NEWS ROUNDUP
Nothing right about RTW, 2-for-2, recalling Doug, our big muddy…
Friday, February 10, 2017
THIS WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Washington workers: HANDS OFF OUR UNIONS!
► In today’s Seattle Times — ‘Boys in the Boat’ movie should be made here, Washington lawmakers say — Lawmakers want to renew a $3.5 million incentive program to encourage the film industry to make movies in Washington. They’ve added another $3 million to lure production of “The Boys in the Boat” to the state.
ALSO at The Stand — WSLC urges renewal of film tax incentive creating jobs in state
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle property taxes would rise under GOP school-funding plan, state McCleary analysis shows — A GOP plan to fund Washington’s K-12 schools would boost funding to every school district in the state, according to a new analysis. But Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Lake Washington would bear the brunt of property-tax increases.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Betsy DeVos invited to Spokane by ESD superintendent — The leader of Washington’s northeast education district has invited Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to visit and learn about “our ongoing hard work and abiding commitment to excellence for each of the young people we are privileged to serve.”
MUSLIM TRAVEL BAN
► In today’s Washington Post — Federal appeals court rules 3 to 0 against Trump on travel ban — A federal appeals panel has maintained the freeze on President Trump’s controversial immigration order, meaning previously barred refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries can continue entering the United States.
ALSO at The Stand:
— WSLC proudly supported suit against Trump’s Muslim ban
— Trump’s Muslim ban ‘fans flames of racism, xenophobia’
— Attacking immigrants, refugees hurts us all, Trumka says
► From KNKX — Inslee vows ‘resistance everywhere’ approach to Trump administration — Gov. Jay Inslee is vowing to continue to resist policies from President Donald Trump. At a news conference Thursday, the Democrat said Washington has been “appropriately bold and protective” of its interests.
► From KUOW — As Trump’s travel ban lost again in court, a local Syrian family reunited at Sea-Tac — “This is the best day of my life,” said Syrian refugee Jaiidaa Al Halabi, just minutes after she stepped off a plane at Sea-Tac Airport.
LOCAL
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing Machinists get annual bonus of more than $2,000 — Boeing will pay out a total $66 million in annual bonuses next week to almost 32,000 employees in Washington, Oregon and California represented by the Machinists union, the company said Wednesday. In Washington state, 30,686 members of the International Association of Machinists union will receive a total of $63 million. Machinists will receive their bonuses on Feb. 16.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From The Atlantic — The real-life consequences of the federal hiring freeze — The collateral damage of the order is stress, anxiety, and confusion introduced into the lives of not just new hires at federal agencies, but also current employees, who have found themselves unable to transition into new positions or stuck in departments that are now semi-permanently short staffed.
ALSO at The Stand — Trump’s federal hiring freeze is killing jobs, hurting vets
► In today’s Washington Post — Republican town halls are getting very, very nasty — In November, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) won reelection to one of the most Republican districts in the nation, with 73 percent of the vote. On Thursday night, he found himself facing a very different picture. Thousands of people crowded in and outside of what was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill town hall in Utah to boo him and chant, “You work for us” and “Do your job!”
► In today’s Washington Post — ‘How can you die of asthma in this country?’: In Idaho, an example of what could happen without Obamacare — When the fiercely independent state declined Medicaid expansion it created an insurance gap — two-thirds of those who can’t afford care are working families — that lawmakers haven’t found a way to close.
► In today’s NY Times — ‘Bad dude’? No, but deported anyway (editorial) — President Trump has promised to rid America of the immigrant threat. But Guadalupe García de Rayos was a threat to no one.
BOTH WASHINGTONS
ALSO at The Stand — Sen. Ericksen should resign as per our State Constitution (by John Burbank)
NATIONAL
► In the NH Union-Leader — New Hampshire legislative panel rejects Right-to-Work bills — A key House committee soundly rejected two Right-to-Work bills, setting up another fierce showdown before the full House of Representatives next Thursday. The 14-7 votes of the House Labor and Industrial Services Committee Wednesday were a setback for Gov. Chris Sununu, who has made it a priority to make New Hampshire the first Right-to-Work state in the Northeast.
► In today’s NY Daily News — The workers win one at Momentive (editorial) — Thursday, after all hope felt cold, the almost 700 workers on strike at the Momentive chemical plant in upstate Waterford reached a tentative deal with management after nearly 100 days on the picket line. What threatened their jobs was not the foreign bogeymen of President Trump’s fever dreams, but other powerful economic forces at work in contemporary American life. And what saved their jobs was not that same president swooping to the rescue, but good old-fashioned union pressure.
T.G.I.F.
Among their many triumphs, the Smothers brothers got CBS to break the 17-year-old network TV blacklisting of the folk singer Pete Seeger on Sept. 10, 1967. But censors cut his rendition of “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” a powerful allegory of the Vietnam War. They allowed him to perform this version when he returned on Feb. 25, 1968.
“Every time I read the paper those old feeling come on,” Seeger sings. “We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on.” True dat. Enjoy.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.