DAILY NEWS
Blue wave arrives ● Kava… naw ● The attack on Evergreen
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
ELECTION
See The Stand’s roundup of Tuesday’s election results here.
► In today’s Columbian — Herrera Beutler, Long set for November — Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Battle Ground) will face political science professor Carolyn Long in what Tuesday’s results suggest will be a close race.
EDITOR’S NOTE — The Daily News headline for this story: Area’s congressional race to be a humdinger. Well, brush my teeth and call me Pearly!
► In today’s Seattle Times — In 8th District, Dino Rossi advances; Kim Schrier, Jason Rittereiser lead Democrats — Pediatrician Kim Schrier was in second place Tuesday, with about 19% of the vote, just ahead of attorney and former King County deputy prosecutor Jason Rittereiser, at 17.5%. At a gathering with supporters in Issaquah, Schrier didn’t declare victory, but came out swinging against Rossi, calling him a career politician who “spent his career lining his pockets with campaign contributions from special interests.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — The WSLC endorsed both Schrier and Rittereiser. The three leading Democrats in this crowded race got 49%, while three-time loser Dino Rossi got just 43%.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Legislature: Democrats could pick up 4 GOP seats in Senate — Initial ballots show Democrats leading not just in the usual handful of Puget Sound-area swing districts. Democratic candidates were beating Republicans in normally deep-red places, such as the Spokane area’s 6th District, and Vancouver-area’s 18th District.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Labor-endorsed Democratic candidate Melanie Morgan scored 40.2% of the vote, Republican Terry Harder got 24.4% and Sawyer, who WSLC delegates voted to OPPOSE, got 23.4%.
► In today’s Yakima H-R — 15th District shocker: Longtime state Rep. David Taylor out; challengers Jeremie Dufault and A.J. Cooper headed to November election
► In today’s Kitsap Sun — Democrats show gains on Republican-held seats in 26th, 35th districts
► In today’s Seattle Times — GOP tsunami sirens should be sounding as the blue wave arrives (Danny Westneat column) — Donald Trump is now officially hanging around the necks of Republicans here, whether they like it or not. Voters gave the GOP a thrashing in our state’s primary Tuesday, one that reverberated all the way down the ballot.
► In today’s NY Times — Missouri voters reject anti-union law in a victory for labor — After a succession of political setbacks in onetime strongholds and a landmark defeat in the Supreme Court, organized labor has notched a hard-won victory as Missouri voters overrode a legislative move to curb union power. A measure on the ballot on Tuesday asked voters to pass judgment on a prospective law barring private-sector unions from collecting mandatory fees from workers who choose not to become members. The law was rejected by a 2-to-1 margin.
ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Missouri voters’ RTW rejection offers inspiration, hope for all (by Eric González of the WSLC, who went to Missouri to participate in the NO on Prop A campaign)
► From In These Times — Voters just killed ‘right to work’ in Missouri, proving labor still has power under Janus — “The timing of this is essential. I think everyone wants to write the labor movement’s obituary,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler recently said. “It’s going to energize and activate us and show that we fight back.”
LOCAL
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Mukilteo teachers rally in Everett for salary increase — Mukilteo School District teachers seeking a pay raise held a rally Tuesday in front of the Pilchuck UniServ Council office in Everett. More than 100 teachers and supporters, many in red shirts, held “Fair Contract Now!” signs and chanted during the sidewalk demonstration. The rally preceded a scheduled three-hour bargaining session with district officials.
► In today’s Tri-City Herald — School starts in 3 weeks. Will Tri-City teachers get the raises they want? — Kennewick School District administrators and teachers were back at the bargaining table Tuesday, negotiating over teacher raises. They didn’t reach an agreement and will meet again Thursday.
► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Concrete company to expand 2 Everett sites, close a third — Plans by Cadman Inc. include adding a ready-mix plant to the company’s north Everett location.
THAT WASHINGTON
ALSO at The Stand — Urge U.S. senators to reject Kavanaugh nomination
► From The Hill — Sens. Collins and Murkowski face recess pressure cooker on Supreme Court — GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), seen as potential swing votes on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, are facing intense pressure from activists during their August recess.
► In today’s Washington Post — Border arrest data suggests Trump’s push to split migrant families had little deterrent effect — U.S. border agents arrested 9,258 “family units” along the southwest border last month, down slightly from 9,434 in June and 9,485 in May.
ALSO at The Stand — Join vigil for immigrant justice Thursday at Seattle ICE office— Wear your union colors and bring signs to the Seattle Labor for Keeping Families Together Vigil from 8 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 9 outside the Seattle ICE Office, 1000 2nd Ave. in downtown Seattle. UFCW 21 will provide donuts and coffee. See the Facebook event page to RSVP or get more details.
► From The Hill — GOP Rep. Chris Collins charged with insider trading — Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a top ally of President Trump on Capitol Hill, has been arrested and charged with federal securities fraud related to an Australian pharmaceutical company of which he had been the largest shareholder.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
EDITOR’S NOTE — In the wake of this right-wing campaign to discredit Evergreen, and the bad press it has successfully generated, enrollment has dropped significantly at the college and its budget is being slashed. That’s the goal. This dark-money campaign run by groups like the “Foundation for Individual Rights in Education” is funded by the same billionaires that have financed the Janus case and the anti-union Freedom Foundation: the Bradley Foundation, Koch Brothers, Scaife Foundation, et al. Their campaign to smear and discredit Evergreen and other progressive public liberal-arts colleges in the name of “free speech” continues. And the commercial media continues to eat it up.
Full disclosure: The Entire Staff of The Stand is the proud parent of a current Evergreen student who loves his college, his classes, and his professors.
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.