NEWS ROUNDUP
Manka and Mosqueda, State Senate on drugs, Trump’s ‘dump’
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
PRIMARY ELECTION
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — How labor’s candidates fared on Tuesday
► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle poised to elect first woman mayor since 1926; Durkan, Moon and Oliver lead the pack — Former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan held a commanding lead over the 21-candidate field with 31.6 percent, while urban planner Cary Moon and educator and attorney Nikkita Oliver were neck and neck with 15.6 percent and 13.9 percent.
LOCAL
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — How berry pickers, construction workers can beat the heat this week — With construction and berry season in full swing, this week’s record-setting hot weather poses a risk to people who spend their days working outdoors – and employers are required to provide water and respond appropriately to workers with any symptoms of heat-related illness.
► From KNKX — Hanford managers unveil new plan for unstable tunnels at nuclear site — Washington state officials have been waiting to see how the U.S. Department of Energy plans to deal with an unstable tunnel filled with radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear site.
THIS WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Senate GOP’s brinkmanship suspends construction, kills jobs (by Sen. Bob Hasegawa)
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Senate wrong to hold capital budget for water rights fix (letter) —
► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Ethics complaints against Ericksen for temporary EPA job dismissed — Legislative Ethics Board dismisses complaints filed against Sen. Doug Ericksen for working with President Donald Trump’s transition team while serving as a state legislator.
PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — Bill seeks prescription drug price transparency to manage costs — The true costs of prescription drugs are largely hidden, hard to understand, and nearly impossible to predict. That’s why prescription drug pricing transparency legislation was proposed in Olympia this year: to help lawmakers understand what is driving drug prices and address the root causes of rising healthcare costs. It passed the Democratic-controlled House but never got a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, which it was blocked in the Senate Health Care Committee. Reason #537 why the WSLC has endorsed Manka Dhingra.
► A related story from The Hill — Retailers, drug industry surge in lobbying’s top 50
HEALTH CARE
► In today’s Washington Post — Appeals court ruling could help preserve key subsidy in Affordable Care Act — The ruling could make it more difficult for the White House to carry out threats by President Trump to cut off payments that benefit health insurers and millions of people.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From HuffPost (not The Onion) — Trump reportedly calls White House ‘a real dump’ — The White House — the storied, 55,000-square-foot mansion that’s housed America’s first families for centuries — is apparently not up to snuff for President Donald Trump. “That White House is a real dump,” Trump reportedly told members of his Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, before teeing off recently.
► Fake News update in today’s Washington Post — Lawsuit alleges White House link in discredited Seth Rich conspiracy theory — A private investigator and Fox News contributor claims the president was aware of and urged Fox to publish a bogus story about the Democratic National Committee staffer.
NATIONAL
► In the USA Today —NLRB lodges charge at Nissan ahead of union vote — With a union election scheduled this week, the National Labor Relations Board is charging that Nissan violated workers’ rights at its Mississippi plant by engaging in anti-union activity. The board alleges a supervisor acted illegally on March 30, well before workers filed for a vote asking that the United Auto Workers to represent them.
► From WBUR — $15 minimum wage and paid leave questions proposed for 2018 Mass. ballot — Proposed questions being offered for next year’s state ballot would gradually raise the minimum wage in Massachusetts to $15 an hour and require that workers have access to paid family and medical leave from their employers.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.