DAILY NEWS
Senate tax vote imminent | Mosqueda sworn in | College loan swindle
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
TAX REFORM SCAM
ALSO TODAY at The Stand:
GOP tax bills are theft from working people (by Jeff Johnson)
Call U.S. Senators to stop job-killing tax plan — Call your senator today at 844-899-9913. Tell them to oppose the job-killing tax plan that favors the super-rich and wealthy corporations over working people.
► In today’s NY Times — Senate considers making a terrible tax bill even worse (editorial) — Dragging its abysmal standards lower, it may throw more money at billionaires to win two crucial votes.
► In today’s Washington Post — Why are Republicans raising taxes on millions of Americans? (by Marc Thiessen) — President Trump has promised to “give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas — hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful Christmas present.” Unfortunately for millions of Americans, what they will be getting instead is a lump of coal in the form of a tax increase — courtesy of the GOP.
► In today’s NY Times — Tax bills would benefit those who moved money offshore — Big companies wagered that they could save billions by shifting profits overseas. Under the tax plans, those bets would pay off.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Columbian — EFSEC unanimous in vote against Port of Vancouver oil terminal — The plan to build the largest rail-to-marine oil terminal in the United States suffered a major blow Tuesday at the hands of the state body tasked with its evaluation. Barely five minutes into a special meeting at the State Capitol, the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council unanimously recommended disapproval of the Vancouver Energy application for site certification to build a crude-by-rail oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver. However, EFSEC’s recommendation is just that. The ultimate decision on the project’s construction will be made by Inslee. After he officially receives the EFSEC recommendation, Inslee will have 60 days to respond.
LOCAL
► From AP — Seattle school bus drivers to strike 1 day over health care — The Seattle school bus drivers union says it will go on a one-day strike Wednesday to protest the health insurance plan being offered imposed. Teamsters Local 174 also warned of future and prolonged strikes if the two sides can’t reach a deal.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — First Student school bus drivers strike Wednesday in Seattle
► In today’s Seattle Times — Microsoft plans multibillion-dollar expansion, renovation of Redmond campus — Over the next five to seven years, the company will construct 18 new buildings on the campus, which currently has 80. It will renovate several other buildings to give them a modern, open feel.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — 8 workers report smelling odors at Hanford tank farms — Three of the workers received medical evaluations and were cleared to return to work. The other five reported smelling odors but declined medical evaluations.
► In today’s News Tribune — El Gaucho agrees to pay $1.5 million to employees to settle lawsuit — El Gaucho has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle claims it improperly withheld wages and tips from employees working at some of its high-end restaurants in Tacoma, Bellevue and Seattle.
► In today’s News Tribune — Pam Roach accuses another County Council member of flipping her the bird — Shouting, profanity and gavel-pounding disrupt a meeting to adopt Pierce County’s 2018 budget.
ELECTION REDUX
PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — Sims named to replace Mosqueda at WSLC
► From KNKX — Jenny Durkan sworn in as Seattle mayor — The first woman mayor since the 1920s has taken the helm in the booming progressive city of Seattle.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Trump is still trying to ban Muslim refugees — but in Washington state, he also got one elected (editorial) — Our state’s first Somali-refugee elected official, Zak Idan of Tukwila, says he was emboldened to run for office by the president’s travel ban.
THAT WASHINGTON
► From The Hill — Chances for government shutdown rising — The odds of a government shutdown grew dramatically Tuesday as President Trump tweeted that he saw no path to a year-end deal with Democrats “Chuck and Nancy,” who then promptly backed out of a meeting at the White House.
► In today’s Seattle Times — ‘I believe these women’: Seattle’s U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal calls for John Conyers’ resignation — Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Seattle became the second House Democrat to call for the resignation of Michigan’s Rep. John Conyers over allegations he sexually harassed women who worked for him.
► From the AFL-CIO — Working people need a strong CFPB with a leader who supports its existence — We learned the hard way from the financial crisis in 2008 that working people need the CFPB. We need the bureau to fight to protect us from predatory lenders and, in order to be effective in doing that, it needs to be led by a strong, full-time director who believes in its mission. Consumer financial protection is a full-time job, not a side gig for someone who things it’s a “joke.”
► From Politico — Trump retweets anti-Muslim videos from far-right U.K. figure — President Trump on Wednesday shared a series of videos with his Twitter followers portraying Muslims as violent and dangerous. All three videos were originally posted to Twitter by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right, ultranationalist group Britain First. She was found guilty last year of religiously aggravated harassment of a Muslim woman.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.