DAILY NEWS
Teamsters score, trade deal backlash, on Trey’s trey-day…
Thursday, September 29, 2016
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Washington minimum wage on the rise in 2017 — Some workers will get a slight bump in pay on Jan. 1. The state announced the minimum wage will increase 6 cents to $9.53 an hour in 2017. Some areas have approved minimum wages that are higher than the state level, including Seattle and Tacoma.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Without I-1433, minimum wage to rise just 6 cents
LOCAL
► In today’s Olympian — Former Oyster House employees picket, allege hostile, dysfunctional workplace — A number of former Oyster House employees picketed their former employer on Wednesday, alleging a host of concerns, including workplace hostility and a toxic, dysfunctional environment.
TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
► MUST-READ in the NY Times — More wealth, more jobs, but not for everyone: What fuels the backlash on trade deals — For generations, libraries full of economics textbooks have rightly promised that global trade expands national wealth by lowering the price of goods, lifting wages and amplifying growth. But trade comes with no assurances that the spoils will be shared equitably.
BOEING
► From AFP — Morocco signs deal for major Boeing hub — Morocco signed an agreement with Boeing on Tuesday to build a new hub for the US aerospace giant that officials hope will create thousands of skilled jobs. King Mohammed VI oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding in the northern port city of Tangiers to establish an industrial zone where up to 120 Boeing suppliers and sub-contractors could operate. Industry Minister Moulay Hafi Elalamy said the Boeing industrial zone could create up to 8,700 jobs.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► In today’s NY Times — Paid sick leave for federal contractors is mandated by Labor Department — The Obama administration, in its latest effort to update workplace policies it says have lagged far behind the realities of Americans’ lives, will require federal government contractors to provide paid sick leave to their workers.
ALSO at The Stand — State’s Republicans vote to delay overtime pay for millions
NATIONAL ELECTIONS
► In today’s — Newspaper loses subscribers, receives death threat after endorsing Hillary Clinton — The Arizona Republic lost subscribers and received a death threat after endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Its Editorial Editor said there was no consideration of disgruntled readers in his paper’s decision to back a Democrat for the first time in its 126-year history: “We know we’re doing the right thing. We feel very good about this decision.”
► In today’s — Trump campaign memo tells surrogates to bring up Clinton sex scandals — The Trump campaign has circulated a memo telling surrogates to bring up Bill Clinton’s sex scandals while defending Trump’s comments about women like former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
► From TPM — Proud adulterer blames woman for not stopping husband’s adultery — Trump’s calling out Hillary Clinton for her husband’s actions is the way Trump has always looked at marriage. Putting the onus on women to stop their husband’s affairs is classic Trump.
NATIONAL
► From Reuters — Chicago teachers union sets October 11 strike date — The Chicago Teachers Union voted on Wednesday to set an Oct. 11 date for a possible strike that could disrupt classes for tens of thousands of students in the country’s third largest public school system.
T.G.I.T.
► The Entire Staff of The Stand is off work on Friday. So today we present tomorrow’s T.G.I.F. birthday boy, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, who will turn 52. We’ve never been huge fans of his jam band although, clearly, many many are. So we were at a bit of a loss about which song to choose, until we found this one.
Watch as Trey tries, with mixed success, to remember the lyrics to “I Am the Walrus,” a song that was mixed by The Beatles at Abbey Road studios on the very day of Trey’s trey-day (3rd birthday). Who says we don’t do our research here at The Stand?! Mr. Anastasio deserves our sympathy for struggling with the lyrics. Legend has it that, after John Lennon heard a teacher at his former primary school was having students analyze Beatles’ lyrics, he deliberately wrote this song with a lot of nonsense words. Enjoy!
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.