Good morning, it’s Friday, October 25, 2024. In today’s edition, North Carolina approves new hurricane relief; Massachusetts advances climate package; Ayotte leads another New Hampshire poll:
Top Stories
DISASTER RELIEF: North Carolina lawmakers approved a $644 million recovery package for western parts of the state hit hard by Hurricane Helene. The bill, passed unanimously on Thursday, will direct $139 million for emergency bridge loans to county and city governments. The package is designed to help the state capture an estimated $2.9 billion in federal relief funding. (Pluribus News)
ENERGY: The Massachusetts Senate has approved legislation meant to tackle climate change. The measure would expedite permitting timelines for solar, wind and other clean energy projects and consolidate permitting processes at the local government level. (Pluribus News)
HOUSING: New Jersey’s Assembly Housing Committee has approved a first-in-the-nation measure to prohibit landlords from using algorithmic software to set rental prices. Committee chair Assemb. Yvonne Lopez (D) said she introduced the bill to combat high housing costs after learning eight states had sued a property management software company over its pricing algorithm. (New Jersey Monitor)
ABORTION: An Ohio county judge has struck down the state’s ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected, or about six weeks. The judge said a 2023 law approved by voters protecting reproductive rights made the 2019 law unconstitutional. (Associated Press)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R) said his chamber will take up the What is a Woman Act again next year, legislation defining biological sex as the gender of legal record in state law. The measure stalled this year in the state Senate. (Yellowhammer News)
EDUCATION: Oklahoma’s Senate Education Committee held a two-day study session this week to develop legislation limiting the use of cell phones in schools. Committee vice chair Sen. Ally Seifried (R) said the panel would craft legislation restricting phone use “from bell to bell.” (McCarville Report)
TRANSPORTATION: The owners and operators of the Dali agreed to pay more than $101 million to the federal government in civil damages stemming from the March collision that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. The companies face a similar lawsuit from Maryland, which owned and operated the bridge. (Baltimore Sun)
In Politics & Business
NEW HAMPSHIRE: An Emerson College poll conducted for WHDH finds former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) leading former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig (D) 46% to 43%. Independent voters are evenly divided between Ayotte and Craig. (Emerson)
Every poll released in October has showed Ayotte ahead — but never by more than three points.
MISSOURI: Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) has begun interviewing potential candidates to serve in his gubernatorial administration, more than a week before Election Day. State Rep. Crystal Quade’s (D) campaign objected to Kehoe’s early interviews, though polls show Kehoe holds a substantial lead. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
TEXAS: Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has sued a Dallas doctor accused of providing gender-affirming care to youths. It’s the first time Texas has tried to enforce a law barring gender-affirming care, including hormone therapies and puberty blockers, for minors. (Associated Press)
CRIME BLOTTER: Jurors in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D) began hearing the first of more than 200 secret recordings prosecutors have of Madigan speaking to allies and colleagues. (Chicago Sun-Times)
We’re not lawyers, but that seems like a lot of secret recordings.
By The Numbers
$538 million: The amount Vice President Harris, former President Donald Trump and their respective allies have spent advertising to Pennsylvania voters this year. That’s far and away the most spent in any swing state. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
0: The number of firearms recovered by the New York Police Department in a pilot program using Evolv gun scanners in the city’s subway station. In their month operating in 20 subway stations, the scanners returned 118 false positives. (City & State)
Off The Wall
The Colorado Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments in a case about whether animals are entitled to legal protections against imprisonment. The Nonhuman Rights Project has sued the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on behalf of five elephants that live in what the group calls cramped quarters. (Tribune News Service)
A small town in Saskatchewan can’t find anyone to run for mayor. Incumbent George Williams, elected to serve the town of Kyle in 2021, is retiring, and no one has stepped forward to run. The city’s administrator said the town council will elect a deputy mayor if no one decides to run. (UPI)
Quote of the Day
“It wasn’t immaculately conceived. It was put on the ballot because one big weed company has now spent $100 million trying to pass it.”
— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), campaigning against Amendment 3 that would legalize recreational marijuana. Trulieve, the marijuana giant, had spent about $92 million supporting the measure through early October, according to campaign finance reports. (Tallahassee Democrat)