Dear friends,
Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the DC Circuit Court. Jackson’s record includes important matters of justice — her work as a public defender, her service on the US Sentencing Commission that reduced sentences for drug offenses retroactively, and an injunction to stop fast-track deportations under the last president. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is good news.
In the final seven days of the legislative session, lawmakers in Albany passed 461 bills. This was a little more than half of the legislation passed in this session. Lawmakers in Albany had their third most productive year since 1995.
It seems like a good thing AND the crush of legislation means that it’s still not entirely clear what passed. It’s a strange way to operate. Here are some of the items from the final sprint:
One parole reform bill [made] it through: The Less is More Act would reduce the use of incarceration as punishment for technical violations. The Legislature also passed measures to increase early voting locations, speed up absentee ballot counting, create a lockbox for opioid settlement funding to be used for addiction treatment and legislation that would allow people to sue gun manufacturers.
As I sort through the legislative news from Albany, I will continue to update you.
Last week, thousands of Water Protectors showed up to protest Line 3, risking arrest. Almost 200 protesters were arrested. A work-from-homer asked me to check back in on this topic.
Unfortunately, a divided judicial panel upheld Minnesota’s independent Public Utilities Commission decision to grant “the certificate of need and route permit” that Enbridge requires to begin construction on the Line 3 pipeline, which is currently running at half capacity because of its deterioration.
The Biden administration hasn’t taken a clear position on Line 3, but a legal challenge is pending in federal court on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of a wetlands permit that activists say should be withdrawn.
Indigenous leaders do not want to wait on the lawsuit; they want Biden to shut down Line 3.
Sign this new petition to the President to suspend or revoke Line 3’s permit.
Donate to the Lakota People’s Law Project Action Center to help secure treaty land and water rights, stop the tar sands pipelines, and defend native voting rights, health, and safety. Sign their Line 3 petition, too.
There’s new polling in the mayoral race, and the good news is that Yang’s moment appears to have passed. However, Adams is still head of the pack, and the next spots are hard to call. The progressive think tank, Data for Progress, has Wiley in second behind Adams, lagging by six percentage points. The poll was conducted by text message.
Another poll, sponsored by Telemundo, WNBC, and Politico, shows Garcia seven points behind Adams and slightly ahead of Wiley. The latter poll was conducted by cell phone and land line, and in both English and Spanish. It collected voter rankings and projects that Adams will defeat Garcia by a wide margin, 56 - 44. Thirteen percent of voters polled were undecided.
The polling provides snapshots in a moving picture. We are part of that picture.
It’s important to rank Garcia — and not Adams.
Adams is engaged in fear-mongering, a classic strategy to justify hiring more police. While Garcia’s policing and education platforms are not progressive, her strengths are noteworthy.
In other good news, some work-from-homers are pitching in with the local electoral research and rankings. Watch for those later this week.
Correction: Both Rita Joseph and Edwin Raymond, CD 40 council candidates, received the endorsement from Voters for Animal Rights.
Also, Edwin Raymond is not endorsing a mayoral candidate, but he is supporting Wiley in the primary, not Yang. I had ranked Joseph and Raymond #1 and #2 for district 40, and I stand by those rankings.
I can’t resist including this picture of a mama and her ducklings paying a visit to a Brooklyn bagel shop. New York is back, baby! Photograph by Doug Gordon.
Have a good day!
with love,
L