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100 assaults per month ● Trump threatens Cathy and Jaime ● Right and wrong

Thursday, February 28, 2019

 


THIS WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s News Tribune — 890 assaults against staff, 9 months, 1 hospital. That’s intolerable. This small step could help. (editorial) — HB 1931, introduced by freshman Rep. Mari Leavitt (D-University Place), would raise standards and increase the frequency of violence-prevention planning, training and record-keeping at all health-care facilities in Washington. The proposal, along with a companion bill in the Senate (SB 5912), recognize the risks that attend the medical profession as a whole. Health-sector workers are at least four times more likely than the average U.S. worker to face serious on-the-job violence, according to federal statistics; assailants can range from a vengeful gang member outside an emergency room to a distraught family member at a nursing home.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Congressional hearing highlights workplace violence faced by caregivers

► From The Stranger — Now is the time to start yelling about the capital gains tax (by Rich Smith) — Washington has the most unfair tax structure in the country. Poor people are paying six times more of their income on taxes than rich people in this state. And middle-income people are paying two to three times more than rich people. Passing an excise tax on capital gains is the absolute least thing the politicians in Olympia can do right now to help create a fairer tax system… Lawmakers agree that now is the time for supporters to get into the heads of their representatives and encourage them to support the bill.

ALSO at The Stand — In 2019, let’s start balancing our tax code

► From KUOW — Another climate foe: energy-guzzling buildings — Buildings are the fastest-growing source of carbon emissions in Washington state, according to Gov. Jay Inslee’s office. Legislation backed by Inslee aims to turn that around, not just by strengthening the building codes that govern new construction, but by requiring some old buildings to clean up their acts as well.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The WSLC supports the Clean Building for Washington Act, SB 5293/HB 1257, sponsored by Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle) and Rep. Beth Doglio (D-Olympia).

► In today’s Seattle Times — Gov. Inslee’s 2020 presidential campaign announcement expected this week — Multiple sources in Washington politics said the governor intends to roll out his presidential campaign by the end of the week, testing his viability as a 2020 Democratic nominee.

► And Working Washington for the win…

 


LOCAL

 

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — Providence should keep workers’ sick leave benefit in place (letter by Scott Minckler) — Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is attempting to eliminate our sick leave benefit and leave thousands of front-line health care workers without the high quality health care we rely on not only for our own health but for our families’ health as well. Without adequate sick leave time, and a living wage, we cannot take care of ourselves or our families, and likely will be unable to provide ourselves and the community as a whole with the quality health care that we all deserve.

ALSO at The Stand — Providence Everett workers leaflet outside Silvertips game (Feb. 22)

Community supports, rallies with Providence caregivers in Everett (Nov. 16)

► In today’s Seattle Times — Bellevue game studio ArenaNet, developer of ‘Guild Wars,’ lays off 143 — ArenaNet, a long-tenured Bellevue video-game studio responsible for the hit online role-playing game series “Guild Wars,” is laying off 143 people. The company said the cuts were part of an “ongoing restructuring” of South Korean parent company NCSoft’s game-development and publishing business.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Game developers! Don’t get mad… Get a union! As the AFL-CIO’s Liz Shuler writes: “You’ve built new worlds, designed new challenges and ushered in a new era of entertainment. Now it’s time for industry bosses to start treating you with hard-earned dignity and respect.”

 


BOEING

 

► In today’s (Everett) Herald — British Airways places a big order for the Boeing 777X — It will buy 18 of the new planes, with options for 24 more. Boeing now has 358 orders and commitments.

 


THAT WASHINGTON

 

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump: Republicans who cross him on national emergency are ‘at great jeopardy’ — Trump warned Thursday that fellow Republicans who vote to nullify his national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border are putting themselves “at great jeopardy” politically. Trump’s comments come as the Senate prepares to vote on a House-approved measure aimed at thwarting the president’s use of the declaration to direct billions of dollars more in funding to border barriers than Congress has authorized.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Washington Republican Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Cathy McMorris Rodgers were both among the 13 GOP House members who voted to nullify Trump’s “emergency,” and therefore are presumably “at great risk” politically. Having flip-flopped after pressure from GOP leaders, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-4th) sided with Trump — so we suppose he’s safe.

► In today’s Washington Post — Michael Cohen’s hearing was explosive — but not for what was new (editorial) — The takeaway: President Trump is a liar with a defective character — and, possibly, a criminal… For their part, Republicans spent nearly all of their time attacking Mr. Cohen rather than defending the president — with one going so far as to childishly recite the rhyme “liar, liar, pants on fire.”

► In today’s Washington Post — ‘Damaging precedent’: Conservative federal judge installed without consent of home-state senators — Seattle attorney Eric Miller was confirmed as a judge on the country’s most liberal appeals court this week without the consent of either home-state senator, a break from tradition that Democrats say Republicans will come to regret. Before this week, a nominee had never been confirmed without the support of at least one home-state senator. But neither Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) nor Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) returned blue slips on Miller’s nomination to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

► From HuffPost — Democrats who no longer support ‘Medicare For All’ bill have lots of excuses — Twenty-five House Democrats who were co-sponsors of single-payer health care legislation in the last Congress did not sign on as original backers of Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s bill. The drop-off foreshadows a paradox as “Medicare for all” rises into the Democratic mainstream: The likelier single payer is to become law, the more some Democrats — who once viewed supporting it as a cost-free gesture — will have second thoughts about putting their names behind it.

EDITOR’S NOTE — To date, Rep. Adam Smith (D-9th) is the only Democratic member of Congress from Washington who has signed on as co-sponsor of Jayapal’s bill.

► From The Hill — Poll finds older people more likely to see Social Security, Medicare as ‘capitalist’ — A new poll shows most people see Social Security and Medicare as “capitalist” institutions, though a majority of those between the ages of 18 and 34 see Social Security, at least, as “largely socialist.” The starkly different views come amid a broad public debate about whether to raise taxes, provide free tuition and introduce “Medicare for all.”

 


NATIONAL

 

► From AP — W.Va. judge strikes down key portions of right-to-work law — A judge on Wednesday sided with labor unions in striking down key portions of West Virginia’s so-called right-to-work law, including those that allowed workers to stop paying union dues. The judge said some provisions of the 2016 law violated the state constitution. Labor unions maintained the law illegally took their assets since they still have to represent all employees in a union shop, including those that the law would allow to stop paying union dues.

 


T.G.I.T.

 

► The Entire Staff of The Stand will not be posting tomorrow (Friday), so today we present the musician we will be seeing tonight at Seattle’s Neptune Theater… Joe Jackson! Way back in 1986, he recorded a new album live in front of a silenced audience rather than in a studio, to capture the energy of the performance. The lyrics in this song, about then-President Reagan, apply just as well — or better — to our current president. Enjoy.

 


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