, starting with two 787 flight simulators. Boeing says all eight flight simulators in its Renton site will move to Miami, affecting about 100 local jobs. A spokesman says those workers will be offered an opportunity to relocate.
CONGRESS
► In today’s LA Times — Senators agree on path to legal status for illegal immigrants — Eight senators who have spent weeks trying to write a bipartisan bill to overhaul immigration laws have privately agreed on the most contentious part of the draft — how to offer legal status to the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants.
► In today’s NY Times — In search of debt deal, Obama walks narrow path — The president will go to Capitol Hill this week to try to salvage a big deficit-reduction deal, battling not only Republican resistance but also complaints from Democrats that he mishandled his last attempt.
► In The Hill — Voters see economy getting worse after sequester cuts — A strong plurality of voters believe economic conditions in the United States are getting worse, not better, according to a new poll for The Hill — and believe the $85 billion package of cuts known as the sequester will only make things worse.
NATIONAL
► From AP — Thomas Perez reportedly pick for Labor Secretary — Sources say President Barack Obama is close to naming Thomas Perez as his choice to head the Department of Labor. Perez, 51, has led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division since 2009 and previously served as Maryland’s labor secretary. He is expected to have solid support from organized labor and the Hispanic community.
► In today’s LA Times — Public-employee unions push back with lawsuits over pension cuts — California Gov. Jerry Brown, normally seen as a labor ally, is forced to defend the reforms he backed.
► In Sunday’s Washington Post — Research ties economic inequality to life expectancy — Even as the nation’s life expectancy has marched steadily upward, reaching 78.5 years in 2009, a growing body of research shows that those gains are going mostly to those at the upper end of the income ladder. The tightening economic connection to longevity has profound implications for the simmering debate about cutting or raising the eligibility age of Social Security and Medicare.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.