Wednesday, July 3, 2019

TRUMP’S AMERICA

► In today’s NY Times — Squalid conditions at border centers, government report finds — Overcrowded, squalid conditions are more widespread at migrant centers along the southern border than initially revealed, the Department of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog said Tuesday. Its report describes standing-room-only cells, children without showers and hot meals, and detainees clamoring desperately for release. “At one facility, some single adults were held in standing-room-only conditions for a week, and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells,” according to the report.

ALSO see local coverage of Close the Camps protests in Bremerton and Spokane.

► In today’s Washington Post — Border agents confiscated lawmakers’ phones. Joaquin Castro captured photo and video anyway.

► In today’s Washington Post — Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees for Trump’s July Fourth extravaganza — The National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with Trump’s Independence Day celebration Thursday on the Mall. The diverted park fees represent just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result of the event, which will include displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall and an extended pyrotechnics show.

► From Politico — Trump’s Fourth of July extravaganza troubles former military leaders — “This looks like it’s becoming much more of a Republican Party event,” says one retired general.

► In today’s LA Times — Trump uses the trappings of the White House for reelection bid to unprecedented degree

LOCAL

► In the Skagit Valley News — La Conner not only school district facing union challenge — The La Conner School Board still isn’t saying how it will follow up on teachers union accusations against the district superintendent, but La Conner isn’t the only place where school leaders are facing challenges by employee unions. At least four of the state’s 295 school districts, including La Conner, have issued such votes.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Amazon plans its tallest tower, marking growing presence in Bellevue — Amazon plans to build a 43-story tower in Bellevue — its tallest building anywhere, as well as the city’s tallest — that would accommodate several thousand employees and signal a deeper commitment to grow in the Eastside city where it has amassed a significant portfolio of office leases.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Contractor association: Spokane region third fastest growing construction job market in the country — A boom in development spurred by Amazon’s fulfillment center on the West Plains and many other construction projects in the works have significantly increased demand for construction workers in the region. The Spokane region was the third-fastest growing construction job market in the country during the year ending in May, according to the AGC.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From The Hill — Trump administration drops citizenship question from 2020 census — The Trump administration said Tuesday it was dropping a citizenship question from the 2020 census, days after the Supreme Court ruled against the question’s inclusion. Trump calls the outcome “a sad time for America.”

NATIONAL

► In today’s NY Times — Two cheers for a lackluster economy (editorial) — Truck drivers still earned, on average, slightly less in 2018 than in 2009, after adjusting for inflation. Executive compensation, by contrast, went up, up and away. Chief executives of companies in the S & P 500 stock index — a list that includes most of the nation’s largest corporations — made an average of $14.5 million in 2018, increasing by $5.2 million in the past decade, according to data compiled by the AFL-CIO.

ALSO at The Stand — Executive PayWatch: Rich CEOs get richer, unlike the rest of us

► In the Press Enterprise — UFCW seeks support of other unions — and shoppers — in contract battle — The union representing some 60,000 grocery workers in Southern California is escalating the pressure on the region’s big supermarket chains, as shoppers wait to see if picketers will gather at their favorite stores. Members of the UFCW voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike last week, giving union leaders the power to pull its workers out of Ralphs, Vons Albertsons and Pavilions stores.

► In the San Jose Mercury News — Gig economy workers must be ‘in the room where it happens’ (by William Gould) — Uber, Lyft and the burgeoning ride-sharing industry are confronted with the 2018 California Supreme Court Dynamex ruling that will convert their drivers from independent contractors who possess no benefits and low wages into employees immediately covered by the nation’s panoply of labor laws. The Legislature is considering AB 5, which would codify the Dynamex ruling. This has driven the industry to seek a legislative bailout from the Democratic supermajority and organized labor in Sacramento.

T.G.I.W.

► The Entire Staff of The Stand is taking a long holiday weekend, so today is the last posting of the week. TESOTS is also celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary today. So this one goes out to our beautiful bride.

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