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RandySF's JournalLA: Bill to hide local governments records from public nears final passage
Legislation that would allow local governments in Louisiana to hide many of their records from the public has cleared one of its last committee hurdles and is nearing final passage in the Legislature.
House Bill 461 by Rep. Steven Jackson, D-Shreveport, would exempt records related to local and parish economic development projects from Louisiana’s Public Records Law. An amended version of the proposal cleared the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs without objection Wednesday.
The bill would allow a mayor, parish president or top local government official to declare any records confidential if they determine their public release “would have a detrimental effect” on an active business negotiation. It would also allow the company or person negotiating with the government to request confidentiality.
All states and the federal government have some version of a “sunshine” law for records. However, Louisiana lawmakers have gradually chipped away at the state’s Public Records Law, adopting more than two dozen changes that have revoked access to a long list of government records since the law was enacted in 1940.
https://lailluminator.com/2024/05/10/public-records-2/
CA: Huntington Beach Leaders Shoot Down Putting Library Outsourcing on the Ballot
Surf City voters won’t get to decide if their public libraries should be managed by a private company.
It comes after Tuesday’s Huntington Beach City Council meeting turned into a fierce debate as opposing council factions accused each other of fear mongering, spreading misinformation and attacking the city library.
The discussion was the culmination of a year of debate around the future of the city’s library, with discussions on what books will be allowed to enter the library, where they can be placed, and whether library management should be turned over to a private company.
The council’s Democratic minority members attempted to put the issue of possibly outsourcing library management on the November ballot, letting voters decide if they wanted to move forward with having a private company take over managing the public library.
https://voiceofoc.org/2024/05/huntington-beach-leaders-shoot-down-putting-library-outsourcing-on-the-ballot/
SFPUC pushes its case for public utility service, but experts aren't convinced
In 2019, while PG&E was struggling to exit from bankruptcy, San Francisco made a $2.5 billion offer to purchase the utility’s local equipment, including power lines, substations and IT systems.
PG&E flatly rejected the offer. But in the years since, city leaders have continued to press the utility while also laying the groundwork to transition San Francisco off of PG&E’s grid and replace the service with a locally run, public utility.
Last month, city officials laid out their case to residents during a webinar presented by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, arguing that a public utility would offer more reliable service, cleaner energy, and — perhaps most enticingly — cheaper rates.
“Since public power utilities are community owned, they’re locally governed, more transparent, and benefit from public oversight, particularly when it comes to setting electric rates,” said Pamela Husing, a manager with the commission.
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/could-forming-a-public-utility-save-sf-ratepayers-money/article_58b4e9b8-0d9d-11ef-b8ec-0358a8042973.html
AZ Republicans advance scaled-back immigration bill amid criticism from businesses, Democrats
Republicans amended a disputed ballot measure targeting illegal immigration Thursday as two powerful business groups joined the chorus of criticism against the legislation.
House Concurrent Resolution 2060 is headed for passage on Republican party lines, but would need approval by voters in November. It would make crossing the international border a state crime, allow for state officials to deport border crossers, enhance penalties when fentanyl sales result in death, and boost verification of employees’ immigration status.
Republican lawmakers say Arizona needs the measure to help curb the border crisis. It also serves to potentially pick up political points on an issue that polls show is a concern for many Americans.
The adopted amendments watered down two of the measure’s provisions, eliminating a mandatory 30-day jail sentence for offenders and allowing judges to choose a lesser term of incarceration. The amendments reduce the penalty for a first offense of evading E-Verify requirements from a felony to a misdemeanor, but take away any right to a sentence of probation.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2024/05/10/az-senate-republicans-advance-scaled-back-immigration-ballot-measure/73635632007/
NY: Appellate court agrees that state ethics commission is unconstitutional
The future of state ethics is in jeopardy after a state appellate court upheld a lower court decision finding that New York’s current ethics watchdog commission is unconstitutional. The ruling marks another victory for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who brought the lawsuit after the commission started to investigate his $5 million book COVID book deal.
In a 5-0 ruling, a mid-level appellate panel of judges ruled that the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, the oversight board that administers the state’s ethics laws, violated the state constitution. The state Legislature originally created the commission in 2022 to replace the previous one – the Joint Commission on Public Ethics – that Cuomo himself had created in 2011. “We find that by enacting the foregoing scheme for the enforcement of the applicable ethics laws, the Legislature, though well intentioned in its actions, violated the bedrock principles of separation of powers,” reads the decision.
COELIG’s executive director Sanford Berland and chair Frederick Davie condemned the court’s decision in a joint statement. “We respectfully disagree with the result reached by the court and are reviewing all options, including, if appropriate, recommending interim legislation,” they said.
The decision to uphold the state Supreme Court ruling from September of last year puts the fate of the commission in a state of limbo. It has continued to operate thanks to a stay granted by the Appellate Division. Davie and Berland said the commission would work with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office to try to extend that stay for the duration of the appeals process so it could continue administering and enforcing the state’s ethics laws. “Let us be clear, the state ethics and lobbying laws… remain intact,” Davie and Berland said. “The Commission will continue to promote compliance with the state’s ethics and lobbying laws as this matter works its way through the full appellate process.”
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2024/05/appellate-court-agrees-state-ethics-commission-unconstitutional/396462/
Need your birth certificate to vote? This GOP bill will require it in NH
Concerns are mounting around a piece of Republican legislation making its way through the New Hampshire legislature that makes drastic changes on how Granite Staters would vote. New requirements would require hopeful voters to present their birth certificate, passport or other documents proving citizenship in order to register, changes which voting rights experts are calling “the most restrictive in the country.”
House Bill 1569 seeks to eliminate the existing option for individuals to sign a sworn affidavit when registering to vote, instead requiring them to present not just physical proof of identity but U.S. citizenship — documents like a birth certificate or a passport — even if registering on election day.
Republicans in the New Hampshire House already passed the bill through their chamber on a largely party line vote; it is currently in committee in the Senate before heading for a vote in the Senate.
Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy said Republican Senator Jim Gray proposed a sprawling, complex 12-page amendment before the Senate Election Law Committee seemingly designed to help the bill withstand a court challenge. She said the myriad changes the amendment offered, which included allocating money for creating a temporary election hotline to verify voter documents – was not an improvement.
https://granitepostnews.com/2024/05/09/need-your-birth-certificate-to-vote-this-gop-bill-will-require-it-in-nh/
Michigan Senate candidate spews anti-China rhetoric despite working to expand Chinese companies and personal wealth
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ campaign website is filled with tough on China rhetoric, even though he has a long record of helping expand the reach of Chinese companies in the U.S. and Europe.
In line with many GOP Senate candidates like David McCormick and Eric Hovde, Rogers’ campaign website is full of tough-on-China rhetoric, with one section claiming that the former congressman was “among the first to sound the alarm on the economic and national security danger posed by China.”
In direct contrast to these words, Rogers opposed trade restrictions on China during his 14 years in Congress from 2001-2015. In 2005, Rogers did not cosponsor a bill to withdraw permanent normal trade relations with China, despite several House Republicans doing so.
In addition to his actions in Congress, Rogers has also personally benefitted from his connections to China in opposition to U.S. national security interests. According to Rogers’ own financial disclosures from December, he worked as a risk analyst for the American branch of the European technology company Nokia for the last seven years, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. During Rogers’ tenure with Nokia, the company has conducted extensive business deals with the Chinese tech companies like Huawei.
https://heartlandsignal.com/2024/05/08/michigan-senate-candidate-spews-anti-china-rhetoric-despite-working-to-expand-chinese-companies-and-personal-wealth/
RFK Jr. is not alone. More than a billion people have parasitic worms
NPR spoke with Francisca Mutapi, a professor of global health infection and immunity at the University of Edinburgh who has studied parasites for 25 years. She shared her insights on what might have happened to RFK Jr. – and the toll that parasitic worms take around the world. The conversation was edited for length and clarity........
Where might these larvae travel in the body and what harm can they bring?
For example, if the larvae end up in the eyes, they can cause blurred vision and blindness. If they end up in the muscle, they can cause weak muscles. But if they end up in any part of your central nervous system – your spine or brain – then they cause a form of disease that's called neurocysticercosis.
And this particular form of the disease will range depending on your immune system and your health status and where exactly those larvae have ended up. It can cause headaches and seizures. For example, the disease is the leading cause of the onset of epilepsy in adults. It can also cause issues with cognition. And some people have problems with balancing problems, with lack of attention and also confusion. Excess fluid in the brain can actually make this a very dangerous condition. And in very, very rare cases, people do die from neurocysticercosis.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/09/npr-rfk-jr-brain-parasitic-worm-tapeworm-kennedy
What to know about Souls to the Polls' call for a federal probe into Wisconsin Republicans
A nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls on Wednesday asked federal officials to investigate Republican campaign operatives for sending text messages urging supporters of then-President Donald Trump to flood the Milwaukee voting rights group with requests to be taken to the polls on Election Day 2020.
The request comes two weeks after the Journal Sentinel reported on the text messages from new GOP executive director Andrew Iverson when he was Wisconsin head of Trump Victory, a joint operation of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2020.
Iverson sent texts to "wreak havoc" with Souls to the Polls to Carlton Huffman, then Trump Victory's state strategic initiative director, who then instructed another Trump aide to carry out the directive as part of "Operation Rat (Expletive)."
"In this country, the right to vote is sacrosanct," wrote Chris Donohue, staff counsel for Law Forward, a nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls. "If Iverson, Huffman and others followed through with the plans they made, as publicly reported, they may have violated numerous core federal civil rights laws, as well as Wisconsin law."
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/08/what-to-know-about-souls-to-the-polls-cals-for-investigation-into-gop/73604035007/
What we know (and don't know) about Milwaukee's plan to handle elections after Claire Woodall
Days after Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced that Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall would not be reappointed, few details have emerged about how the administration plans to ensure that November’s closely watched presidential election will go smoothly.
Johnson announced Monday that he planned to nominate Election Commission Deputy Director Paulina Gutiérrez to take the helm of the commission. Gutiérrez was appointed deputy director in early 2023, after the 2022 midterm election.
Johnson's spokesman, Jeff Fleming, on Wednesday said Gutiérrez would be provided staff, money for equipment and the commission's work, and people from city government to staff polling locations and central count, the single location where the city's absentee ballots are counted. Woodall earlier this year gained approval from the Common Council and Johnson to accept grants for nearly $800,000 for election equipment and $250,000 for voter education.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/09/what-we-know-about-milwaukees-election-plans-after-leadership-shakeup/73612140007/
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