Good morning, it’s Friday, November 1, 2024. In today’s edition, tech firms help revive the nuclear space; Mississippi will try again on Medicaid expansion; new polls in New Hampshire, North Carolina:
Top Stories
ENERGY: The nascent data center industry has brought billions in value to some of the biggest tech firms in the world, led by American giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Those data centers need mammoth amounts of energy to function — which is why those tech giants are turning to an older technology, nuclear energy, to fuel their growth.
In recent weeks, Microsoft has struck a deal to reopen Three Mile Island, where the 1979 nuclear accident took place; Google reached agreement with a California company to build seven small modular reactors to supply power to its data centers; and Amazon has announced plans to build four nuclear reactors along the Columbia River.
States, perpetually in competition for the next big economic engine, see their chances. Lawmakers in Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington have made policy changes in recent years to signal they are open for nuclear business. With so much upside in the cloud and AI markets, expect more to follow suit. Read more at Pluribus News.
MORE: The California Air Resources Board reached a deal with Airlines for America to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels to 200 million gallons by 2035, meeting demand for about 40% of intrastate travel. California produces about 11 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel today. (Associated Press)
HEALTH CARE: Mississippi House Speaker Jason White (R) and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann (R) said they plan to push for Medicaid expansion to cover the working poor in the next legislative session. Their effort stands in opposition to Gov. Tate Reeves (R), who opposes expansion. (Associated Press)
Longtime readers know this is a fight that’s been brewing in Jackson for a long time. An expansion push died this year over disagreements on a proposed work requirement. Reeves told us last month he’s still dead set against expansion.
CONSUMER PROTECTION: The Illinois Bankers Association and other groups have sued to block a new state law that limits banks from charging so-called “swipe” fees on tax and tip revenues. The bill, signed this year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), has support from retailers, but faces opposition from credit card companies and the federal government. (Center Square)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) will push legislation next year increasing the criminal penalties for those who make school shooting threats. Torrez wants to increase the penalties for those threats to up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. (Albuquerque Journal)
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said the city’s school district has received 28 shooting threats since September alone.
WORKFORCE: Michigan state Rep. Dylan Wegela (D) has introduced a measure that would require employers to allow workers to sit down on the job so long as it doesn’t interfere with their duties. The “right to sit” bill follows an Ann Arbor city ordinance approved last month. Many states already have right to sit laws on the books. (MLive)
In Politics & Business
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) leads former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig (D) 45% to 43% in a new UMass-Lowell survey, while Libertarian Stephen Villee takes 3%. The poll shows Ayotte winning 12% of Vice President Harris’s voters, while Craig takes just 3% of those who will vote for former President Trump. (UMass-Lowell)
We’ve never seen a race this stable — Ayotte has led every poll by a margin of between 1 and 3 percentage points, all within the margin of error.
NORTH CAROLINA: Attorney General Josh Stein (D) can probably begin measuring the drapes in Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) office. Stein leads Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) by a 48% to 36% margin in a UMass-Lowell poll, and by a 53% to 37% margin in a new SSRS poll conducted for CNN. (UMass-Lowell, CNN)
INDIANA: Former President Trump held a tele-rally on behalf of U.S. Sen. Mike Braun’s (R) bid for governor on Thursday, the latest hint that Braun faces an unexpectedly tough challenge from former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick (D) and Libertarian Donald Rainwater. (Indianapolis Star)
RHODE ISLAND: Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes (D) raised $412,000 during the last three months for her anticipated challenge to Gov. Dan McKee (D) in 2026. Foulkes has not yet formally declared her candidacy. McKee raised just $144,000 over the same period. (WPRI)
VERMONT: Former Govs. Peter Shumlin (D) and Jim Douglas (R) are backing former state Sen. John Rodgers (R) in his campaign against incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (D). Rodgers is a former Democrat, while Zuckerman has allied himself with the Vermont Progressive Party. (VT Digger)
OHIO: The state Supreme Court has ruled Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) overstepped his authority by rejecting a ballot measure because of its title. The unanimous decision ordered Yost to revisit his decision to nix the “Ohio Voters Bill of Rights,” which would have extended early voting windows, among other provisions. (Associated Press)
By The Numbers
55,131,009: The number of voters who have already cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election. That’s fewer than the 80 million who had cast early votes by this point in the 2020 elections, though recall that those elections took place in the midst of a pandemic. (TargetSmart)
$1 billion: The amount Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher says he will put up toward construction of the team’s new stadium in Las Vegas, about two-thirds of the expected $1.5 billion cost. Nevada has offered $380 million in public financing. (Sacramento Bee)
Off The Wall
Democratic governors on Thursday picked the same costume for Halloween: At least six of them dressed up as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) dressed as Walz as a football coach; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) made a special point to mimic Walz’s eyebrows. (The Hill)
The old adage that an infinite amount of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards would eventually lead to the works of Shakespeare doesn’t actually bear out. Two Australian mathematicians calculated that even if the monkeys typed from the beginning of time until the end of the universe, the odds of any of them aping Shakespeare remained too remote. (AFP)
A fantastic detail in the story: Shakespeare’s works include 884,647 words — and not one of those words was “banana.”
Quote of the Day
“It is arguably on a given day a harder job. In that sense, it’s a step up.”
— Delaware Gov. John Carney (D), on his bid to become mayor of Wilmington, his home town. Carney said voters he had met questioned whether he was taking a step down to become mayor. (New York Times)