Tuesday Links — May 30
Murray vs. Trump religious freedom rule … No more Hanford Reach National Monument? … Democrats face campaign-finance complaints … Opinion: Seattle income tax is illegal
Murray not happy with Trump religious freedom rule
New York Times: Last week, Senator Patty Murray of Washington and 13 other Democratic senators warned Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, to cease efforts that could “undermine access to affordable preventive services, including contraception, for women.”
“Women saved more than $1.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for birth control in 2013 alone,” the senators said Thursday in a letter to Mr. Mulvaney. “Access to affordable preventive services, including contraception, is a critical part of women’s health care.”
Hanford Reach National Monument status is under review
Crosscut: When President Bill Clinton created the Hanford Reach National Monument in Eastern Washington in 2000, some local officials objected. They wanted at least some local control of the 194,000-acre swath of quasi desert.
Now, President Donald Trump is talking about abolishing more than two dozen national monuments, including Hanford Reach. But the suggestion has evoked little apparent excitement and some concern about the protection of the state’s most pristine quasi-desert land.
Democrats face campaign-finance complaints
Seattle Times: Morgan said he may have hundreds more campaign-finance complaints to add to the deluge he has filed against Democrats in the past year or so.
They include allegations that candidates and campaigns have failed to correctly report debt and break down spending, Morgan said. Other possible complaints, he said, may allege that people have failed to properly fill out personal financial-disclosure statements.
Former AG McKenna and retired WA Chief Justice Alexander explain why an income tax is illegal
Seattle Times Op-Ed: Since 1933, the state Supreme Court has maintained that income is property under our state constitution. Eighteen years later, the Court drove the point home: “It is no longer subject to question in this court that income is property.” More recent court decisions reinforce the same conclusion.
The Missing PNW Apples
New York Times: About two-thirds of the $4 billion apple industry is now concentrated in Washington State — and 15 varieties, led by the Red Delicious, account for about 90 percent of the market. But the past looked, and tasted, much different: An estimated 17,000 varieties were grown in North America over the centuries, and about 13,000 are lost.
