Thursday, February 27, 2014

STATE GOVERNMENT

► In today’s Olympian — State lawmakers consider borrowing against Lottery to build schools — A bipartisan plan for paying for public schools emerged Wednesday in the state House, offering a creative way to pay for $700 million in school construction by borrowing against $50 million a year in future state Lottery profits.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Bipartisan school construction plan would benefit K-3 classes

► From AP — Gov. Inslee signs immigrant financial aid bill — Gov. Jay Inslee signed a measure Wednesday that expands state college financial aid to students who don’t have legal status in the United States. The law is a key victory for immigrant advocates, and Washington joins California, Texas and New Mexico in approving similar legislation.

► From KUOW — University student on DREAM Act passage: ‘I feel more accepted’ — University of Washington freshman Diana Betancourt:

Being here, I consider myself an American. But it’s like, how can you consider yourself an American when you’re being rejected throughout your life? And then just seeing the DREAM Act — I feel like every single time something passes, I feel more at home and I feel more accepted. It’s really nice.

► From AP — House Democrats’ budget adds school funds, gives teachers raises — Democrats in Washington’s House of Representatives on Wednesday unveiled a supplemental budget package that seeks to restore cost-of-living increases for teachers and puts additional money into education while closing four tax exemptions, including one that grants a sales tax break to some out-of-state shoppers.

► In today’s Seattle Times — State leaders blamed for higher-education woes — National report gives Washington’s leaders low marks for failing to keep tuition low, not providing enough money for financial aid and showing weak leadership on higher-education issues.

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Washington health exchange enrolls more than 100K in commercial plans — Officials said that the upcoming March 31 end of open enrollment is likely driving the increase and that more people are expected to buy in at the last minute.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Rep. Charles Ross to run for Yakima County auditor

► From PubliCola — Republican House leader to Republican Benton: ‘Don’t Mess With My People’ — Rep. Joel Kretz (R-Wauconda) pens tongue-in-cheek response to Benton’s admonishment over signature gathering bill.

LOCAL

► From Bloomberg — Calpers investment chief Joe Dear dies of cancer at 62 — The chief investment officer of Calpers, the largest pension fund in the United States, has died after a battle with cancer.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Former WSLC staffer, state leader, pension chief Joe Dear dies at 62

► In today’s Seattle Times — Harborview: no primary-care clinic closures or relocations — After months of concern that Harborview Medical Center was planning to close or relocate its primary-care clinics, officials Wednesday said the existing clinics would stay put.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Harborview clinics to remain open after community outcry

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — HAMTC, Battelle labor negotiations tense — Battelle and the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council are at odds after a year of negotiations over the union contract for workers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Battelle, which manages the national lab in Richland for the Department of Energy, offered a new proposal this week. HAMTC, which represents about 250 workers at PNNL, responded by writing a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, asking for DOE to intervene in the negotiations.

► In today’s Columbian — Union dockworkers locked out, looking for work — A year after the lockout of ILWU-represented longshore workers at United Grain Corp.’s terminal at the Port of Vancouver, the ripple effects persist. Court battles unfold in local and national legal settings. Regional and state political and business leaders repeatedly call for a resolution to what amounts to a larger conflict involving several grain terminal operators in the Northwest.

► In today’s Oregonian — Kitzhaber steps into Port of Portland chaos again — The battle between longshore workers and the operator of Portland’s international container terminal is creating such chaos that many trucking companies have begun levying surcharges to go there.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Machinists nominate local leadership candidates — Members of the Machinists union in metro Puget Sound nominated candidates Tuesday night to take over the top spot at District Lodge 751. Four candidates were nominated: Jon Holden, John Lopez Jr., Roy Wilkinson and Wilson Ferguson. Members will vote March 6.

► In the People’s Weekly World — Labor stalwart Lonnie Nelson dies at 83 — Lonnie Nelson, a fighter for union rights, equality, peace and socialism died in her sleep at Swedish Hospital in Seattle Feb. 12. She was 83.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

► In today’s NY Times — To pay for infrastructure changes, Obama seeks tax changes — Caught between a gridlocked Congress and a Highway Trust Fund that will soon be broke, President Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to overhaul corporate and business taxes to pay for repairing and replacing the nation’s aging roads, rails, bridges and tunnels.

► In The Hill — House Democrats try to force minimum wage vote — Democrats filed a discharge petition that would force a House vote on increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 but only if a bare majority of at least 218 House members sign it. That will be a tall order given Republican opposition to the proposal, but Democrats expressed optimism on Wednesday their 199 members would sign it, and that the effort will raise pressure on Republicans to join them.

EDITOR’S NOTE — How about it, Republicans from Washington? This is a state with the highest minimum wage in the nation, as approved by two-thirds of voters. Can we get a moderate or two up in here?

► At TPM — GOP’s new plan hikes taxes on Americans (in blue states) — A central feature of the House Republicans’ ambitious new tax reform bill would raise taxes disproportionately on residents of blue states — especially middle-to-upper income people who live in New York and California.

► In The Hill — ‘Card check’ victors reap little reward — Industry groups that went on the warpath against the Employee Free Choice Act have seen their fundraising plunge since burying the legislation and have yet to find a new cause that inspires the same level of passion among donors.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Fellow Microsoft alum to run against DelBene for Congress — Republican Pedro Celis, a retired Microsoft software engineer from Redmond, plans to announce his candidacy officially Thursday morning.

TODAY’S MUST-SEE

► It happened last month, but… via Upworthy — A Senator asks a panel of experts about Walmart. It gets awkward.

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