King County SeaTac minimum wage proposal scores key endorsements A proposed $15-an-hour minimum wage for hospitality and transportation workers in SeaTac scored endorsements Tuesday from 20 elected Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-9), King County Executive Dow Constantine, and state House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43). The endorsements were announced by Yes! For SeaTac, a union-backed…
King County Inslee steps into tunnel labor dispute Gov. Jay Inslee spent an hour in Bellevue talking with management and union officials Monday morning, in an effort to thaw that labor dispute that’s caused a nearly four-week delay in the Highway 99 tunnel project. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is picketing at Terminal 46 on…
King County New SPD oversight director outlines a way forward Pierce Murphy, the new civilian director of the Seattle Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability, is already making changes and promises more. Murphy, 59, the former public ombudsman in Boise, is promising sweeping changes to the OPA, most aimed at restoring its credibility and making its…
King County Surprise! Seattle Chamber of Commerce opposes public campaign financing The city’s largest business chamber, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, has the dubious honor of becoming the first and only organization to oppose a November ballot measure that would levy a small property tax to publicly fund local city council and mayoral campaigns. Proposition 1, otherwise…
(Daily Clips will not publish Thursday, September 12, so that the editor can attend Wednesday night’s meeting of the 34th District Democrats. See you there.) King County A look at impact on Seattle businesses and your pocketbook, one year into mandatory paid sick time A year after all Seattle businesses were forced to offer paid…
King County Workers sue Amazon over off-the-clock security checks Seven Amazon.com warehouse workers filed a federal lawsuit against the company in U.S. District Court in Seattle Friday, claiming they are owed back pay for security checks they are forced to undergo during lunch breaks and after their shifts. The suit, which represents workers in multiple states, seeks class-action…
The State Indigent defense case could result in federal oversight of Skagit County public defender agency An unprecedented filing by the Department of Justice in a class-action lawsuit in Mount Vernon and Burlington signals a watershed solution to the country’s crisis in indigent defense: a first-ever federal-court takeover of a local public-defender agency. Mount Vernon and…
King County Walker preaches to choir while protesters mass outside Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker brought his fiery brand of Republican politics to Seattle on Thursday night, describing at a think-tank fundraiser how he believes conservatives can “reclaim our country.” With some 300 demonstrators outside the downtown Sheraton Seattle Hotel protesting his appearance, the controversial and high-profile…
King County Federal court to weigh SeaTac wage petition issue The battle over increasing SeaTac’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, the highest in the nation, is heading to federal court after claims by SeaTac Committee for Good Jobs that a city review board improperly eliminated 201 signatures from the petition. Two of the citizens whose…
King County Seattle teachers OK contract; school starts Wednesday Seattle teachers approved a new two-year contract late Tuesday, ending contentious negotiations that raised the possibility of a strike, one that would have been the first in this city in decades. The new contract was approved by voice vote at Benaroya Hall with about 1,500 of the…