NEWS ROUNDUP
Countdown to impeachment, Hanford steps, higher ed’s labor crisis…
Thursday, May 11, 2017
COUNTDOWN TO IMPEACHMENT
EDITOR’S NOTE: History-Will-Judge-Them Edition — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is defending the president’s decision, saying “the president must have confidence in those who work for him.” As of this morning, the reactions from Washington’s delegation: Sens. Patty Murray (D) and Maria Cantwell (D) and Rep. Adam Smith (D) are calling for a special prosecutor; Reps. Suzan DelBene (D), Denny Heck (D), Derek Kilmer (D), Rick Larsen (D) and Pramila Jayapal (D) are calling for an independent investigation; and Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R), Dan Newhouse (R) and Dave Reichert (R) remain silent.
► In today’s NY Times — Comey asked to beef up inquiry into Russia before firing — Last week, Comey had asked a Justice Department official for more prosecutors to accelerate the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling.
► In today’s NY Times — An open letter to the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (editorial) — Rod Rosenstein has more authority than anyone else to restore Americans’ confidence in their government.
► From The Hill — Poll: Trump’s approval rating slips to 36 percent
► From Politico — FBI agent groups dispute Trump’s rationale for Comey firing — One of the main reasons the White House has given for Comey’s firing was that the nation’s top law enforcement agent had lost the support of his own rank and file. Not so, says Thomas O’Connor, a working FBI special agent who is president of the FBI Agents Association: “His support within the rank and file of the FBI is overwhelming.”
► In the Washington Post — After Trump fired Comey, White House staff scrambled to explain why — White House press secretary Sean Spicer disappeared into the shadows of the White House grounds, huddling with his staff near a clump of bushes and then behind a tall hedge.
HANFORD
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Hanford warned in 2015 study that contaminated rail car tunnels at risk of collapse
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — State demands answers about Hanford radioactive tunnel breach
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Energy secretary wants study to prevent more problems at Hanford
► From the archives of The Onion — Audience at press conference relieved to hear steps will be taken
LOCAL
► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Grain terminal, ILWU have smooth labor talks — ILWU 21 has quietly reached an agreement with EGTm the operators of the Longview Export Grain Terminal, avoiding the strife that plagued the negotiations five years ago. Members unanimously voted to approve the new contract in April, and the five-year contract went into effect last week.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing grounds 737 MAX planes over quality issue with engine — Weeks away from the first delivery of its new 737 MAX airliner, Boeing on Wednesday grounded its fleet of planes because of a quality problem with the new LEAP engine made by CFM International in Lafayette, Indiana, or Villaroche, France.
ALSO at The Stand — State, NWIRP offer guidance on federal immigration compliance
► In today’s News Tribune — Private jails no longer banned in Tacoma — The City Council voted Tuesday night to roll back interim rules that banned private correctional facilities, such as the Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats. The regulations, approved in March, were meant to keep the facility, which can house about 1,575 immigrant detainees, from expanding.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Largely retroactive contract agreement boosts jail workers’ pay — Snohomish County has agreed to a new contract with its jail employees that includes 3% annual raises, capping a series of negotiations with other employee groups.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Want to boost your pay? Form a union!
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Olympian — Lawmakers need to fix schools. So why aren’t they at the Capitol? — If you were under a court order to fix the state’s school system, you might think you’d be holed up at the Capitol, working furiously on the issue. Yet for most of Washington’s 147 state lawmakers, that is not the case.
► In today’s Columbian — Inslee signs bridge bill — With a swipe of his pen, Gov. Jay Inslee made it official: Southwest Washington legislators will renew conversations around how to ease traffic on the congested I-5 Bridge.
TRUMPCARE
ALSO at The Stand — Unions to McMorris Rodgers: Shame on you
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Elegance wasn’t the issue, Congressman Labrador (by Shawn Vestal) — Rep. Raul Labrador, the would-be next governor of Idaho, says his words were inelegant when he confidently stated, “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care”… I think Labrador succinctly and accidentally expressed an important and factually aloof belief that lurks mostly unstated inside politics on the right: The safety net is too big and too soft, the people who use it are mostly undeserving, and those who speak up for them are hysterically overstating the case.
► In today’s Washington Post — After saving the GOP health-care bill, this congressman got an earful from constituents — The mood was toxic from the start as Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) slugged through five hours of hostile questions, including whether the remodeled AHCA would punish women who had been the victims of rape.
EDITOR’S NOTE — But good on him for having the courage to face his constituents.
► From The Hill — Senate GOP defends writing its healthcare bill in private — Senate Republicans are defending their decision to write their own healthcare bill behind closed doors, bypassing the usual committee process.
THAT WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — 40-hour workweek, overtime pay under attack by House Republicans — Washington GOP Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert all voted for this bill.
► From The American Prospect — What will Trump deliver on trade? — President Trump appears to be serious about changing the terms of U.S. trade deals, having recently drawn up an executive order to withdraw from the NAFTA to show that he means business about renegotiating the deal. But will President Trump change trade deals to make North American citizens and workers better off — or just business?
► From Politico — Graduating seniors boo Betsy DeVos at commencement in Florida — Hundreds of graduating seniors of a historically black university here booed and turned their backs on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as she struggled to deliver their commencement address over the raucous crowd.
NATIONAL
► In the Chattanooga Times Free-Press — Union puts pressure on Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant — The UAW continued to pressure Volkswagen to recognize the union in Chattanooga, questioning the company’s ongoing challenge to UAW representation during VW’s annual shareholders meeting.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.