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As Minnesota’s drought worsens, Walz reaches out to the USDA for aid

In a letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack, the governor asked to allow farmers to graze their animals on the state’s CRP acres.

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota has been missing the rain this year, and much of the burden caused by dry weather falls on our farmers. On Thursday, Governor Tim Walz reached out to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeking relief.

The governor’s letter, addressed to Secretary Tom Vilsack, asked for permission for famers to graze their herds and cut hay from Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres in areas that are experiencing Level D2 or greater drought conditions.

This land is normally set aside from production and planting to improve the environment, according to the Farm Service Agency. Continue reading.

Federal judge blocks new applications to DACA

A federal judge in Texas blocked new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in a ruling Friday, increasing pressure on Congress to find a legislative solution for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors.

Immigration advocates had been expecting the ruling for weeks, fearing Judge Andrew Hanen — a George W. Bush appointee who is known for his tough stance on immigration matters — could rule against the legality of the Obama-era program as a whole.

Hanen ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) “with the creation of DACA and its continued operation.” Continue reading.

DFL Debrief: Political Data and the Path to Victory in 2022

This week, the DFL crew dug into the data on what actually happened in the 2020 elections and what those results tell us about the DFL path to victory in 2022 with TargetSmart CEO Tom Bonier.

If you like the show, be sure to tell your friends and rate and review on Apple Podcasts! You can submit any feedback or t-shirt ideas you have to podcast@dfl.org.

You can listen here.

Have you seen the MAGA-inspired ‘Freedom phone’? Here’s why you should stay as far away from it as possible

Have you seen the new MAGA-inspired “Freedom Phone”? The mobile device hitting the market appears to be one that addresses the concern of right-wing supporters who are fed up with so-called Big Tech “spying” and “censorship.”

According to Gizmodo, the phone is being marketed by Erik Finman, described as a 22-year-old cryptocurrency millionaire who says he “wants America’s patriots to take ‘back control’ of their lives from the tech oligarchy.”

“This is the first major pushback on the Big Tech companies that attacked us – for just thinking different,” Finman tweeted Thursday morning. “We’re finally taking back control.” Continue reading.

Arizona audit muddles on with no clear end in sight

Arizona’s partisan election audit is muddling along with no end on the horizon as Republicans in the state Senate and Democratic outside groups battle over the process.

The glacial pace of the audit — which state Senate Republicans kicked off in December — was put into sharp relief this week with each side complaining that the other had not provided needed documents related to the count.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp shot down a motion from the GOP to dismiss a lawsuit from liberal watchdog group American Oversight seeking documents related to the state Senate’s audit. Continue reading.

This mother thought COVID-19 was ‘was just like the flu’ – now her unvaccinated teenage daughter is struggling to survive

A vaccine-skeptical Arkansas mother is begging other parents not to make the same mistake as she.

Angela Morris decided against vaccinations for herself and her 13-year-old daughter because she doubted the severity of the coronavirus, but she’s learning a hard lesson now that her child has been hospitalized with an infection, reported KTHV-TV.

“I just had a false sense of security that it was just like the flu and it wasn’t that serious,” Morris said. “Obviously, it is that serious and it was that serious — now I can see.” Continue reading.

Crime victims bill logjam ends; may go to Biden’s desk next week

Bill to boost cash for victims’ services is set to move forward

A Justice Department program that uses fines and penalties from criminal settlements to fund services for crime victims is on the verge of getting a long-sought cash infusion.

On the same day groups like the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence urged members to light up senators’ phone lines, email addresses and Twitter feeds with calls for action, Democratic and Republican leaders in that chamber reached agreement late Wednesday to take up House-passed legislation to give the Crime Victims Fund a financial boost. Sources familiar with the matter expect that vote to occur next week.

The measure would direct revenue from out-of-court settlements like deferred prosecution agreements, which have become increasingly prevalent in recent years, into the fund so it no longer has to rely solely on criminal cases. Continue reading.

John Bolton bursts out laughing after hearing that Trump hoped he’d die of COVID

Appearing on CNN to address a wide range of topics involving former president Donald Trump’s administration, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton was asked by co-host Brianna Keilar about a report that Donald Trump had indicated he would like to see Bolton contract COVID-19 and die.

In the middle of a discussion on Republicans continuing “kissing Trump’s ring” despite his 2020 election loss, Keilar suddenly changed direction and asked about Trump’s COVID comments which were included in Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta’s book “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History.”

According to the book, Trump told members of his cabinet, “Hopefully COVID takes out John.” Continue reading.

The health and climate consequences of the American food system cost three times as much as the food itself

A new report provides a roadmap to creating a post-pandemic food system with greater fairness, fewer adverse climate impacts and better health outcomes.

The true cost of food is even higher than you think, a new report out Thursday says.

The U.S. spends $1.1 trillion a year on food. But when the impacts of the food system on different parts of our society — including rising health care costs, climate change and biodiversity loss — are factored in, the bill is around three times that, according to a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, a private charity that funds medical and agricultural research.

Using government statistics, scientific literature and insights from experts across the food system, the researchers quantified things like the share of direct medical costs attributable to diet and food, as well as the productivity loss associated with those health problems. They also looked at how crop cultivation and ranching, and other aspects of U.S. food production impacted the environment. Focusing on the production, processing, distribution, retail and consumption stages of the food system (not including food service), they evaluated what it would cost to restore people’s health, wealth or environment back to an undamaged state, as well as the cost of preventing a recurrence of the problems. Continue reading.

Steve Schmidt rains hell on the ‘moral rot’ of Fox News and Rupert Murdoch for vaccine lies

In a series of tweets posted early Friday morning, former Republican Party campaign consultant Steve Schmidt pointed an accusing finger at Fox News, various personalities on the conservative network and media mogul Rupert Murdoch for being responsible for thousands of deaths from COVID-19 and claimed they have “blood on their hands.”

Reacting to a report that Fox News star Tucker Carlson laughed off questions over whether he has been vaccinated despite his nightly questioning of whether vaccines are needed, Schmidt — who ran former Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign against Barack Obama — fired off a volley of attacks that ended with him calling Fox News “one of the singularly most corrupt institutions that has ever existed in the history of the United States.”

Tagging Carlson and Fox News colleague Laura Ingraham in this his first tweet, Schmidt pointed out that they and their families have been vaccinated while encouraging their viewers to avoid in the name of freedom. Continue reading.

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