Rep. Mike Hope resigns over out-of-state registration to vote, A3
What’s next for the Seahawks? Questions the champions will need to answer, C1
FRIDAY, 07.25.2014
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Trains will slam Marysville Boeing Increased rail traffic from a new terminal will boost wait times at crossings by up to a disproportionate 147%. By Chris Winters Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — The construction of a new coal terminal at Cherry Point will lead to increased freight rail traffic in the coming years throughout the
Puget Sound region. But, as a new report issued Thursday pointed out, that traffic will have a disproportionate impact on Marysville, which has numerous at-grade rail crossings within city limits. Long trains frequently create
backups in town, often clogging the off-ramps from I-5. Up to 18 new trains per day can be expected if the coal terminal opens. Wait times at crossings, which range from a total of 22 minutes to an hour and a half per day, could increase 65 percent region-wide, but by as much as 147 percent per day within Marysville.
That will slow down commercial and commuter traffic, emergency response times, and ultimately have an economic impact of $1.65 million per year in Marysville alone, the report says. That’s more than four times the $357,000 annual impact coal trains are expected to have on See TRAINS, Page A2
Currency catching on a bit Everett coffee stand now accepting Bitcoin, a type of digital currency
faces age claim
The engineers union, which filed two complaints, says the company schemed to lay off older, more experienced workers. By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
Herald Writer
EVERETT — “What’s Bitcoin?” the woman asked, nodding her head at the “Bitcoin accepted” sign posted on the drive-through coffee stand. The woman working the stand, Sheri Brisky, had a ready reply, one she’s repeated countless times since the sign went up earlier this month. “It’s a digital currency,” she said, and then explained how Bitcoin combines decentralization, encryption and
transparency to create a secure, reliable system for digitally capturing and conveying value. Looking up from her Mini Cooper, the customer appeared a little lost. “It’s really not as confusing as it sounds,” Brisky said. In early July, Marathon Coffee became one of the first — and possibly the first — retail businesses in the area to take Bitcoin, a technology that from a user’s perspective works like digital money. After quietly starting in 2009, it has grabbed headlines in
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By Dan Catchpole
VOL. 114, NO. 172 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . .A15 Classified . . . . B1
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
recent years. Customers can use bitcoins to pay for goods and service from Overstock. com and the Sacramento Kings, among others. At least one college is taking tuition payment in bitcoins. A relief fund set up following the Oso mudslide took donations in bitcoins. They can be exchanged for just about every major currency. Individuals can choose from a wide variety of ways to create digital wallets to store bitcoins. Transactions are often done using a smartphone and unique visual identifiers
Heads or tails Legal tender in Camelot: After making subtle tweaks to the design over the years, the U.S. Mint will restore the John F. Kennedy half-dollar coin to its original 1964 look (Page A14). The restored design is said to be truer to the real JFK — which presumably means Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . E4
called QR codes. Unlike credit and debit cards, bitcoin transactions do not reveal any information about the consumer. But all that information is pulled up every time you swipe a debit card at the grocery store or enter a credit card number into a website. Malicious hackers have exploited that weakness. For example, they stole a huge amount of personal financial information by infecting cash registers at Target stores with
that Marilyn Monroe appears on the flip side of the coin. No smoking within 1.5 million feet of fresh ocean breezes: The state of Oregon plans to ban smoking on all 362 miles of its Pacific Ocean coastline (Page A10). Oregon already has banned smoking at its
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . .A13
Opinion. . . . .A17 Short Takes . . .D6
See BOEING, back page, this section
See BITCOIN, Page A11
state parks, which means nicotine-addicted campers face a long walk to the nearest official Oregon smoking area: a couple of battered surplus park benches and an overflowing dumpster behind a strip mall just outside Springfield. And maybe a free toaster, Sports . . . . . . . C1 Stocks . . . . . .A16
too: Despite all the, ahem, buzz, the digital currency bitcoin has been slow to catch on in Snohomish County (above). Perhaps a promotional campaign would help: “After 12 transactions, get a stolen credit card from the East Elbonia mafia ABSOLUTELY FREE!”
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
Lovely 70/54, C8
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DAN BATES / THE HERALD
Marathon Coffee owner Jim Ruble shows how easy it is to scan his company’s electronic Bitcoin code with a smart phone and pay instantly. Barista Sheri Brisky (background) said customer interest is picking up, after almost nobody was using it.
EVERETT — The union representing Boeing engineers has filed an age discrimination charge with state and federal authorities against the aerospace giant. The charge filed Wednesday by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace alleges that Boeing used a two-step scheme to shed older, higher-skilled engineers from its payrolls. First, the company changed how it determines who gets laid off when work is cut, and then it created the need for layoffs by announcing plans to move jobs — but not necessarily employees — to non-union shops out of metro Puget Sound, according to the charge SPEEA filed with the state’s Human Rights Commission. The union also filed an identical charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Seattle office. At least 4,500 workers — and possibly more — are affected by the company’s actions, said Ray Goforth, SPEEA’s executive director, in an interview with The Daily Herald. “It dramatically shifts who is positioned for future layoffs.” The company denies the charge. “Boeing does not discriminate against its employees on any basis,” a Boeing spokesman said. “Diversifying our engineering workforce reflects changes in our business and is not related to the age of our employees. We’re disappointed that SPEEA filed this baseless complaint.” Sometime before March, the company changed how it assigns what are called retention rankings, which determine the order by which employees are laid off if jobs are cut. The rating system puts each worker in one of three tiers — R1, R2 or R3 — with R1 being the best rating and last to be laid off, and R3 being the first
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