DAILY NEWS
Your Primary task, ‘repulsive’ Boeing, SeaTac’s boom
PRIMARY Tuesday, August 1, 2017
► TODAY is the last day to drop off or mail your Primary Election ballots! — Check with your local Central Labor Council to find out which local candidates have earned labor’s endorsement. And if you live in the all-important 45th Legislative District, you REALLY need to turn in your ballot. As of last night, 23,207 45th LD ballots had been returned in the Senate race between labor-endorsed Democratic candidate Manka Dhingra and her Republican opponent. That’s about a 25 percent return rate. Some counties are reporting that they are experiencing record low turnouts. C’mon, people… VOTE!
BOEING
► A related story from Mother Jones — Corporations are raking in record profits, but workers aren’t seeing much of it — In the first half of 2017 corporate profits have spiked while wage growth has been meager. Basically, corporations have manufactured profits by being stingy with workers.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Boeing offers buyouts at South Carolina plant after June layoffs — Boeing is offering voluntary buyouts to workers on the flight line at its 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina, following a spate of layoffs in June.
LOCAL
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Shortage of bus drivers has school districts scrambling — There’s a shortage of bus drivers and substitute drivers, in Snohomish County and nationwide. Trainers and transportation directors note that medical requirements, training and a challenging test to get licensed discourage people. The shortage also likely is related to an economic upswing.
► From KNKX — Burien law protecting undocumented immigrants faces possible repeal — Burien was part of a wave of cities this year to pass laws aimed protecting undocumented immigrants. But, earlier this month, residents opposed to the law got enough signatures on a petition to force a vote on its repeal.
TRUMPCARE
► In today’s Washington Post — Who saved Obamacare from the GOP? The American people. — Make no mistake: The leaders of our new, unified, conservative federal government were desperate to enact Trumpcare. But the combined political might of the president of the United States, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate majority leader was no match for one simple thing: people showing up.
ALSO at The Stand — WSLC, AFL-CIO support Medicare for All
► From CNBC — Majority of Americans want Congress to move on from health-care reform — A majority of Americans are ready to move on from health-care reform after the U.S. Senate’s effort to dismantle Obamacare failed on Friday, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. Nearly two-thirds of the country wants to either keep or modify the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. A majority of Americans want Congress to turn its attention to other priorities, the survey found.
► In today’s Washington Post — GOP leaders concede it’s time for Senate to move on from health care — Pressure from President Trump has done little to convince lawmakers to keep trying to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers say they will turn their attention to tax reform and “see if we can’t put some wins on the board.
► In the Washington Post — Trump insults and threatens GOP senators in long rant after health bill failure — “They look like fools,” the president wrote on Twitter — and unless they tried yet again to repeal and replace Obamacare, they would be “total quitters” too.
THIS WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Senate GOP’s brinkmanship suspends construction, kills jobs (by Sen. Bob Hasegawa)
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Without state budget, money for Blanchard Mountain put on hold — The state Legislature’s failure to pass a capital budget this month has left several public lands projects in limbo, including the state Department of Natural Resources’ need for $7.7 million to permanently preserve the central recreation area in the Blanchard State Forest.
► From KUOW — Washington state tells DOJ voter rolls are ‘accurate’ — President Donald Trump has alleged widespread voter fraud in last year’s election. The state’s response says Washington state routinely compares its voter registration database to lists of deaths and felony convictions. And the state looks for duplicates every night.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From Politico — Senate Democrats set conditions for tax reform — Senate Democrats laid down a marker Tuesday for any future tax reform legislation, urging President Donald Trump and the GOP to seek a bipartisan bill and outlining the conditions to secure their votes. Democrats say they will not back any bill that gives new breaks to the wealthiest individuals and will not back any legislation that adds to the deficit.
► In today’s Washington Post — Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer — President Trump’s personal intervention, described by people with knowledge of the deliberations, is part of a series of actions that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy as the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election proceeds.
► From the Hill — Scaramucci shocker roils Washington — Anthony Scaramucci’s abrupt ouster on Monday capped an extraordinary stretch of turmoil at the White House. Yet some within the president’s orbit argued that it was one of those rare Washington events that was simultaneously shocking but unsurprising. Scaramucci lasted only 10 days in a job he had long coveted, that of White House communications director.
► From The Onion — Nation not sure how many Trump ex-staffers it can safely absorb
NATIONAL
► From CNN Money — The U.S. has a staggering pilot shortage — Over the next two decades, 87 new pilots need to be trained and ready to fly a commercial airliner every day in order to meet our insatiable demand to travel by air. That’s one every 15 minutes. Retirements at U.S. airlines will start to rise precipitously starting in 2021 as the current crop of pilots turns 65, the mandated age of retirement. More than 42% of active U.S. airline pilots at the biggest carriers will retire over the next 10 years, about 22,000, according to a recent report.
► In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Court sides with Missouri unions in ‘right to work’ dispute — A union-led attempt to dump Missouri’s new “right to work” law scored a victory in court Friday. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District overturned a lower court decision that said the language of a proposed ballot initiative seeking to nix the new law was unfair and insufficient.
► In the NY Times — Hot spot for tech outsourcing: The United States — For years, American companies have been saving money by “offshoring” jobs — hiring people in India and other distant cubicle farms. Today, some of those jobs are being outsourced again — in the United States.
► From AFL-CIO on Facebook — Chicago Local #1 Iron Workers remake the iconic “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” photo from 1932.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
In a country with so many problems – especially inequality – tax cuts for rich corporations will not solve any of them. This is a lesson for all countries contemplating corporate tax breaks – even those without the misfortune of being led by a callow, craven plutocrat.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.