Tuesday, July 23, 2019

LOCAL

► In today’s Columbian — Car-tab revenue drives summer road work in Battle Ground — Summer street maintenance and preservation projects are underway using proceeds from the city’s $20 vehicle licensing fee. The fee, part of the Battle Ground Transportation Benefit District, generated about $280,000 that will be used on street projects this year. Projects include crack sealing, chip sealing and microsurfacing to prevent water from penetrating pavements.

EDITOR’S NOTE — If voters approve Tim Eyman’s latest car-tab Initiative 976 this fall, this work will go away and local street maintenance budgets will be gutted. Learn more.

► From KIRO 7 — More than 150 Harborview Medical Center employees potentially exposed to dangerous bacteria — Harborview Medical Center confirms that 158 employees are receiving treatment and medical attention after a potential exposure to brucella, a bacteria that can cause the infectious disease, brucellosis.

IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS

► In the Washington Post — Trump expands fast-track deportation authority across U.S. — The Trump administration announced Monday that it will vastly extend the authority of immigration officers to deport migrants without allowing them to appear before judges, its second major policy shift on immigration in eight days.

ALSO at The Stand — Labor must fight racist immigration policies (by April Sims)

► From the Washington Post — ‘We stuck together like neighbors are supposed to do’: A community thwarts a father’s ICE arrest — For two weeks, people kept spotting the mysterious truck. An unmarked white Ford F-150, it circled the Nashville neighborhood. Several residents said they didn’t think much of it — until early Monday, when the truck turned on its flashing red and blue lights to stop their neighbor as he left his house with his 12-year-old son. Inside were two agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who had been lying in wait as the sun rose. They had an administrative order granting them permission to detain the father, who had reportedly lived in the community for 14 years. But things didn’t go as planned. Hours later, the agents left empty-handed, after neighbors worked together to block the man’s arrest.

► And then, there’s this…

When legal immigrant Ernesto “Tito” Ochoa of Local 6787 was detained by ICE on his way to work, thrown in federal jail and threatened with deportation, he used his one call to phone his union. We had his back and fought to free him. That’s what #USWUnity is about. #chr2019 #1u pic.twitter.com/rvUAZx5HOD

— United Steelworkers (@steelworkers) July 22, 2019

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump announces support for two-year bipartisan budget deal that boosts spending, suspends debt limit — The White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reached a tentative two-year budget deal Monday that would raise spending limits by $320 billion and suspend the federal debt ceiling until after the 2020 presidential election. The agreement, which still must be passed by Congress, probably would prevent a debt-ceiling crisis later this year but also would continue Washington’s borrowing binge for at least two years.

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump proposal would push 3 million Americans off food stamps — The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new rules Tuesday to limit access to food stamps for households with savings and other assets, a measure that officials said would cut benefits to about 3 million people.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Meanwhile, Trump is spending $16 billion to subsidize farmers harmed by his tariffs.

► From The Hill — Chamber pushes lawmakers on new NAFTA — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday to push for passage of Trump‘s revised North American trade agreement. More than 600 signatures are on the letter touting the benefits of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), including AdvaMed, the American Beverage Association, Business Roundtable, the Internet Association, and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

ALSO at The Stand — Making sense of NAFTA and its replacement (by Stan Sorscher)

► From The Hill — Teachers union head slams Betsy DeVos (video) — AFT President Randi Weingarten explains why teachers are suing the federal government over a lack of loan forgiveness.

NATIONAL

► From The Verge — Delivery apps like DoorDash are using your tips to pay workers’ wages — When you order food through an app and tip the worker who delivers it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the money you give goes directly to that person. But in reality, some delivery apps use your tip to make up the worker’s base pay — essentially stealing the money you’re trying to give someone to maximize their profits.

► From WAMU — Johns Hopkins Hospital faces backlash for suing low-income patients — Johns Hopkins Hospital is embroiled in controversy as it fends off accusations that it has poorly served low-income patients and targeted them with lawsuits, while simultaneously attempting to block an effort by its nurses to unionize.

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