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Nevada becomes first state with majority female legislature

Nevada will become the first state in the country to have a majority female Legislature after members of the Clark County Commission appointed two women to a pair of open seats in the Assembly.

County commissioners on Tuesday appointed Rochelle Nguyen to replace former Assemblyman Chris Brooks, appointed to the state Senate last month, and Culinary Union grievance specialist Beatrice Angela Duran to replace Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, who resigned earlier this month and will run for a Las Vegas City Council seat.

With the appointments, female lawmakers will take 23 of 42 seats in the state Assembly and nine of 21 spots in the state Senate, good for 32 out of the 63 seats in the Legislature.

Nationwide, women hold about 25 percent of state legislative seats, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ most recent data. The only previous time women held a majority in a state legislative chamber was New Hampshire’s state Senate between 2009 and 2010. Guam also saw a majority female Legislature elected in 2018.

Both appointments were made with unanimous votes, and commissioners said the decisions were made based on recommendations from the Assembly caucus leadership.

“The Assembly Democratic Caucus is proud to welcome Rochelle Nguyen and Beatrice Duran to the State Assembly and our Caucus,” Speaker Jason Frierson said in a statement. “In addition to a diversity of backgrounds and life experiences, both Rochelle and Beatrice bring passion, energy, and knowledge to the State Legislature that will better serve our state and our constituents.”


https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-becomes-first-state-with-majority-female-legislature

MI: GOP bid to strip power from Democratic secretary of state likely dead

Lansing — A Senate Republican power play proposal to shift campaign oversight from Democratic Secretary of State-elect Jocelyn Benson to a new political commission is poised to die in the Michigan House.

The House Elections Committee will not take up the controversial legislation when it meets Wednesday morning for the last time of the year, said Rep. Aaron Miller, who chairs the panel.

With two days left in the lame-duck session, the proposal is “dead” in committee, Miller, R-Sturgis, said late Tuesday. “No games are going to be played tomorrow. Full disclosure, those bills are not coming up tomorrow.”

While it’s possible the GOP-led House still could discharge the legislation from committee for floor action, a caucus source told The Detroit News that is not expected to happen.

Instead, the House is unlikely to act on the proposal, which prompted national media coverage as part of a Republican push to strip powers from incoming Democrats who swept the top of the ticket on Nov. 6.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2018/12/18/michigan-house-kills-bid-strip-power-secretary-state/2358789002/

Holy crap, Rachel Maddow just hit me over the head.

Florida Man tried to pay for McDonald's with bag of weed

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Police in Florida say a 23-year-old man went through a McDonald’s drive-thru and tried to pay for his order with a bag of marijuana.

News outlets report Port St. Lucie police say the fast food worker denied the trade and Anthony Andrew Gallagher drove off, only to return again a short time later. Police arrested him Sunday on charges of marijuana possession and driving under the influence.

Police were alerted to Gallagher’s offer early Sunday morning and got a description of him from the worker. They say a suspect matching his description went through the drive-thru a little while later and police approached him.

It’s unclear if Gallagher attempted to pay for his order with drugs the second time. It’s also unclear if he has a lawyer.



https://apnews.com/524af90b133943c0ab675fa21b65fea3?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_Oddities

Judge: Unamed foreign company must comply with Meuller's secret subpoena

Breaking on my phone. I’m willing to bet it’s Deutsche Bank.

And it's only 11 am on the East Coast

What else can happen today?

Trump to shut down his phony charity

Trump Foundation is going down according to the Washington Post on my phone.

Study finds female-led films outperform male ones

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study that analyzed four years’ worth of films found that female-led movies have consistently outperformed those in which men get top billing.

The study analyzed the 350 top-grossing films worldwide released between January 2014 and December 2017. Researchers found that in films with small, medium and large budgets, all averaged better global grosses when a woman was listed as the lead star.

Conducted by the talent agency Creative Artists Agency and the tech company shift7, the study found that films that passed the Bechdel test do better, too. The Bechdel test, an invention of the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, rates whether a movie features two female characters having a conversation about something other than a man.

Researchers found every $1 billion film at the box office — including films like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” ?Jurassic World” and “Beauty and the Beast” — passed the Bechdel test. Among films that cost more than $100 million to make, the ones that passed the Bechdel test grossed on average $618 million worldwide, while those that didn’t averaged $413 million.

“Women comprise half the box office, yet there has been an assumption in the industry that female-led films led were generally less successful,” CAA agent Christy Haubegger, who participated in the research, said in a statement. “We found that the data does not support that assumption.”



https://www.apnews.com/651778ed36b144d8b9b0262a05737a3d?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper wins an epic victory over Republicans for voting rights.