Monday, October 10, 2016

STATE ELECTIONS

TODAY IS THE DEADLINE to register to vote online in Washington state. CLICK HERE if you’re not registered or if you want to make sure all of your information is updated so you get your ballot. To register online, you’ll need a Washington State ID or driver’s license. If you don’t have a state ID, you’ll have to register by mail or in person. (The deadline for that is October 31.)

► In today’s News Tribune — Yes on Sound Transit 3 means fairness for Tacoma (editorial) — As Pierce County voters decide what to do about the massive Sound Transit 3 package on the Nov. 8 ballot, they might consider the measure’s broad-minded regional goals and high-minded ideals. ST3 promotes a common good, the culmination of a mass-transit system linking Pierce, King and Snohomish counties. By approving it, voters would leave a softer footprint on the environment while connecting 16 cities with 108 miles of light rail, expanding bus rapid transit and adding Sounder trains.

ALSO at The Stand — Approve ST3 to invest in jobs, our future (by Jeff Johnson)

► In the Seattle Times — Powerful SEIU pins hopes for higher wages, more state services on Democrats’ victory in Legislature — The influential union, pivotal in the push for Seattle’s $15 minimum wage and other efforts to aid low-wage workers, has poured more than $1 million into Democrats’ campaign committees.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — State GOP chairwoman’s defense of Trump disturbing (editorial) — “He [Trump] was a Democrat at the time and he was channeling Bill Clinton,” Susan Hutchison, chairwoman of the Washington State Republican Party, told KOMO-TV… Her attempt to deflect criticism from Trump demonstrates a stunning lack of understanding of the severity of the sexual assault that Trump not only admitted to but boasted about.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Two wealthy donors pour cash into state Republican races — A pair of wealthy southwest Washington businessmen, developer Clyde Holland and investment guru Ken Fisher, have emerged as major benefactors for state Republicans fighting to control the Legislature — and to forestall efforts by Democrats and liberal groups pushing for new taxes. Both men also have emerged as major donors to anti-tax initiative activist Tim Eyman… Holland has embraced Donald Trump, who has been shunned by some other traditional state GOP donors. He donated nearly $100,000 to the Trump Victory Fund and co-hosted a private fundraiser with Trump.

OUR NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT

► In today’s Washington Post — A new low, even for Donald Trump (editorial) — “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said. “Because you’d be in jail,” Mr. Trump shot back. Mark the moment. A major-party presidential nominee is officially promising to lock up his political opponent, despite the fact that an impartial federal investigation concluded that no fair prosecutor would have charged Clinton in the matter of her emails. If anyone needed any more proof that Trump does not understand the meaning of rule of law as opposed to arbitrary rule of autocrat — that he would use the levers of the federal government in a vindictive, self-serving and corrupt manner — Trump provided it.

► In today’s NY Times — Donald Trump goes low (editorial) — Sniffing and glowering, Trump prowled behind Clinton as she presented herself again as the only adult on stage, the only one seeking to persuade the great majority of Americans that she shares their values and aspirations. Trump, by contrast, fell back on the tricks he has learned from his years in pro wrestling and reality television, making clear how deep his cynicism goes.

► From TPM — Trump campaign: We paid for Bill Clinton’s accusers to be at the debate

► From The Hill — Trump brushes off controversy as ‘locker room talk’ — Donald Trump denied that he ever sexually assaulted a woman and said that he was not condoning sexual assault in the bombshell audio released Friday. Trump followed up by arguing that his comments were “only words.”

► In today’s NY Times — Trump talks at debate, but many women hear only a 2005 tape — Whether they love Trump or loathe him, many female voters interviewed across the country seemed to watch Sunday’s historically nasty debate through the same inescapable prism: a raunchy three-minute recording in which Trump told of kissing and touching women however he pleased. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” he said, loud and clear, on the tape. That is Trump’s new, agonizing and self-created reality: He may have uttered words about unfair trade deals or threats to national security, but what these voters heard instead was his voice on that searing recording, casually and excitedly explaining that he could sexually assault strangers with impunity.

► In today’s NY Times — Trump acknowledges not paying federal taxes for years — Donald Trump explicitly acknowledged for the first time during Sunday’s debate that he used a $916 million loss that he reported on his 1995 income tax returns to avoid paying personal federal income taxes for years.

► From the AFL-CIO — Hillary Clinton’s values are union values

LOCAL

► In the Yakima H-R — Pesticide drift problems continue despite lawsuits and proposed legislation — While working in a Toppenish area hop field this spring, Adriana Flores and 46 other farm workers were sickened by wafting pesticides being sprayed on a neighboring alfalfa field. “We were working when we saw the small plane, and there was a very strong smell of pesticides, but they told us to keep working,” said Flores, 23. “One by one, we started feeling sick.” It hurt to breathe, she recalled, and then she felt sick to her stomach. The crew boss eventually called an ambulance and sent some workers to the hospital, but Flores wasn’t one of them.

► In today’s Columbian — Child care costly proposition for parents — Parents with young children in day care are taking a hit to their wallet as big as those putting young adult children through college.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

► From AFL-CIO Now — Large companies owe hundreds of billions in U.S. taxes, report says — It’s not just millionaires like Donald Trump who have mastered the art of avoiding taxes. A new study shows that the largest American corporations shelter trillions of dollars in profits from U.S. taxes each year by keeping the money offshore.

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — Hart, Holmstrom win Nobel in economics for work on contracts — Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday for improving the design of contracts, the deals that bind together employers and their workers, or companies and their customers.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.