WWW . THESKANNER . COM
N OVEMBER 13, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 6
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
HONORING VETERANS
Schools
Improve
Slowly
Melinda Gates gives
U.S. education a C-
plus grade
OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY LAWRENCE JACKSON
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
The Associated Press
President Barack Obama greets Richard Overton, with Earlene Love-Karo, in the Blue Room of the White House, Nov.
11. Overton,107 years old and the oldest living World War II veteran, attended the Veteran’s Day Breakfast at the
White House.
State Moves to Extend Boeing Tax Breaks
Washington lawmakers woo aerospace giant with financial incentives
By Mike Baker
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) —
Washington lawmakers moved
swiftly Saturday to extend aero-
space tax breaks in a bid to sat-
isfy Boeing Co. and win the
manufacturing work that will
come with the company’s new
777X production.
The Legislature gave final
approval to extend the tax
incentives — worth a total pro-
jected value of $9 billion — all
the way to 2040. Lawmakers
then adjourned their three-day
session without taking up a
transportation package that Gov.
Jay Inslee had sought.
Legislators from both parties
touted the importance of the
Boeing jobs, especially for the
long-term. Senate Majority
Leader Rodney Tom, a Democ-
rat who leads a largely Republi-
can caucus, said the company
has had an enormous impact on
the state over the years and said
the bill was a way to make sure
it continues.
``It’s an incredible opportuni-
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ty that we can keep this going
for the next generation,’’ Tom
said.
Even though the tax breaks
weren’t set to expire for several
more years, Inslee called the
Legislature back to Olympia
this week for a special session
dedicated to the Boeing bills.
Along with the tax package,
lawmakers voted to spend mil-
lions of dollars on worker-train-
ing programs and an effort to
aid permitting for large aero-
space manufacturing sites.
Inslee said the bills were nec-
essary in order to win the manu-
facturing work that will come
with Boeing’s new 777X pro-
duction. He praised the biparti-
san work that went into the
package and said the deal will
reverse the outflow of aerospace
jobs from the state.
``This is an unprecedented
guarantee that multiple genera-
tions of aircraft will be built
here right here in the state of
Washington,’’ Inslee said.
Democratic
Sen.
Bob
Hasegawa was one of the two
See BOEING on page 3
SEATTLE (AP) — Melinda Gates, one
of the most influential women in American
education, said this week she gives the U.S.
public school system a C-plus, but adds
there are spots of improvement that give her
optimism for the future.
Gates said she bases her assessment on
international comparisons of student
achievement and on the fact that only a frac-
tion of American high school students are
ready for college when they complete their
studies.
“I see pockets of improvements. The neat
thing about the pockets of improvements is
they’re getting larger all the time and
they’re across the nation,’’ she told The
Associated Press during an interview this
week in her Seattle office overlooking the
Space Needle at the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
Those pockets are growing in places like
New Orleans and in Florida, New York,
New Orleans and Colorado, Gates added,
because districts are talking to each other
and sharing their best practices.
For the past decade, the Gates Foundation
has studied education, influenced public
policy and spent billions of dollars toward
improving student outcomes by supporting
education reform and demanding better
results. Since 2000, the foundation has spent
about $5 billion on education grants and
scholarships.
Their focus has influenced the national
agenda, as the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion has pushed for similar reforms such as
adoption of the national academic standards
known as the common core, as well as
insisting on improvement in state teacher-
evaluation systems.
The foundation has given some states
money and assistance to prepare their appli-
cations for federal grant programs and some
top officials in Washington, D.C., are for-
See GATES on page 3
Gonzaga Gives Students Probation for Guns
The pair say they used a handgun to scare off a transient intruder
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gonzaga
University has agreed to review its weapons
policy as two students who used a pistol to
drive an intruder from their apartment
appeal their probation for having guns in
their university-owned accommodation.
``As a Jesuit institution dedicated to
thoughtful evaluation of complex social
issues,’’ Gonzaga will use the incident to re-
examine its policy, President Thayne
McCulloh said in a weekend statement.
The university informed the students, Erik
Fagan, 21, and Daniel McIntosh, 23, over
the weekend they were on probation and
could be suspended or expelled for any
more violations of the Spokane university’s
code of conduct, The Spokesman-Review
reported.
Gonzaga should consider student safety
above all else, said their lawyer, Dean
Chuang.
``We’re glad that it didn’t have to end in
tragedy for them to consider changing the
policy there,’’ Chuang said. ``Our boys were
armed and stopped a home invasion here.’’
A homeless man came to their door Oct.
24 demanding money and trying to force his
way inside.
See GONZAGA on page 3