Month: January 2022

Business Insider: “The University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban signed a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — his longtime friend — pushing him to support voting-rights legislation. The letter to Manchin, dated January 13 and signed by Saban, a West Virginia native, urged Congress “to exercise its Constitutional responsibility to enact…

AL Political Reporter: “Beginning Jan. 31, Birmingham single mothers can apply for guaranteed income provided by an initiative implemented by Mayor Randall Woodfin. Embrace Mothers is a city of Birmingham research pilot in partnership with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a network of mayors advocating to give Americans an income floor. Through the program, 110…

NC Policy Watch: “Be sure to check out a new report that the good folks at Carolina Forward have published this morning about the minimum wage. As it notes, the fact that Virginia raised its wage substantially and that North Carolina has not, provides a handy experiment to see which of two very similar neighboring…

The Hill: “House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in an interview that he is worried about losing the House in 2022 and “losing this democracy,” saying that is the reason why he is pushing so much for Democrats’ voting rights legislation. “I’m worried about losing the House. I’m worried about losing this democracy. That’s why I’m fighting…

NY Times: “For months, former President Donald J. Trump has been grumbling quietly to friends and visitors to his Palm Beach mansion about a rival Republican power center in another Florida mansion, some 400 miles to the north. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a man Mr. Trump believes he put on the map, has been acting far less…

WUNC: “Howard Dudley spent nearly 24 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting his 9-year-old daughter, Amy Moore. A few days before Christmas, 30 years after the initial verdict, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper pardoned Dudley. In a recent conversation with WUNC’s Tested Podcast, Dudley reflects on what he’s been through over the…

NY Times: “Ever since Zara, a transgender girl, was 8, she has been certain she wanted to grow up to be a woman. After conversations with her parents and sessions with a therapist, she began transitioning socially: changing her name to Zara and pronouns to she/her. When she turned 9, she began treatment with puberty…

AL Political Reporter: “The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, a newly combined bill comprised of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, moving now to the U.S. Senate where the looming threat of yet another Republican filibuster, which stymied previous attempts to pass the…

Medium: “Example: In 1988, he paid $408 million for the Plaza Hotel and spent millions making it gaudier. Seven years later, his creditors sold it for $325 million. And yet he styles himself a business genius. Genius or no, he is suddenly doing something very smart: in interview after interview, he endorses vaccines and boosters. He’s even called political rivals who…

MS Free Press: “Public school teachers would gain pay bumps ranging from $4,000 to $6,000 under a plan Mississippi House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved Wednesday afternoon. The legislation, known as the Strategically Accelerating the Recruitment And Retention Of Teachers (START) Act, passed on a vote of 114-to-6. Starting pay for teachers with a bachelor’s degree would increase…