Wednesday, April 4, 2018

50 YEARS AGO

► From AP — Speeches, marches mark Martin Luther King anniversary

FROM THE CALENDAR at The Stand — The MLK Commemoration Committee and the Washington State Civil Rights Coalition invite all to an event to reflect on the MLK’s legacy and progress for the future on tonight (Wednesday, April 4) at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1634 19th Ave. (Rev. Dr. S McKinney Ave.) in Seattle. Reception at 6 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. Get details.

► From The Nation — Martin Luther King, Jr.: 50 years later (by Michael Honey) — Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, a bullet robbed us of one of the great human-rights leaders of the 20th century. However, the bonds of memory cannot be so easily dissolved. Ending poverty and fighting for union rights are back on the economic-justice agenda today. Fifty years after King, Memphis remains an appropriate launch pad for these campaigns. “Fight for $15” organizers met there, picketing McDonald’s and marching on the anniversary of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which will be meeting in Memphis on the 50th anniversary of King’s death, launched its “I Am 2018” campaign to fight for racial and economic justice and combat so-called right-to-work laws. The Rev. William Barber, the Rev. Liz Theoharis, and others also met in Memphis to begin their new Poor People’s Campaign to end poverty, which is modeled on King’s original crusade.

► In today’s NY Times — How Dr. King changed a sanitation worker’s life — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis in 1968 to protest with sanitation workers. Cleophus Smith marched with him. He’s still on the job.

► From The Advocate — The gay union organizer who helped MLK change the world (by Shellea Allen and Tim Schlittner) — As America prepares to observe the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination today, there is one name you may not hear: Bayard Rustin. A close confidante and mentor of King, Rustin was a key leader of the civil rights movement and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He proved to be a transformative figure in the fight for racial justice, even introducing King to the Gandhian principles of nonviolence that would come to define the struggle. He also happened to be gay.

LOCAL

► In today’s Yakima H-R —  Yakima’s KIMA-TV among TV stations airing ‘false news’ promo which sparked social media firestorm — Yakima-based KIMA-TV is among the scores of local television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group to produce and air a company-mandated promotional announcement warning about media bias and “false news.” The promos are drawing scrutiny as Baltimore-based Sinclair, known for its conservative political leanings, already forces its local stations to run right-leaning commentaries and news packages that are produced by the parent company.

► From HuffPost — Sinclair journalists worry they’re being watched: ‘There’s a lot held over us’ — Some employees have spoken out about their frustration at having to parrot the conservative politics of their employer. Others say they’d like to do more, but they’re wary due to what they say is Sinclair’s policy and practice of closely monitoring its employees. Sinclair’s employee handbook states that the company “may monitor, intercept, and review, without further notice, every employee’s activities using Company’s electronic resources and communications systems.” The handbook goes on to state, “To be very clear: you should not have any expectation of personal privacy in any communication using Company owned equipment.”

► From Publicola — Seattle outlaws subminimum wage for people with disabilities — “All workers deserve the right to earn at least the minimum wage. That is why it is called the minimum,” said city council member Teresa Mosqueda. “We are saying that all work has dignity, and all workers deserve that same respect.”

► In today’s Seattle Times — Sea-Tac airport’s new international facility is running over budget and behind schedule — The cost of the new International Arrivals Facility at Sea-Tac airport has swelled by another $40 million to $830 million, and the project is running five months late.

► From The Stranger — Jason Rantz is nuts: SEIU has not ‘dumped’ Fight for $15 — Local conservative commentator Jason Rantz goes on and on about union dues and how awful they are and how SEIU has bailed from the “Fight for $15” movement because it couldn’t get enough workers to join and pay them dues. This is total rubbish.

THIS WASHINGTON

► From The Stranger — Amid statewide mental health care crisis, UW looks to shutter psychiatric unit — Facing a financial crunch, UW Medicine is considering closing part or all of the psychiatric unit at the University of Washington Medical Center, a spokesperson confirmed. The unit is currently licensed to operate 20 beds, but only operates 10 after recent staffing decreases. It admits about 430 patients per year, according to UW Medicine, and 26 nurses, doctors, and other staff work in the unit.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Crippling child care costs? Patty Murray wants to help — Sen. Murray was in town to tour LCC’s Early Learning Center and promote a bill that would help working families struggling in the midst of a national child care crisis. “I hear about the issue of the child-care crisis everywhere I go, but I particularly wanted to highlight a more rural community because people often think it’s not a problem there,” Murray, a former preschool teacher, said in an interview following her tour. “But it’s a huge problem.”

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Lawmakers to court: We did what you ordered on school reforms — In what may have been the last meeting of a special legislative committee, lawmakers approved a report telling the state Supreme Court they believe they have finally met the 2012 McCleary order to improve education.

► In the Walla Walla U-B — Penitentiary inmates protest with hunger strike — Brian Maguire, a retired correctional programs manager from the local prison, said the quality of the prison food has declined significantly since state officials began telling food managers to source ingredients and products from food processing centers run by the business arm of the Washington Department of Corrections.

► In today’s News Tribune — Local Democrats fracturing over future of lawmaker dogged by claims of misbehavior — A rift is growing among Democrats in Pierce County over what to do about state Rep. David Sawyer (D-Tacoma), who has been publicly accused of acting inappropriately toward women before and after taking office in 2013. Two Democrats have launched campaigns to unseat Sawyer, splintering the party. The divide was revealed again Monday when the Democratic organization in Sawyer’s 29th Legislative District approved a resolution by a 9-8 vote that asks him to resign or at least not seek re-election.

► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — Chapman rails at House GOP, takes issue with leaders who visited area recently — Rep. Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles) fired back at state House Republican leaders who visited Port Angeles last week: “Don’t come into my district, talk to my newspaper and say I’m not representing my district when you voted against tax breaks that directly benefit my district.”

► From The Stranger — We marched. Now, we’re pre-registering to vote. (by Cole Jaynes-Ostrom and Jasmyne Sims) — Just a few weeks ago, Gov. Jay Inslee signed voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds into law. The passage of this bill reaffirms young people’s role in our democracy, ensuring youth voices are heard and youth votes are counted. If the last month following the tragedy of the Parkland shooting has taught us anything, it’s that young people have a voice that deserves to be heard. On this point, let us be clear: We are not props. We do not want honorary seats at the table only to watch as everyone else gets counted. We will not sit idly by as decisions that affect the lives of our generation and generations to come get made by those that have accepted that the present is just the way it is.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Keep your eye on Franklin Pierce Pierce High School senior Jasmyne Sims. She’s going places.

TEACHER STRIKES

► In the Tulsa World — Educators begin weeklong march to Capitol on day three of Oklahoma teacher walkout — More than one hundred educators and their supporters on Wednesday began what could be a weeklong march from Tulsa to Oklahoma City in day three of Oklahoma’s teacher walkout. The Oklahoma Education Association has listed three teacher demands that would end the walkout: fill the $50 million gap created in hotel/motel tax the Legislature repealed last week, pass a bill that would bring in revenue by allowing “ball and dice” gambling, and find additional revenue sources to increase funding for schools.

► From The Atlantic — The larger concerns behind the teachers’ strikes — One demand of the striking Oklahoma teachers has gotten a lot of attention: They want higher salaries. Superficially that demand may seem like a somewhat selfish concern — a question of their own bank accounts, not students’ needs. But the teachers’ complaints go far beyond compensation, and when viewed in the context of their other demands, it’s clear that the strike gets at the heart of some of the biggest issues facing America’s children: access to effective teachers, high-quality learning materials, and modern facilities.

► From PBS — Oklahoma parents, teachers are posting their crumbling textbooks online — Alisha Malaska had an important question at this week’s parent-teacher conference: Why were her son’s textbooks falling apart? She’s one of many parents and teachers across the state sharing pictures of decrepit or out-of-date textbooks during this week’s teacher strike in Oklahoma, where teacher pay ranked 50th in the nation until last week and where education funding as a whole has dropped drastically in the past decade. Ripped binding, torn pages and outdated information — such as listing the current president as George W. Bush, whose term ended in 2009 — have been a visible rallying cry as teachers demand better pay and more funding.

► In today’s Washington Post — Teachers need to be more selfish (by Joseph Durling) — As long as teachers promote the narrative that they are only in the profession because of inherent rewards, there is no reason for status or pay to improve. When we say we are only in it for the kids, then, yes, it is a contradiction to go on strike for higher wages. Why would anyone take instructional time away from students if they believe the kids always come first? If being selfish means advocating for respectable pay and reasonable hours, then maybe it’s time for teachers to be selfish.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From Politico — Trump, McCarthy look to cut billions from budget deal they just passed — Facing pressure from conservatives for their budget-busting moves, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are considering forcing votes that would cut billions of dollars in spending from the bipartisan funding deal they just passed last month, according to sources familiar with the plan.

► In today’s NY Times — China strikes back at the U.S. with plans for its own tariffs — The measures, targeting $50 billion worth of soybeans, cars and other goods, were the latest move in the countries’ escalating trade confrontation.

► From Reuters — Hit to Boeing from Chinese tariffs depends on definitions — China on Wednesday announced plans to place a 25 percent tariff on certain U.S. aircraft, in a move expected to affect some older Boeing Co. narrowbody models, according to documents from China’s Ministry of Commerce and the U.S. manufacturer. But it was not immediately clear how far they would affect Boeing’s upgraded 737 MAX family, a key source of future Boeing profits, because of a lack of detail in the announcement and the fact that not all airplane characteristics are published.

► From Reuters — Boeing, Apple lead stock slide as China-U.S. trade spat intensifies

► From TPM — Gingrich’s decades-long quest to purge federal workforce gets a new lease on life — Dating back to his mid-1990s reign in the House of Representatives, and continuing through his failed presidential runs and unsuccessful audition to be Donald Trump’s vice president, Newt Gingrich has led a crusade for rolling back protections for federal workers and eliminating entire agencies. Today, he is pushing from the outside for that same agenda — both as a contributor to Fox News, the President’s favorite source of information, and in private communications with the administration urging officials to conduct a “cleaning” and fire career civil servants suspected of disloyalty.

► In today’s NY Times — Charitable giving by corporations is also about getting, a new study finds — An analysis of corporate philanthropy finds that donations to causes affiliated with politicians look a lot like lobbying.

► In today’s Washington Post — Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target — Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point.

► From Politico — Mueller’s assurances that Trump is not a ‘target’ don’t mean much — Offering what prosecutors consider to be a false statement can easily tip someone over into the target category after an interview.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.