Tuesday, February 4, 2020

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s Seattle Times — In an attempt to protect hourly service workers, lawmakers push for statewide law on scheduling — Washington state could follow Seattle in passing a bill mandating that certain store and restaurant workers are given at least two-weeks notice of their schedules and at least 10-hour rests between closing and opening shifts. SB 5717, sponsored by Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D-Seattle) is geared toward reducing burnout and protecting workers who may have to balance child care or other responsibilities with work.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Where pro-worker bills stand as cutoff nears

► From the AP — Bill seeks to fully reinstate Clean Air Rule — A House bill seeks to fully reinstate Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan to cap carbon pollution in the state by giving additional authority to the state Department of Ecology on who they can regulate. The proposal is a response to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that said the state’s Clean Air Rule cannot apply to companies that sell or distribute petroleum or natural gas because they don’t make their own emissions.

LOCAL

► In the Walla Walla U-B — WWCC announces employee, program cuts — Walla Walla Community College President Derek Brandes said he is cutting 17 staff and faculty positions and ending the residential construction and carpentry program in mid-June and the office technology program will stop being staffed at the end of March.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Benton sheriff scoffs at deputies calling him a tyrant and dehumanizing leader — The Benton County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild on Sunday night compared Sheriff Jerry Hatcher to a tyrant who only cares about his personal image. It said an overwhelming number of its members — deputies, corporals, sergeants and lieutenants — returned a “no confidence” vote.

► From KNKX — El Centro de la Raza opens Federal Way location, responding to demographic shift — Responding to shifts in the region’s demographics, El Centro de la Raza has opened a new space in Federal Way . It’s a significant expansion for the iconic Seattle organization.

ELECTION

► From the Washington Post — Iowa caucuses 2020 live updates: Iowa Democratic Party promises results ‘as soon as possible today’ — The Iowa Democratic Party says it will release results of Monday night’s caucuses on Tuesday, blaming inconsistencies in reporting for the delay. Many of the candidates have already gone to New Hampshire, which holds its primaries in a week.

► From Politico — ‘It’s a total meltdown’: Confusion seizes Iowa with no official results in sight — The Iowa caucus results appear to be indefinitely delayed, as the state party blames “coding issues” with its reporting system.

► From The Columbian — Khalil drops out of 3rd District congressional race — Peter Khalil, a Vancouver resident who sought the Democratic nomination for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, has dropped out of the 2020 election.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From The Hill — Public worker health and safety hinges on protecting our rights (by NNU’s Bonnie Castillo) — A bill making it easier to join a union is coming up for a vote in the U.S. House, and passing it is a matter of life or death. Just ask registered nurses… In so many ways, our “health care” system is not about health; it’s about profit, and the only way nurses can bring the focus back to our patients is to stand together in a union and collectively demand change. There is power in numbers. That’s where the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act comes in.

ALSO TODAY at The Stand — Ahead of vote, call Congress to urge support for PRO Act

► From MarketWatch — One thing Trump won’t brag about in his State of the Union: His plans to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (by Dana Bye) — In 2016, then-presidential candidate Trump promised he would be unlike any other Republican and never cut these programs. However, over the past three years the president has proposed changes that would translate to billions of dollars in cuts to the benefits available. In his 2020 budget alone, Trump proposed spending $1.5 trillion less on Medicaid, $575 billion less on Medicare, and $25 billion less on Social Security.

► In today’s Bellingham Herald — CBP admits to ‘enormous mistakes’ in Blaine border detainments of Iranian-born people — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the agency made “enormous mistakes in protocol” when its officers questioned Iranian-born people – some for as long as 12 hours – at the U.S.-Canada border last month, according to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

► From Politico — ‘They literally take food off their table’ — In a rare bipartisan move last June, Republicans and Democrats teamed up to scuttle an Agriculture Department proposal that would have shuttered job training centers for at-risk youth across the country — an idea that blindsided lawmakers and seemed to lack much explanation or underlying data. Rep. Dan Newhouse blasted Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan, which he said would close some of the highest-performing facilities in the popular program, contrary to USDA’s claims. Perdue called off the site closures soon after. But the hasty rollout and bipartisan backlash pointed to a problem that has repeatedly dogged the department: Many of USDA’s recent actions have been marred by missing pieces of critical data… The trend has raised questions from critics about how USDA leaders are making decisions with huge implications for struggling farmers, food stamp recipients and workers in dangerous meatpacking jobs, among other aspects of America’s food system.

TRUMP ON “TRIAL”

► From the AP — McConnell blasts impeachment, will vote to acquit Trump — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday slammed House Democrats’ drive to impeach President Donald Trump as “the most rushed, least fair and least thorough” in history and confirmed that he will vote to acquit him.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Says the guy who blocked witnesses from testifying and evidence from being presented.

► From HuffPost — Adam Schiff: Convict Trump or 100% chance he will cheat in 2020 election — “You can’t trust this president to do the right thing,” said Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager. “Not one minute. Not for one election. Not for the sake of our country. You just can’t. He will not change and you know it.”

NATIONAL

► From KUOW — As out-of-pocket health costs rise, insured adults are seeking less primary care — Researchers have found that visits to primary care providers made by adults under the age of 65 had dropped by nearly 25% from 2008 to 2016. What’s more, adults who went at least a year without a single visit to a primary care provider increased from about 38% to 46% in that period.

TODAY’S MUST-SEE

WEALTH INEQUALITY: The richest 1% controls more wealth now than at any time in more than 50 years. But what does wealth inequality really look like?@TonyDokoupil turned America’s economic pie into a real one and asked people a simple question: Who gets what? pic.twitter.com/scGPKcHbie

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 31, 2020

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