He dropped his gun in the Capitol while running to vote against abortion rights
True story.
Welcome to a premium Friday evening edition of Progressives Everywhere!
We’re just a little over a week away from starting to roll out our new name, rebrand, and scope, which makes for some exciting times here at newsletter HQ. We’ve been working for a while on this project, and I can’t wait to share it with you — all of you.
There’s a lot of news to cover tonight, but I’ve got a pitch for you first.
It’s always been my goal to get our reporting out to as many people as possible, which is why our big Sunday newsletters, which take days of work, are sent to the entire mailing list. But because we want to stay independent and unbeholden to anyone or anything but the truth, we don’t sell advertisements, which means that selling subscriptions (and accepting donations) is the only way to make this work sustainable.
The conflict is obvious: As is the case with all web publications, the people who can pay get the premium content and more information. Whenever a reader tells me they’d love to get a premium subscription but can’t afford to do so, I add them to the list anyway. I’d like to be able to continue doing that, so here’s the deal:
For every new paid premium subscriber that we get over the next month, I’ll donate a free premium subscription to a reader on a limited budget who reaches out and requests one. (Respond to this email if you’d like one of those free subscriptions!)
The goal is to advance progressive causes, shine a light on right-wing and corporate malfeasance, and make life better for people. Let’s do it together.
OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to tonight’s news!
This Is America, 2022
Colorado: It’s getting harder and harder to satirize American politics, which have devolved into a freak show starring the dumbest, meanest, and most corrupt people imaginable. Most attempts at satire are either too extreme or too obvious, and if it hadn’t happened in real life, I’d say this story fits both descriptions.
Meet Republican State Rep. Richard Holtorf, who earlier this week dropped his gun in the Capitol as he rushed to vote against abortion rights in Colorado:
Colorado’s Capitol, like most statehouses across the country, has checkpoints with metal detectors at its public entrances. Visitors and lobbyists must pass through under the watchful eyes of State Patrol officers and are not allowed to bring in weapons of any kind.
But lawmakers are allowed to bypass those security checkpoints. They are also allowed to carry concealed weapons because of a state law that designates the Capitol as their place of business. A number of legislators have said they do carry inside the building for a variety of reasons, including for self-defense and as a way to protect others in the event of an attack.
Thankfully, the gun did not fire when it hit the ground, but the idea of guns falling out of holsters in the middle of a crowded government building is disconcerting, to say the least.
Ohio: Again, the sort of thing that you’d groan at it if it were presented in some comedy sketch or Onion article:
It used to be that I’d root for the most unhinged, repulsive Republican to get nominated in any election that felt potentially winnable for Democrats, because monsters like Todd “legitimate rape” Akin were very beatable, but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. The idea of Josh Mandel in the US Senate is unequivocally terrifying — somehow even worse than having JD Vance there.
On a more serious note, Republicans in Ohio are discussing impeaching the State Supreme Court’s (Republican) chief justice, Maureen O’Connor, because she continues to honor the state constitution and reject their uber-gerrymandered legislative maps.
"I don’t understand what the woman wants," State Rep. Sara Carruthers, who is either lying or extremely dense and unfit to serve, told the Columbus Dispatch.
Gov. Mike DeWine is against the move — his son is also on the Supreme Court and continues to rule on cases that directly impact the governor, so really, it’s the least Mike can do — but it nonetheless underscores the importance of this year’s state supreme court elections, as O’Connor is retiring at the end of this term.
Kentucky: Republicans in the legislature passed a bill to prematurely end the state’s health emergency, which would have taken $50 million in food stamps away from some of Kentucky’s poorest residents.
Thankfully, Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed the legislation and very publicly slammed the GOP for being callous jerks.
This is far from his most impressive performance, but as I wrote in the wake of the horrible tornadoes that leveled parts of the state, Beshear could be a real dark horse presidential contender if he manages to win re-election to his current post.
Good News
Pennsylvania: This is a story I’ve been following for a while and doing some reporting on, so I’ll have a longer piece on it in the next week or two… but it’s worth celebrating big victories when they happen, so here’s an overview of what went down:
Last night, Amazon announced that it has withdrawn its plans for a supersized warehouse in the quiet town of Churchill, a suburb located less than 10 miles from Pittsburgh. The warehouse, which would have been 4 1/2 stories high and nearly three million square feet, would have disrupted a sleepy neighborhood and torn up thousands of trees, but the fight against its construction wasn’t really a case of well-to-do locals going full NIMBY on development.
The warehouse was going to be built on the former grounds of the former Westinghouse Research and Technology Park, which presented a number of serious issues. The research park is now in a residential area, and there are 450 homes within 1000 feet of the property where the warehouse would have been built. Additionally, there are two schools directly across the street from the location. One of the schools is geared towards students with special needs, while the other has a student body that consists almost entirely of kids bussed in from low-income communities.
The pollution from the diesel-fueled trucks that would be continuously driving around the neighborhood and idling across the street would pose a significant risk to both those residents and the students, a majority of whom came from EPA-designated Environmental Justice Communities. The property is also fraught with old coal mines, chemical runoff, and nuclear waste, and the construction that would be required to create a warehouse of that size would have been potentially catastrophic.
Rejecting the development should have been an easy decision, and yet, in December, the Churchill city council approved the project… only for Amazon to pull out three months later. So what exactly happened?
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Progress Report to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.