Evergreen State ally: Gov. Bobby Jindal was in Spokane, Wash., on Wednesday evening to attend a private fundraiser, but beforehand made an appearance with Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna to give McKenna his endorsement, The Seattle Times reports. McKenna, the state attorney general, is battling Democrat Jay Inslee to succeed Gov. Chris Gregoire. The newspaper notes, “Jindal spent most of the brief appearance talking about education,” despite the fact that McKenna is opposed to implementing a statewide education voucher system in Washington similar to that which is being created in Louisiana, thanks to a strong push by the Jindal administration. Read the full story here.
Helping hands: The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in four years. But a major reason for the drop is that some automakers skipped traditional summer shutdowns to keep up with sales, leading to fewer temporary layoffs of autoworkers. Weekly applications dropped by 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, the Labor Department reports this morning. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 376,500. Economists expect most of the decline will be reversed in the coming weeks. The Associated Press has more report details here.
Unhappy Valley: Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and other top university officials acted with “total disregard” for the children sexually abused by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky because of their fear of “bad publicity,” says a report released today that details the findings of the university’s internal investigation. The report says Paterno and others “repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities,” and it blames them for failing to stop Sandusky and protect other children from his harm. Read the full story here; and peruse the complete 267-page report here.
