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☆ In Oregon, a Bid for Urban Casinos Threatens a Gambling ‘Arms Race’
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( David W. Chen | Jordan Gale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the franchise owner of an Elmer’s family restaurant in southern Oregon featuring German pancakes “almost as big as Crater Lake” and omelets stuffed with local Tillamook Cheddar cheese, David R. Thomason has always tended to his customers, even before they walk through the front door. But these days, he is more worried about the ones who come in the side entrance, which leads to a bar lounge where customers can bet on slotlike machines operated by the Oregon Lottery until 2 a.m.Like many of the state’s 3,800 video lottery retailers who pump almost $1.7 billion into the state’s coffers, Mr. Thomason is waiting for the U.S. Department of Interior to decide whether two Oregon tribes will be allowed to claim a much bigger stake in state gambling revenues by opening casinos in urban areas, far from their reservations along the coast. “I’m adamantly opposed to the tribal expansion,” Mr. Thomason said on a recent weekday morning, when four of six gaming terminals were in use, and a few customers were nursing drinks. “My belief is that we would see as much as a 25 percent drop in volume.”

Persons: David R, Thomason, “ I’m, Mr Organizations: Oregon Lottery, U.S . Department of Interior Locations: Oregon

☆ No Apparent Motive in Arkansas Shooting, but the Reaction Is ‘So Personal’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the officers in the town of 3,400 who rushed there and eventually subdued the assailant could not have felt more connected. “They knew everyone personally, from the suspect to the victims on scene,” said Col. Mike Hagar, the director of the Arkansas State Police. Officers arrived at the Mad Butcher grocery store three minutes after the first shot was fired, then took down the gunman five minutes later. An additional person was identified late Saturday as having been injured by the gunman, bringing the total to 10. Of the five people who remained hospitalized, one woman was still in critical condition at a hospital in Little Rock, Mr. Hagar said.

Persons: ”, Mike Hagar, Mad Butcher, Callie Weems, Roy Sturgis, Shirley Taylor, Ellen Shrum, Hagar Organizations: Arkansas State Police, Mad Locations: Fordyce, Ark, Little Rock

☆ Grocery Store Shooting That Killed 3 Leaves an Arkansas Town in Disbelief
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( Erica Sweeney | David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Thomas and Sharon Brazil were sitting in their car late Friday morning in front of the only grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., discussing what they wanted to buy to put on the grill that night. He looked at them, Mr. Brazil said, “and he shot.” Mr. Brazil, a 65-year-old minister, was shot in the forehead above his right eye. All told, the police said that the gunman killed three people and injured 10 after he opened fire at the Mad Butcher grocery store. “I just don’t have the words,” said Kasey Langley, whose daughter owns a flower shop a few doors down from the Mad Butcher. “I woke up this morning thinking it was all a dream.

Persons: Thomas, Sharon Brazil, “, Mr, Mad Butcher, ”, Kasey Langley Organizations: Mad Locations: Fordyce, Ark, Brazil, Little

Jeff Landry as he signed bill after bill this week on public education in the state, making it clear he believed God was guiding his hand. One new law requires that transgender students be addressed by the pronouns for the gender on their birth certificates (“God gives us our mark,” he said). Then he signed into law a mandate that the Ten Commandments be hung in every public classroom, demonstrating a new willingness for Louisiana to go where other states have not. “We don’t quit,” Mr. Landry, a Republican, said at the signing ceremony. And Mr. Landry, a Catholic who has been vocal about his faith’s influence in shaping his politics, wants to lead the charge.

Persons: Jeff Landry, ”, “, don’t, ” Mr, Landry Organizations: Fatima Catholic School, Republican, Catholic Locations: Lafayette, La, Louisiana

Brent Jacquette knows a thing or two about college sports. A former collegiate soccer player and coach in Pennsylvania who is now an executive at a consulting firm for athletic recruiting, he’s well aware of issues surrounding pay for college athletes. But even for an industry veteran like Mr. Jacquette, the news of the N.C.A.A.’s staggering settlement in a class-action antitrust lawsuit on Thursday came as a surprise, with more than a little anxiety. The first words that came to mind, he said, were “trepidation” and “confusion.”And he was not alone in feeling unsettled. Interviews, statements and social media posts mere hours after the settlement was announced showed that many were uncertain and concerned about what the future of collegiate sports holds.

Persons: Brent Jacquette, Jacquette, ’, Phil DiStefano, Rick George Organizations: University of Colorado Locations: Pennsylvania, University of Colorado Boulder

☆ How a Pandemic Boom Led to a ‘Property Tax Mess’ in Colorado
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Then this year, Ms. Gamble, a retired X-ray technician, faced a 20 percent spike in her property tax bill. With no other way to pay it, she began to empty her home of 34 years in the Denver suburb of Littleton, one memento at a time. “Every knickknack I have, everything I don’t use, I’m selling,” said Ms. Gamble, 84, who has asked officials in neighboring Douglas County about applying for subsidized housing. I think I need to use two credit cards to do it. And I’m going to have to pay interest on those.”

Persons: Marleen Gamble, Gamble, ” Organizations: Social Security Locations: Denver, Littleton, Douglas County

☆ A New ‘Holy Grail’ in the Housing Crisis: Statewide Rent Caps
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the last 10 years, Dominique Horn has worked for a community health organization in the fast-growing city of Vancouver in Washington State, helping people squeezed by soaring rents to try to avoid homelessness. Sometimes she wonders if she’s going to be her agency’s next client. With her husband struggling at times to find work, Ms. Horn has maxed out her credit cards to keep pace with the rent. The couple and their two children have moved so many times that she keeps sentimental items like photos and heirlooms boxed up, because no place feels like home yet. “I’m just in a constant state of waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Ms. Horn, 42, whose current lease expires in May.

Persons: Dominique Horn, Horn, heirlooms, “ I’m, ”, “, Ms Locations: Vancouver, Washington State, Washington, Olympia

☆ Vermont Becomes Latest State to Propose Wealth Taxes
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lawmakers in Vermont are introducing legislation this week that would impose new taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, joining a growing national campaign being pushed by Democrats who believe that the measures will gain traction as states reckon with post-pandemic budget squeezes. One proposal in Vermont would tax people with more than $10 million in net worth on their capital gains, even if the gains have not yet been realized. Another would add a 3 percent marginal tax on individual incomes exceeding $500,000 a year — a measure that supporters contend could pump $98 million, or almost 5 percent of the annual budget, into the state’s coffers. To underscore the bills’ importance to the Democratic leaders who control the legislature, both are being sponsored by State Representative Emilie Kornheiser of Brattleboro, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. “We want to make sure that all Vermonters are paying their fair share.”

Persons: Emilie Kornheiser, ”, Kornheiser, “ Organizations: Democratic, State Locations: Vermont, Brattleboro

☆ Courts Strike Down Gun Control Measures in Two States
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the wake of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that significantly limits what the government can do to restrict guns, states led by Democrats have scrambled to circumvent or test the limits of the ruling. A few have approved new gun restrictions. Oregon even passed a ballot initiative to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines. But this week, supporters of the new gun measures suffered a pair of setbacks, underscoring the rippling effect of the court’s decision. On the same day, a state judge in southeastern Oregon concluded that a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2022 that would prohibit high-capacity magazines and require background checks and training to obtain gun permits violated the State Constitution.

Organizations: Supreme, Democrats, U.S ., Appeals, Fourth Circuit Locations: U.S, Oregon, Richmond , Va, Maryland

☆ ‘I’m Not Superwoman’: Philadelphia’s Likely Mayor Urges Teamwork
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As one urban gardener after another beseeched Cherelle Parker to prevent the green spaces that they had spent years nurturing from being gobbled up by developers, she furiously took notes in her trademark spiral notebook and barely said a word. Eventually, Ms. Parker, the Democratic nominee for mayor, did address the neighborhood groups that had gathered on a chilly afternoon at Las Parcelas garden in north central Philadelphia. Yes, she would convene as many stakeholders as possible to come up with a solution. “I’m not Superwoman — I can’t fix everything up by myself,” she said as nearby construction clanged in the background. “I want to manage expectations.”Ms. Parker was talking about Philadelphia’s 450 community gardens, but she might as well have been referring to her 142-square-mile hometown.

Persons: Cherelle Parker, Parker, “ I’m, ”, ” Ms Organizations: Democratic Locations: Philadelphia

Nov. 1, 2023Jonathan Robertson was preparing to start the workday on his family cattle farm when a campaign ad in the race for agriculture commissioner of Kentucky flashed across his television. He couldn’t hear the narrator, but he noticed that the candidate — the name was Shell, he believed — was shown on the screen baling hay and driving farm equipment. “I haven’t heard anything about who’s running,” Mr. Robertson, 47, recalled a few hours later, stopping with his brother for the $5.99 lunch special at the Wigwam General Store in Horse Cave., Ky. “Who’s his opponent?”Neither Mr. Robertson nor his brother, Josh, 44, knew who was in the race, but they had no doubt how they would vote: “I’m a straight-ticket Republican,” Josh said.

Persons: Jonathan Robertson, —, Mr, Robertson, “ Who’s, Josh, “, ” Josh Organizations: Shell, Wigwam Locations: Kentucky, Cave, Ky

☆ Hawaii Settles Sex Discrimination Case With High School Female Athletes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hawaii education officials on Friday agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by female athletes at the state’s biggest public high school alleging widespread and systemic sex discrimination, as well as retaliation against the girls who raised those concerns. The lawsuit filed by the athletes and their families from James Campbell High School, located in Ewa Beach, a Honolulu suburb, had accused school officials of forcing water polo athletes to practice in the ocean, sometimes battling whipping winds and choppy waves, because the school had failed to provide them a pool. Closer to campus, female athletes had to run to a nearby Burger King to use the bathroom, or change clothes under the bleachers or on the bus. The case was notable because much of the attention with Title IX has focused on opportunities for women to participate in college sports, while high school programs were seldom challenged. First filed in 2018, after Honolulu Civil Beat, a nonprofit newsroom, detailed gender disparities at Campbell, the case gained momentum in July 2022, when a federal judge ruled that the case could proceed as a class action.

Persons: James, IX, Campbell Organizations: James Campbell High School, Honolulu Civil Locations: Hawaii, Ewa Beach, Honolulu, Burger

☆ Georgia Supreme Court Allows State’s Six-Week Abortion Ban to Remain in Effect
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Georgia’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s prohibition of abortion Tuesday, rejecting arguments made by doctors and advocacy groups that the law was unconstitutional when the state legislature approved it in 2019, more than three years before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The ruling means that abortion remains banned in the state, with limited exceptions, after the sixth week of pregnancy — a point when most women have not yet even realized they are pregnant. The Georgia case is not over, because the court addressed only the question of whether the state ban should have been voided because of when it was enacted. The court sent the case back to a lower court for a trial on the separate question of whether the state constitution protects a right to privacy, and whether that right encompasses abortion. Still, the latest ruling in Georgia is a reminder that state constitutions have become key arbiters in the nation’s state-by-state abortion battles.

Persons: Roe, Wade Organizations: U.S, Supreme, North Locations: Georgia’s, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia

Image The Pioneer Inn in Lahaina, Hawaii, last year. Image Shops and dining destinations along the sidewalks and streets in Lahaina, Maui. Mr. Hedani said the fabled beach areas on Oahu that Hawaii is best known for held nothing on Lahaina. “The sunset looks fake every time I see it.”Image Sunset in Lahaina, Hawaii. “What happens when you take away the most important street on Maui?” he said.

Persons: George Alan Freeland, Freeland’s, ”, Theo Morrison, Daejas, Baldwin, Ephraim Spaulding, Dwight Baldwin, Morrison, Mark Twain, “, —, Kiha Kaina, Patrick T, Kaina, Lee Anne Wong, Wong, Tony Novak, Clifford, Ronald Williams, Williams, it’s, Jared Hedani, Tommy Bahama, Hedani, “ You’re, Jim Wilson, Kamehameha the, Kaniela Ing, Ing, “ I’d, Amy Qin, David W, Chen, Mitch Smith Organizations: Lahaina Restoration Foundation, The New York Times, East Coast, ., Fallon, Agence France, French Culinary Institute, Hawaii State Archives, New York Times, Green New Deal Network Locations: Lahaina, British, Maui, Hawaii, “, United States, Lahaina , Hawaii, Massachusetts, East, Berkeley, Calif, ”, Papa’aina, New York City, Maui . Credit, Mexico City, Shaw, Paradise, Oahu, Waikiki

☆ Federal Appeals Court Further Limits Abortion Access on Guam
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Though abortion is legal in Guam up to 13 weeks of pregnancy, and later in certain cases, the last doctor who performed abortions left the island in 2018. BackgroundAbortion has long been a taboo topic on the culturally conservative island where about 80 percent of the inhabitants are Catholic. A federal court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional and blocked the territorial government from enforcing it, but the attorney general is fighting to try to revive the ban. That law was then blocked by a federal judge, allowing the doctors to send abortion pills. But with the momentum of the Supreme Court decision last year that overturned the national right to abortion, the Guam attorney general’s office said the injunction should be lifted.

Persons: Douglas Moylan, Vanessa L, Williams, general’s, Donald J, Trump, George W, Bush, Alexa Kolbi, “, ”, Moylan, Roe, Wade, Guam’s Organizations: Republican, New York Times, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Guam, San Francisco, Hawaii, Honolulu, ”

☆ In Isolated Guam, Abortion Is Legal. And Nearly Impossible to Get.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( David W. Chen | Noriko Hayashi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For decades, the Pregnancy Control Clinic, tucked inside a squat, beige building around the corner from a bowling alley, handled most of the abortions on Guam, a tiny U.S. territory 1,600 miles south of Japan. But the doctor who ran it retired seven years ago, and the clinic now appears abandoned. Though abortion is legal in Guam up to 13 weeks of pregnancy, and later in certain cases, the last doctor who performed abortions left Guam in 2018. The closest abortion clinic on American soil is in Hawaii, an eight-hour flight away. And a pending court case could soon cut off access to abortion pills, the last way for most women on Guam to get legal abortions.

Persons: Dr, Edmund A, ”, “, Griley Organizations: Pregnancy Control Locations: Guam, Japan, Hawaii

☆ Deadlocked Iowa Supreme Court Leaves Abortion Legal Through 20 Weeks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The NewsA legal attempt to ban abortion in Iowa after six weeks of pregnancy failed on Friday, after the State Supreme Court deadlocked over whether to vacate a lower court’s injunction and allow the ban to take effect. That means abortion will remain legal in Iowa through 20 weeks of pregnancy. Iowa’s 2018 law was blocked by a district judge, who cited an Iowa Supreme Court decision holding that the State Constitution provided a fundamental right to abortion — a decision that was later reversed. But the district court said no, setting the stage for the Iowa Supreme Court to hear the case. The higher court, whose members are all Republican appointees, deadlocked 3-3 on Friday, letting the lower court’s injunction stand.

Persons: Roe, Wade, ”, Rita Bettis Austen, Chris Schandevel, Kim Reynolds, “, today’s, —, Reynolds Organizations: Defending, Republican, U.S, Supreme, Iowa Supreme, Iowa Locations: Iowa, Roe

☆ North Carolina Legislature Passes 12-Week Abortion Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David W. Chen | Kate Kelly | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

North Carolina hastily approved legislation on Thursday that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, setting the stage for a likely test of the Republican Party’s new, but slim, supermajority. After an emotional, five-hour debate, the Senate, by a vote of 29 to 20, approved a ban that the House had already passed the night before. But the legislature now has the potential to override his veto if Republicans can keep their party united to muster enough votes. If enacted, the bill would reduce abortion access in the state, which currently allows abortion up to 20 weeks. North Carolina has become a destination for women seeking abortions.

☆ Judge Allows Abortion Clinics to Remain Open in Utah for Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Utah state judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a new law, one day before it was scheduled to take effect, that would have banned abortion clinics and potentially put a halt to most abortions in the state. Abortion is legal in Utah up to 18 weeks of pregnancy, and only in limited circumstances. A state law which would ban nearly all abortions is suspended while the Utah Supreme Court considers whether abortion is protected in the Constitution. 467 that was signed into law by the Republican governor and zeroed in on something else: abortion clinics, where 95 percent of all abortions are performed in the state. Abortion clinics would lose their licenses if they performed the procedure.

Republicans in conservative states have sought to balance pressure from their base to place more restrictions on abortion with broader support for the right to end a pregnancy. Public support for legal abortion has climbed to 65 percent this year from 55 percent in 2010, according to recent polling from the Public Religion Research Institute. Majorities of residents in 43 states say that abortion should be legal in most cases. Around 63 percent of Republicans said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, according to the PRRI poll. “What Republicans need to do is get to a place where they talk less about the extremes.”

MIAMI — Florida lawmakers voted to prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy on Thursday, culminating a rapid effort by elected Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis to transform the state to one of the most restrictive in the country. In the six months after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion last year, no state saw a greater increase in the number of legal abortions performed each month than Florida, according to a report released on Tuesday. Mr. DeSantis is expected to sign the six-week ban despite the complicated politics the issue presents. The new restriction would help him, to an extent, with conservative Republicans in a presidential primary but would likely be far less appealing to many moderate Republicans and independent voters in a general election.

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