Good morning, it’s Wednesday, June 25, 2025. In today’s edition, lawmakers seek restrictions on hemp-based products; Oregon to grant unemployment to striking workers; Mamdani shocks Cuomo in New York City:
Top Stories
MARIJUANA: Lawmakers in more than a dozen states are advancing bills to include new types of hemp-based products in legal definitions that cover marijuana. The measures are meant to regulate delta-8 and delta-10 strains of THC, after Congress inadvertently opened the door to new strains of intoxicating psychoactives. Bills have passed this year in Hawaii, Minnesota, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia. (Pluribus News)
LABOR: Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) has signed legislation providing unemployment benefits to striking workers. The bill will make Oregon the first state to provide benefits to public employees on strike, capped at ten weeks. New York, New Jersey and Washington grant benefits to striking private sector workers. (Associated Press)
DEATH PENALTY: The Delaware House has approved a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting the death penalty. A similar measure failed by just a few votes in the House last year. The death penalty is unenforceable in Delaware after the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2016. (Delaware Public Media)
ENERGY: The Wisconsin legislature has approved a bill launching a site study to find the best location for a future nuclear power plant to be built near Madison. Another bill would establish a nuclear summit in Wisconsin, set for 2028. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
CONSUMER PROTECTION: The Michigan House has approved legislation banning the use of bots to purchase large quantities of tickets. The bill would allow civil penalties of up to $5,000 per ticket purchased by automated bots. (Michigan Advance)
House sponsors made a lot of Taylor Swift puns in their official statements celebrating the bill. A lot.
BUDGETS: California leaders have agreed on a $321 billion budget, contingent on the legislature approving a housing reform plan by Monday. The housing deal would overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act, a longstanding law that critics — including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) — say stands in the way of necessary construction. (Los Angeles Times)
SECURITY: New Jersey Assemb. Chris DePhillips (R) has introduced a bill to add legislators to the list of public officials whose personal information is shielded under state law. The measure comes two weeks after former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) was assassinated in her home. (New Jersey Monitor) Pennsylvania officials have spent nearly $400,000 upgrading security at the Governor’s Residence following an arson attack in April. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
In Politics & Business
NEW YORK CITY: Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D) took 43.5% of the vote in the Democratic primary for mayor, outpacing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) at 36.4%, with 93% of the votes counted this morning. Election officials will tabulate ranked-choice votes next week, but Cuomo conceded defeat Tuesday night. (New York Times)
Mamdani, 33, would be the youngest mayor of New York City since Hugh Grant took office in 1889 at age 30.
ILLINOIS: Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) will seek a third term next year, he plans to announce tomorrow. It’s not clear who Pritzker will choose as his running mate; Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) is running to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D) next year. (Chicago Sun-Times)
MAINE: State Sen. Rick Bennett will leave the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent. Bennett served as Senate president in 2000, when the legislature was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. (WMTW)
MICHIGAN: Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald (D) will run for attorney general next year, she said Tuesday. She joins Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit (D) and former U.S. Attorney Mark Totten (D) in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Dana Nessel (D) faces term limits. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
OHIO: House Democrats have selected Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D) as their new minority leader. Rep. Phil Robinson (D) will serve as assistant leader, and Rep. Beryl Brown (D) will serve as whip. (Ohio Capital Journal)
By The Numbers
2.2 million: The amount of groundwater, in acre-feet, that California aquifers added last year. That’s about half the storage capacity of Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir. (Los Angeles Times)
Roughly 300,000: The number of BeeHomes, AI-powered beehives, scattered across the United States. The robotic hives keep constant tabs on the health of bee colonies, which have suffered severe die-offs in recent years. (Los Angeles Times)
Off The Wall
Fifteen sets of twins will graduate this year from Long Island’s Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School. All of them are fraternal twins. The same high school graduated ten pairs of twins in both 2014 and 2015. (Associated Press)
Do you need a pet? A Rhode Island animal rescue shelter is seeking a new home for a 20-year old parrot named Hendrix. The only problem is Hendrix’s vocabulary, which is tilted heavily toward filth and slurs. “If you adopt Hendrix, you’re basically adopting Samuel L. Jackson,” the shelter wrote in a Facebook post. (UPI)
Quote of the Day
“I don’t know that I would pull the trigger on $32. I love grouper sandwiches. I don’t know if I can pull the trigger on $32.”
— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), on the price of a sandwich at a Santa Rosa Beach restaurant. (Orlando Sentinel)