DAILY NEWS
1.1K vs. 1.1M, evil vs. evil, McDonalds vs. NLRB….
Thursday, March 10, 2016
STATE GOVERNMENT
YESTERDAY at The Stand — Labor opposes surprise charter schools bill — Legislators should not be diverting precious education funds to a handful of private schools at a time they have failed to respond to the Supreme Court’s mandate to sufficiently fund public education for 1.1 million Washington children.
► From PubliCola — Important immigrants’ rights bill fails in Olympia — Lots of important bills are about to get shelved as this year’s legislative session in Olympia is scheduled to end Thursday: Seattle’s affordable housing bill, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and per usual, the Voting Rights Act, which would give minority bloc voters clear formal recourse to challenge demonstrably discriminatory election systems.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Speaker Chopp stalls housing bill over aid to for-profit landlords
► In today’s News Tribune — Legislative move could cancel Tacoma Narrows bridge toll increase
LOCAL
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — How would Albertsons swallow up Haggen? — If Albertons buys Haggen’s remaining core stores it will not have shed as many stores as the FTC had required in the merger with Safeway. From the FTC’s standpoint, having Albertsons take back stores it was originally supposed to shed is preferable to having empty storefronts.
► In today’s P.S. Business Journal — Mercer Island New Seasons to open in the fall – but grocers union would prefer a PCC — The Seattle-area’s first New Seasons Market on Mercer Island recently received design approval from the city and is one step closer to reality. But labor and advocacy groups are opposed to the Portland-based grocer putting down roots in the area.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Sen. Murray questions DOE commitment to all Hanford cleanup — The Obama administration’s proposed Hanford budget seems to foreshadow declaring a cleanup victory, leaving critical work unfinished, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday. She pressed Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for information on the DOE’s plans during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Unfair labor complaint filed against Fire District 1 union — Commissioners allege members of the IAFF Local 1828 are violating contract-bargaining obligations. They wants PERC to order the union to act on an a proposed contract negotiated in early February.
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Plaza spurs talk of social inequality — A change in Yakima’s form of government has made the issue of social inequality one of the deciding factors for the $14 million downtown plaza proposal.
► In today’s Olympian — Taxicab, Uber drivers query city officials on proposed ordinance to regulate ride-sharing companies
CAMPAIGN 2016
ALSO at The Stand — Voters are mad about job-killing trade deals
► In today’s NY Times — After Michigan loss, Hillary Clinton sharpens message on jobs and trade — The state’s voters, scarred by the free trade deals associated with Clinton and her husband that have been widely blamed for the loss of American manufacturing jobs, delivered a surprise victory to Bernie Sanders, who railed in Michigan against “disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America.”
► From The Hill — Clinton racks up another union endorsement — She now has at least two dozen union endorsements, according to her campaign, after the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) backed her on Wednesday.
► From Huffington Post — Democratic debate in Miami proves that 2016 comes down to immigration — Both Sanders and Clinton made dramatic promises on immigration. Each said they would not deport children or non-criminal undocumented immigrants.
► From The Hill — Poll: Economy is most serious problem facing America
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► From Politico — Senators square off over Supreme Court vacancy — Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee met privately and without their Democratic colleagues to craft an unusual letter in which they unanimously pledged not to hold any hearings on a Supreme Court nominee before a new president is sworn in next year. The panel’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, called it “a dereliction of our Constitutional duty.”
► From Politico — Senate GOP polling shows upside to Senate SCOTUS blockade — A memo authored by a Republican pollster is being circulated among GOP senators to bolster the case that a majority of voters would prefer to keep deceased Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat empty — for a year or even longer — rather than allow Obama to nominate a liberal justice that would move the court to the left.
► From The Hill — Obama zeroes in on court pick — The president has reportedly begun to interview potential replacements for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. And in the last day, two contenders had taken their names out of consideration, providing another indication that the White House is winnowing its list of candidates.
► P.S. from The Hill — Poll: Obama’s job approval at highest point in three years — About 50 percent approve of Obama’s performance as chief executive, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday.
► P.P.S. from The Hill — Poll: 13 percent approve of Congress
NATIONAL
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.