Tuesday, June 5, 2018

LOCAL

► From The Stranger — UW avoids finals week strike by making deal with student employees — University of Washington administrators and student workers reached a contract deal Friday evening. Members of UAW 4121, which represents 4,500 student employees, voted 62 to 38 percent to approve it over the weekend. The deal will improve student employees’ pay and health insurance. However, it does little to address one of the union’s signature issues: fees that go toward athletic facilities and transit access.

► From Crosscut — As King County gets richer, single moms get poorer — King County’s economic boom isn’t lifting single mothers like Jennifer Phipps. Of all earners, women with children and no partner continue to earn the least. And, as other family types see gains, income for single moms has flatlined since 2009. Between 2015 and 2016, single mothers’ earnings actually appear to have dipped. Census Bureau surveys show the problem is worse for King County’s Black and Latina single mothers, who are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than White single mothers. This comes as King County home values have nearly doubled since 2009. Rents are up more than 70 percent. Child care, car tabs, gasoline, food prices: everything is more expensive. While married couples, childless adults and even single fathers have seen windfalls from a hot economy, the paychecks for single mothers are frozen in time.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Massive Spokane distribution center called ‘Project Rose’ smells a lot like Amazon — New details are emerging about the mysterious Project Rose, a large-scale warehouse on the West Plains that looks an awful lot like an Amazon fulfillment center.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Howard Schultz steps down as Starbucks leader, doesn’t rule out presidential run — Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, who grew a small coffee Seattle coffee seller into a global giant, has announced he is stepping down effective June 26. The move immediately renewed speculation over his political ambitions. Asked if he was considering a presidential run in 2020, Schultz said. “I intend to think about a range of options, and that could include public service.”

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Union-buster Howard Schultz quitting day job, mulling politics

EDITOR’S NOTE — Just what we need, another trickle-down billionaire running things. It’s hard to believe that this union-busting jackass — who thinks what ails America is that we aren’t fiscally conservative enough — was reportedly Hillary Clinton’s pick for Labor Secretary if she’d won. You’ll excuse us if we just continue to think of him as the a**hole who lost us the Sonics.

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s Columbian — Adding up McCleary math: Long division ahead? — It’s likely to be another hot summer for union negotiations in Southwest Washington and around the state as school districts and their teachers unions begin debating how to spend the millions of additional dollars districts will receive under the new school funding model. Unsurprisingly, the two sides are already at odds. The Washington Education Association is urging its members to push for 15 percent raises for teachers, and 37 percent raises for the classified support staff local unions represent. Clark County’s largest school districts, however, anticipate multimillion-dollar drops in revenue once local levies are capped next year.

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — State money for postage-paid ballots might not be enough — Snohomish County gets $166,000, but if turnout is high this year, it might cost more.

OUR NATIONAL SHAME

► From The Hill — Border agents running out of space for children separated from parents — Border agents have been placing children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in holding stations. Roughly 550 children are in custody, and of those, nearly 300 have spent more than 72 hours there, NBC reported. Seventy-two hours marks the time limit for immigrants of any age to be held in the border stations, which are meant to serve as temporary housing facilities.

► In the NY Times — Trump immigration policy veers from abhorrent to evil (by Nicholas Kristof) — Family separations arise in part because of the new Trump administration policy, announced last month, of “zero tolerance” for people who cross the border illegally. That means that parents are jailed (which happened rarely before), and their kids are taken away from them… There is no excuse for brutalizing children by ripping them away from their parents. We as a nation should protect our borders. We must even more assiduously protect our soul.

► NBC’s “Why is this happening?” — Fighting a dehumanizing U.S. immigration system, with Lee Gelernt (podcast)

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

► In today’s Washington Post — Manafort accused of witness tampering in Russia probe — Prosecutors with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III say former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an associate repeatedly contacted two members of a public relations firm and asked them to falsely testify about secret lobbying they did at Manafort’s behest.

► In today’s Washington Post — Why it’s essential to go after Trump for obstruction of justice (by Jennifer Rubin) — Thanks to Manafort and to the president’s assertion that he cannot obstruct justice (and to boot can pardon himself), we now have public attention focused on the crime of obstruction of justice, which is serious for any private individual and a fatal breach of the president’s oath to “take care” that the laws are faithfully executed. Even Republicans are fessing up that obstruction is a really big deal, whether a president can be prosecuted in office (or after office) or “merely” impeached.

EDITOR’S NOTE — From Mumblin’ Manafort’s greatest hits…

Whenever Paul Manafort is in the news for all of his crimes I think of this clip.

“Trump has no financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs?”

Paul Manafort: *mumbles into oblivion*pic.twitter.com/6fy7ioG0vY

— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) June 5, 2018

NATIONAL

► From TPM — Arkansas imposes nation’s first-ever Medicaid work requirement — This week, Arkansas becomes the first state in the nation, and in the nation’s history, to require its non-disabled adult Medicaid expansion population to work or volunteer 80 hours a month to maintain their health care benefits. Health care advocates in the state say they expect thousands of low-income people to lose coverage — both those who can’t find work and those who can’t navigate the state’s online-only system for documenting their hours.

► From Forbes — WWE superstars would be insane not to unionize following $2 billion TV deals (by Alfred Konuwa) — The most important person to all of WWE right now might be Leslie Smith. She’s the recently released UFC fighter who’s taking the UFC to court in hopes of the multi billion-dollar fight organization reclassifying its fighters as employees, which would naturally lead to the unprecedented unionization of fighters while opening the floodgates for wrestlers to follow suit.

► In today’s Washington Post — David Koch is leaving Koch Industries, stepping down from Americans for Prosperity — His brother, Charles Koch, announced in a letter on Tuesday that David Koch’s health has been in decline since he was hospitalized last summer.

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