Nick Field
@nick_field90

Joe Biden was the first sitting Senator to endorse Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Carter lived to see Biden become President 44 years later

A bill that would ban absentee ballot drop boxes in Arkansas gained approval from a Senate committee Thursday.

Members of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committee passed Senate Bill 258 sponsored by Sen. Tyler Dees, R-Siloam Springs, with only one lawmaker, Sen. Clarke Tucker, voting against it.

Tucker, a Democrat from Little Rock, said he didn’t understand the argument that ballot drop boxes create a higher potential for voter fraud.

“Where you drop mail at the post office, that’s not manned. You can stuff as many items into a drop box at a post office as you want, they can be mailed to the circuit clerk,” Tucker said. “So how does the risk for fraud exist in a drop box that does not exist with sending items through the mail?”

Dees responded that the goal of the bill is to make it harder for bad actors to submit fraudulent absentee ballots.

“Each drop box across the country acts as a beacon of mistrust for voters. I do believe it increases the potential for fraud… there’s the potential for someone to do the same things that we’re talking about with drop boxes through the mail, but by allowing drop boxes, it only intensifies the opportunity,” Dees said.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Nine people under the age of 18, including a 5 year old, were wounded after shots rang out at a gas station in a Georgia city bordering Alabama, authorities confirmed Saturday.

Columbus police officers responded about 10 p.m. Friday and found multiple gunshot victims amid a large group of people. The victims, whose names were not released, ranged in age from 5 to 17. Seven males and two females were hurt, police said.

Authorities said the injuries all appeared non-life threatening.

Police Chief Freddie Blackmon and Mayor B.H. “Skip” Henderson III scheduled a news conference later Saturday to discuss the shooting.

“The rash of gun violence involving our youth is impacting communities across the country,” Blackmon said in a statement. “While Columbus is not immune to these incidents, I want to assure citizens that the men and women of CPD are tirelessly working to get violent offenders off our streets. It is going to take a community effort to combat gun violence in our city. The entire village has a responsibility because incidents like this impacts all of us.”

Ohio will become the seventh state to put abortion to a popular vote, as two competing pro-abortion rights groups have combined forces to file a ballot measure as soon as next week, according to local media.

The odds are looking good for supporters of reproductive autonomy: In all six ballot measures states put forth last year, abortion rights won. Kansas voters overwhelming chose to keep abortion legal. In Montana, voters were given a confusingly worded “born-alive” ballot initiative that presented the false belief that infants survive abortion, and they managed to protect abortion rights anyway. Michigan, Vermont and California also voted “yes” to enshrine the right in the states’ constitutions.

Ohio will likely be taking the proactive approach. Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights will file paperwork with the state attorney general next week to start the process of getting on the November ballot.

“The language has been worked out with both groups for weeks and weeks at this point,” Celina Coming, a spokesperson for Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, told Cleveland.com. “We’re just dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s and waiting for a final round of poling to be completed and reviewed. But we’re all set to go very, very soon.”

CHICAGO — An element drifting into Chicago is stirring up an already volatile nine-way mayor’s race here — and its name is Ron DeSantis.

The mere mention of the Florida governor’s trip to the state next week set off a fierce flurry of condemnations and criticisms among the contenders. And it created a new opening for the candidates to tee off on one of the polling front-runners — Paul Vallas, who is backed by the same powerful Chicago Fraternal Order of Police group that DeSantis is speaking before on Monday.

One mayoral candidate, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, called on Vallas to publicly reject DeSantis’ visit, and said the Republican Florida governor presented a "danger" to Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker called on “every candidate hoping to hold public office in the land of Lincoln” to denounce Monday's event.

Amid the outcry, Vallas issued a statement Friday fully repudiating "right-wing extremist" DeSantis and his views, including on the LGTBQ community.

That still wasn’t enough.

TALLAHASSEE — A week after Florida’s high school sports association decided against requiring students to report their menstrual cycles, state lawmakers moved to give Gov. Ron DeSantis control over the board.

A House committee advanced a bill on Wednesday that would put the governor in charge of appointing all the members of the governing board of the Florida High School Athletic Association, a private nonprofit organization that oversees sports for grades six through 12 in public schools and other schools that choose to join or participate.

Lawmakers’ debate over House Bill 225 didn’t include the association’s decision last week to remove questions about students’ menstrual histories from forms that must be signed by a physician for students to play high school sports.

The questions had been optional on the forms for at least a decade. But when the association’s medical advisory committee recently recommended adopting a version of the form with mandatory questions about menstruation, it generated outrage from parents, physicians and pediatricians.

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

BREAKING:

A Florida teacher who worked as a permanent substitute since October was FIRED for posting a video of empty bookshelves at his middle school

He was fired the day after @RonDeSantisFL was asked about the viral video by the media and called it a "false narrative"

The teacher, Brian Covey, was informed Wednesday evening that he was being let go for violating the school's social media policy

The call came one day after DeSantis was confronted about Covey's video and claimed it was a "fake narrative" and "not true"

DeSantis claimed that the shelves were empty because "they hadn't put the books out yet to begin with."

That is a lie.

The books were removed because teachers in Duval County were told to remove the books or risk violating Florida law
Yes, Duval County Public School teachers have been told to remove books from classrooms that have not been approved by state

A woman is suing five Illinois officials, including four police officers, whom she accuses of taking and sharing nude photos and videos of her while she was in police custody.

The woman, who chose to remain anonymous and is referred to as Jane Doe in court records, filed a lawsuit against the city of Ottawa, the Commissioner of Public Health and Safety James Less, the Chief of the Ottawa Police Department Brent Roalson, and police officers Stephanie Nelson, Kari Whalen and Scott Harden, according to the complaint filed Feb. 1.

The Ottawa City Government and Ottawa Police Department did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment. No defense attorney was listed in court records.

According to the lawsuit, the woman was arrested and detained by Whalen and Harden on “allegations of driving under the influence” on April 24. She was taken to the Ottawa police station where cameras filmed her “partially and totally nude,” the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ Eastern Division said.

Using their personal cellphones, the defendants are accused of filming and keeping nude videos and photographs of the woman from the police station’s camera footage. The five city employees “texted, emailed and otherwise published and disseminated these nude videos and photographs amongst each other and the general public,” the complaint said.

A couple suffers the loss of their unborn baby and are sent to me for help. In the clinic room, the emotional pain is palpable. As a maternal-fetal medicine physician, I’m here to help them through this unimaginable circumstance. At the end of our time together, they’re hopeful for another child someday. They tell me that in a future pregnancy, they hope I can care for them because they trust me and feel safe.

Sadly, when they are pregnant again I will no longer be here. I am leaving Idaho because of the abortion bans.

I came to Idaho to work as a maternal-fetal medicine physician, someone who cares for the most complicated pregnancies. I was excited and optimistic to use my expertise to make an impact in the lives of others and to improve reproductive health care and pregnancy outcomes in the state. I made Idaho my home, but then the abortion bans took effect. These laws have impacted the management of pregnancy complications and lowered the standard of care.

My life as a physician has been turned upside down. How do I keep my patients safe? How do I stay safe? The total abortion ban does not have exceptions, only affirmative defenses. An affirmative defense means that the burden of proof lies with the physician to prove their innocence. In court, the physician must prove that the procedure was necessary to avert death or was due to rape or incest. There is no defense to protect the health of the mother, which is the most common scenario we face. I need to be able to protect my patients’ lives, their health and future fertility without fear of becoming a felon. This fear is why I’m leaving Idaho.

Brian Krassenstein
@krassenstein

BREAKING: A New IDIOTIC Idaho Bill seeks to charge anyone who administers an mRNA Vaccine with a Misdemeanor.

The mRNA COVID vaccine has saved tens of thousands of lives. These people are literally terrorists.

Is there an mRNA vaccine to cure conspiracy theorists yet?