NEWS ROUNDUP
Fix the tax code | Trump’s TPP 180 | The mother of Evangeline
Friday, April 13, 2018
LOCAL
► From the Public News Service — Marchers rally Saturday to fix WA’s ‘upside down’ tax system — Washingtonians are rallying ahead of tax day to call for a fairer tax system in the state. On Saturday, people will gather in Seattle to highlight the disparity between working families, who pay up to 17 percent of their income in state and local taxes, and high-income families, who pay less than 3 percent of their earnings. Tim Welch, WFSE public affairs director, says everyone uses public services such as roads and schools, and so it’s only fair to make the tax structure more equal.
ALSO at The Stand — Rally April 14 for tax system that works for all of us
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — As his mom was dying, he stole $40,000 from his union to see his future wife — The secretary-treasurer for a Wallula labor union was reeling from his mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis when he reconnected with a childhood friend. But Jason A. Richard struggled to afford the frequent trips between Walla Walla and her home in Phoenix. That’s when he said he started tapping into the accounts he managed for USW Local 12-990… On Thursday, Richard and his lawyer asked for mercy from a federal judge.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Conceptual plans filed with Spokane County for Amazon-like warehouse near the airport — A gigantic, Amazon-like warehouse could be headed to vacant fields around the Spokane International Airport. Details were tantalizing, but scarce Thursday. A company has submitted conceptual plans for a four-story warehouse to the county that would contain a whopping 2.5 million square feet of space. The company is not identified in documents.
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — In danger: State workers endure risks along our highways — State DOT workers are sharing their stories of brain injuries suffered on the job to help raise awareness. The goal is to get folks to think about workers like them and take extra caution through the areas where people are working. It’s not just about Incident Response Team drivers. It’s state patrol troopers, sheriff’s deputies, police officers, firefighters, ambulance technicians. It’s also tow truck drivers, surveyors, construction crews, and those in PUD hard hats.
OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
► In today’s Washington Post — Majority of Americans support Mueller’s probe of Russia, Trump campaign — Nearly 7 in 10 adults say they support Mueller’s focus on possible collusion with Russia. Sixty-four percent say they want the special counsel investigating Trump’s business activities. And a 58 percent majority supports investigating alleged payments by Trump associates to silence women who say they had affairs with him.
BOEING
► In today’s Seattle Times — Russia takes aim at Boeing titanium, U.S. workers in sanctions plan — Russia outlined a broad range of potential retaliatory moves against new U.S. sanctions, including curbs on imports of American farm products and cooperation in nuclear energy and space launches, as well as a possible ban on titanium sales to Boeing.
► From Reuters — Rolls-Royce and airlines grapple with further Dreamliner engine issues — Rolls-Royce requires more money and more inspections to fix problems with Trent 1000 engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes, leading to further disruption for airlines and testing relations between Rolls and its customers.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s NY Times — Trump wants back into the TPP. Not so fast, say members. — The pact’s members — including some of America’s most stalwart allies — might not make it so easy to come back.
► In today’s NY Times — Justice Dept. can’t tie police funding to help on immigration, judge rules — The Justice Department cannot require that local police departments help immigration agents in order to receive federal funding, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling is a significant victory for local governments that have opposed the Trump administration’s stance on immigration and vowed to stay out of enforcement efforts.
► From Politico — Trump may try to claw back as much as $60 billion from spending bill — The White House is ignoring warnings from worried Hill Republicans and moving ahead with plans to cut billions of dollars from the spending bill that Congress passed in late March.
► From Reuters — Unions brace for big changes under Republican-led U.S. labor board — As Republicans take control of the U.S. agency that enforces federal labor law, unions are bracing for decisions that could make it harder for them to solicit support and boost their ranks by limiting their ability to contact workers.
NATIONAL
► In today’s NY Times — Oklahoma teachers end walkout after winning raises, additional funding — Saying it had achieved all that it could with a walkout, Oklahoma’s largest teachers’ union on Thursday called for educators to return to the classroom and to shift their efforts to supporting candidates in the fall elections who favor increased education spending. At a news conference, Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, characterized the nine-day walkout as “a victory for teachers.”
► From the AFL-CIO — Texas AFL-CIO takes next step to expand union participation in citizenship drives — In January, delegates to the Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention unanimously approved a far-reaching resolution calling for the state federation and affiliates to conduct citizenship drives across the state, with the long-term intent of registering new voters and changing the political environment. On April 10, in a strategy meeting attended by union affiliates from across the state, the Texas AFL-CIO took the next step to fulfill the goals of that resolution.
► MUST-READ from The Guardian — How the American economy conspires to keep wages down (by Gabriel Winant) — When unemployment goes down, wages are supposed to go up. That’s just supply and demand. Quite puzzlingly, though, this mechanism seems not to be working today. Unemployment stands at a modest 4%, but paychecks aren’t growing. Although today’s is the best-educated workforce in history, employers just insist that workers need more training. In other words, they’re gaslighting us. Meanwhile, over decades, employers have built and maintained a massive collective political apparatus to hold down wages.
T.G.I.F.
► A couple weeks ago, The Entire Staff of The Stand was fortunate enough to go see Brandi Carlile, the Pride of Ravensdale, at Seattle’s Moore Theater. Fortunate, not only because it was (yet again) a wonderful performance, but also because the next night’s show had to be cancelled because her daughter, Evangeline, was hospitalized with a high fever. By all accounts, her daughter is doing better now. To celebrate the ability of parents to take a day off work to care for sick kiddos, here is a beautiful video of Brandi serenading Evangeline with a song about her from Brandi’s new album. Enjoy!
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.