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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM A UGUST 21, 2013 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 46 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Afghans to Face Bales OTHELLO FEST Jury selected for Afghanistan massacre sentencing By Gene Johnson The Associated Press PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Jayden, 8, and his little sister Nasya, 3, show off their identical airbrushed tattoos, Aug. 18, at the Othello Park International Music and Arts Festival. The annual event included a line up of music and performances highlighting the many styles and cultures of Southeast Seattle. The festival also had many activities for children including Art Creation Stations where the participants could make something to take home from the event. Living Wage Effort Builds Locally Campaign launched to bump Seattle minimum wage to $15 By Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Washing- ton already has the nation’s highest state minimum wage at $9.19 an hour. Now, there’s a push in Seattle, at least, to make it $15. That would mean fast food workers, retail clerks, baristas and other minimum wage work- ers would get what protesters demanded when they shut down a handful of city restaurants in May and others called for when they demonstrated nationwide in July. So far, the City Council and mayoral candidates have said they’d consider it in the famous- ly liberal city. One said, howev- er, that it may not be soon. Venture capitalist Nick Hanauer said there’s no time to waste. What the nation needs is money in the hands of regular consumers. ``A higher mini- mum wage is a very simple and elegant solution to the death spi- ral of falling demand that is the INDEX News .....................2,3,6 Calendar ....................2 Opinion .......................4 A&E ..........................2,8 Bids/Classifieds............7 signature feature of our econo- my,’’ he said. Some businesses advocates say a higher minimum wage will make it harder for compa- nies in Seattle to survive. They cite Wal-Mart, which has all but refused to accept a Washington, D.C., decision to raise the mini- mum wage to $12.50 an hour in big box stores. A higher minimum wage eliminates low wage jobs because that’s how small busi- nesses cut costs and that ends up hurting the people it was sup- posed to benefit, according to the U.S. Chamber of Com- merce. Fast food and retail workers, meanwhile, are calling for a nationwide strike on Aug. 29 to push for $15 an hour. More than 15 million workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year — $50 below the federal poverty line for a family of two. San Francisco currently has the highest minimum wage for all workers at $10.50 an hour. See WAGE on page 3 Joint Base Lewis-Mcchord, Wash. (AP) A jury of six soldiers was selected Tuesday to determine whether the U.S. soldier who killed 16 Afghan civilians during raids on two villages last year will ever have a chance at getting out of prison. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 39, pleaded guilty in June to avoid the death penalty for killing the civilians, mostly women and children, before dawn on March 11, 2012. The six jurors are tasked with determining whether the Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., receives life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it. If he is sentenced to life with parole, Bales would be eligible in 20 years, but there’s no guarantee he would receive it. The sentencing is expected to afford vic- tims and their relatives a chance to confront Bales face-to-face for the first time since he stormed their compounds. The Army flew nine villagers, all males, from Kandahar Province. Among them are Haji Mohammad Wazir, who lost 11 family members, includ- ing his wife, mother and two brothers; Haji Mohammad Naim, who was shot in the neck; and a teenage boy named Rafiullah who was shot in both legs. Several have previously said they are out- raged that Bales is escaping the death penal- ty. Some victims and witnesses testified by video link from Afghanistan during a hear- ing last year, including a young girl in a bright headscarf who described hiding behind her father as he was shot to death. Boys told of begging the soldier to spare them, yelling: “We are children! We are children!’’ A thick-bearded man told of being shot in the neck by a gunman at arm’s length. Bales, on his fourth combat deployment, had been drinking and watching a movie with other soldiers at his remote post at See MASSACRE on page 3 Mobile Programs Offer Summer Meals Youth hunger rates soar, officials find ways to feed kids during break By Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — Four days a week this summer, lime green school buses loaded with games, books and com- puters rumbled through low-income neigh- borhoods south of Seattle. Their aim wasn’t just to entertain kids — but to feed them. ``It’s fun here,’’ said 10-year-old Mia Tolo on a recent afternoon outside one such bus, where she played Chutes and Ladders with her friend Anita Velasco after they had pizza, bananas and milk. Department of Agriculture officials and community leaders cite the rolling rec cen- ters, covered in cartoon frogs, as a novel approach in the federal government’s push to get meals to millions more schoolchild- ren when they need it most. About 21 million U.S. students receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year, but only a fraction of them, 3.5 million according to most recent statistics, are fed regularly over the summer. ``That’s a drop in the bucket compared to how many need it,’’ said Bill Ayres, execu- tive director of Why Hunger, a nonprofit See MEALS on page 3
