Tag: week

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Vox co-founder and editor Matthew Yglesias and Politico reporter Eliana Johnson about embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and the fear of a "blue wave" in Wisconsin. Now let's talk about some of the ways President Trump is changing policy and Washington. YGLESIAS: Well, you know, I think you see on some of these issues that I think what the president is doing is using public statements to force members of his administration to start working on things that they've been trying to slow-walk. CORNISH: Eliana, for you? But this is a case where everybody around the president is telling him that it's time for Scott Pruitt to go, and the president is resisting. CORNISH: Getting out of Washington for a bit, there was an election in Wisconsin this week where the Democratic-backed candidate won a seat on Wisconsin's Supreme Court. But the results garnered a high-profile response in this case from Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker. YGLESIAS: I mean, you know, this is yet another race in a swing state this time where you see, you know, Democrats just doing really well in down-ballot races. And feelings about the president have driven a lot more interest among Democrats in these kinds of races that were falling below the radar. CORNISH: Eliana Johnson is national political reporter for Politico, Matt Yglesias of Vox.

The initiative, known as ranked-choice voting, allows voters to rank up to three candidates, in order of preference, when marking their ballots (imagine marking the first choice with a 1, second choice with a 2, and so on). That’s because Maine’s Constitution explicitly states that a candidate only needs a plurality of votes (meaning more than any other candidate), and not a majority of votes, to win an election. On Wednesday, a Kennebec County Superior Court judge ordered Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap to reconfigure primary ballots to use the ranked-choice system. As even the judge wrote in her order this week “uncertainty that halting the ranked-choice voting implementation process at this late date is significant.” First, there is the matter of explaining to voters how the process will work. Add to that the fact that the Maine’s Constitution currently requires that a winner only have a plurality, and the legal challenges could be significant. The governor’s race is the most significant race on the ballot there and also features the largest field — four Republicans and seven Democrats on their respective party primary ballots. It asks whether this new ranked choice voting system should be delayed for a few more years, to give the state Legislature more time to address constitutional questions. As often happens, several races will have three strong candidates in the general election. Already that means that ranked choice could have an impact in both statewide races in Maine. Maine voters this week got the legal go-ahead to try ranked-choice voting or "instant run-off voting," which allows voters to rank up to three candidates, in order of preference, when marking their ballots.

Dionne of the Washington Post and the Brookings Institution join NPR's Ari Shapiro to discuss the week in politics. Dionne of The Washington Post and the Brookings Institution. SHAPIRO: David, you've been critical of President Trump's reluctance to criticize Putin, and yet the actions of the United States in this case seem to be pretty tough on Russia. My thinking on all this is that their Trump is better than our Trump, that Putin, like Trump... SHAPIRO: (Laughter). SHAPIRO: Although... DIONNE: If... SHAPIRO: If his goal has been to undermine NATO and the European Union and these other Western alliances, his actions sure seem to have brought those countries together in this case. SHAPIRO: David, do you think this China-North Korea meeting is helpful or harmful to American interests with North Korea? And but to run the second-largest bureaucracy in the U.S. government without any administrative experience or health care administrative experience strikes me as putting him in an impossible position. SHAPIRO: A lot of people in Washington don't have to imagine it. SHAPIRO: David Brooks and E.J. BROOKS: Thank you.

(CNN)One city is getting a new naked attraction, and another is getting a bit of work-life balance. Meanwhile, the Pope and a big currency company are making dreams come true (separately). Ripple, a cryptocurrency and international banking company, partnered with a donation site to give $29 million to teachers in public schools around the country. That money will fund thousands -- actually, tens of thousands -- of projects and experiences like field trips and science equipment. This hockey player breastfed her baby in the locker room between periods of her game. There's basically no word in that sentence that isn't awesome. Long hours and overworking are a big problems in South Korea, so the government in the capital city of Seoul is pulling the plug. Literally. Starting this week, the power in Seoul City Hall will be cut every night at 8 p.m. to discourage employees from working late. G-Eazy apparently didn't have enough ID on him, so Halsey said he tried to use a magazine cover with his face on it to get through security.

Today in 5 Lines During a speech meant to promote his infrastructure plan, President Trump touted his proposed border wall and discussed topics ranging from North Korea to ABC’s Roseanne. Hours after President Trump announced that White House physician Ronny Jackson would replace David Shulkin as secretary of veterans affairs, Shulkin published an op-ed in The New York Times in which he blamed his ouster on “the ambitions of people who want to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector.” Russia said it will expel 60 U.S. diplomats, matching the number of Russian diplomats the Trump administration ordered to leave the country this week in response to the poisoning of a former intelligence agent in England. Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed that John Huber, a Utah prosecutor, is investigating Republican accusations against the FBI. A federal judge denied a motion from Stormy Daniels’s attorney to depose Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen. But the machines are unable to provide it. (Megan Garber) Who Is Person A? : The latest court filing from the special counsel alludes to an operative associated with Russia’s intelligence services, Paul Manafort, and Rick Gates. (Rachel Donadio) How Do Mormons Make Time for Their Families? (Jasmine C. Lee, The New York Times) Testing, Testing Hi readers, Elaine here. We’ll highlight the day’s news and The Atlantic pieces making sense of it all.

The contortions of Tánaiste Simon Coveney over abortion has sent a clear signal to the public that he doesn’t trust elected politicians to deal with the issue in the future. Coveney’s colleagues in Fine Gael are divided over whether his botched attempt to limit the capacity of any future Dáil to change the proposed abortion legislation stemmed from naivety or cynicism. Coveney has certainly given a weapon to those campaigning against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment At the beginning of the week he surprised people by announcing he was prepared to support it, but followed that up less than 24 hours later by suggesting there should be a requirement for a two-thirds majority in the Dáil for any future changes in the law. The other explanation, favoured by some in his party, is that he is trying to have it both ways, retaining his key role in Government while sending a signal to the electorate that he has reservations about the way the abortion issue is being handled. “We are having a free vote, and it will be carried one way or another, but he was not prepared to accept the consequences of going against his Cabinet colleagues.” Whatever his motivation, Coveney has certainly given a weapon to those campaigning against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. If he doesn’t trust his colleagues in the Dáil not to introduce an even more liberal abortion regime than they are currently committed to, why should the public trust them? When the issue was raised in the Dáil there was uproarious laughter when the Taoiseach tried to explain that the comments were made at a private function As one of the people present at the event I have no doubt that Woulfe was treated shabbily, to put it as its mildest. However, during the off-the-record question-and-answer session that followed he made brief comments about a current Supreme Court case. Those comments were not used by any of the journalists present, but were subsequently published. When the issue was raised in the Dáil there was uproarious laughter when the Taoiseach tried to explain that the comments were made at a private function, and that Chatham House rules applied.

(See previous editions here.) You can get the preview delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for The 74 Newsletter; for rolling updates on federal education policy, follow Carolyn Phenicie on Twitter @cphenicie. Elsewhere in Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds an oversight hearing on the Parkland shooting and school safety measures on Wednesday. Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, who has introduced his own school safety bill and also sits on the Appropriations Committee, said there could be additional funding for existing federal grants that can be used for counseling and school safety measures. Conservatives have said it was a federal overreach that has led to schools being less safe, and the Trump administration may get rid of it. The meeting was rescheduled from last week. HHS runs most federal early childhood education programs, including the Head Start preschool program for low-income students, Preschool Development Grants, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant program that gives vouchers for daycare. A long-term budget deal doubled the funding for the child care grants. FRIDAY: PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK — This week is “Public Schools Week,” a campaign led by AASA, the school superintendents’ association, and other advocacy groups. Events will include speeches on the floor of the House and Senate and a Friday panel discussion on understanding funding streams that impact public education.

Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas said he would pay back some $84,000 in taxpayer funds that were used to settle a sexual harassment claim levied against him in 2014. Two Democratic members accused of misconduct announced they were stepping away from their posts: Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, who retired on Tuesday, and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, who announced he would be resigning from the Senate in a defiant speech on Thursday. Later that day, Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona, also announced he will resign. Read More: TIME’s 2017 Person of the Year: The Silence Breakers “For so long, women who were abused didn’t feel like they could say anything because they thought they’d get fired, they thought nobody would believe them, they thought they’d get trashed or pushed aside,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, said on Thursday. That same day, two women had come forward with allegations that Franken groped or tried to forcibly kiss them. But the Minnesota Democrat didn’t go quietly. “Others I remember very differently.” He also used his speech to note the “irony” in the fact that he’s being asked to leave the Senate, but there is a chance that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexually molesting teenage girls, could soon be joining his colleagues on Capitol Hill. “If he is elected, it’s going to be a fundamental decision: Is he elected and retained in the Senate, or is he not?” In the same week that two Democrats found themselves shunned by their colleagues amid sexual harassment allegations, the Alabama Senate candidate received a monetary boost from the Republican National Committee and an endorsing tweet from the President. And if anything has been made clear in the past few weeks, it’s that sexual harassment is a bipartisan issue. “I don’t know that we should try to find a partisan path in the issue.

The House is set to vote next week on a resolution that would require all members and their staffers to undergo anti-harassment training. "Since becoming Chairman in January, I have made it a priority to improve the overall professionalism of the House of Representatives," Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss. ), the chairman of the House Administration Committee, said Friday. "Instituting mandatory training is a first step in ensuring we are creating a safe and productive environment for everyone in the House.” House Speaker Paul Ryan said last week that all members and their staffs would be required to complete the anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training. That training was previously optional. The Senate voted earlier this month on a similar resolution requiring senators, staffers and interns to complete the mandatory training. The House vote comes as a growing number of powerful men in politics, business, media and entertainment face allegations of sexual impropriety. In the House, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has faced multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior toward female former staffers. And in the Senate, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has been accused of forcibly kissing and groping a woman in 2006, as well as inappropriately touching another woman in 2010.

What's different this time is that voters are the now calling the president to account. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political commentary and informed perspectives. Reaching more…