Just before he enters the hospital for a 12-hour shift in the emergency room, Kyle Mullica pauses to narrate the moment.

The 33-year-old state lawmaker struggles for words to describe what it feels like to trade his suit for scrubs and return to his job as an ER nurse amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

As he records an audio diary entry on his phone, an analogy comes to mind: “It’s almost like you can see a tsunami coming — and there’s nothing that you can do about it but stand there.”

The Northglenn representative is one of at least three Colorado lawmakers working on the front lines of the global pandemic since the General Assembly abruptly suspended its session in mid-March.


https://coloradosun.com/2020/04/01/colorado-lawmaker-er-nurse-kyle-mullica-coronavirus/?utm

To help Texas combat the COVID-19 healthcare crisis and to improve health outcomes for older persons, AARP Texas has called on Governor Greg Abbott to bolster health coverage statewide by seeking a temporary expansion of Medicaid.

Citing the extraordinary risks facing uninsured older Texans during this pandemic, AARP Texas Director Tina Tran has asked Abbott to take action similar to what Texas has done in previous emergencies, such as following Hurricane Harvey, by applying for a federal Medicaid waiver. However, in this case the waiver would be to expand Medicaid coverage to poor Texans not eligible for Affordable Care Act subsidies.

“Health coverage will encourage timely testing for COVID-19, provide much-needed treatment” and inject a degree of financial stability for families struggling with lost earnings, Tran wrote.

Tran reminded the governor in her letter that a temporary expansion during times of great emergency is not without precedent. Tran wrote that it has been used in New York after 9/11, by other states after Hurricane Katrina, and in Michigan in 2016, when children and women were affected by the Flint water crisis. In addition, Texas used the so called “Section 1115” waiver authority in 2017 after Harvey for additional flexibility with its Medicaid program.



https://states.aarp.org/texas/aarp-texas-calls-for-emergency-medicaid-expansion

Even as the White House is up for grabs, the outcome of a handful of Minnesota legislative seats in November could change the state's political map for the next decade.

Minnesota's political boundaries will be redrawn next year, as they are every 10 years, using the 2020 population count as of Wednesday, April 1, known as Census Day. The process will likely be a central focus of the next Legislature.

Political parties and outside groups are gearing up to spend big on a small number of competitive state legislative races, especially in the Senate, where Republicans hold a three-seat majority. The DFL holds a 16-seat advantage in the state House and the governor's office.

Given the partisan redistricting battles of the past, which have often landed in the courts, both sides are girding for tough campaigns that could have implications for how legislative and congressional seats are carved up until 2030.

"The Senate has a narrow margin to begin with and it is the odd-one-out partywise with the governor and the House," said Gina Countryman, a longtime GOP strategist. "So I do think you'll see a lot of attention at making sure the [Republicans] stay in the Senate majority so there are guaranteed two parties at the table in these discussions."



https://www.startribune.com/with-minnesota-s-political-map-in-play-both-sides-gear-up-for-legislative-fight/569227102/

The filing deadline in New York state closed Thursday, bringing a disappointing end to House Republicans’ long search to find a candidate to take on Rep. Antonio Delgado. The freshman Democrat ousted GOP Rep. John Faso by 5 points in one of the most competitive House races of the midterms but now this Hudson Valley seat likely represents the NRCC’s biggest recruitment flop anywhere in the country.

After a grueling midterm that left him with high negatives, Faso ruled out a rematch in May of last year. Republican recruiters then spent months trying to entice Marc Molinario, the Dutchess County executive who carried the seat by 11 points in 2018 despite a blowout loss statewide to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But after winning reelection last year, Molinario said he ultimately decided it would be “disingenuous” to run for Congress immediately after beginning another term in Poughkeepsie.

Meanwhile, a retired two-star general in the race dropped out in January after failing to raise six-figures. Some Republicans made a late attempt to drag in Bartle Bull, a businessman and journalist, that was ultimately unsuccessful. There are three other Republicans who have filed with the FEC, including fashion designer Ola Hawatmeh and Mike Roth, who believes upstate New York and New York City should be in separate states. But party strategists don’t believe any of them will be able to raise serious money. And Delgado was sitting on $2 million in the bank at the end of 2019.

House Republicans have made the 30 Democratic-held districts that Trump won in 2016 a central part of their path back to the majority. Not only does Delgado’s seat fall in this category, but it is one of just eight that the president carried with more than 50 percent of the vote. It’s hard to imagine Republicans winning back the House if they can’t field a candidate in a district like this.

Both parties managed to line up decent candidates in other targeted districts in the state. State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis has a clear shot at Democratic Rep. Max Rose in a Staten Island battleground, and former Rep. Claudia Tenney is vying for a rematch with Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi. There are crowded Democratic primaries set to take on Republican Reps. John Katko and Lee Zeldin. Democrat Jackie Gordon and Republican Andrew Garbarino are the names to watch in the open NY-02.



https://www.politico.com/morningscore/

Former White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg has launched a new political action committee (PAC) to help down-ballot Democrats as he tries to repurpose the energy he drew around his presidential bid.

The group dubbed “Win the Era,” a nod to a phrase often used during the former mayor's campaign, will raise and distribute funds to Democrats running for office with a focus on lesser-known contenders.

“Our nation and world are in a period of upheaval right now, which will make it more important than ever to support and elect good leaders this November and into the future,” Buttigieg said in an email to supporters.

“This is not only a question of replacing the current president and doing away with the division and cruelty that have characterized the Trump era, but also ensuring we have strong leaders at every level of government.”

Buttigieg, who himself was a lesser known candidate as the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. only to see a surge of momentum heading into the primaries, teased that his group would be rolling out “a series of endorsements of candidates who we believe embody our values and deserve your consideration.”

The group will employ a five-part criteria to find candidates who reflect its “values and characteristics” – generational change, representing a diverse cross section of the country, running in a typically conservative area, proposing “meaningful, bold policies” and running “for the right reasons.”


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/491127-buttigieg-launches-new-pac-to-aid-down-ballot-candidates

I don't need the trouble.

Rural health systems are bracing for a surge in patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, that could overwhelm small and underfunded hospitals in areas where populations are particularly vulnerable to serious symptoms.

The coronavirus outbreaks in the United States have been the most intense in major cities and suburbs like New York, New Orleans, Detroit, Seattle and the Washington, D.C., area. But experts in rural health say they know the virus is headed their way, and they worry that smaller communities are even less prepared to handle an influx of cases than their big-city colleagues.

“We just haven't seen big numbers, thankfully, but I feel like everything I say with COVID I should end with 'yet,’” said Jacqueline Barton True, vice president of rural health programs at the Washington State Hospital Association.

When the virus does come, those experts say they are concerned that the rate of severe and critical cases could be higher than in larger cities. Rural residents tend to be older, are more likely to have underlying conditions like hypertension and heart disease that put them at greater risk of serious symptoms, and in some regions they are more likely to smoke than are residents of urban areas.





https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/491032-rural-america-braces-for-coronavirus

Bank executives who were concerned about the $349 billion emergency small business program created in the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill passed last week reached out to President Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump as they tried to negotiate higher interest rates, according to Bloomberg.

The calls came from multiple major bank executives, including from Bank of America Corp., who questioned the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provides generous loans to small businesses with the caveat that they use at least 75 percent to pay their employees.

As a result of those negotiations, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other administration officials requested to increase the interest rates on the forgivable, government-backed loans, and worked to encourage smaller banks to participate, as well.

Mnuchin announced Thursday that the Treasury Department would cut interest rates in half in an effort to convince those smaller banks to participate and alleviate the load from major lenders.

“I’ve told these bankers they should take all their traders and put them in the branches. There’ll never be another opportunity to earn five points on a 90-day fully government-guaranteed loan,” Mnuchin said on Thursday. “To make this attractive for community banks, we’ve agreed to raise the interest rate.”



https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/491109-bank-executives-sought-guidance-on-small-business-loan-program-from

Treating calling her "nasty" and treating her like a naughty child because she asked a direct question about the federal stockpile.

A source familiar told CNN there was a last minute decision to exclude Dr. Anthony Fauci from today’s coronavirus briefing at the White House.


https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/03/fauci-sidelined-at-last-minute/