Friday, July 19, 2013

AEROSPACE

► In Leeham News — Washington state is on the move for new aerospace business (by aerospace industry analyst Scott Hamilton) — Washington State is showing signs of some real life in a slow ramp up to gain new aerospace business. Gov. Jay Inslee, in office only since January, clearly is far more attuned to aerospace than either Locke or Gregoire were. It’s about time.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing to lay off 64 security workers — At other locations across the country, Boeing has hired private security companies to provide services. That’s what Boeing plans to transition to here in Washington state. Another 146 security workers hired before November 2006 have a labor contract with the Security, Police, Fire Professionals of America union through 2017. Their positions will not be affected.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Airbus courts Boeing suppliers on Boeing’s turf — Washington is a “strategic state” for Airbus as it works to boost the amount of business it does with U.S. suppliers to $20 billion by 2020, a $7 billion increase over the next seven years.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing awaits Air Force OK to build tanker — U.S. Air Force officials last week conducted a final review of the KC-46A tanker program but have yet to give Boeing the OK to begin full production at Paine Field.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Results of 787 fire probe relieve Boeing; challenging repairs loom — British authorities confirmed the 787 fire at Heathrow centered on a small electronic device, but how to fix the damaged Ethiopian Airlines jet is just one of the remaining questions.

LOCAL

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Dispute may stop construction of major downtown hotel — A conflict between development company R.C. Hedreen and the hospitality workers’ union may jeopardize construction of a major hotel near the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle. The union, UNITE HERE Local 8, contends the development is too big and could negatively affect Seattle by bringing too many low-wage jobs downtown. Hedreen, the Seattle-based real estate company, accuses the union of raising objections as a negotiating ploy for making the new hotel a union workplace, an allegation that a union official denies. Hedreen has raised the stakes in the dispute by threatening to cancel the hotel and put a less ambitious development on the site unless the union stops trying to block the project.

► At Slog — Whole Foods, developer defend West Seattle megaproject; grocery workers union endorses McGinn — Mayor Mike McGinn instructed SDOT to recommend rejecting a street vacation request for a proposed Whole Foods in West Seattle, citing “fair and livable wages and benefits” as a public interest that should be considered before transferring city right-of-way. UFCW Local 21 applauded McGinn for the decision and for protecting the public interest.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Grays Harbor Transit to cut weekend service, ask votes for a sales tax increase — After weeks of deliberation, the Grays Harbor Transit Board voted Wednesday night to cut all weekend service and place a 0.1 percent sales tax increase on the November ballot. With the cuts, eight Grays Harbor Transit employees will lose their jobs and Harbor residents who work weekends will have a harder time getting to work.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Stop sexual harassment in U.S. agriculture (editorial) — Rape and sexual assault in U.S. agricultural settings across rural America, from fields to processing plants, is drawing overdue attention. From the nation’s largest apple-growing operation, northwest of Yakima, to the citrus groves of Florida, women have been assaulted for generations.

► A related column in today’s NY Times — The lessons of Belle Glade (by Cindy Hahamovitch) — As long as migrant workers can be deported, they will be abused.

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Oregonian — SEIU reaches tentative agreement with Oregon state officials — Oregon’s biggest public employee union has reached a tentative agreement for a two-year labor contract that offers cost of living raises, step increases and an end to furlough days.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — GOP state senator starts to feel the heat — State Sen. Sharon Brown (R-Kennewick) just finished her first legislative session (plus a couple of special ones), but she’s already facing two city councilmen looking for her job. All three candidates are Republicans. The top two finishers in the Aug. 6 primary will face each other again on Nov. 5.

WHO GETS FED

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — McMorris Rodgers defends cut in food aid — A farm bill approved last week in the U.S. House of Representatives divorcing agriculture subsidies from food aid to the poor was designed to speed up the legislative process, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said. She doesn’t think the bill will emerge from a conference with the Senate unless funds for food programs are reinstated.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — U.S. House benefits rich farmers, spurns needy (Kansas City Star editorial) — The message is this: If you’re a wealthy corporate farmer, the U.S. House will take care of you no matter what. If you’re poor, or down on your luck, you could be in trouble. Republicans said they would take up the matter of food stamp aid in a separate bill. But there is little reason to think that the aim of the Republican majority is anything other than to gut the food stamp program, using a reauthorization deadline of Sept. 30 as leverage.

NATIONAL

► In The Hill — Dem anxiety about ObamaCare shows on mandate vote — Vulnerable House Democrats laid low Thursday after voting to delay two key ObamaCare mandates over a White House veto threat. The hush from centrist Dems came after a considerable number cast ballots alongside Republicans on Wednesday for bills designed to embarrass the Obama administration. The trouble with delaying the individual mandate is that it would cause premiums to spike in the individual and small-group health insurance markets.

EDITOR’S NOTE — All members of Washington’s Democratic delegation to Congress voted against delaying the individual mandate. Freshman Reps. Suzan DelBene and Derek Kilmer voted with Republicans to affirm the White House delay on the employer mandate. In response, the National Republican Congressional Committee fired off a news release attacking DelBene for “failing Illinois voters.” Doh!

► In today’s NY Times — The good news on insurance premiums (editorial) — The Affordable Care Act will save money for many who buy their own policies.

► At TPM — Senate confirms Tom Perez as Labor Secretary

► At Politico — John Boehner hints at immigration hopes — On Thursday, Speaker John Boehner gave a sliver of fresh insight into his thinking about immigration reform, saying he thinks legislation will pass the House before Congress has to wrestle with the debt ceiling.

► In today’s NY Times — Discussing furloughs at military bases, Hagel has ‘no good news’ — Over three days visiting military bases of all four armed services across the southeastern United States this week, the Defense Secretary told everyone that compromise in Washington, D.C. was unlikely.

► In today’s NY Times — Big banks, flooded in profits, fear flurry of new safeguards — The nation’s six largest banks reported $23 billion in profits in the second quarter, but they could end up victims of their own success. In recent weeks, the Treasury Department, senior regulators and members of Congress have stepped up efforts intended to make the largest banks safer.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► At In These Times — New report: Unions shield workers — and states — against recession — A new report by University of Illinois researchers paints an all-too-familiar portrait of a state economy that has righted itself from free-fall to “tepid growth” but has yet to reach pre-recession levels. With decreased labor-force participation, nearly 10 percent unemployment, wage stagnation and the top 1 percent earning 635 percent more than the median employed worker, Illinois has a long way to go before true recovery. But unlike other accounts of today’s economic woes, the authors don’t attribute the blame solely to the global financial collapse. The report’s findings strongly suggest that the decline of unionization has played a considerable role in the increase of income inequality in Illinois, which can in turn slow economic growth. The report also suggests that lags in union membership put a strain on the social safety net, sapping resources that could otherwise be invested to speed the state’s recovery.

T.G.I.F.

► In honor of the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, The Entire Staff of the Stand presents Kiss lipsynching “Detroit Rock City” on the Paul Lynde Halloween Special in 1976. Introduced here by “Wicked Witch of the West” Margaret Hamilton and Witchiepoo of H.R. Pufnstuf, Kiss shared this freakshow bill with Donny and Marie Osmond, Billy Barty, Tim Conway, Roz “Pinky Tuscadero” Kelly, and Florence Henderson of The Brady Bunch, who sang a truly creepy disco version of “That Old Black Magic.” The show’s finale included the entire cast performing an ensemble version of “Disco Baby.”

Oh, the humanity.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.