NEWS ROUNDUP
Trump’s $1.4 billion | “Get ICE out” | Fossil fuels
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
LOCAL
► From the New York Times — All Sides Agreed on Shutting a Coal Plant. Then Trump Stepped In. — The plant closure in Centralia, Wash., has been held up as an example of a model agreement to phase out fossil fuels in a way that balances the interests of the local community, workers, industry and environmentalists. It had been in the works since 2011. Departing workers were scheduled to receive payments of around $50,000 each to help ease the transition into their next jobs. A state law prohibiting Washington utilities from buying power from coal took effect at the start of this year…“We worked together, and by golly, it was something unusual,” said Bob Guenther, a former plant employee and a lobbyist for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77. “Look across the country and find another company that has sat down with the environmental community and the labor community and the government community to develop a plan for the long term.”
► From KUOW — Washington’s largest climate polluter shuts down despite federal order — Canadian company TransAlta’s coal-burning power plant in Centralia, Washington, shut down Dec. 19, according to grid data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The plant has not re-started since then, despite a Dec. 16 emergency order from U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to keep operating. Washington state officials are challenging the Trump administration’s emergency order.
► From the Seattle Times — Several Seattle schools shelter in place due to reported ICE activity — While Seattle hasn’t seen a surge in immigration enforcement akin to that currently taking place in Minneapolis, the schools’ actions on Tuesday reflected just how high tensions are — and the effect even unconfirmed reports of ICE presence are having on the daily lives of students and their families…At least six schools in and around South Seattle and Beacon Hill were under shelter-in-place protocols at one point Tuesday, according to Seattle Public Schools: Aki Kurose Middle School, Cleveland STEM High School, Maple Elementary, Mercer International Middle School, Dearborn Park International and Beacon Hill International…
► From My Northwest — Unsung work behind the scenes: Seahawks grounds crew prepares Lumen Field for NFC Championship game — For the grounds crew responsible for preparing the Seahawks’ home field, success is measured not in touchdowns or turnovers, but in inches, consistency, and safety. A single mismeasurement, something most fans would never notice, could mean the difference between a made or missed field goal and potentially a win or a loss…As fans pack Lumen Field and millions more watch on television, few will think about the field itself. That’s exactly how the grounds crew wants it. If the players are safe, the game flows smoothly, and the field looks flawless, the mission has been accomplished. Even if most people never notice the work that made it possible. “The purpose is to get to a Super Bowl. And to win a Super Bowl,” Wright said. “We play a part in that, and we play an important part in that.”
AEROSPACE
► From the Seattle Times — Boeing’s much-delayed new 737 line in Everett shows signs of life — Boeing posted job listings this month for first, second and third shift managers for the nascent North Line, a sign the company is bolstering its Puget Sound workforce for the opening. The new hires will start in Renton, where Boeing currently produces its 737 MAX planes, before moving to Everett, the listings say…The job ads for the North Line come as Boeing reportedly moves one step closer to MAX 10 certification, which has been delayed as the company works through an issue with the engine anti-ice system.
CONTRACT FIGHTS
► From the union-busting Columbian — C-Tran, drivers’ union to begin contract negotiations — C-Tran drivers are taking their complaints about unpredictable schedules and breaks to the bargaining table. Transit agency and union negotiators will meet Jan. 28 to begin bargaining for C-Tran’s fixed-route and demand-response bus drivers. The bus drivers’ current four-year contract with the Clark County transit agency expired Dec. 31.
► From the Willamette Week — OHSU Union Overwhelmingly Approves Labor Deal, Setting Stage for Minimum Wage Hike — A major union at Oregon Health & Science University has voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new labor contract, averting a major strike at Portland’s largest employer and putting it on track to set a $25 minimum wage for union members by 2028. The union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 328, represents more than 8,000 workers at the academic medical center on Marquam Hill. Their work ranges widely, from patient care to administration to food services.
► From Reuters — Labor relations in sports: collective bargaining in 2026 and beyond — January 20, 2026 – One might think that labor negotiations in professional sports involve two parties: leagues versus players’ unions. However, the 2026 cycle is shaping up to look a bit different. The next rounds of negotiations will almost certainly need to take into account a more stratified group of players with potentially divergent interests. Contracts in the Women’s National Basketball Association (“WNBA”) and Major League Baseball (“MLB”) are set to expire in 2026, while the National Hockey League (“NHL”) recently finalized its own 2026 collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) more than a year in advance. Across these leagues, players appear unified for purposes of representation, but the economic imperatives shaping bargaining demands have continued to diverge along lines of compensation, career stage, and exposure to risk.
NATIONAL
► From Wired — The AI Boom Will Increase US Carbon Emissions—but It Doesn’t Have To — That’s the message of a new analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists released Wednesday, which models a variety of scenarios for how to fuel the coming AI boom. The US is poised to see a 60 to 80 percent increase in electricity demand through 2050, with data centers alone making up more than half of the increase by the end of this decade, the analysis finds…There are answers, though: Bringing back tax credits for wind and solar, which were political targets in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, would cut CO2 emissions by more than 30 percent over the next decade, even if data centers eat up a significant chunk of new demand for electricity. They could also make wholesale electricity costs go down by about 4 percent by 2050, after a slight rise over the next decade.
► From the Minnesota AFL-CIO — Minnesota’s Labor Movement endorses 1/23 Day of Truth & Freedom — “On Friday, union members will join with our fellow Minnesotans to reject fear and speak with one voice as we call for ICE to leave our state, no additional funding for ICE, legal accountability for ICE’s killing of Renee Good, and for Minnesota’s large corporations to stop cooperating with ICE.”
► From Workday Magazine — “Protect Our Routes, Get ICE Out”: Postal Workers Rally in Minneapolis — Twin Cities postal workers with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 9 gathered at the post office on Lake Street in South Minneapolis on January 18 to demand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discontinue its use of postal property—and leave Minnesota. The crowd of over 200 union members and allies marched down Lake Street to the block where 37-year-old mother and poet Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross a few weeks before…Chris Pennock, a postal worker and vice president of NALC Branch 9, said that postal workers are seeing the effects of ICE’s activity on the communities they serve. “People are scared to shovel the snow, to grab a package. No one deserves to be treated this way.” Pennock continued, “Letter carriers stand with immigrants, not ICE.”
► From the New York Times — Cuban Immigrant Was Killed in ICE Custody, Family Says in Legal Filing — The detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died on Jan. 3 while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s custody at Camp East Montana, a sprawling encampment on the Fort Bliss military base along the Texas-Mexico border. Mr. Lunas Campos’s family said that a fellow detainee saw the guards choke him to death, according to the legal filing they submitted on Tuesday. Another detainee saw Mr. Lunas Campos struggle with the guards before he died, the filing said. Both witnesses have since been given deportation notices.
► From RWDSU — Statement on the Tragic Shooting at Amazon BHM1 in Bessemer, Alabama — “For years, workers at BHM1 have raised the alarm about the culture of intimidation and the misplaced priorities of Amazon management. This tragedy lays bare a sickening irony; Amazon spends millions of dollars on high-tech security, surveillance, and private contractors to protect its bottom line and to keep the union off its property. They have invested untold resources into monitoring workers’ every move to ensure maximum productivity and to stifle their voices. Yet, despite this massive expenditure on ‘security’ designed to protect profits and intimidate, the company failed in its most basic responsibility – protecting the actual lives of the people who work there. Amazon’s surveillance state is robust enough to track a worker’s time off task to the second, but it was apparently not strong enough to prevent a firearm from being brought on to the property and a worker from being shot and killed…”
POLITICS & POLICY
► From the New York Times — OPINION: How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion — President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him…A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow.
► From the Washington Post — Congress moves toward funding government, dodging shutdown — The $1.2 trillion package would fund the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education, making up the lion’s share of federal funding Congress controls. There is about a week and a half before the shutdown deadline, Jan. 30. Democrats have raised concerns about funding DHS — which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement — after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis this month.
► From Politico — Congress clinches bipartisan health deal — Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan, bicameral health care deal early Tuesday morning they hope lawmakers will pass later this week as part of a four-bill government spending package…The health care agreement would extend several public health programs, including major telehealth flexibilities, through the end of 2027. It also would fund, through the end of the fiscal year in 2030, a program run through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that reimburses facilities for offering hospital-level care in the home. In a major win for Democrats, the deal would boost funding for community health centers to $4.6 billion for fiscal year 2026.
► From Politico — Trump administration concedes DOGE team may have misused Social Security data — Two members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team working at the Social Security Administration were secretly in touch with an advocacy group seeking to “overturn election results in certain states,” and one signed an agreement that may have involved using Social Security data to match state voter rolls, the Justice Department revealed in newly disclosed court papers. Elizabeth Shapiro, a top Justice Department official, said SSA referred both DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act, which bars government employees from using their official positions for political purposes.
► From Bloomberg Law — NLRB Staff Exodus Hinders Board From Digging Out of Backlog — The board’s inability to issue rulings for most of that year caused a substantial pileup of cases. The backlog reached 500 cases as of October, according to NLRB member James Murphy’s testimony at his nomination hearing. But the loss of personnel, especially administrative law judges and senior board staffers, will prevent the newly reactivated NLRB from resolving cases in a timely fashion, including those that have festered over the past year and those that are pending litigation, said Jennifer Abruzzo, who served as the agency’s general counsel during the Biden administration.
► From the Spokesman Review — Hundreds protest outside Baumgartner’s office in ‘walk-out on fascism’ — A general discontent with President Donald Trump and the aggressive actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis – including the recent killing of Renee Good – spurred the protest, while residents of Eastern Washington specifically called on GOP Rep. Michael Baumgartner for change. “We’ve got an angry community,” said Sami Perry, an organizer with Indivisible Spokane. Mary Churchill said of Baumgartner: “And he votes with Trump all the time. I mean, he backs him up all the time, or whatever he’s doing. A lot of it has to do with the economy, but a lot of it’s more of a moral situation where he, you know, thought it was OK to shoot that poor lady in the face.”
► From Familias Unidas Por La Justicia:
INTERNATIONAL
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