WaPo: “The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday placed a top official on administrative leave after he allegedly encouraged employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, sent an email to employees earlier this month that was critical of the agency’s vaccination rate. Pino, a…

TX Observer: “Two of Texas’ leading Democratic candidates for attorney general sparred in a debate Thursday hosted by the Texas AFL-CIO, but they were in total agreement on one point: Current Attorney General Ken Paxton must be defeated in the November general election. Civil-rights attorney S. Lee Merritt and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski debated…

KXAN: “The Justice Department says a Texas man has been arrested on charges of posting threatening messages on Craigslist about killing government officials in Georgia following the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors said Friday the arrest is the first by the Justice Department’s new Election Threats Task Force. Prosecutors say 54-year-old Chad Stark, from Leander, is…

The Daily Beast: “This week, Senate Republicans voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that would have restored voting rights protections created by the 1965 legislation but removed by John Roberts’ Supreme Court in 2013, on the bizarre premise that racial disparities were no longer a problem. With those protections gone, conservative politicians…

Political Wire: “Rich Lowry: “After Trump’s presidency, the party is more populist, focused on the culture war, resistant to media narratives and skeptical of business — and it would remain so if Trump retired tomorrow and promised never to utter another word about politics.” “Although in many ways an orthodox conservative, DeSantis covers all these…

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…