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TexasTowelie's JournalSpokane Valley Fire captain terminated for religious messages can sue, state Supreme Court finds
A former Spokane Valley Fire Department captain fired for sending religious emails through his work account can file a lawsuit claiming damages, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The department violated Jon Sprague’s First Amendment rights, according to the Supreme Court, when he was terminated in 2012 for repeatedly using work email to send messages to his Spokane Christian Firefighters Fellowship group.
Sprague reportedly was warned several times before facing disciplinary action. His firing was upheld by the department’s Civil Service Commission before Spokane County Superior Court dismissed the case, a decision that was upheld by the state Court of Appeals.
On Thursday, the state Supreme Court noted the Court of Appeals declined to address the merit of Sprague’s claims.
Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/jan/26/svfd-captain-terminated-for-religious-messages-can/
Students living here illegally would be eligible for Washington state aid under new bill
Aiming to send a message to Congress, the state Senate has passed a bill that would allow students who came to this country illegally as children to get state money to help pay for college.
The bill would make students who have been here for at least three years before earning a state high-school diploma eligible for College Bound, a scholarship program for low-income Washington students.
The bill passed 38-11 Wednesday, with all Senate Democrats and about half of Republicans in favor. A similar bill in the House has also garnered bipartisan support.
Its sponsor, state Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, called it an important bill symbolically, at a time when the fate of the nation’s Dreamers — children brought to this country illegally as children — dominate the national debate on immigration.
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/undocumented-students-would-be-eligible-for-state-aid-under-new-bill/
Washington state monitors found radioactive contamination from troubled Hanford demolition project
Monitors at the federal Hanford Nuclear site found plutonium and americium contamination up to 10 miles from a troubled demolition project that was suspended in December due to concerns about the spread of radioactive particles.
The monitoring last year was conducted in the federal nuclear site by the state Department of Health, which notified the federal Energy Department of the findings in December.
The state monitoring picked up signs of radioactive americium and plutonium particles from the demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant that appear to have spread over a far larger zone of the federal site than initially thought.
“We don’t want to see contamination outside the work-control zone, and this was in areas that you didn’t expect to see it. It was surprising,” said John Martell, manager of the radioactive air emissions section of the state health department.
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/wa-state-monitors-found-radioactive-contamination-from-troubled-hanford-demolition-project/
Working Conditions at Washington Blueberry Farm Amounted to Forced Labor, Lawsuit Claims
Operators of a Washington blueberry farm repeatedly threatened immigrant workers with deportation, provided them insufficient meals, and told them to work “unless they were on their death bed,” according to a lawsuit filed by two high-profile local law firms Thursday.
The suit alleges Sarbanand Farms in Whatcom County and its California-based parent company Munger Brothers violated state and federal law in their treatment of workers. Munger is the largest blueberry producer in the world, according to the complaint in the case. The company sells to Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, and other stores, according to its website.
Last summer, about 70 workers at Sarbanand Farm went on strike after one of their coworkers, Honesto Silva Ibarra, was hospitalized. Silva Ibarra later died at Harborview Medical Center. Workers said managers at the farm had ignored his requests to see a doctor before his death. After the one-day strike, the company fired the workers and gave them an hour to leave the farm where they worked and lived. Some workers then moved down the road to a makeshift camp. The case filed Thursday does not directly link working conditions to Silva Ibarra’s death, but claims the company’s treatment of workers both before and after the strike was illegal.
The suit, filed by Columbia Legal Services and Schroeter, Goldmark, and Bender, currently lists two Mexican workers as plaintiffs. But the lawyers are seeking class action status to represent more than 600 workers who came to the United States on H-2A visas, given to temporary agricultural workers, and picked blueberries for Sarbanand Farms and Munger Brothers. The case seeks injunctions against the companies to improve worker conditions as well as unspecified lost wages and damages.
Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/01/25/25750229/working-conditions-as-washington-blueberry-farm-amounted-to-forced-labor-lawsuit-claims
Seattle Mayor Durkan Says She's Getting Rid of Sexual Harassment Settlements Inside City Departments
After a promise late last year to consolidate the city's process for handling sexual harassment complaints, Mayor Jenny Durkan today e-mailed city employees to tell them that she will stop allowing city departments to settle harassment claims.
Her letter insists that "we have HR professionals who work with the highest level of integrity to ensure harassment complaints are addressed with a sense of urgency, safety, and transparency." She continued: "Though they are doing important work on training and reporting, I know we can all do better."
As her predecessor was wont to do, Durkan also announced that she would be assembling an interdisciplinary task force to study the problem.
"The City will be doing an extensive evaluation of our approach to workplace harassment," she wrote. The task force will come up with recommendations by May and include Durkan's staff, Councilmember Mosqueda or a representative from her office and labor representatives.
Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/01/25/25751858/mayor-durkan-says-shes-getting-rid-of-sexual-harassment-settlements-inside-city-departments
Idaho bill would allow use of marijuana derivative
BOISE — A recently introduced bill would allow residents to use oil extracted from cannabis plants in staunchly anti-marijuana Idaho as long as the product is prescribed by a licensed practitioner.
Under the proposed legislation, Idahoans seeking to use the oil for medical purposes for themselves or their minor children would have to apply to the Idaho Board of Pharmacy for a cannabidiol registration card.
Cannabidiol, otherwise known as CBD oil, comes from cannabis but contain little or no THC.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter vetoed legislation in 2015 that would have allowed children with severe forms of epilepsy to use CBD oil.
Read more: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/idaho-bill-would-allow-use-of-marijuana-derivative/article_cd514c70-6a7b-5e41-b0da-5e4e18156783.html
Idaho House panel reintroduces anti-Sharia law bill
BOISE — Republicans on an Idaho House panel on Thursday once again agreed to introduce anti-Sharia law legislation designed to prevent Idaho courts from making decisions based on Islamic or other foreign legal codes.
This is the third year in a row Rep. Eric Redman, a Republican from Athol, has brought legislation forward that says courts, administrative agencies or state tribunals can’t base rulings on any foreign law or legal system that would not grant the parties the same rights guaranteed by state and U.S. constitutions.
“State legislatures have a role to play in protecting constitutional rights,” said Redman, who is not seeking re-election this year. “If states do not have a role, why do we have state constitutions?”
The proposal doesn’t specifically mention Sharia law. However, pictures of a severed hand and a man about to be beheaded were included in the information packet Redman originally distributed to legislative leaders when he first introduced the proposal in 2016. The pictures were pasted in between definitions of Sharia law and accusing the Prophet Muhammad of being a pedophile.
Read more: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/idaho-house-panel-reintroduces-anti-sharia-law-bill/article_d9d52660-f708-5a9d-b95d-60aec8ea576f.html
Girl tried for a year to get adults to listen to her story of lawmaker's sexual abuse
A 10-year-old neighbor of Rep. Brandon Hixon’s (R) tried for more than a year to get adults to listen to her concerns that Hixon “is a bad man.”
Some adults did the right thing. Others did not. And for that year she slipped through the cracks until finally, she became concerned that Hixon, who had started dating her friend’s mom, would molest her friend.
The girl went to her school’s counselor and resource officer, told them what Hixon had done to her, and said she did not want him to do that to her friend. The counselor and resource officer took action; within days, the Caldwell Police Department began an investigation.
That series of events is among the many allegations laid out in investigation records released Wednesday by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. Hundreds of pages, compiled since spring 2017, suggest the former state lawmaker touched, abused or had sex with two young girls — one a young female relative — in repeated incidents across many years. They also establish that investigators and Hixon’s family worried he was a danger to himself long before his death by suicide in early January.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article196414709.html
Ada County still waiting on lawmaker to say why it shouldn't collect her back taxes
The Ada County Assessor’s Office is still awaiting a response from Idaho Rep. Priscilla Giddings as to why the White Bird Republican deserved the $1,200 tax break she received in 2016.
The office sent Giddings a “notice of intent” last November, saying it intends to collect taxes after she erroneously received a homeowners exemption on her Garden City home. At the time, she resided in Idaho County and received an exemption there as well.
The letter gave her 10 days to dispute the claim. Prior to that deadline, though, Giddings requested and received a temporary stay, based on a federal law that provides relief from civil actions for active-duty military personnel.
The first-term lawmaker is an officer in the Air Force Reserve and was on active duty last fall. However, she has been serving in the Legislature since the session began Jan. 8.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article196609839.html
Racist letter warns Idaho youth soccer coach to 'be careful.' Instead, he's fighting back.
EAGLE -- Jeromy Tarkon walked out to his driveway Sunday morning and discovered a letter on the windshield of his Jeep.
The youth soccer coach thought he’d find a donation inside for his budding club soccer team, the Idaho Juniors Futbol Club. Instead, he found an anonymous letter spewing racial slurs and instructing him to quit or “be careful.”
-snip-
“It’s because of liberals like you that our state is full of [n-word] and wet-----,” the anonymous letter reads. “Your [n-word] boy made the soccer field unclean by stepping on it. You are no better than the trash families you have. You are trash.
“Be careful how you coach. One day you might piss off the wrong parent or families. The Juniors are a joke. Quit now before the whole state hates you.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/soccer/article196558079.html
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