Monday, May 6, 2019

LOCAL

► In the (Longview) Daily News — Letter carriers’ food drive to start next week — The annual letter carriers’ food drive takes place next Saturday, May 11, and postal patrons should be on the lookout for donation bags that will be distributed with mail this coming week. The drive, which is one of the area’s biggest annual efforts to feed the needy, distributes donated supplies to local food banks.

ALSO at The Stand — Get ready (and buy union) for NALC’s May 11 food drive

► In the (Everett) Herald — Everett’s monthly rally for immigrant rights marches on — A couple of dozen people walked, waved and chanted along nine blocks in north Everett on Sunday, as they do every month, to make a problem largely unseen here a bit more visible.

BOEING

► In today’s Seattle Times — Long before first 737 MAX crash, Boeing knew a key sensor warning light wasn’t working, but told no one — Boeing admitted Sunday that it knew well over a year before the first crash of a 737 MAX in Indonesia last October that a warning light linked to a key sensor on the 737 MAX wasn’t working on most of the airplanes, but it informed neither the FAA nor the airlines operating the jet about the problem until after that crash.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Engineers say Boeing pushed to limit safety testing in race to certify planes, including 737 Max — After a Seattle Times review of documents and interviews with more than a dozen current and former Boeing engineers who have been involved in airplane certification in recent years, including on the 737 MAX: Many engineers, employed by Boeing while officially designated to be the FAA’s eyes and ears, faced heavy pressure from Boeing managers to limit safety analysis and testing so the company could meet its schedule and keep down costs. That pressure increased when the FAA stopped dealing directly with those designated employees — called “Authorized Representatives” or ARs — and let Boeing managers determine what was presented to the regulatory agency.

► In today’s Washington Post — ‘Safety was just a given’: Inside Boeing’s boardroom amid the 737 Max crisis — Before approving plans for a new jetliner called the 737 Max, Boeing’s board of directors discussed how quickly and cheaply it could be built to compete with a rival — but the members didn’t ask detailed questions about the airplane’s safety.

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s Seattle Times — 110,000 Washington students a year will get money for college, many a free ride — The changes come from a sweeping higher education bill that passed along with the Legislature’s budget last weekend, which will help families who make up to the state’s median income – just under $92,000 for a family of four. It has not yet been signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee, but already, experts are calling it nationally significant.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Ericksen’s $500,000 contract with autocratic Cambodian regime draws scrutiny, condemnation — Sen. Doug Ericksen’s (R-Ferndale) parlaying of his elected position into a business relationship with the authoritarian Hun Sen regime is attracting condemnation from human-rights activists, local Cambodian Americans, exiled leaders of Cambodia’s opposition party and even a Republican congressman. “There is not a democracy in Cambodia. It’s a sham. It’s a dictatorship. A brutal dictatorship,” said U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.). “I don’t know Senator Ericksen. I have never talked with him, never met him. But anybody that has a modicum of just a little bit of decency and intelligence would know that that is not a fair and open election.”

► In today’s Seattle Times — Lawmakers approved an ambitious plan to fix the mental-health system — Washington legislators took substantial steps to reshape the mental-health system,  including funding for new facilities, legislation to increase the number of qualified workers, and the creation of new types of treatment centers.

► In today’s Peninsula — State approves funds for Peninsula-wide behavioral health facility — The center is to be operated by Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Olympic Medical Center, and Jefferson Healthcare.

► From KNKX — State superintendent says lawmakers made progress on special education funding — State Superintendent Chris Reykdal said what legislators approved is not what districts had hoped for, but it is a step forward.

► In the Spokesman-Review — State Democrats’ talk doesn’t match actions in alarm raised about Matt Shea (by Jim Camden) — It’s a bit hypocritical to try to raise money off Rep. Matt Shea’s (R-Spokane Valley) latest controversy. Unless of course they are going to put all the money they raise off their Shea-based pitch into next year’s campaigns in the 4th District. Don’t bet on that.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump’s bipartisan infrastructure plan already imperiled as Mulvaney, GOP lawmakers object to cost — A $2 trillion infrastructure deal outlined this week by President Trump and top Democrats is already losing momentum, as the president’s own chief of staff is telling people inside and outside the administration that the effort is too expensive and unlikely to succeed.

► In today’s Washington Post — House Democrats to hold contempt vote Wednesday after Barr misses deadline to provide complete Mueller report — Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said they will vote Wednesday on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after Barr missed a deadline to produce a complete version of special counsel Robert Mueller III’s report.

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