DAILY NEWS
America misses unions, Darden’s ripoff, Darius at 50…
Friday the 13th of May, 2016
TODAY’S MUST-READ
► From FiveThirtyEight.com — Americans don’t miss manufacturing — they miss unions (by Ben Casselman) — When politicians pledge to protect manufacturing jobs, they really mean a certain kind of job: well-paid, long-lasting, with opportunities for advancement. Those aren’t qualities associated with working on a factory floor; they’re qualities associated with being a member of a union.
MAYWORKS
EDITOR’S NOTE — Check out The Stand’s calendar for more MayWorks events this weekend and the rest of the month.
LOCAL
ALSO at The Stand — Participate in Letter Carriers Food Drive this Saturday, May 14
► In today’s Seattle Times — Hundreds of UW students protest lack of progress on race issues — Hundreds of students walked out of classes at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus midday Thursday and then briefly took over the UW’s regents meeting, protesting what they see as systemic institutional racism at the UW. Their list of demands includes asking the UW to divest its holdings in major national hedge funds and banks that hold investments in the private prison industry. Students say these companies are benefiting from mass incarceration policies and harsh prison sentences that have devastated minority communities.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Party at UW, Capitol Hill light-rail stations cost taxpayers $858K — Sound Transit spent more than $20 per passenger on planning, crowd control, entertainment and souvenirs celebrating the March 19 opening of two new light-rail stations.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Low pay. Few hours. No benefits. (Because, why else are they hiring 300 part-timers and no full-timers, unless they aim to avoid providing health benefits?) Sounds like FedEx should be getting a big state tax break for being such a great job creator!
BOEING
► In today’s P.S. Business Journal — Boeing goal: Snag bigger chunk of $2.8 trillion aircraft upgrade, repair business — The bad news locally? Boeing Commercial Airplanes last year moved headquarters of a sub-unit, Boeing Customer Support, from Puget Sound to Southern California. But many parts of the activity, including Boeing’s huge central parts warehouse near Sea-Tac International Airport, remain in Western Washington.
► In the Columbian — Disclosure valuable (editorial) — The interpretation of disclosures about state tax breaks for Boeing and other corporations is open to debate. But the benefits of having those disclosures available to taxpayers and lawmakers are indisputable. Quantifying the tax savings provided by corporate welfare will be essential for lawmakers and taxpayers in assessing such deals both now and in the future.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
EDITOR’S NOTE — So far, Sen. Scott’s “bipartisan coalition” includes 36 co-sponsors of the bill — all Republicans.
CAMPAIGN 2016
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Schools superintendent Dorn decides not to run for governor — The outgoing state schools chief said Thursday he won’t run just days after insisting he would run as an independent and focus the campaign on the incumbent’s failure to ensure public schools are adequately funded.
► From Huffington Post — Clinton embraces progressive Fed reforms — Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton came out in favor of changes to the Federal Reserve that would reduce the number of bankers in key central bank positions on Thursday, marking a major coup for national progressive groups championing reform.
► From the Hill — Trump: Anything I say now ‘is a suggestion’ — He now says his proposed ban on Muslims entering the country was “just a suggestion.”
► From The Hill — Trump: My tax rate is ‘none of your business’ — Leaders from both parties have called on Trump to release his tax returns.
► In today’s NY Times — Donald Trump and the art of the tax loophole — He said there was nothing to learn from his tax returns, but I’ll bet we’d learn plenty about how real estate moguls game the system.
► From TPM — Trump gets Kochy (by Josh Marshall) — Start taking the establishment money and you’ll start taking the establishment policy positions soon enough.
NATIONAL
► From Quartz — U.S. employers are officially barred from requiring service workers to be happy on the job — Some service workers can be unpleasant to deal with, but employers can’t demand that they perk up. U.S. labor laws protect workers’ right to be grumpy on the job. The NLRB has ruled that employers cannot force employees to always be cheerful, as much as they might want to. Wireless carrier T-Mobile tried to do so, but CWA objected and the NLRB agreed.
T.G.I.F.
► Happy 50th Birthday to Darius Rucker! After fronting the underrated (probably because of their name) rockers Hootie & the Blowfish in the 1990s, he became a country singer. In 2008, his first solo country single “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” made him the first black artist to reach No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs charts since Charley Pride did it 25 years earlier. The next year, he became the first black artist ever to win the Country Music Association’s New Artist of the Year award. But the Entire Staff of The Stand still likes his Hootie years, so here he is revisiting one of those oldies. Enjoy!
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.