NEWS ROUNDUP
SPEEA in SC, pesticide drift, our crumbling infrastructure…
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
BOEING
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing fallout: Larsen snubbed as unions endorse Democrats — U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, was noticeably absent from the Washington State Labor Council’s endorsement roster. The labor council backed a Democrat in every other congressional race, but declined to endorse anyone in the 2nd Congressional District, where Larsen is seeking reelection. The union snub stems from Larsen’s stumping for a controversial Boeing Machinists contract ratified earlier this year.
ALSO at The Stand — WSLC delegates make election endorsements
LOCAL
► In today’s Seattle Times — County, city take variety of routes on bus rescue — To stave off service cuts, Seattle may see a city-only proposal to raise the sales tax and hike car-tab fees. King County has a plan that would allow cities and big employers to purchase bus-service hours for routes of their choosing.
► From KUOW — Us too! King County considers minimum wage for employees — In the “me too” department, King County is jumping on the bandwagon to consider a higher minimum wage for its employees. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray issued a similar proposal for city workers soon after he took office in January.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► From KUOW — Sudden rise in pesticide-related illnesses in Eastern Washington — The number of pesticide drift events in just the last few months is double the number seen all of last year.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Two years ago, Rep. Chris Reykdal (D-Olympia) sponsored legislation to establish standards to protect people from exposure to pesticide drift by airplane or air-blast sprayers. Proponents pointed out existing laws do a better job protecting plants and animals than they do human beings. Farm workers, in particular, are vulnerable to pesticide-related illnesses. But Republicans called the effort an “attack” on the agriculture industry, and the legislation was killed.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
► In The Hill —Insurers give $1.5 billion in rebates under Obamacare — Insurance companies returned over $1.5 billion in rebates to consumers between 2011 and 2012, according to a report issued on Tuesday. The reason is an ObamaCare requirement meant to force companies to spend a higher proportion of premiums on medical costs or quality improvements. The new law states that 80-85 percent of premiums must be used by companies to pay for treatment and medical costs. Companies that fail to meet that ratio must pay rebates.
► At HA Seattle — Misleading Seattle Times headline spins Obamacare win into Obamacare failure — “Insurers propose up to 26% increase in health-plan rates,” the headline on the front page of the Seattle Times website warns. But as the story indicates: “The proposed rate changes range from a decrease of 6.8 percent — from Molina Healthcare of Washington — to an increase of 26 percent from Time Insurance, a national company with relatively few Washington policyholders.”
► In today’s NY Times — More insured, but the choices are narrowing — Consumers seem to be willing to give up some choice in favor of lower prices, but critics, including opponents of the new health care law, are wary about narrowing networks.
NATIONAL
► From AP — NYC area airport workers vote to join union — Several thousand contract workers employed at the New York City area’s major airports voted Monday to join a union after campaigning for better pay and benefits.
► At Politico — Chamber of Commerce gives ultimatum to GOP — The GOP shouldn’t even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said Monday. “If the Republicans don’t do it, they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016,” he said.
► At Think Progress — Big bank CEOs don’t need to do their jobs well to get huge paychecks — Even though smaller bank CEOs outperformed their bigger rivals by about two-and-a-half times, the heads of the the largest banks earned about 2.6 times what their better-performing colleagues were paid.
► At Daily Kos — Walmart’s poor sales don’t keep top executives from getting millions in ‘incentive’ pay — Walmart’s stock prices and sales figures aren’t doing so well. Its workers remain seriously underpaid. But its top executives are doing just fine, despite the retail giant’s growth slowdown.
► In The Hill — NLRB seeks input on Northwestern football union case — The NLRB on Monday issued a formal announcement inviting briefs from the two sides in the dispute and other interested parties wishing to weigh in as amici.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.