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Glacier Northwest is a unit of Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement Corp. (5233.T)Glacier Northwest filed a lawsuit in Washington state court accusing the union of intentional property destruction during a 2017 strike. The Washington state Supreme Court in 2021 ruled that the company's claims were preempted by a statute called the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), saying the company's loss of concrete was incidental to a strike that could be considered arguably protected under federal labor law. The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has leaned toward curbing the power of labor unions in rulings in recent years. Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said the Supreme Court had "again voted in favor of corporations over working people." While the Supreme Court has found that labor unions can be sued in state court for violent or threatening conduct, the union had argued, this narrow exception should not be expanded to permit property damage claims brought under state law.

Persons: Amy Coney Barrett, Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Noel Francisco, Sean O'Brien, O'Brien, Joe Biden's, John Kruzel, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Glacier Northwest Inc, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, National Labor Relations, Taiheiyo Cement Corp, Conservative, Liberal, Teamsters, Thomson Locations: Washington, Japan, California

☆ Gun Group’s Financial Dealings With Founder Spark State Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Zusha Elinson | Mark Maremont | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Second Amendment Foundation, a small but influential organization involved in scores of federal lawsuits to expand gun rights, is being investigated by the Washington state attorney general’s office, with the organization saying investigators have examined transactions involving its founder. The nonprofit, its founder and top executive, Alan Gottlieb , and other related entities this week sued the attorney general’s office, saying the probe is politically motivated. State investigators seem to have shifting legal theories, the lawsuit claimed, among them that Mr. Gottlieb was “unjustly enriching himself.” In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs denied any wrongdoing.

☆ How the nation's first alert system to help find Indigenous people brings new awareness for the missing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Nicole Chavez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Nearly a year since the nation’s first alert system for missing Indigenous people launched in Washington, the push to address the crisis of unsolved cases continues spreading in the state and beyond its borders. As of this week, authorities have issued 56 alerts, according to the Washington State Patrol. “It’s working because of the community coming together and people stepping up,” said Patti Gosch, a tribal liaison with the Washington State Patrol. The focus on the crisis of missing Indigenous persons in the state and its efforts are expanding. As of Monday, there were 142 Native Americans missing in Washington state, according to the Washington State Patrol.

☆ Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, Climate Champion, Won’t Seek Re-Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Reid J. Epstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jay Inslee of Washington State, the nation’s longest-serving current governor and one of the Democratic Party’s leading climate defenders, will not seek a fourth term in office next year, he announced on Monday. “Serving the people as governor of Washington State has been my greatest honor,” he said. “During a decade of dynamic change, we’ve made Washington a beacon for progress for the nation. During President Donald J. Trump’s years in office, Mr. Inslee placed himself on the vanguard of the Democratic opposition to Mr. Trump’s policies. Mr. Inslee and the Washington State attorney general, Bob Ferguson, filed a series of lawsuits against Mr. Trump’s administration, challenging policies on its ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, its separation of migrant children from their parents and its unwinding of climate regulations.

☆ Health Plan Coverage of Abortion and Related Services
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Practical Law Employee Benefits | Executive Compensation | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +36 min

The Dobbs ruling, which returned the regulation of abortion to the individual states, has led to legislation that restricts abortion, including medication abortion, in many states. In response to the rapidly changing post-Dobbs legal landscape, this article addresses health plan coverage of abortion, medication abortion coverage and litigation, abortion-related travel benefits, and related Practical Law resources concerning these topics. The insurer in a fully insured health plan, health maintenance organization (HMO), or similar arrangement:Assumes the risk of providing health coverage for insured events by paying medical costs for eligible claims incurred under the plan. Self-Funded Health PlansBy contrast, employers with self-funded arrangements may have more discretion in providing coverage for abortion and related services. Changes to plan coverage of medication abortion will likely require plan administrators to:(For more on coverage of medication abortion, see Newly Launched, ReproductiveRights.gov Website Addresses Access to Medication Abortion (Mifepristone) Using Telehealth on Practical Law.)

☆ Amazon's worker safety hazards come under fire from regulators and the DOJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

In 2021, Amazon's injury rate was almost 1.5 times the industry average. Jennifer Crane works through pain at an Amazon warehouse in St. Peters, Missouri, after hurting her wrist in October. Amazon worker Jennifer Crane at her house outside St. Louis, Missouri, in 2022. OSHA also cited Amazon for 14 record-keeping violations, finding that the company failed to properly report worker injuries and illnesses. If you're rushing, you're going to make mistakes and someone's going to get hurt."

☆ Florida is ground zero for moving scams where companies demand extra fees — or steal your stuff
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Moving company scams are on the rise, and almost half originate in Florida. But the Sunshine State is also increasingly home to scammers operating fraudulent moving companies targeting Florida residents and people across the country. No one's regulating," Susan Chana Lask, a New York-based consumer rights attorney who settled a lawsuit last year with a Florida-based moving company, told Insider. Her office announced last November that it had shut down 19 fraudulent moving companies and recovered $27 million in fines and restitution from the scammers. The sharp increase in moving scams across the country has also prompted the Biden administration to announce it's taking action.

☆ Pfizer CEO signs letter in support of FDA after federal judge suspends approval of abortion pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Pfizer 's CEO signed on to an industry letter in support of the Food and Drug Administration's authority to regulate drugs after a federal judge in Texas suspended the agency's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Albert Bourla was among the more than 200 pharmaceutical company executives who signed the letter after U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's controversial ruling on Friday. Kacsmaryk sided with an anti-abortion group, arguing that the FDA rushed its approval process and violated federal standards. Kacsmaryk's decision conflicts with a ruling by a federal judge in Washington state. The dueling orders by two federal judges create a complicated legal standoff that could potentially escalate to the Supreme Court.

☆ Fact Check-Alkaline hydrolysis, or liquid cremation, does not mean human remains are ‘fed to the living'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Alkaline hydrolysis is a form of flameless cremation where a human body can be liquified and turned into wastewater after death. An alkaline hydrolysis machine is used to perform a “bio-cremation,” (also known as aquamation or water cremation) (here). The video shows Fisher explaining how the alkaline hydrolysis machine called the Resomator works. The NFDA’s model guidelines for states to base laws governing alkaline hydrolysis can be seen (here). Experts say liquid from alkaline hydrolysis is sterilized with no trace of human DNA and is then treated at water treatment facilities before entering common households.

☆ Dueling court cases in Washington state and Texas could determine legality of abortion pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Two federal judges are poised to issue rulings soon in dueling cases that could dramatically impact access to the abortion pill mifepristone. In Washington state, U.S. Judge Thomas Rice is weighing whether to scrap federal regulations on mifepristone that complicate access even where abortion is legal. In the case of Texas, medical associations that oppose abortion are asking the judge to pull the abortion pill from the U.S. market nationwide. Ferguson and the 17 other attorneys general are asking the judge in Washington state to drop these restrictions. The states include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Washington State.

☆ Atheists avoid — for now — Supreme Court review of Florida shooting prayer vigil lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In the Florida case, the Ocala police chief organized and promoted a prayer vigil whose attendees included police chaplains. The judge, in his ruling, applied the so-called "Lemon test," named after a 1971 Supreme Court ruling. In that 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court effectively jettisoned the Lemon test in deciding that the coach had the right to pray with players and others on the field after games. The court's ruling said the Establishment Clause "must be interpreted by 'reference to historical practices and understandings.' A majority of the Supreme Court's justices on Monday declined to take the case on those grounds, without commenting on the decision.

Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, is thought to have a net worth of about $106 billion. Gates' own father was a high-powered attorney who became a name partner at the law firm K&L Gates. He's cultivated his brand of philanthropy with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, his endeavor with Melinda French Gates, now his ex-wife. (Brock Adams, who went on to become the transportation secretary in the Carter administration, is said to have introduced Gates' parents.) Bill Gates' mother, Mary Gates, came from a line of successful bankers and sat on the boards of important financial and social institutions including the nonprofit United Way.

☆ Live updates: Southwest Airlines executive testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Chris Isidore | Aditi Sangal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Fixes to the Southwest Airlines' crew scheduling system that failed spectacularly during the service meltdown in December will be live "tomorrow," said Andrew Watterson, Southwest's chief operating officer, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday. "With regard to this event, our crew scheduling system had a particular fault," Watterson said. "Tomorrow, the fix will go in, it will be live on our production system. But Watterson cautioned the scheduling system was not the only thing that failed and caused the problems. "We believe our winter operations resiliency was the root cause, and that will take longer to address," he said.

☆ Lawmakers call on 8 states to pass wealth taxes to help pay for childcare, affordable housing, and ending homelessness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lawmakers and advocates are pushing to pass wealth taxes in eight states, after a federal plan failed to pass. The taxes would target both realized and unrealized capital gains, assets like stocks and bonds. "Funding our future means using the revenue generated from the Washington state wealth tax to expand access to affordable homes for working Washingtonians," Frame said. In California, a wealth tax on the unrealized capital gains of the top 0.1% would yield nearly $22 billion, according to California assembly member Alex Lee. Targeting capital gains and unrealized gains are not a new idea, but haven't been able to pick up the federal traction they need to be implemented across the country.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with a labor dispute that could narrow federal protections for unions by making it easier for employers to sue over strikes that result in damage to company property. The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has leaned toward curbing the power of labor unions in rulings in recent years. 174, representing the company's truck drivers, in state court accusing the union of intentional property destruction during the strike. Glacier Northwest urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal preemption does not bar claims made under state law involving intentional destruction of an employer's property. While the U.S. Supreme Court has found that labor unions can be sued in state court for violent or threatening conduct, the union argued, this narrow exception should not be expanded to permit property damage claims brought under state law.

☆ How Anti-Abortion Activists Bought Access to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

In exchange for as little as a few thousand dollars in contributions to the nonprofit, these people received easy access to events where Supreme Court justices would be. Supreme Court Historical society trustee Jay Sekulow, center, represented President Trump during the latter's impeachment trial in 2020. Anti-abortion advocates cheer in front of the Supreme Court after the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced in 2014. Alito did not respond to a request for comment on his involvement in the Supreme Court Historical Society. Supreme Court justices, though, aren't even required to stay within those weak guardrails because no code of ethics governs justices' behavior.

MOSCOW, Idaho — Bryan Christopher Kohberger, who was arrested last week in the killings of four University of Idaho students, was expected to make his first appearance in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday. Kohberger is scheduled to appear before Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. Earlier this week, Marshall ordered police, attorneys and officials connected to the case not to speak publicly or share any information about Kohberger's prosecution outside courtroom walls. Kohberger arrived in Latah County on Wednesday, following a cross-country trip from northeastern Pennsylvania where the Washington State University graduate student was arrested on Friday. Deon Hampton reported form Moscow, Idaho, and David K. Li from New York City.

☆ Idaho killing suspect tracked victims before the murder and had a history of being 'creepy' toward women, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Idaho killing suspect Bryan Kohberger was arrested in connection with the four students' murders Friday. Kohberger allegedly tracked the victims' phones before the killings, a source told the Daily Mail. A source who is a cousin of one of Kohberger's childhood schoolmates, the Daily Mail reported, said the suspect allegedly tracked the four victims' phones for weeks before the killing. After the killings, Kohberger traveled back to Pennsylvania, where he was staying at his parents' home. He also allegedly was "creepy" toward women before, Jordan Serulneck, who knows the suspect told NBC.

☆ Here's how the US government is developing 5G for underwater Navy sensors and bomb disposal on land
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Clara Mcmichael | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US government is working to integrate 5G into technology that addresses environmental hazards. The Navy is working with an Energy Department subsidiary on 5G tech meant to detect marine life. This article is part of "How 5G Is Changing Everything," a series about transformational 5G tech across industries. The lab collaborates with other government agencies to weave the latest 5G technology into their operations and has worked on projects ranging from underwater sensors to land-based bomb-disposal robots. The Navy is particularly interested in working on 5G underwater, where it could enable faster data collection and analysis, more efficient environmental monitoring, and better communication with the Navy's underwater assets.

☆ 'Firmageddon': Researchers find 1.1 million acres of dead trees in Oregon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“We’re seeing forms of stress in all of our species of trees,” said Christine Buhl, a forest entomologist with the Oregon Department of Forestry. Trained observers peer outside both sides of the plane, looking for noticeable damage to trees. “You definitely have to have a stomach of steel.”This year, the aerial observation program flew over about 69 million acres of Washington and Oregon forest in about 246 hours. Oregon’s average temperatures have risen about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, according to a 2021 state climate assessment delivered to the state’s Legislature. “It was the combination of the high temperatures in the afternoon with the sun boring down,” said Chris Still, a professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.

How Washington State Employees Credit Union worksWashington State Employees Credit Union is a community development financial institution (CDFI) with 22 branches throughout Washington. Washington State Employees Credit Union trustworthiness and BBB ratingWashington State Employees Credit Union hasn't been involved in any recent public controversies. Washington State Employees Credit Union vs. Kitsap Credit UnionKitsap Credit Union is another CDFI in Washington. Kitsap Credit Union has a high-yield checking account while Washington State Employees Credit Union has a cash-back checking account. Washington State Employees Credit Union vs. Gesa Credit UnionGesa Credit Union has 30 branches in Washington and is also certified as a CDFI.

☆ A 62-year old engineer alleges he was sidelined at SpaceX over fears that he might 'retire or die'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An engineer alleges he was sidelined at SpaceX over fears he might "retire or die." John Johnson, 62, made the allegations in an essay published on Wednesday on whistleblower site Lioness. John Johnson said he had been the victim of age discrimination at Elon Musk's rocket company in an essay published on Wednesday on the whistleblower website Lioness. In his essay, Johnson wrote that one engineer was asked to shadow him because there were fears he might "retire or die." In his essay Johnson wrote: "As an older white male, I hadn't confronted the impediments to success that many people face—until I started at SpaceX."

MOSCOW, Idaho — The father of one of the four slain University of Idaho students found brutally stabbed in an off-campus home is urging law enforcement and the school to provide more information, saying their silence has only added to the family’s “agony” after three days with an assailant still at large. Still, with no known suspect or motive, students and members of the community are uncertain why police have suggested there is no immediate danger. "For Ethan and his three dear friends slain in Moscow, Idaho, and all of our families, I urge officials to speak the truth, share what they know, find the assailant, and protect the greater community." Candles and flowers are left at a makeshift memorial honoring four slain University of Idaho students in downtown Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 15, 2022. The University of Idaho canceled classes on Monday and was making additional security and counseling available this week.

Officers investigate the deaths of four University of Idaho students at an apartment complex south of campus Monday. The slain students were identified Monday as Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. In a memo to students, university President Scott Green said he and his wife were "heartbroken." Kernodle, of Post Falls, Idaho, was a junior and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority majoring in marketing. And Goncalves, of Rathdrum, Idaho, was a senior and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority majoring in general studies.

☆ No clear answers in deaths of 4 Idaho students found dead near campus, mayor says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Tim Stelloh | Tim Stelloh Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The mayor of a small Idaho town where four college students were found dead said the “senseless” killings could be blamed on "most any scenario." In a memo to students Monday, University of Idaho President Scott Green said he and his wife were "heartbroken" over the deaths. Kernodle, of Post Falls, Idaho, was a junior and member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority majoring in marketing. Mogen, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and a senior majoring in marketing. And Goncalves, of Rathdrum, Idaho, was a senior and member of the Alpha Phi sorority majoring in general studies.

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