DAILY NEWS
Haggen promises, TPP crunch time, H-1B jobkillers…
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
STATE GOVERNMENT
► At Slog — Washington will get a federal grant to design a paid parental leave program — Gov. Jay Inslee’s office announced today that the state will get a $247,000 grant to design a paid parental leave program for all workers in the state. This money is a first step toward resurrecting a program the state legislature approved in 2007 but never found a way to fund.
ALSO at The Stand — DOL grant to study funding WA family leave
► In today’s Seattle Times — Tim Eyman refuses to answer questions about investigation — Tim Eyman refused to answer questions about the investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds on Tuesday. He said he’ll talk only about his latest anti-tax initiative, I-1366.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Tim Eyman’s financial deals all too familiar (by Shawn Vestal) — For the sake of argument, let’s presume that Spokane City Councilman Mike Fagan — the city’s champion of vaccine denial and conservative critic of library story time — was completely, totally unaware of these creative maneuvers. He shouldn’t have been.
► In today’s Olympian — Sen. Karen Fraser weighing run for lieutenant governor
LOCAL
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Pasco School Board approves teacher contract, with some reservations — The Pasco School Board unanimously approved the district’s new contract with its teachers during a Tuesday special meeting, but not without some last minute hand-wringing.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
► In today’s Washington Post — White House hopes for final deal in days on Asia-Pacific free-trade accord — The Obama administration is aiming to wrap up talks this week on an expansive Asia-Pacific free-trade accord between the United States and 11 other nations, starting the clock toward a vote in Congress by early next year. The prospect of the pact coming up on Capitol Hill in the midst of the U.S. presidential campaign has created fresh uncertainty about the prospects of success for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► In the LA Times — Farm worker pesticide rules are tightened — The EPA has established the first minimum-age requirement — 18 — for farm workers applying pesticides to fields. The change is part of a revision of pesticide rules by the agency, which acknowledged that the previous regulation was not enough to prevent an estimated $10 million to $15 million in annual health costs due to chemical exposure among the nation’s 2 million agricultural workers.
► From The Hill — Poll: 60 percent oppose ACA’s Cadillac Tax — The poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which does nonpartisan healthcare analysis, finds that 60 percent of the public opposes the tax, while 28 percent favor it.
► From The Hill — Senate passes funding bill to avert government shutdown — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a funding bill that would avert a government shutdown and fund federal agencies through Dec. 11. The House is expected to approve the bill later in the day, ahead of the midnight deadline for keeping the government open.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Murray: No shutdown but budget fight continues — The government is likely to remain open, but the budget fight in Congress is far from over. That’s what Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said Tuesday as the Senate and House scrambled to push back the federal budget deadline to December amid sharp partisan disagreements.
► In today’s NY Times — Behaviorists show the U.S. how to improve government — A year-old effort by the Obama administration is applying academic research on human behavior to the business of running the government.
NATIONAL
► From Reuters — Court deals huge blow to NCAA over college athlete pay — A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that NCAA compensation rules for college athletes violate antitrust law, but it reversed a lower court’s order that the athletes should get up to $5,000 per year in compensation.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.