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NEWS ROUNDUP

Big Boeing order | Koch cuts in Camas | Jaime leans ‘yes’ | Jeff can’t recall

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

 


BOEING

 

► From AFP — Boeing announces $27 billion order from flydubai for 737 MAXs — Boeing on Wednesday announced an order from Gulf airline flydubai for 225 medium-haul 737 MAX aircraft with a list price of $27 billion, hailing it as the “largest-ever single-aisle jet order” from a Middle East carrier. The announcement, made at the Dubai Air Show, came just hours after rival Airbus said it had secured the biggest-ever order in its history to supply 430 medium-haul A320s to U.S. investment firm Indigo Partners at a catalog price of $49.5 billion.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Boeing plans to hold job fair in Everett — Boeing plans to hold a job fair in Everett later this month, one of series of hiring events planned across the state. The aerospace company has scheduled the session from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at Snohomish County WorkSource, 3201 Smith Ave., Everett. Applicants with skills in construction, automotive mechanics, precision machining, welding and other manufacturing programs are encouraged to apply.

 


LOCAL

 

► In today’s Columbian — Parts of Camas paper mill to shut down; at least 280 jobs to be lost — Georgia-Pacific (Koch Industries) on Tuesday announced it plans to shut down several operations at its Camas mill and cut up to 300 jobs. Between 120 and 140 jobs will remain at the mill, which opened in 1885 and in the 1980s employed around 2,400. Georgia-Pacific will meet with labor leaders to figure out how the mill will be staffed until operations end.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Key shoreline permits for coal dock denied — In a major blow to the proposed Longview coal dock, a Cowlitz County hearing examiner has denied two shoreline permits that Millennium Bulk Terminals needs for its $680 million project. Hearing Examiner Mark Scheibmeir rejected the permits Tuesday despite Cowlitz County planning staff recommendations that he approve them with conditions.

► In today’s Kitsap Sun — State gives final approval for Harrison hospital relocation — The state Department of Health approved plans Tuesday for CHI Franciscan Health to build a new Harrison hospital in Silverdale and close Harrison Bremerton. The department first issued a certificate of need for the $500 million project in May but later granted a reconsideration to review new information on the financial health of CHI Franciscan corporate parent Catholic Health Initiatives. Department staff upheld its initial project approval this week after reviewing a fresh round of public comments.

PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — Join UFCW 21 at rally to save Bremerton’s hospital (July 7, 2017) — UFCW 21 joins along with many in the community to say that, instead of cutting staff, closing a hospital and outsourcing work, CHI Franciscan should improve staffing levels, keep more union workers on the job serving patients, and maintain hospital beds in the largest city in Kitsap County.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — CHI Harrison Silverdale workers plan info picket TODAY — UFCW 21 members who work at CHI Harrison Silverdale will be holding a large informational picket today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. They will be joined by many in the Kitsap community to show management that they are all aligned for safe staffing and vital care, two of the key issues in the contract negotiations that have been ongoing for many months.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Dwindling immigration stresses tree-fruit industry — Recent studies are indicating that our once robust low-wage labor force primarily from Mexico is in fact dwindling, or not keeping pace with industry growth.

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s Seattle Times — Senate committee OKs more anti-harassment training for state legislators — The vote for more training comes after allegations surfaced recently of sexual harassment involving two former state House lawmakers and calls for a culture change in the Legislature.

ALSO at The Stand — #MeToo power shift must be sustained (by Lynne Dodson)

 


CORPORATE TAX CUTS

 

► From CNBC — House will vote on tax reform bill on Thursday — House Republicans will vote on their tax-reform bill on Thursday. GOP leaders believe they can pass the bill this week, despite lingering resistance from some of the party’s members.

ALSO at The Stand — Tell Congress to vote ‘NO’ on GOP tax bill

► In today’s Daily News — Herrera Beutler leaning toward voting for GOP tax bill

► In today’s Columbian — Inslee asks state delegation to reject GOP tax plans

► In today’s Olympian — ‘Tax reform’ is more than a tax cut (editorial) — As the tax cut proposals now stand, our Northwest Congressional delegation should fight them. Republicans and Democrats. These are foolish tax giveaways that ignore the revenue needs of legitimate government programs and serve to help those who are ably helping themselves to our country’s bounty.

► In today’s NY Times — Lower corporate taxes, higher wages? Voters are skeptical — Republicans argue that their plan to cut corporate taxes will increase wages for American workers. A new survey suggests even the party’s strongest supporters aren’t buying that argument.

► In today’s NY Times — Every tax cut and tax increase in the House GOP bill and what it would cost (interactive)

► In today’s NY Times — Senate plans to end ACA mandate in revised tax proposal — Senate Republicans have decided to include the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most people have health insurance into the sprawling tax rewrite, merging the fight over health care with the high-stakes effort to cut taxes. Republicans also revealed that they would set all of their tax cuts for individuals to expire at the end of 2025, but their deep cut in the corporate tax rates from 35% to 20% would remain permanent.

► In today’s NY Times — The tax bill is now a health care bill (by David Leonhardt) — The net result will be fewer middle- and low-income people signing up for health insurance. Because fewer of them will sign up, the federal government will spend less money on their medical care. And because the federal government will spend less on them, it will have more money to spend on — you guessed it — tax cuts for the wealthy.

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s Washington Post — The most important Senate hearing of this presidency — Can Donald Trump launch nuclear war on his own?

EDITOR’S NOTE — Rep. Adam Smith (D-9th) is sufficiently alarmed by the prospect that he has introduced a bill today that clarifies and establishes a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons.

► In today’s NY Times — Attorney General Jeff Sessions doesn’t recall (editorial) — Whether or not a special counsel is appointed to investigate Hillary Clinton, the pressure to do so is clear, from both Republicans in Congress and President Trump, who has threatened Sessions’s job if he fails to prosecute Clinton. That’s what’s so alarming: the push for the Justice Department to undertake a politically motivated investigation of a president’s political opponent, and purely as revenge for an actual investigation already underway. Meanwhile, Sessions spent most of Tuesday’s hearing as he has all the others he’s sat through this year — by not recalling things that one would think most people would. As Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said to Sessions on Tuesday, “With all due respect, it’s difficult to take your assurances under oath.”

 

► From The Hill — Cards Against Humanity buying plot of land on border to try to stop Trump’s wall — The company that makes Cards Against Humanity is trying to prevent President Trump’s proposed border wall from being built by purchasing a plot of vacant land along the country’s border.

 


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