DAILY NEWS
VOTE, what to watch tonight, West Side traffic…
ELECTION DAY!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
LOCAL ELECTIONS
► TODAY at The Stand — It’s Election Day: Here’s how to vote today — Ballots must be returned with a first-class stamp and postmarked by today. Post offices will be closing at different times today depending on location. Most counties also have 24-hour ballot drop boxes in various areas where no stamp is required, but ballots must be deposited by 8 p.m.! If you didn’t get a ballot, can’t find it, want to find a drop box in your area or need some other help, here’s who to contact.
► In today’s Yakima Herald — Didier vs. Newhouse: What to watch — No race on the ballot has provided more intrigue than the battle between Republicans Clint Didier and Dan Newhouse to replace retiring 10-term Congressman Doc Hastings.
NATIONAL ELECTIONS
► At Vox — 9 good reasons to vote today — 1) Health care for 4.8 million people; 2) Raises for 680,000 workers; 3) Four Supreme Court justices are over age 70…
► At Politico — Senate battle could go to overtime — With some races too close to call ahead of Election Day and others poised to go to a second round of voting, it could be days, weeks or even months before the Senate is awarded to one party or the other.
► At Politico — Liberals abandon Sen. Mary Landrieu — Mary Landrieu’s reelection could help Democrats hang onto the Senate, but liberals have abandoned her anyway. Large national environmental groups, women’s organizations and unions are barely lifting a finger for the embattled Louisiana Democrat, who has close ties to the oil industry and supports the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
EDITOR’S NOTE — It’s not about parties, it’s about what they stand for. Or don’t stand for.
► In The Hill — Minimum wage hike on ballot in four red states — Initiatives on the issue will appear on ballots in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Senate races in Alaska and Arkansas are considered two of the most competitive of the cycle.
► In today’s NY Times — Little opposition in some votes to raise state minimum wages — These measures are so overwhelmingly popular in some states, notably Alaska and Arkansas, that the opposition has hardly put up a fight.
► In today’s NY Times — Election tests new rules on voting — The obscure rules of elections will be under intense scrutiny on Tuesday as civic groups, political parties and the Department of Justice, concerned about fair play, monitor polling places for irregularities.
LOCAL
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — ILWU decries ‘smear campaign’ by West Coast port companies
► In the P.S. Business Journal — Group Health lays off 102 employees as part of transition to Swedish — The layoffs will mainly hit nurses, but maintenance workers, delivery room technicians and food service aides also will be affected as Group Health moves its special care nursery and birthing services from its Capitol Hill location in Seattle to Swedish Medical Center on First Hill. The layoffs will happen between Dec. 31 and March 31.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Nordstrom to lay off 142 workers in Vancouver — Workers at the company’s closing Westfield Vancouver Mall store may land elsewhere with the company, which has six stores in the Portland area.
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — West Side traffic fixes will benefit entire state (editorial) — You wouldn’t give your entire family cold medicine if only one person suffered from congestion. Similarly, the state should direct its cure where it would do the most good. But that’s easier said than done in politics, where state legislators ask, “What’s in it for my district?” The answer is that when traffic is bottled up in the Puget Sound area, the whole state gets a congestion headache. For this reason, the state Legislature must take another run at a solution.
NATIONAL
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — On Nov. 14, nation will tell USPS to stop delaying America’s mail — In Seattle, all are invited to Shine a Light on the Plan to Delay the Mail! Join postal unions members and their allies on Friday, Nov. 14 from 4 to 5 p.m. in from of Term Station and the Seattle Carrier Annex at 4th Avenue and Lander St. Sunset is at 4:30 p.m., so bring flashlights, bike lights and other blinking lights to light up the signs and the rally.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.