Podcasts about Legislature

By prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy rather than targeted investments, Wisconsin Republicans continue sitting on a multi-billion dollar budget surplus—even as school districts around the state are forced to consider another round of referendum campaigns. We'll review where taxpayers may be asked to again step up where the Legislature has fallen short. Guests: Denise […]

Dallas police say 113 homicide cases audited for lost evidence; State halts efforts to take Fairfield Lake property from developer using eminent domain; North Texas state lawmaker to be dishonorably discharged from DPD after ‘no contest' plea; exas Legislature adjourns with private school subsidies undone, again Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's been much conversation about Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and whether it can be used to keep people who engaged in the January 6th insurrection off the ballot. Lindsay Langholz speaks with Donald Sherman and Nikhel Sus from CREW  about their lawsuit aimed at keeping Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado. They discuss the ruling of the trial court and look ahead to the December 6th oral argument before the Colorado Supreme Court.  Join the Progressive Legal Movement Today: ACSLaw.org Today's Host: Lindsay Langholz, ACS Sr Director of Policy and Program Guest: Donald Sherman, Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel, CREW  Guest: Nikhel Sus, Director of Strategic Litigation, CREW Link: CREW's Colorado lawsuit enforcing Donald Trump's constitutional disqualification Link: "Why are U.S. courts afraid of the 14th Amendment? Because it's radical," by Sherrilyn Ifill Visit the Podcast Website: Broken Law Podcast Email the Show: Podcast@ACSLaw.org Follow ACS on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of American Constitution Society 2023.

Ali Velshi is joined by Paul Butler, Professor at Georgetown School of Law, Jennifer Rubin, Opinion Writer at Washington Post, Asaf Zamir, Former Consul General of Israel in New York, Aaron David Miller, Sr. Fellow at American Stagecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Barbara McQuade, Fmr. U.S. Attorney, Rina Shah, Principal and Founder of Rilax Strategies, Rep. Summer Lee (D) Pennsylvania, and Melissa Murray, Professor of Law at NYU.

We welcome State Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde to discuss his co-sponsorship of the BadgerCare Public Option and groundbreaking new climate legislation he is working on that will help set the agenda for the 2024 state legislative elections. With the prospect of new legislative maps, Rep. Moore's climate agenda helps provide an unparalleled opportunity for new ideas to be in play in the next Legislature. We discuss a new lawsuit brought by state employee unions seeking to overturn Act 10, on the heels of new data revealing Wisconsin teacher pay has lagged inflation for 15 years according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum report. As the Supreme Court starts a historic redistricting case, the 2025 election has begun as former AG Brad Schimel enters the race. We invite our listeners from Western Wisconsin to RSVP and attend Citizen Action's 3rd Congressional District Candidate Virtual Forum on Sunday, December 17th, 6pm.

Ali Velshi is joined by Olivia Troye, Fmr. Homeland Security Advisor and Counterterror Advisor to VP Mike Pence, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Professor of History at NYU, Ronen Bergman, Staff Writer at The New York Times Magazine, Charles Blow, Writer & Executive Producer of ‘South to Black Power', State Rep. Justin Jones (D) Tennessee, Michael Steele, Fmr. Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Stuart Stevens, Senior Adviser for The Lincoln Project, Noga Tarnopolsky, Independent Journalist, and Emily Van Duyne, Author of ‘Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation'

Ohio's public school educators are called to the profession by an unwavering commitment to student success. But not every person in Ohio's public school classrooms now may have felt that calling at the beginning of their career arc. On this episode of Public Education Matters, we hear from 2024 Ohio Teacher of the Year Mark Lowrie about his journey from being a sports producer to building one of the best high school broadcast journalism programs in the country. We also learn more about OEA's partnership with VESi and Ursuline College to offer OEA members nine graduate credit hours for professional development for just $200.WATCH LINCOLN LIVE | To check out some of the award winning work Ohio Teacher of the Year Mark Lowrie's broadcast journalism students are doing at Gahanna-Jefferson High School, click here.LEARN MORE | Click here for more information about OEA's partnership with VESi to offer a yearlong subscription to online graduate courses. SUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to subscribe on Google podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.Featured Public Education Matters guests:  Mark Lowrie, 2024 Ohio Teacher of the Year   Mark Lowrie teaches broadcast journalism at Gahanna Lincoln High School. A graduate of Ohio University where he earned a bachelor's degree in communication, Lowrie worked 12 years in broadcast TV before earning his master's degree in education at the University of Akron and his integrated language arts 7-12 license. Since then, Lowrie has twice built Ohio's most honored school broadcasting program. In four years at Gahanna Lincoln, Lowrie designed four new courses and increased TV class enrollment from 27 to 130. His students produce Lincoln Live, a live newscast streamed throughout the school and on multiple social media platforms to provide the district a public relations channel. Previously, Lowrie spent 18 years at Marion L. Steele High School in Amherst producing their live, daily newscast, Steele News Live.  The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has honored Lowrie's students with seven National Student Production Awards (SPA) and 79 Regional SPAs. Also known as the Student Emmys, Lowrie's students led the nation with three National SPAs in 2022, including Best Newscast and the National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Award, which honors the top four broadcast programs nationally.  Lowrie has served as varsity football assistant coach, assistant athletic director, National Honor Society Advisor and union-negotiating team member. Lowrie received the 2022 Ohio University Scripps College of Communication Fellowship. He earned a Master of Arts in school leadership from Concordia University (Chicago) and his Professional Principal License (5-12).  Nicholas GurichNick Gurich is OEA's Director of Education Policy, Research, and Member Advocacy. In coordination with OEA's three Education Policy and Practice Consultants, Nick oversees professional learning opportunities for OEA members, including the VESi program. Connect with OEA: Email educationmatters@ohea.org with your feedback or ideas for future Public Education Matters topics Like OEA on Facebook Follow OEA on Twitter Follow OEA on Instagram Get the latest news and statements from OEA here Learn more about where OEA stands on the issues  Keep up to date on the legislation affecting Ohio public schools and educators with OEA's Legislative Watch About us: The Ohio Education Association represents about 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio's schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio's children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio's schools. Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children. This episode was recorded on October 26 and November 21, 2023.

We live in an era where it's easy to choose your news… based on your views. Just witness how many media sites paid little attention when it was learned Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had snuck away to Brazil instead of adhering to a special session of the Legislature—but they sure took notice over a governor […]

 Term limits for legislators, both in Congress and at the state level, are extremely popular among voters, and have been, since their heyday in the 1990s. And while we don't currently have term limits on members of Congress, they do exist in 16 states. What can we learn from the state legislatures that already have them? Do they deliver on their promises? We talk with Carlos Algara, assistant professor of political science at Claremont Graduate University, where he studies political parties, electoral accountability, and legislative behavior, and Jordan Butcher, assistant professor of political science at Arkansas State University, where she studies state legislatures. She is the author of the forthcoming book Navigating Term Limits. 

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, November 28th, 2023. Kepler Education: Kepler is an online marketplace for Classical Christian education that assures parents maintain their agency without forfeiting the assistance and expertise of qualified conservative Christian teachers. Kepler offers university model courses in the classical tradition that fit your schedule and budget. Visit www.kepler.education and use our simple search tool to find the course and teacher that meets your child’s needs. Or simply ask for help to get assistance from a real human being. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/talks-under-way-to-extend-israel-hamas-ceasefire-as-return-to-fighting-looms Talks under way to extend Israel-Hamas ceasefire as return to fighting looms Talks are under way to extend the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, with Hamas and Israel both saying they would like to see further releases of hostages in return for freedom for more Palestinians held in Israeli jails. But the ceasefire is due to expire, threatening a return to the bloody fighting and bombardment that has devastated swaths of Gaza, killed many thousands of civilians and caused an acute humanitarian crisis. The third release of prisoners and of mostly Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas took place without major problems on Sunday night. Israel and Hamas have each raised concerns over the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners due to be released on Monday, which Qatari mediators are now working to resolve. “There is a slight issue with today’s lists. The Qataris are working with both sides to … avoid delays,” an official briefed on the matter said. Seventeen hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, mostly children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he did not want to end the ceasefire but pledged that Israel would resume its military offensive in Gaza at the end of the truce. Netanyahu, who has promised Israelis he will “crush” Hamas, said he would welcome an extension to allow the release of 10 additional hostages every day in return for freedom for 30 Palestinian prisoners, as agreed under the original deal. Israeli officials insist they will not call off their offensive until they are certain that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel. Joe Biden said on Sunday that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”. Local media in Israel reported optimism among senior officials that the truce, which was the result of several weeks of complex indirect negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, would be extended. Sixty-two of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas since last month have been released, one hostage was freed by Israeli forces, and two were found dead inside Gaza. A total of 117 Palestinians have been freed since the truce began. Between 13,000 and 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive launched after the Hamas attack, roughly two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes. The UN says the truce has made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, while humanitarian needs have soared. Details have emerged of the conditions of the detention of some hostages. Local media has reported shortages of food and medicine, and cramped accommodation possibly underground, but no physical mistreatment. According to one report, a former hostage has told his friends that his captors had brought other children to play with him while he was in captivity. Some learned of the fate of relatives from Hebrew-language radio networks they could listen to. Two teenagers learned that their mother had been killed and their father remained missing only when released. Calls from the hostages’ families to prioritise their release have sharpened the dilemma facing Israel’s leaders as they seek to reconcile the military offensive with the goal of freeing all of the captives. https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/23/new-biden-rule-reveals-transgender-movements-endgame-no-dissenting-parents-allowed/ Lack of ‘Affirmation’ Is Child Abuse: New Biden Rule Applies Transgender Standard to Foster Care The transgender standard is set to become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden. A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly. The rule would reinterpret the Social Security Act, which requires agencies to ensure that each child in foster care receives “safe and proper” care. The rule would lay out steps agencies must take to meet that requirement for “LGBTQI+ children,” defined as kids who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.” Before agencies place a child with a foster parent, known as a “provider,” that person must “establish an environment free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status;” receive training “to be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression;” and must be able to “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.” As the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Rachel Morrison pointed out for The Federalist Society, the rule does not define “hostility,” “mistreatment,” or “abuse.” However, it does clarify that “a provider who attempted to undermine, suppress, or change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of a child, including through the use of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ would not be a safe and appropriate placement.” The proposed rule cites medical associations such as the American Psychological Association to claim that efforts to “undermine, suppress, or change” sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression “are not supported by evidence and have been rejected as harmful.” The rule does not acknowledge that gender ideology has infiltrated these medical associations and that many doctors—including those who once embraced gender ideology—have warned against confusing children on their gender and putting them on a path to mutilating their own bodies. Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychiatrist and early proponent of transgender medical interventions, joined and briefly helped lead the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which later became the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the central medical group that organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association rely upon. European countries, long considered more “progressive” than the U.S., have found a lack of evidence for medical interventions on children and are recommending a “watchful waiting” approach for minors. Yet Levine argues that “affirming” a transgender identity is a “powerful psychotherapeutic intervention” that will set kids on the path to mutilation and sterilization—long before they have any concept about what their own fertility means. Under Biden’s proposed new rule, any potential foster parent who aims to protect a child from this confusion and damage may soon face expulsion from the program. That means the process will be designed to weed out guardians who actually would take good care of the kids and enable guardians who would assist in harming them. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill turning California into a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care,” which the law defines as an absolute right. The law gives California courts the ability to award custody over a child if someone removes the child from his or her parents in another state in order to obtain such “care” for that child despite the parents’ disagreement. https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/27/businesses-diversity-equity-inclusion-economic-uncertainty/ Businesses Ditch ‘Diversity’ Initiatives In Droves Amid Economic Uncertainty Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives lost steam in 2023 compared to previous years as companies increasingly shift resources due to tightening economic condition The total percentage of American organizations with a DEI budget dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% in 2022 to 54% in 2023, while the number of organizations with a DEI strategy fell 9 points in that same time frame, according to a report from a consulting firm. DEI initiatives in the workplace gained huge traction following the death of George Floyd, which encouraged companies to divert resources to the practice, but now “external forces,” including tightening economic conditions as well as public and judicial pressure, are pushing back on those efforts. “After two years of unprecedented investment sparked by 2020’s racial justice movement, this year, global momentum around DEI slowed,” according to the report from Paradigm. “There are a number of headwinds contributing to this shift: the first is economic uncertainty that not only led to reduced spending across the board, it also firmly shifted the power balance back to employers.” Despite the decline in funding, there was a 6-point increase in the number of companies that had a senior DEI leader and an 8-point increase in organizations that had goals related to representation for women in leadership from 2022 to 2023, according to Paradigm. A total of 20% of companies in 2023 had goals related to increasing employment related to race or ethnicity, which is a 4-point increase year-over-year. The shift follows concerns from companies that the Supreme Court could target DEI and race-based hiring in the workplace the same way it struck down race-based admissions at colleges and universities earlier this year. A pair of decisions by the Supreme Court in June involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina cumulatively ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions is not permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “Over the past several months, we’ve heard from a number of HR leaders who are de-emphasizing data and analytics as a part of their DEI efforts, in response to the changing legal landscape and increased scrutiny on DEI efforts,” according to the report from Paradigm. Only 26% of companies examine the final results of hiring by race or ethnicity, while 33% analyze promotions in the same manner, according to Paradigm. Around 36% of organizations measured the attrition rate of their employees by race or ethnicity. Businesses pulled back from hiring in October, adding only 150,000 jobs for the month compared to 297,000 in September, while unemployment ticked up to 3.9% from 3.8%. The Leading Economic Index predicted that 2024 will only see 0.8% in the U.S. economy due to a possible recession. https://nypost.com/2023/11/26/business/ny-retailers-blast-hochul-over-theft-which-has-cost-stores-4-4-billion/ NY retailers lost $4.4 billion due to organized shoplifting rings in 2022: group Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees. Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down. However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft. Hochul rejected a proposal that would have created a 15-member panel made up of experts appointed by the governor, Legislature and the state attorney general that would have put together a list of recommendations to respond to retail theft. The Retail Council of New York State, the Albany-based lobbying group which represents retailers statewide, said it was “extremely disappointed” by Hochul’s veto. Melissa O’Connor, the president and CEO of the group, released a statement saying that she urged the governor to take “immediate action” so as to formulate “an effective, collaborative response to this problem.” “She made it abundantly clear that retail theft prevention will be a priority for her administration, and we look forward to working with her to achieve results,” O’Connor said. A spokesperson for Hochul said that adopting the proposal would have cost the state $35 million — an expenditure that wasn’t allotted in the most recent budget. Law enforcement officials from New York City to Albany to Syracuse have reported increases in incidents of retail theft — blaming the spike on progressive prosecutors who encourages criminal behavior with lenient punishment for shoplifters. Last month, the chief of police in Syracuse said that the city has seen a 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021 — and that’s a conservative estimate. “That number is likely higher because businesses often don’t report it — but they do continue to express concerns,” Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said. So far this year, the Albany Police Department has fielded 23 calls for larcenies at a single Stewart’s convenience store on Central Avenue — up from 14 at the same time in 2022. The rash of retail thefts at the location forced the owner to shut down. A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny through the end of October — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year. Around one-third of all shoplifting arrests in the five boroughs last year involved just 327 people who were collectively arrested and re-arrested a total of more than 6,000 times, according to the NYPD. These 327 alleged shoplifters targeted 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacy locations, which accounted for 20% of all complaints, the NYPD said.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, November 28th, 2023. Kepler Education: Kepler is an online marketplace for Classical Christian education that assures parents maintain their agency without forfeiting the assistance and expertise of qualified conservative Christian teachers. Kepler offers university model courses in the classical tradition that fit your schedule and budget. Visit www.kepler.education and use our simple search tool to find the course and teacher that meets your child’s needs. Or simply ask for help to get assistance from a real human being. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/talks-under-way-to-extend-israel-hamas-ceasefire-as-return-to-fighting-looms Talks under way to extend Israel-Hamas ceasefire as return to fighting looms Talks are under way to extend the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, with Hamas and Israel both saying they would like to see further releases of hostages in return for freedom for more Palestinians held in Israeli jails. But the ceasefire is due to expire, threatening a return to the bloody fighting and bombardment that has devastated swaths of Gaza, killed many thousands of civilians and caused an acute humanitarian crisis. The third release of prisoners and of mostly Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas took place without major problems on Sunday night. Israel and Hamas have each raised concerns over the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners due to be released on Monday, which Qatari mediators are now working to resolve. “There is a slight issue with today’s lists. The Qataris are working with both sides to … avoid delays,” an official briefed on the matter said. Seventeen hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, mostly children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he did not want to end the ceasefire but pledged that Israel would resume its military offensive in Gaza at the end of the truce. Netanyahu, who has promised Israelis he will “crush” Hamas, said he would welcome an extension to allow the release of 10 additional hostages every day in return for freedom for 30 Palestinian prisoners, as agreed under the original deal. Israeli officials insist they will not call off their offensive until they are certain that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel. Joe Biden said on Sunday that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”. Local media in Israel reported optimism among senior officials that the truce, which was the result of several weeks of complex indirect negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, would be extended. Sixty-two of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas since last month have been released, one hostage was freed by Israeli forces, and two were found dead inside Gaza. A total of 117 Palestinians have been freed since the truce began. Between 13,000 and 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive launched after the Hamas attack, roughly two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes. The UN says the truce has made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, while humanitarian needs have soared. Details have emerged of the conditions of the detention of some hostages. Local media has reported shortages of food and medicine, and cramped accommodation possibly underground, but no physical mistreatment. According to one report, a former hostage has told his friends that his captors had brought other children to play with him while he was in captivity. Some learned of the fate of relatives from Hebrew-language radio networks they could listen to. Two teenagers learned that their mother had been killed and their father remained missing only when released. Calls from the hostages’ families to prioritise their release have sharpened the dilemma facing Israel’s leaders as they seek to reconcile the military offensive with the goal of freeing all of the captives. https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/23/new-biden-rule-reveals-transgender-movements-endgame-no-dissenting-parents-allowed/ Lack of ‘Affirmation’ Is Child Abuse: New Biden Rule Applies Transgender Standard to Foster Care The transgender standard is set to become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden. A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly. The rule would reinterpret the Social Security Act, which requires agencies to ensure that each child in foster care receives “safe and proper” care. The rule would lay out steps agencies must take to meet that requirement for “LGBTQI+ children,” defined as kids who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.” Before agencies place a child with a foster parent, known as a “provider,” that person must “establish an environment free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status;” receive training “to be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression;” and must be able to “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.” As the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Rachel Morrison pointed out for The Federalist Society, the rule does not define “hostility,” “mistreatment,” or “abuse.” However, it does clarify that “a provider who attempted to undermine, suppress, or change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of a child, including through the use of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ would not be a safe and appropriate placement.” The proposed rule cites medical associations such as the American Psychological Association to claim that efforts to “undermine, suppress, or change” sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression “are not supported by evidence and have been rejected as harmful.” The rule does not acknowledge that gender ideology has infiltrated these medical associations and that many doctors—including those who once embraced gender ideology—have warned against confusing children on their gender and putting them on a path to mutilating their own bodies. Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychiatrist and early proponent of transgender medical interventions, joined and briefly helped lead the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which later became the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the central medical group that organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association rely upon. European countries, long considered more “progressive” than the U.S., have found a lack of evidence for medical interventions on children and are recommending a “watchful waiting” approach for minors. Yet Levine argues that “affirming” a transgender identity is a “powerful psychotherapeutic intervention” that will set kids on the path to mutilation and sterilization—long before they have any concept about what their own fertility means. Under Biden’s proposed new rule, any potential foster parent who aims to protect a child from this confusion and damage may soon face expulsion from the program. That means the process will be designed to weed out guardians who actually would take good care of the kids and enable guardians who would assist in harming them. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill turning California into a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care,” which the law defines as an absolute right. The law gives California courts the ability to award custody over a child if someone removes the child from his or her parents in another state in order to obtain such “care” for that child despite the parents’ disagreement. https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/27/businesses-diversity-equity-inclusion-economic-uncertainty/ Businesses Ditch ‘Diversity’ Initiatives In Droves Amid Economic Uncertainty Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives lost steam in 2023 compared to previous years as companies increasingly shift resources due to tightening economic condition The total percentage of American organizations with a DEI budget dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% in 2022 to 54% in 2023, while the number of organizations with a DEI strategy fell 9 points in that same time frame, according to a report from a consulting firm. DEI initiatives in the workplace gained huge traction following the death of George Floyd, which encouraged companies to divert resources to the practice, but now “external forces,” including tightening economic conditions as well as public and judicial pressure, are pushing back on those efforts. “After two years of unprecedented investment sparked by 2020’s racial justice movement, this year, global momentum around DEI slowed,” according to the report from Paradigm. “There are a number of headwinds contributing to this shift: the first is economic uncertainty that not only led to reduced spending across the board, it also firmly shifted the power balance back to employers.” Despite the decline in funding, there was a 6-point increase in the number of companies that had a senior DEI leader and an 8-point increase in organizations that had goals related to representation for women in leadership from 2022 to 2023, according to Paradigm. A total of 20% of companies in 2023 had goals related to increasing employment related to race or ethnicity, which is a 4-point increase year-over-year. The shift follows concerns from companies that the Supreme Court could target DEI and race-based hiring in the workplace the same way it struck down race-based admissions at colleges and universities earlier this year. A pair of decisions by the Supreme Court in June involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina cumulatively ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions is not permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “Over the past several months, we’ve heard from a number of HR leaders who are de-emphasizing data and analytics as a part of their DEI efforts, in response to the changing legal landscape and increased scrutiny on DEI efforts,” according to the report from Paradigm. Only 26% of companies examine the final results of hiring by race or ethnicity, while 33% analyze promotions in the same manner, according to Paradigm. Around 36% of organizations measured the attrition rate of their employees by race or ethnicity. Businesses pulled back from hiring in October, adding only 150,000 jobs for the month compared to 297,000 in September, while unemployment ticked up to 3.9% from 3.8%. The Leading Economic Index predicted that 2024 will only see 0.8% in the U.S. economy due to a possible recession. https://nypost.com/2023/11/26/business/ny-retailers-blast-hochul-over-theft-which-has-cost-stores-4-4-billion/ NY retailers lost $4.4 billion due to organized shoplifting rings in 2022: group Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees. Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down. However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft. Hochul rejected a proposal that would have created a 15-member panel made up of experts appointed by the governor, Legislature and the state attorney general that would have put together a list of recommendations to respond to retail theft. The Retail Council of New York State, the Albany-based lobbying group which represents retailers statewide, said it was “extremely disappointed” by Hochul’s veto. Melissa O’Connor, the president and CEO of the group, released a statement saying that she urged the governor to take “immediate action” so as to formulate “an effective, collaborative response to this problem.” “She made it abundantly clear that retail theft prevention will be a priority for her administration, and we look forward to working with her to achieve results,” O’Connor said. A spokesperson for Hochul said that adopting the proposal would have cost the state $35 million — an expenditure that wasn’t allotted in the most recent budget. Law enforcement officials from New York City to Albany to Syracuse have reported increases in incidents of retail theft — blaming the spike on progressive prosecutors who encourages criminal behavior with lenient punishment for shoplifters. Last month, the chief of police in Syracuse said that the city has seen a 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021 — and that’s a conservative estimate. “That number is likely higher because businesses often don’t report it — but they do continue to express concerns,” Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said. So far this year, the Albany Police Department has fielded 23 calls for larcenies at a single Stewart’s convenience store on Central Avenue — up from 14 at the same time in 2022. The rash of retail thefts at the location forced the owner to shut down. A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny through the end of October — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year. Around one-third of all shoplifting arrests in the five boroughs last year involved just 327 people who were collectively arrested and re-arrested a total of more than 6,000 times, according to the NYPD. These 327 alleged shoplifters targeted 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacy locations, which accounted for 20% of all complaints, the NYPD said.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently published a "Code of Conduct," signed by all nine justices.  Jeanne Hruska catches up with Russ Feingold, ACS President, to discuss how much weight, if any, to give this new Code. They also discuss the latest on judicial confirmations and look ahead to how voters can engage on the courts come election time.  Join the Progressive Legal Movement Today: ACSLaw.org Today's Host: Jeanne Hruska, ACS Sr Advisor for Communications and Strategy Guest: Russ Feingold, ACS President Link: "The Supreme Court Still Needs a Binding Code of Ethics," by Russ Feingold Link: SCOTUS Code of Conduct Link: "Red Courts, Blue Courts," by Mark Lemley Link: ACS Poll Worker Pledge Visit the Podcast Website: Broken Law Podcast Email the Show: Podcast@ACSLaw.org Follow ACS on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of American Constitution Society 2023.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, November 28th, 2023. Kepler Education: Kepler is an online marketplace for Classical Christian education that assures parents maintain their agency without forfeiting the assistance and expertise of qualified conservative Christian teachers. Kepler offers university model courses in the classical tradition that fit your schedule and budget. Visit www.kepler.education and use our simple search tool to find the course and teacher that meets your child’s needs. Or simply ask for help to get assistance from a real human being. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/talks-under-way-to-extend-israel-hamas-ceasefire-as-return-to-fighting-looms Talks under way to extend Israel-Hamas ceasefire as return to fighting looms Talks are under way to extend the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, with Hamas and Israel both saying they would like to see further releases of hostages in return for freedom for more Palestinians held in Israeli jails. But the ceasefire is due to expire, threatening a return to the bloody fighting and bombardment that has devastated swaths of Gaza, killed many thousands of civilians and caused an acute humanitarian crisis. The third release of prisoners and of mostly Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas took place without major problems on Sunday night. Israel and Hamas have each raised concerns over the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners due to be released on Monday, which Qatari mediators are now working to resolve. “There is a slight issue with today’s lists. The Qataris are working with both sides to … avoid delays,” an official briefed on the matter said. Seventeen hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, mostly children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he did not want to end the ceasefire but pledged that Israel would resume its military offensive in Gaza at the end of the truce. Netanyahu, who has promised Israelis he will “crush” Hamas, said he would welcome an extension to allow the release of 10 additional hostages every day in return for freedom for 30 Palestinian prisoners, as agreed under the original deal. Israeli officials insist they will not call off their offensive until they are certain that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel. Joe Biden said on Sunday that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”. Local media in Israel reported optimism among senior officials that the truce, which was the result of several weeks of complex indirect negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, would be extended. Sixty-two of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas since last month have been released, one hostage was freed by Israeli forces, and two were found dead inside Gaza. A total of 117 Palestinians have been freed since the truce began. Between 13,000 and 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive launched after the Hamas attack, roughly two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes. The UN says the truce has made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, while humanitarian needs have soared. Details have emerged of the conditions of the detention of some hostages. Local media has reported shortages of food and medicine, and cramped accommodation possibly underground, but no physical mistreatment. According to one report, a former hostage has told his friends that his captors had brought other children to play with him while he was in captivity. Some learned of the fate of relatives from Hebrew-language radio networks they could listen to. Two teenagers learned that their mother had been killed and their father remained missing only when released. Calls from the hostages’ families to prioritise their release have sharpened the dilemma facing Israel’s leaders as they seek to reconcile the military offensive with the goal of freeing all of the captives. https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/23/new-biden-rule-reveals-transgender-movements-endgame-no-dissenting-parents-allowed/ Lack of ‘Affirmation’ Is Child Abuse: New Biden Rule Applies Transgender Standard to Foster Care The transgender standard is set to become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden. A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly. The rule would reinterpret the Social Security Act, which requires agencies to ensure that each child in foster care receives “safe and proper” care. The rule would lay out steps agencies must take to meet that requirement for “LGBTQI+ children,” defined as kids who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.” Before agencies place a child with a foster parent, known as a “provider,” that person must “establish an environment free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status;” receive training “to be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression;” and must be able to “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.” As the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Rachel Morrison pointed out for The Federalist Society, the rule does not define “hostility,” “mistreatment,” or “abuse.” However, it does clarify that “a provider who attempted to undermine, suppress, or change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of a child, including through the use of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ would not be a safe and appropriate placement.” The proposed rule cites medical associations such as the American Psychological Association to claim that efforts to “undermine, suppress, or change” sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression “are not supported by evidence and have been rejected as harmful.” The rule does not acknowledge that gender ideology has infiltrated these medical associations and that many doctors—including those who once embraced gender ideology—have warned against confusing children on their gender and putting them on a path to mutilating their own bodies. Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychiatrist and early proponent of transgender medical interventions, joined and briefly helped lead the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which later became the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the central medical group that organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association rely upon. European countries, long considered more “progressive” than the U.S., have found a lack of evidence for medical interventions on children and are recommending a “watchful waiting” approach for minors. Yet Levine argues that “affirming” a transgender identity is a “powerful psychotherapeutic intervention” that will set kids on the path to mutilation and sterilization—long before they have any concept about what their own fertility means. Under Biden’s proposed new rule, any potential foster parent who aims to protect a child from this confusion and damage may soon face expulsion from the program. That means the process will be designed to weed out guardians who actually would take good care of the kids and enable guardians who would assist in harming them. California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill turning California into a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care,” which the law defines as an absolute right. The law gives California courts the ability to award custody over a child if someone removes the child from his or her parents in another state in order to obtain such “care” for that child despite the parents’ disagreement. https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/27/businesses-diversity-equity-inclusion-economic-uncertainty/ Businesses Ditch ‘Diversity’ Initiatives In Droves Amid Economic Uncertainty Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives lost steam in 2023 compared to previous years as companies increasingly shift resources due to tightening economic condition The total percentage of American organizations with a DEI budget dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% in 2022 to 54% in 2023, while the number of organizations with a DEI strategy fell 9 points in that same time frame, according to a report from a consulting firm. DEI initiatives in the workplace gained huge traction following the death of George Floyd, which encouraged companies to divert resources to the practice, but now “external forces,” including tightening economic conditions as well as public and judicial pressure, are pushing back on those efforts. “After two years of unprecedented investment sparked by 2020’s racial justice movement, this year, global momentum around DEI slowed,” according to the report from Paradigm. “There are a number of headwinds contributing to this shift: the first is economic uncertainty that not only led to reduced spending across the board, it also firmly shifted the power balance back to employers.” Despite the decline in funding, there was a 6-point increase in the number of companies that had a senior DEI leader and an 8-point increase in organizations that had goals related to representation for women in leadership from 2022 to 2023, according to Paradigm. A total of 20% of companies in 2023 had goals related to increasing employment related to race or ethnicity, which is a 4-point increase year-over-year. The shift follows concerns from companies that the Supreme Court could target DEI and race-based hiring in the workplace the same way it struck down race-based admissions at colleges and universities earlier this year. A pair of decisions by the Supreme Court in June involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina cumulatively ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions is not permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “Over the past several months, we’ve heard from a number of HR leaders who are de-emphasizing data and analytics as a part of their DEI efforts, in response to the changing legal landscape and increased scrutiny on DEI efforts,” according to the report from Paradigm. Only 26% of companies examine the final results of hiring by race or ethnicity, while 33% analyze promotions in the same manner, according to Paradigm. Around 36% of organizations measured the attrition rate of their employees by race or ethnicity. Businesses pulled back from hiring in October, adding only 150,000 jobs for the month compared to 297,000 in September, while unemployment ticked up to 3.9% from 3.8%. The Leading Economic Index predicted that 2024 will only see 0.8% in the U.S. economy due to a possible recession. https://nypost.com/2023/11/26/business/ny-retailers-blast-hochul-over-theft-which-has-cost-stores-4-4-billion/ NY retailers lost $4.4 billion due to organized shoplifting rings in 2022: group Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees. Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down. However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft. Hochul rejected a proposal that would have created a 15-member panel made up of experts appointed by the governor, Legislature and the state attorney general that would have put together a list of recommendations to respond to retail theft. The Retail Council of New York State, the Albany-based lobbying group which represents retailers statewide, said it was “extremely disappointed” by Hochul’s veto. Melissa O’Connor, the president and CEO of the group, released a statement saying that she urged the governor to take “immediate action” so as to formulate “an effective, collaborative response to this problem.” “She made it abundantly clear that retail theft prevention will be a priority for her administration, and we look forward to working with her to achieve results,” O’Connor said. A spokesperson for Hochul said that adopting the proposal would have cost the state $35 million — an expenditure that wasn’t allotted in the most recent budget. Law enforcement officials from New York City to Albany to Syracuse have reported increases in incidents of retail theft — blaming the spike on progressive prosecutors who encourages criminal behavior with lenient punishment for shoplifters. Last month, the chief of police in Syracuse said that the city has seen a 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021 — and that’s a conservative estimate. “That number is likely higher because businesses often don’t report it — but they do continue to express concerns,” Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said. So far this year, the Albany Police Department has fielded 23 calls for larcenies at a single Stewart’s convenience store on Central Avenue — up from 14 at the same time in 2022. The rash of retail thefts at the location forced the owner to shut down. A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny through the end of October — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year. Around one-third of all shoplifting arrests in the five boroughs last year involved just 327 people who were collectively arrested and re-arrested a total of more than 6,000 times, according to the NYPD. These 327 alleged shoplifters targeted 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacy locations, which accounted for 20% of all complaints, the NYPD said.

Went down to the Legislature here in Victoria to join the roughly 500-600 Victorians concerned enough about the slaughter in Gaza to brave the chill.  

Charles Coleman Jr. is joined by Anthony Coley, Fmr. Director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Dept of Justice, Danny Cevallos, Criminal Defense Attorney, Christopher O'Leary, Senior Vice-President at Global Operations at The Soufan Group, Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director of The Advancement Project National Office, Carol Anderson, Professor of African American Studies at Emory University, David A. Graham, Staff Writer at The Atlantic, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) Texas, Noga Tarnopolsky, Independent Journalist, and Brian Bond, Chief Executive Officer at PFLAG National.

On this Friday show, we present Part 2 of the Hacks & Wonks 2023 Post-Election Roundtable which was live-streamed on November 13, 2023 with special guests Katie Wilson, Andrew Villeneuve, and Robert Cruickshank. In Part 2, the panel breaks down results for Seattle City Council District 7 and reflects on the implications of Seattle's elections on progressive priorities. For those disappointed in the results, encouragement is given to remain engaged after the election, re-evaluate strategy and messaging, and work on building relationships around issues everyone supports. The conversation then moves outside of Seattle to encouraging results from around the region - a more progressive and more diverse King County Council, success for initiatives addressing cost-of-living concerns in Tacoma and Bellingham, promising municipal election outcomes in Bothell, Spokane, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Redmond, as well as defeat of a right wing incumbent in the Snohomish County Sheriff race. Plus, a discussion of the exciting upcoming move to even-year elections for King County races and the need to address an unintended consequence this turnout-boosting change has on citizen initiatives! As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find guest panelists, Katie Wilson at @WilsonKatieB, Robert Cruickshank at @cruickshank, and Andrew Villeneuve at https://www.nwprogressive.org. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Katie Wilson Katie Wilson is the general secretary of the Transit Riders Union and was the campaign coordinator for the wildly successful Raise the Wage Tukwila initiative last November.    Andrew Villeneuve Andrew Villeneuve is the founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) and its sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer.   Robert Cruickshank Robert is the Director of Digital Strategy at California YIMBY and Chair of Sierra Club Seattle. A long time communications and political strategist, he was Senior Communications Advisor to Mike McGinn from 2011-2013.   Resources Hacks & Wonks 2023 Post-Election Roundtable Livestream | November 13th, 2023   Transcript [00:00:00] Shannon Cheng: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Shannon Cheng, Producer for the show. You're listening to Part 2 of our 2023 Post-Election Roundtable, with guest panelists Katie Wilson, Andrew Villeneuve and Robert Cruickshank, that was originally aired live on Monday, November 13th. Part 1 was our last episode – you can find it in your podcast feed or on our website officialhacksandwonks.com. You can also go to the site for full video from the event and a full text transcript of the show. Thanks for tuning in! [00:00:44] Crystal Fincher: We'll transition to District 7, which we saw the third incumbent running for Seattle City Council, who - this is a very, very close race still, but it looks like Andrew Lewis may have run out of runway to come back in this race. What was your view of this, Robert? [00:01:03] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, I mean, Andrew Lewis won a close election in 2019 and he appears to have lost a close election here in 2023. I know that there is - we'll see the spending slide in a moment, but there's more spending certainly against him than his colleague Dan Strauss saw. I think that looking at the map - and there it is, I mean, it's almost 2:1. Similar to Davis, Andrew Lewis got nearly half a million dollars spent against him. If you look at the precinct map so far and compare it to 2019 - in 2019, Andrew Lewis held his own on Queen Anne, on the top of Queen Anne - that sort of island up in the sky of privilege and prosperity. Andrew did pretty well, won a bare majority in Queen Anne, just like he won in the district as a whole. If you look at the map from 2023, Queen Anne almost uniformly going to Bob Kettle. Now again, not all ballots are in, but I think you see - another thing that stood out to me is downtown. Downtown Seattle, Belltown - a lot of renters, also a lot of condo owners - that also seems to have gone to Bob Kettle. So I think that the narrative about public safety probably tripped up Andrew Lewis here. And I think Andrew Lewis - he voted against the drug ordinance in June when it first came up, but I think that was the right thing to do from a policy perspective. And then he wound up voting for it after working out a deal with the mayor's office to improve the ordinance. Voters may not have liked that, and certainly Bob Kettle ran pretty hard against that - putting out campaign messaging saying that Lewis was waffling, which is never a thing you wanna have said about you. I think that this is one where Strauss made the pivot that Lewis didn't really wanna make. And I think we, again, as progressives, gotta look at this and think - Lewis stood where we wanted him to stand, especially in that vote in June. And I think figuring out how to support candidates when they do things like that is going to be really important. This is another one obviously where turnout was different - a significant drop-off of turnout from 50% turnout in 2019 to 40% turnout in 2023. Again, you don't need much shift in turnout - especially if it comes among younger voters, renters, people living in dense communities - giving the victory, potentially to Lewis had they shown up. So this is where I feel like we can talk about Lewis - what Lewis should have done. I also look at the progressive movement as a whole and think - what did we all need to do differently in this election? I think finding ways to really fight for someone like Lewis, who's with us on most things, and certainly took up what I thought was a courageous vote in June - We've gotta reflect on that and think how we do better next time in these types of close races. [00:03:55] Crystal Fincher: What did you think, Andrew? [00:03:57] Andrew Villeneuve: Well, I think District 7 is the most conservative of the seven districts. And so the deck was kind of stacked against Andrew Lewis to start out with. And then as Robert said, the public safety piece was kind of big here. How much did voters see and hear about why Andrew Lewis was taking the votes and the actions that he did? Because for those of us who follow politics closely, we are interested in what happens at council, we're interested in the votes, and we pay an inordinate amount of attention and consume a lot more information. We might've been able to follow what Andrew Lewis was saying a lot more easily about why he voted the way he did in June, and then what he did in the fall - the late summer and fall - that caused him to take a vote that many people might've thought was contradictory to the vote that he took in June. And so I'm not sure how many voters were able to follow what was happening there. And it might've looked like, to use the old political cliche, flip-flopping. And if that's the case, if that's how voters perceived that, that could have been a negative. And Bob Kettle certainly being able to capitalize on that - that could be a very powerful thing if people are already feeling a little unhappy, disenchanted. We saw at the beginning of this year - we did a citywide poll right before the election that was for the initiative, the social housing initiative - we had the special election, we did a poll before that. And pretty much everyone in the council got a negative job performance rating, except for Sara Nelson, who had a slightly positive one. And I looked at that and went - Hmm - 'cause we weren't just assessing, how do you feel about the council as an institution? 'Cause that's a separate question. It's possible to like your member of the institution and dislike the institution - we see that dynamic with Congress. But here, people actually - we had in the poll, we had people rate each councilmember and the ratings were not good for most of the incumbent councilmembers. Sara Nelson being the exception, as I mentioned. So people were already unhappy, and then you take this public safety dynamic and this confusing position-taking that is going on, I think for many voters, and it becomes something that leaves you feeling not confident about voting for the incumbent. And I know Andrew Lewis worked really hard. I know he did a lot of door knocking, that I think they did try to leave it all out there in the field. But when you put together the low turnout, the money that was spent against Andrew Lewis, you put in the fact that it's a very conservative district out of the seven to start with, then you have the recipe for a Bob Kettle victory. Bob Kettle had a lot working for him. I don't think he ran the strongest campaign we've ever seen in Seattle city elections history. I think he just was lucky. He was a beneficiary of circumstances. So I'm gonna miss Andrew Lewis on the council - One of our board members is on his staff and I just think he brought a lot to the council. And I hope he runs for something else or stays involved in politics because I appreciate his vision. [00:07:01] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I do appreciate his vision. And I think you're onto something with the confusing. It's confusing to be able to explain that, and I think that wasn't the only set of confusing votes that he took. There was a notable one last year, early this year - time doesn't mean much to me anymore - that he took there, and while that does happen and while there are certainly justifications, that's a hard thing to explain. And when you do, you better be clear and hope it cuts through to the voters. And I think that's a really hard thing to do for the general public, particularly when you have hundreds of thousands of dollars painting some of your votes in a different light. We saw in one of those ads with Bob Kettle - Sara Nelson blaming deaths on Andrew Lewis, which I think was disingenuous. But it just showed the amount of spending, the type of rhetoric that was in this race and that they really felt he was vulnerable on public safety and they certainly took advantage of that. I wanna shift a little bit and talk about what this means moving forward for the city of Seattle. What does this council mean for the city? I wanna start with Katie. What are we likely to see? [00:08:25] Katie Wilson: [baby crying] Can you come back to me? [00:08:25] Crystal Fincher: I sure can. We'll start with Robert. [00:08:30] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah. I share the baby's thoughts on this. It's not good, folks. I think what this election will have done is turn the 2020s into a lost decade for Seattle. I think we're going to spend the next four years until 2028, when a new council is inaugurated, playing defense. I think it's going to be very difficult to advance new policies, especially around housing, transportation, and climate. I think that especially for the next year or so, some of the most regressive forces in the city are going to feel emboldened. People who don't want new housing, people who want a transportation policy centered around cars and nothing else are gonna feel really like the wind is in their backs and they can really push harder than they might otherwise have pushed. I think there's going to be big fights over a comprehensive plan that's supposed to be approved next year. And this incoming council may not be as friendly to dense urban housing that we need to tackle the climate crisis and the affordability crisis as some of the other candidates would have been. We have to renew a transportation levy next year. Is that going to be focusing on a new sustainable transportation plan that focuses on transit, people who walk, people who bike, or is it gonna be tripling down on cars? Those are some of the things that come to mind. The fight over JumpStart and taxing corporations is going to be significant. It's quite possible that this election turns out to foretell a significant decline in the quality of life in Seattle - if we see budget cuts to major public services, to libraries, parks, and certainly human services, I'd worry a lot about that. It's also possible that we don't see an incoming council that's really focused on building enough housing, especially affordable housing, and transportation options to make it easier for people to live and work here - that we become even more polarized into a city of the very rich and the very poor. So I think we gotta be clear right here as progressives. The messaging we had on public safety, on homelessness wasn't working. Again, I don't think we should throw out our core values, but we've got a lot to learn from here. And the messaging that does work for us - housing, that people want people to fight for their rights as renters, wanna fight for affordability - we didn't do enough of that, I don't think. And finally, we need to figure out what pulls our people out to the polls. Do we need to start running ballot initiatives at the same time as mayoral elections, as city council elections in November? I think we should very seriously start considering that. But we're in for four years of playing a lot of defense and we're gonna lose a decade when we really can't afford to lose it to tackle affordability, racial justice, police reform and climate. [00:11:11] Crystal Fincher: What are your thoughts, Andrew? [00:11:13] Andrew Villeneuve: Well, I like to be hopeful and optimistic about the future. And I think that there's an opportunity to persuade the council to be progressive. And I think that we can see a lot of great things happen with this council if people put in the work to create the relationships and to connect with folks - I'm someone who believes you create the future you wanna see. And I'm not a huge fan of predictions either because I think it's really hard to make them and they're so often wrong. So my advice to those who are concerned about the outcome of this election is it's time to dig in and to build the relationships with those new councilmembers and to talk to them now before they get sworn in and to create that connectivity - that connective tissue - that should exist and make sure that again, people have had a chance to hear what it is we're looking for. There's a lot of research, including NPI's research that shows people want the things that progressives in Seattle have been campaigning for. We want, for example, a more pedestrian-friendly city. We want a city that's not so car-centric. We want a city that has better transit. We want more housing. We want to make sure that as we're building the housing, we're not also losing our tree canopy because that is a critical tool in the fight against climate damage. So there's a lot that can be done, I think, by the council. And the mayor and the council need to hear from people now and not after they make a decision that people are unhappy with. It's not just the public testimony that matters, but it's also the work that's being done in between. I like to think of the holiday season as a time for catch up and preparing for what comes next. And my suggestion to those who are listening is - okay, yes, celebrate the holidays - whatever you celebrate, do it. Don't lose out on your holiday traditions. But while you're preparing your plan for Thanksgiving, send off a note - find the information for the people who won their council races and send them a note and tell them what you're looking forward to in the next council and the policies you're hoping that they'll champion - and see what happens. I think that we don't put enough value on what we do after the election. There needs to be activism that comes after the voting has stopped and the counting is done - and before people take office and start governing - that in-between time to me is a critical time to get opinions shared with people who are coming in. So that's what I would encourage folks to do. [00:13:44] Crystal Fincher: I want to strongly second that encouragement. I think that there is a lot of opportunity and whether you're happy with the results or not, I think it's really important to remain engaged after the election and to push for what you want whether it's a progressive or a moderate council. I also think that there is value in building relationships and there's value in starting a dialogue. Everything that we do is a result of coalitions and sometimes those coalitions don't look exactly like we expect them to. There are several issues that are very, very popular among Seattle residents that you look at what the council ran on and it may seem opposed - maybe that's the opportunity for some dialogue and some movement there. Looking at setting up alternative response - that may be a little - I think most people have something more comprehensive in mind than the trial that just started, getting that spun out in all neighborhoods in a more comprehensive way 24/7 certainly is really popular - one of the highest polling issues in Seattle, there's opportunity there. Progressive revenue polls really high in the city as we head into this time of a pretty significant deficit in the City's budget. There's opportunity for dialogue to say this is absolutely critically important to me, my neighborhood, my neighbors and to make sure that councilmembers understand the impact that Seattle programs, that different things in your community have on your life. This is really a time to get engaged - to let the councilmembers, incoming councilmembers, know it's important. And the existing councilmembers - who knows what they're liable to do. Now, some of them don't have to worry about what voters might think - that may have been part of their equation before. So there may be an opportunity for some bold action even before some of the existing ones end up going. So I just really do second that and point out that there are still some things that are really popular among residents in Seattle that I think they're looking to see these candidates deliver on. Katie, did you wanna add anything? [00:16:00] Katie Wilson: Yeah, and I apologize if this is repetitive since I wasn't listening for a little bit, but yeah, I mean, the thing that is foremost in my mind is progressive revenue in the City budget. Knowing that the city is going into a situation where there's a more than $200 million a year shortfall starting in 2025. And I think there will continue to be efforts to basically repurpose the revenue from the JumpStart corporate tax to fill that gap. And so my kind of worst nightmare - well, maybe not worst nightmare, but one of the bad nightmares for what could happen with the new council aligned with the mayor and kind of pressured by the Chamber of Commerce and similar interests - is that they basically just gut JumpStart, take all of that money away from affordable housing, away from Green New Deal, away from equitable development. And basically it just becomes a general fund slush fund for the police budget. And I could totally see that happening. So that is, I think, something that will be a big issue next year, assuming that the economy doesn't just totally turn around and suddenly the shortfall evaporates. So yeah, I mean, and I think that to what Crystal just said - given that the councilmembers will have an opportunity in the coming weeks as they complete the budget process to vote on potential revenue proposals. I know Councilmember Sawant every year proposes some massive increase to JumpStart, like doubling it or something. So, you know, maybe on their way out, some of the outgoing councilmembers will just say, f--- it and we'll do that. But I'm sure the new council would reverse it right quick, but it would be fun anyway. [00:17:47] Crystal Fincher: Well, and one thing I do wanna add - another thing that is very popular and necessary in the city, and that seeing you with your baby there reminds us all of, is the importance of childcare and how critical it is that the council play an active role on making it more accessible and affordable to the residents of Seattle and how important that is to Seattle's economy. So look forward to seeing what plans and action they have there. I wanna switch gears a little bit. We have talked a lot about Seattle for all this time, but let's talk about some of the other races. Let's talk about the King County Council races. So the first one up was Jorge Barón versus Sarah Reyneveld. We also saw Teresa Mosqueda versus Sofia Aragon. I think with Jorge Barón, we saw him do one of the things that's relatively rare in Seattle politics - and that was lock down both The Stranger and The Seattle Times endorsement, which usually equates to a pretty comfortable victory and I think we saw that here. But we also saw a race with Teresa Mosqueda and Sofia Aragon that was a little closer than some people anticipated. Why do you think that was, Robert? [00:19:03] Robert Cruickshank: So I think that that district includes a fair amount of Burien. And I think Burien's politics this year were very polarized around - you might say The Seattle Times, Brandi Kruse narrative of, we gotta crackdown on visible homelessness in ways that are really just appalling and honestly dishonest. Sofia Aragon had been mayor of Burien and sort of leader in that effort. And so people who were invested in that narrative, whether they're in West Seattle or in Burien portions of the district, had a champion. That said, Teresa Mosqueda is an incredibly effective politician and legislator. I wanna give a shout out to Kamau, @Kamaumaumau on Twitter, who's got a Mosqueda theory of politics - talk about popular stuff, pick a few strategic fights and highlight them, get elected, pass a bunch of taxes to solve people's problems, and then talk about it. The fact that Mosqueda was a very effective and visibly effective leader on the Seattle City Council, I think, helped insulate her a little bit from some of the criticisms that that council got. Those criticisms never really seemed to stick to Teresa Mosqueda - while Lorena González was going down to defeat, and Ann Davison was being elected our city attorney, and Sara Nelson getting elected citywide seat in 2021 - Mosqueda won with 20-point victory citywide that same year. And so I think Mosqueda, you have to give your hat off, take your hat off to Mosqueda for running a smart campaign, being a smart politician, showing that she's engaged on the issues, but also championing some really popular things and making sure voters know about it. So I think there's a lot to learn from Teresa Mosqueda and how she was able to pull out this victory, which was a close one, obviously. They threw everything they had at her and she prevailed. And I think that's a big kudos to the type of campaign she ran. [00:21:02] Crystal Fincher: Do you think the electoral theory of Mosqueda holds up, Andrew? [00:21:07] Andrew Villeneuve: I think so. I mean, Teresa Mosqueda is one of the people who's impressed me the most in local politics the last few years. I've had her at one of the NPI events, speaking about issues that are important. She is someone who understands data and she's very quick to realize - okay, this is the policy that will help us in 20 years. And so I really appreciate that about her. She's very passionate about even-year elections, which I hope we'll say a couple more words about, 'cause I think that is a remedy for some of the things that we've been talking about this past hour. But when you look at her performance on the electoral map, Teresa Mosqueda doing well in places like Georgetown, performing well on Vashon. People sometimes forget that Vashon is a part of King County - it's a critical part of that district, the 8th District. So I see Sofia doing well in some parts of West Seattle. Robert mentioned Burien, another critical place. But that Vashon performance - that is an orange island on the general elections dashboard for Teresa Mosqueda. And looking at some of the precincts - I see 64% here, 73% over there. I mean, those kinds of margins matter. And I think that's how Teresa Mosqueda was able to build that majority. And of course, when you start - maybe it's a close race on Election Night. But when you start in a better position than your opponent, that late progressive ballots are just gonna lift you much higher. So the race - when that certification arrives, it's not gonna appear as close as it was on Election Night. So I do applaud Teresa Mosqueda for running a good campaign for the County Council. And I think, with both Jorge and Teresa coming in, the County Council is getting more diverse. I think it's gonna get more progressive. I think we're gonna see some exciting new policies coming out of the Council. This is what we need. We're at a critical time. King County is on some very steep fiscal shoals, and we need the Legislature to step in, and we need progressive tax revenue options for King County like yesterday. And I'm hopeful that Teresa and Jorge will go down and advocate for that in the Legislature. And knowing them, I believe they're well-positioned to do that and bring that fresh energy that King County needs to the legislative delegation and say - Look, folks, this can't be something we punt and just don't do this year and just leave it to next year, and then it's the same story next year. We've gotta change and break out of that cycle. [00:23:33] Crystal Fincher: Completely agree. And I know Mosqueda put in a ton of time on Vashon, which makes a difference. You have to show up. She's incredibly effective in what she does. She's a budget expert. And I'm excited to see what she does on the King County Council. There's an interesting dynamic that we don't see a lot of times. We saw Seattle move in a more moderate direction, but we saw the King County Council move in what looks to be a more progressive direction. What do you think accounts for that? I'll open it up to anyone. [00:24:05] Katie Wilson: Well, I'll just say one thing about the Mosqueda race. I mean, I don't know - I think, Crystal, you said it was pretty close. But in the end, I don't think it is that close - it's like a 10-point margin, so it's actually kind of a pretty big, major, major victory for Mosqueda. And I just looked up the PDC numbers - I don't think that Sofia Aragon ran that much of a campaign, so I think that's something to consider. Mosqueda, I think around $150,000 for Mosqueda's campaign, around $100,000 for Aragon. So it doesn't surprise me too much that she won by that much, even though so much of the district is outside of Seattle. But yeah, I mean, I think it's super interesting that the King County Council looks like arguably a place where a lot more interesting progressive stuff could happen in the next four years than the Seattle City Council. [00:24:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. I'll interject really quick. The same thing that we talked about with engaging, building relationships, holding these electeds accountable to what they said they would do in the election and to what your neighborhoods need are just as important in cities like Burien with the results that we saw as they are in Seattle. What do you think we are going to see from the King County Council moving forward with the addition of Jorge Barón and Teresa Mosqueda? [00:25:20] Robert Cruickshank: I mean, I think that there's certainly an opportunity for some more progressive policy, certainly around housing. They're gonna have to solve, as Andrew mentioned, the revenue issue. And that becomes particularly important with King County Metro, which is making a comeback from certainly the pandemic lows, but with a still slightly smaller route network than it had going in. And so a little bit less ridership than it had going in. There's been recovery, I think, on a lot of routes that don't necessarily serve downtown Seattle - there's been recovery on those too. But the way people get around has shifted a little bit, and the system does need to catch up to that and then go ahead. Like Metro and transit are so essential to our ability to tackle the climate crisis. And King County is squarely in the middle of that. So one thing that I think Barón and Mosqueda are going to be confronted with immediately is a need to tackle that question. There's been talk that the county may put as much as a billion dollar ballot measure on the ballot in 2024 to tackle climate issues, potentially including transit. And I think that that's ambitious. That's, I think, correctly ambitious - we need to see what the actual details of the proposal look like. But that's something where Barón and Mosqueda are going to have to take a close look. And certainly they're going to have to advocate the Legislature because, as Andrew mentioned, the Legislature since the mid-2000s has really undermined the ability of local governments, including counties, to raise their own revenue and stay fiscally afloat. And that's catching up to King County real fast. And so they're going to need to lead on that. [00:26:56] Crystal Fincher: What are your thoughts, Andrew? [00:26:58] Andrew Villeneuve: I agree. I think we have to deal with the Metro issues, but we also have rural roads problems in King County that haven't been addressed. And the previous council of the last 20 years had kind of let these issues fester. My councilmember used to be Kathy Lambert and Kathy cared a lot about rural roads, or so she said, but then the rural roads just weren't getting funded. And I think, you know, here's part of the problem with being a Republican in today's environment - and this is setting aside a lot of the Trump cult stuff - but what we see from a lot of Republican elected officials is they're willing to spend money that's already there, but they want to spend it in ways that actually don't help anybody. So like, for example, just canceling certain taxes and sending the money back to taxpayers. Well, you can't fix the potholes over there on the road with your tax refund. So when rural residents, you know - and Skykomish comes to mind, that's a place that many people might think is not in King County, but it actually is. It's part of Kathy Lambert's old district, now represented by Sarah Perry, my councilmember. And, you know, you think about - okay, what's it going to take to repair some of these rural roads? And it's going to take money. And some of the roads are in terrible shape 'cause they haven't been maintained. And when you don't maintain your roads, you know, they fall apart. It's the same thing with bus service. Like if you're not investing in your bus service and, you know, you're not providing like really reliable, consistently good experience for people, people are going to stop riding. They're going to go back to their car if they have one, because they're, you know, those choice riders can choose not to take the bus. And we don't want choice riders to go back to driving their car because that makes traffic congestion a lot worse. So we need to both address the rural roads, we need to address Metro. There's other public services as well that people don't even know the county does that we need to have elevated. What I'm really excited about though is in the next few years, King County Elections, thanks to the work of the Northwest Progressive Institute and all of our partners and allies - we're moving county elections to even years. So that means that starting in 2026, we're going to elect Teresa Mosqueda and Councilmember Balducci and Councilmember Zahilay and of course, new Councilmember Barón - they're all going to be coming up in 2026. That's their next election - that's three years from now, not four years. And of course, that's also when Julie Wise and John Arthur Wilson's seats come up as well. And then in 2025, we elect the executive and five other council positions for three-year terms - that's the last odd-year election for those. And then those come up in a presidential year. And I just can't wait to see how much higher the turnout is and how many more people discover that county government is a thing - and it does things that are really important and meaningful to their lives. And I hope that they start to realize - okay, now I get to help pick these people - because they are even-year voters, and now they're going to have a say in how King County is run and who represents it. So I just think that that is a tremendously positive change that we're doing for King County. We also now need to do that for our cities. [00:29:53] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree. And I hope that we see legislation at the state level. I know Representative Mia Gregerson had a bill there to bring even-year elections, which just increased turnout and participation, which is good for everyone. And would love to see it in all of our elections here. Other cities are doing it and we should also do it here in Washington State. I want to, with a little bit of time that we have left, move out a little bit - and I'll go to Katie to start out with. Looking wider in the region, wider across the state - thinking Tacoma, Spokane, Bellingham - there was actually a lot to be excited about and a lot of progressive victories. What did you see around the state that you found encouraging or exciting? [00:30:44] Katie Wilson: Well, the Spokane mayor race, obviously the outcome was encouraging. But the thing that I've paid the closest attention to and that I think is just very, very heartening is the result of a few initiatives on issues. So down in Tacoma, there was a very ambitious renter protections initiative, which will bring Tacoma's renter protections up to, and in some cases beyond, what we have here in Seattle. And that initiative was outspent massively. I think it was like three to one and the opposition - very, very well funded by real estate and landlord interests - with TV ads, mailers, just like everything. They just went balls to the walls on that. And the initiative is winning. And I think that's just like - really, really speaks to the way that the rent increases of the last few years have shifted public opinion and to just the popularity of renter protections. This is something that the Transit Riders Union and lots of other organizations in King County have been working a lot on over the last few years here. And the other couple initiatives were up in Bellingham. There's a renter protections initiative up there that would also do basically landlord-paid relocation assistance for rent increases greater than 8% and more, requirements for more notice of rent increases. And then also a minimum wage initiative that will raise Bellingham's minimum wage to $2 above the state minimum wage. And those both passed by large margins - I believe somewhere around 60% or even more. And I don't think those face any opposition. So that again, just gives you the sense of this kind of like native support for kind of cost of living kind of issues. So that's super heartening. And then one thing I wanted to point out, which is - and I think that also, we're gonna see next February - it looks like we're gonna have in Renton, the Raise the Wage Renton will be on the ballot for people to vote on. So hopefully that also passes with flying colors, although obviously February election is a little bit more challenging. And the one thing I wanted to say in connection to what Andrew brought up about even-year elections, just 'cause it's been on my mind - at least for Seattle and King County, this isn't, it's not the same for code cities, but for Seattle and King County, one unintended consequence of moving to even-year elections will be that it will become harder to run citizens' initiatives because the number of signatures that you need to gather depends on the number of votes cast in the last election for mayor or county executive. And so if we're switching to even years, many more people are voting, which is great. Suddenly you're gonna need to gather a lot more signatures in Seattle or countywide in order to run an initiative. So I hope that alongside those changes, we can try to push for lowering the signature threshold for ballot initiatives in those jurisdictions. Yeah, I'll stop there. [00:33:46] Crystal Fincher: I think that's an excellent point. I will also throw in as we're talking about elections and when they are being so important, we have a King Conservation District election coming up in January, I believe. It would be great to get that onto a regular ballot - that's going to take some legislative action. That would be great to push for, but in the meantime, make sure that you engage in that election, which will be coming up also. Robert, what did you see that excited you throughout this? [00:34:16] Robert Cruickshank: You know, I think that we saw on the Eastside of Lake Washington, a lot of victories for more progressive candidates. In Bellevue, we certainly saw that. Big shout out to Bothell - Bothell elected a bunch of urbanists. They, Mason Thompson, who's the mayor of Bothell, won his election four years ago by five votes. He got 60% this year. So did the other folks running with him - Amanda Dodd and Carston Curd got around 60%. This is Bothell, which is a great city, and I think it's going to become even better, you know, now that they've got some really urbanist folks there. They also have one of the only Palestinian Americans on their city council. So Bothell, you look at - there's some good folks in Redmond. There's definitely some good folks in, I mentioned, bellevue. Tacoma - not only did Tacoma for all pass, but Jamika Scott won, Olgy Diaz is leading. So those are really great, great signs out there. And I think what that shows is that there are lessons that Seattle can learn from other parts of the region. There are also differences. Those races don't have sort of the obsessive Seattle Times, Brandi Kruse eye on them, which changes things. And those races in those more suburban communities also didn't have the avalanche of corporate money, although certainly the Tacoma for All initiative did. But I still think there may be things we can learn about how to turn out voters and how to win some persuadable voters from those. But overall, that's really positive signs to take from around the state, even as we who are in Seattle - we'll gnash our teeth a little bit about how some of these races turned out. [00:35:53] Crystal Fincher: And I'll give you the closing word, Andrew. [00:35:55] Andrew Villeneuve: Well, thank you. It has been a pleasure to share this evening with all of you. I think this has been a great discussion. I want to encourage you to look at all the different election results from the different cities and other jurisdictions, because it is - in a local election cycle, you have this amazing patchwork quilt of elections. And some jurisdictions are dealing with issues that are specific to those jurisdictions, and that really causes their elections to go in a certain direction. But others, you know, don't have those. And what we saw this year in places like Spokane was a really progressive result. Not only did Lisa Brown win a convincing victory, and I hope folks will look at the amount of money that was spent against Lisa Brown - it was enormous. You know, we're talking about the Tacoma tenant rights initiative, which is a huge victory - kudos to those folks. But Lisa Brown also overcame an avalanche of money and of opposition money. And that was a really big deal that she was able to do that. And then of course, for Spokane City Council President, we have a woman of color winning that race. The council in Spokane is gonna stay progressive. You know, that is a really encouraging sign. There's been 12 years of Republican rule in Spokane, and that's coming to an end. And Lisa Brown is gonna be in a position to do some great things for Spokane, and people in Seattle should track what's happening over there. Spokane has fortunately a fairly vibrant media ecosystem - I've been reading all of the reports that their TV stations have been doing for this election. And it's just interesting to see how they covered the mayor's race over there. There were a lot of forums and debates and articles and the controversy over, you know, the Matt Shea appearance that Nadine Woodward, Lisa Brown's opponent had - that was very well covered. People definitely heard about that. So that gives me some confidence. You know, when we're looking at news deserts - and my hometown of Redmond is one - you know, there's not enough information for voters. And Spokane is big enough that it has that media ecosystem that really helps. For me, the most important race this year is the defeat of Adam Fortney. He is the former, soon-to-be former, Snohomish County Sheriff. And he was one of the most right-wing sheriffs this state has ever seen. He had Mark Lamb up here for a fundraiser recently - Mark Lamb is that really scary guy in Arizona who's also a sheriff, and he has some really horrible views that are extremely extreme. I mean, we're talking like more extreme, I think, than people in Washington have ever seen in a candidate around here, perhaps, with the exception maybe of folks like Matt Shea. But this was a guy who really speaks for a fringe, and he came here and he made, you know, merry with Adam Fortney. And that sort of speaks to who Adam Fortney is. He was becoming a favorite of the Washington State Republican Party - he was appearing at like every event they had, talking about rolling back police reform laws. He had done some really terrible things as sheriff, like taking the measuring devices out of police cars that were tracking police officers' driving. He rehired deputies who've been fired by his predecessor for misconduct. He lost the accreditation that had been so hard won under his predecessor. So he was really awful. And Susanna Johnson, who is his opponent, launched a campaign a year ago and just spent a whole year working, working, working, canvassing, canvassing, canvassing, doorbelling, doorbelling, doorbelling. And we did research in this race. And what we found is that, you know, if people knew about Fortney's bad record, they'd vote for Susanna Johnson. And that's what we saw in the election. So my hat is off to all the Stohomish County progressives who worked so hard to get that big victory. Congratulations to you - I think you set the tone for this election. [00:39:23] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And congratulations to all of the campaign staff that worked. It is a hard and often thankless job. And we appreciate that you were willing to put yourselves out there and support your candidates. And with that, the roundtable comes to a close. I wanna thank our panelists, Katie Wilson, Andrew Villeneuve, and Robert Cruickshank for their insight and making this an engaging and informative event. To those watching online, thanks so much for tuning in. If you missed any of the discussion tonight, you can catch up on the Hacks & Wonks Facebook page, YouTube channel, or on Twitter where we're @HacksWonks. Special thanks to essential member of the Hacks & Wonks team and coordinator for this evening, Dr. Shannon Cheng. And if you have not listened to the show that she guest hosted about the Seattle budget, you need to. If you missed voting in the election or know someone who did, make sure to register to vote, update your registration, or find information on the next election at MyVote.wa.gov. And as a reminder, even if you've been previously incarcerated, your right to vote is restored and you can re-register to vote immediately upon your release, even if you are still under community supervision. Be sure to tune into Hacks & Wonks on your favorite podcast app for our midweek shows and our Friday week-in-review shows, or at officialhacksandwonks.com. I've been your host, Crystal Fincher. See you next time.

The first Indigenous lawyer in the Northwest Territories, Sibbeston was known for his fiery speeches and temper in the Legislature. He became one of the most important premiers in the history of the Northwest Territories and someone who fought for the rights of the territory and its inhabitants. Support: patreon.com/canadaehx Merch: www.canadaehx.com/shop Donate: www.buymeacoffee.com/craigu Donate: canadaehx.com (Click Donate) E-mail: craig@canadaehx.com Twitter: twitter.com/craigbaird Mastadon: @canadaehx@canada.masto.host Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cdnhistoryehx YouTube: youtube.com/c/canadianhistoryehx Want to send me something? Craig Baird PO Box 2384 Stony Plain PO Main, Alberta T7Z1X8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Minnesota's most intensely debated art contest in memory is down to six designs for the next state flag and just a handful for the official seal, a tiny fraction of the more than 2,500 in total submissions.For Brandon Hundt, that two of his submissions — one for the flag and another for the seal — remain in contention is an achievement in itself.“This whole last 24 hours have just been surreal,” said Hundt, a Twin Cities based product designer and writer. Hundt spoke to MPR News on Wednesday after the State Emblems and Redesign Commission selected his concepts to move to final consideration.Sarah Agaton Howes, an Ojibwe artist and small business owner, also had a design make the cut.“I was just so excited and just thrilled to be able to even be a part of this process,” she said on Minnesota Now. “But to be able to have a flag that represents all of Minnesota is really exciting.”Todd Pitman of St. Paul, another flag designer, created F944, which he calls “Mirror of the Sky.” The flag was a family effort: he designed it with input from his parents. “I just truly love my home state, and I really feel like it deserves a flag as unique and dynamic as the people who make it such a wonderful place to live,” he said.  Designer says abstract loon was unintentionalThe half-dozen finalists chosen from among the stack of serious and comical entries haven't escaped criticism online, and the commission making the selection could refine the designs before a final vote. The commission hasn't released the names of all of the designers with entries in the mix, saying it wants to contact them first. But some have been vocal about their work, even posting about their concepts while the panel deliberated on Tuesday.Each designer said they reviewed and stuck closely to the parameters laid out by the citizen panel formed by the Legislature to pick a new flag and state seal.The current flag and seal have similar features that depict a white farmer tilling the land as an Indigenous man rides off on a horse.For Agaton Howes, the fact the state is replacing the emblems is important in its own right.“The flag that we currently have is really harmful and really based on Native nations disappearing,” she said. “And so I'm really excited to just represent who we are as Minnesotans, and also, as a Native person.” Agaton Howes entered F1435, a flag with a prominent yellow star and green nods to nature on a blue background; the sides have yellow stripes to represent tribal nations and white ones for each of Minnesota's 87 counties.Hundt's flag entry, F29, has a deep blue background with two stars overlaid, one reminiscent of a snowflake.Hundt has been fine-tuning his flag design since 2015 when he first posted online about his distaste for a Minnesota flag he said was hardly very symbolic or distinctive and had way too much on it.“Flags should be simple because they're up on a flagpole, often very high,” Hundt said. “And I think that's the thing that often gets overlooked. We need to think about how these flags are going to look on a flagpole.”Pitman is a graphic designer, but this is outside his usual realm of web design. He committed to the task at hand, becoming a member of the North American Vexillological Association and studying up on flag design.  He said his flag design started with a squiggle shape inspired by the aurora, mirrored on the top and bottom half. Along the way, he and his father noticed that the shape looked a little like another commonly-submitted flag feature: a loon.  “To quote Bob Ross, let's call it a happy accident,” he said.  Revision process could result in changes to designEach have girded themselves for public criticism, much of which popped up quickly online as the stack of entries was whittled to six. Hundt said he won't have a problem if the State Emblems Redesign Commission members play around with the features or colors before picking the ultimate flag.Hundt also has a finalist in the state seal category.“I'm really glad there's a revision period with the commission. That is something that is missing from a lot of other flag processes that I've seen when I've looked into them,” he said. “Because I think it's very important to actually test how the flag would work, how the seal would work before you throw it out there fully in use.”Agaton Howes sees it similarly.“That's a really important part of working in community is being willing to have that back and forth. And I do that all the time. And all my design work, whether that's designing a wool blanket or designing an art installation, that's just a big part of the process,” she said. “And I'm here for it. I'm ready for it.”‘Flags are really powerful'The final selections will be made by the end of the year. The Legislature can vote to block them but if that doesn't happen the emblems will take hold on May 11 — Statehood Day.If their design is chosen in whole or in part, the artists will get some public recognition. But there won't be prize money or any other direct compensation. Pitman said he is excited to see a new state flag. “I know that the decision is in good hands, no matter the outcome,” he said.Agaton Howes said her reward will be a sense of pride. “I think that flags are really powerful. And I think that their way to claim it space, and I really want to have an image that I can my kids can feel proud of, that our communities can feel proud of,” she said. “And I'm absolutely willing to do that.”Pitman said all six are “very strong contenders.”“I'm obviously very biased, but I think that no matter what … all Minnesotans will be able to be proud to look up at the flagpole on May 11th and say, ‘That's my flag, that's my state.'”    Do you know who designed the other flag finalists? Let us know by emailing tell@mpr.org.

Justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court engaged in oral arguments Tuesday over a case that could restore more balanced elections to the voters in the near future. Democrats in the Legislature are preparing for a future that embraces the ideas that will create jobs while reducing pollution. And we'll begin the seasonal debate for those […]

Last Friday, the Texas House of Representatives killed an effort to bring school choice to Texans. On this week's Liberty Café, Bill talks about why killing the proposal was actually the best thing the Legislature could have done for education and liberty.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court largely outlawed affirmative action in higher education earlier this year, there's been discussion about what the decision could mean for the future of DEI practices in employment. Taonga Leslie speaks with Marcus Childress about the chilling effect that SFFA v. Harvard has had and how employers can continue to advance DEI in the wake of the decision.  Join the Progressive Legal Movement Today: ACSLaw.org Today's Host: Taonga Leslie, ACS Director of Policy and Program for Racial Justice Guest: Marcus Childress, Special Counsel, Jenner & Block Link: Supreme Court decision in SFFA v. Harvard Link: Report and Recommendations of the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Advancing Diversity Link: Video of ACS's  program,  "Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Work in the Wake of SFFA" Visit the Podcast Website: Broken Law Podcast Email the Show: Podcast@ACSLaw.org Follow ACS on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube ----------------- Production House: Flint Stone Media Copyright of American Constitution Society 2023.

The post WI Legislature Passes Absentee Ballot Reform appeared first on Wisconsin Family Council.

Grant Krueger, owner of Union Public House, Reforma, and Proof, on his lawsuit against the state. The state Department of Agriculture passed a law requiring restaurants use cage-free eggs. The law was put into place by a Governor appointee, not the Legislature. Also a review of trends in the restaurant business.

Massachusetts House and Senate Democrats failed to negotiate a compromise before their holiday break that would send hundreds of millions of dollars to the state's emergency shelters. The spending bill was presented to the Legislature in September.

utah, politics, politi

Journalists from around the state discuss the news of the week with host Bill Bryant, including discussion from legislative leaders about the prospects of working with Gov. Andy Beshaer and a new report on the state of Kentucky's children from Kentucky Youth Advocates. Guests: Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader; Isaiah Kim-Martinez, WHAS in Louisville; and Melissa Patrick, Kentucky Health News.

Ali Velshi is joined by Judge J. Michael Luttig, Fmr. Federal Judge at U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Prof. Laurence Tribe, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Law School, Diana Buttu, Fmr. Palestine Liberation Organization Spokesperson for Negotiations Support Unit, Melissa Murray, Professor of Law at NYU, Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor at Slate, Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State, Noah Bookbinder, President & CEO for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, David Ignatius, Award-winning Foreign Affairs Columnist at The Washington Post, and Emily Drabinski, President of the American Library Association

Former East Bay Assemblymember Catharine Baker joins the podcast for a lengthy discussion on the lack of civility in local and national politics, and how we can fix the problem. Baker served from 2014 to 2018. She is the last Republican elected from the East Bay to serve in the state Legislature. Baker, now a member of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, also gives a lesson in government transparency. Look for Part 2 of the discussion on Monday!

To break down a pair of new polls looking at next year's election, a plan in the Legislature to give teachers a pay raise and more, The Show sat down with former state schools Superintendent Jaime Molera of Molera Alvarez and Marilyn Rodriguez of Creosote Partners.

There was a day in the state Capitol last month when a special session of the Legislature was supposed to begin. Some parents and daycare providers had traveled hours to plead for help from lawmakers. But the day's session was gaveled in and immediately adjourned—and it turns out the Legislature's most powerful member wasn't even […]

The border crackdown in Texas is passing the Legislature right as Gov. Greg Abbott prepares to host former President Trump in The Valley this weekend. Plus, a crisis is temporarily averted in Washington while a GOP Congressman from Texas asks what his own party has done in DC this year. Hint: Not much. Join the conversation with Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, and Houston Chronicle political writer Jeremy Wallace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 10,000 low-income Illinois students get scholarships through a program called Invest in Kids, but it's now set to sunset after inaction by Democrats in the Legislature, as well as Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Meantime, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott keeps pressing state lawmakers there to pass his bill to create universal Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, as rural Republicans balk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Article III of the Constitution vests the “judicial Power” in “one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Our founding document recognizes that the Supreme Court stands apart from the rest of the federal judiciary. Yet, Congress has long regulated several aspects of the high court, including its appellate jurisdiction, rules for establishing a quorum, and standards for recusal. Some critics argue that Congress should go further to regulate ethics on the Supreme Court. Some proposals would require the Justices to adopt an ethics code. Other proposals would impose one on the Justices. This panel will explore originalist perspectives on ethics and the Supreme Court, in particular considering these questions: When it comes to establishing or even enforcing ethical standards for Supreme Court justices, is there a role under the Constitution for Congress? Is it true that Congress has the power (or even without that explicit power) regulate the high court's quorum and recusal standards? And, as a matter of prudence, should Congress take these steps? In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton described the judiciary as the “least dangerous branch.” While the Executive holds the sword” and the Legislature “commands the purse,” the courts have “merely judgment.” But can the courts faithfully exercise that judgment when threatened by the sword and pinched by the purse?Featuring:Mr. David Lat, Founder, Original JurisdictionHon. Jay Mitchell, Associate Justice, Alabama Supreme CourtMrs. Carrie C. Severino, President, Judicial Crisis NetworkModerator: Hon. David R. Stras, United States Court of Appeals. Eighth Circuit