Monday, October 8, 2018

ELECTION

TODAY is the deadline for online and mail-in voter registration, all address changes, name changes, and other updates for the General Election. Even if you think you’re already registered, take a minute to check your registration status to make sure your name and address are listed correctly. And if you’re NOT registered, do it today. It just takes a couple minutes. (In-person voter registrations for new voters are accepted at county auditors’ offices up to Oct. 29, eight days prior to the Nov. 6 Election Day.)

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — Whatcom sees a surge in voter registrations ahead of mid-term elections, here’s how — Whatcom County voter registrations have surged over the past several months in advance of the Nov. 6 mid-term election.

LOCAL

► In the NW Labor Press — Tense bargaining with Kaiser Permanente ends with national deal and pledge to work on relationship — A coalition of 22 unions reached tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente Sept. 23 on a new union contract covering 47,000 workers in eight states. The deal followed months of the tensest negotiations Kaiser workers have seen in many years.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Amazon’s Bezos needs to tackle poverty as boldly as he talks about space (by Tyrone Beason) — Bezos deserves credit for tapping into this region’s efforts to combat homelessness and improve education choices and outcomes, but on both fronts, he needs to think more globally and do far more locally.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Hoquiam teachers, school district reach tentative contract agreement — A tentative agreement has been reached in contract negotiations between the Hoquiam School District and the Hoquiam Teachers Association.

► In the Olympian — Port of Olympia emails: Longshore worker line-handling fees appear to be at root of cruise ship cancellation — Despite that, the port is still largely in the dark about the reasons behind the cancellation because she thought the issue of longshore-related fees had been settled.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — Kavanaugh sworn in as Supreme Court justice after divided Senate votes for confirmation — As a throng of angry demonstrators stood on the steps of the Capitol, the Senate finalized on a near party-line vote of 50 to 48 what will certainly be one of President Trump’s most enduring legacies: two Supreme Court justices in two years in an increasingly polarized nation.

ALSO at The Stand — Sen. Murray to survivors: ‘Your voices do matter. It makes a difference.’ — “Thank you, Patty Murray. We see your light in that dark room.”

► From The Hill — Christine Blasey Ford still unable to live at home due to death threats, lawyers say — “Her family has been through a lot,” her attorney said. “They are not living at home. It’s going to be quite some time before they’re able to live at home. The threats have been unending. It’s deplorable.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — And yet, it is the peaceful protesters of Kavanaugh who have been characterized by President Trump and his congressional sycophants as an “angry mob.”

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — Laid-off Toys ‘R’ Us workers find powerful ally in public pensions — Michelle Perez of Vancouver, Wash., a former Toys “R” Us worker and single mother, has been traveling the country, putting pressure on the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the other former owners of the failed retailer to help the 30,000 workers who were laid off this summer with no severance pay. Perez and her fellow employees found a powerful ally in some of the nation’s largest public pension funds, which supply private equity with billions to invest.

► In the Seattle Times — Aerospace hiring heats up as defense, aircraft programs take off — The increased U.S. defense budget, record commercial aircraft orders and the launch of new programs have companies scrambling to hire engineers and others. Sometimes they are competing against tech companies for employees experienced in software or artificial intelligence.

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