Good morning, it’s Wednesday, October 29, 2025. In today’s edition, states prepare for SNAP shutdown; Maryland Senate prez kills redistricting plan; new polls in New Jersey, South Carolina, Oklahoma:
Top Stories
SHUTDOWN: Twenty-three Democratic attorneys general on Tuesday sued the Trump administration to try to force it to partially pay SNAP benefits after the Trump administration said it didn’t have the money to fund November’s payments. Governors in at least nine states have announced new funding for food banks or SNAP programs as the federal government shutdown drags on. (Pluribus News)
Some 42 million Americans — 12% of U.S. residents — use SNAP benefits.
REDISTRICTING: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) sent a letter to fellow lawmakers on Tuesday rejecting plans to redraw state congressional district maps. Ferguson said the Senate would not advance a redistricting plan, bucking Gov. Wes Moore (D) and House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D) who were ready to move legislation. (Politico)
MORE: Virginia Democrats have released their redistricting plan on the second day of a special session that began Monday. The plan would allow redistricting to take place in response to actions by other states; it would not abolish the bipartisan redistricting commission. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The Pennsylvania Senate Communications and Technology Committee has approved legislation allowing officials the authority to deny AI-generated requests for public information. Open records officers would be allowed to deny requests if they “reasonably believe” that downloading attached documents or hyperlinks could pose cybersecurity risks. (State Affairs)
North Dakota’s Legislative Council is training an AI tool to help save lawmakers time. The tool would draft bill summaries. It is being trained solely on previously produced North Dakota bill summaries from the last three sessions. (Fargo Forum)
HEALTH CARE: The Trump administration has drafted an interpretive rule that says the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act supersedes state laws and regulations on how debt should be reported to credit bureaus. The rule repeals a Biden-era rule allowing states to implement bans on including medical debt on someone’s credit report. (Associated Press)
ABORTION: Ohio lawmakers held a second hearing on legislation that would require students in grades 3-12 to watch a three-minute video on human growth and development produced by an anti-abortion organization. Some Republicans objected, saying the bill started conversations about childbirth too early. (State Affairs)
TRANSPORTATION: Illinois Reps. Kam Buckner (D) and Eva-Dina Delgado (D) have filed legislation to raise up to $2 billion for Chicago-area public transit by taxing entertainment and unrealized investment gains of billionaires. The bill would implement a 7% tax on streaming services, live shows and ticketed events and a 4.95% tax on investment assets owned by the hyper-wealthy. (Capitol News Illinois)
In Politics & Business
NEW JERSEY: A Quantus Insights poll finds U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) with a slim 49% to 46% edge over Assemb. Jack Ciattarelli (R). The firm’s last poll, conducted in late September, had Sherrill up just two points. (Quantus)
IOWA: U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) entered the race for governor after months of exploring a bid. Feenstra has already started running TV ads in the state. He faces four other Republicans in the race to replace retiring Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). (Des Moines Register)
Iowa has an open gubernatorial contest and an open U.S. Senate seat for the first time since 1968.
SOUTH CAROLINA: A Winthrop University poll of Republican primary voters finds U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R) and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R) statistically tied in the race for governor, 19% to 18%. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R) lags at 9%, while Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) takes 8% and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell (R) takes 4%. Among Republicans, 46% said President Trump’s endorsement is “very important” to their vote. (Winthrop)
OKLAHOMA: Ex-House Speaker Carl McCall (R) leads the Republican field for governor, according to a new co/efficient survey. McCall takes 31% of the primary vote, ahead of Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) at 20% and former state Public Safety Secretary Chip Keating (R) at 5%. (co/efficient)
CALIFORNIA: The latest Public Policy Institute of California survey shows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) redistricting plan, Proposition 50, leading 56% to 43%. A majority of independent voters, Latinos and those in Democratic-held U.S. House districts all say they support the plan. (PPIC)
By The Numbers
90%: The share of wildfires in Washington State that were human-caused last year. State firefighters kept 94% of blazes on land owned by the Department of Natural Resources to less than ten acres. (Tacoma News Tribune)
71%: The share of electricity generated in Hawaii by petroleum-fueled power plants, the highest in the nation. Other states generate an average of less than 1% of their electricity by burning oil, according to federal data. (Civil Beat)
Off The Wall
Lab monkeys from Tulane University escaped an overturned truck north of Heidelberg, Miss., on Tuesday, setting off a scramble to capture them. Initial reports said the monkeys were infected with communicable viruses, but the school said the monkeys were healthy. (Mississippi Free Press)
An Australian family found messages in a bottle launched by two World War I soldiers 109 years ago on the shore in Wharton Beach. The family used Facebook to return the messages to the descendants of Malcolm Alexander Neville, who was killed in action in France, and William Kirk Harley, who returned from the war. (UPI)
Quote of the Day
“I told him and his wife to come hungry.”
— Minnesota Rep. Anquam Mahamoud (D), inviting Rep. Cal Warwas (R) over to dinner. Mahamoud and Warwas got to know each other on a bike tour through the fall foliage in Warwas’s Iron Range district as part of an effort to bridge the partisan divide. (MPR News)