TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalSanders raises $18 million in 41 days, but falls short of donor goal
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February, Sen. Bernie Sanders has raised $18.2 million, from a total of about 900,000 individual donations, his campaign announced Tuesday.
The fundraising figures show the Sanders campaign fell short of its goal for the first quarter of 2019: to reach one million individual donations in about six weeks.
But campaign officials said that this financial target had always been ambitious, and was meant to galvanize Sanders’ grassroots base.
With the funds Sanders already has available — about $28 million in cash on hand — he will be able to build infrastructure in key primary states, they said.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2019/04/02/sanders-raises-18-million-41-days-falls-short-donor-goal/
New Hampshire Lawmakers Vote Down Bill Requiring Presidential Candidates To Release Tax Returns
Lawmakers in both the New Hampshire House and Senate have rejected bills requiring presidential candidates to release their federal income tax returns.
The Senate voted 15-9 on Thursday to kill a bill that would have required candidates to submit three years' worth of tax returns to the secretary of state's office when they sign up to compete in the presidential primary. The bill also would have applied to the eventual nominees, who would have had to submit their returns two months before the general election.
The House rejected a similar bill earlier this month. While supporters say voters would benefit from increased transparency, opponents said such legislation could face legal challenges as it would add additional criteria for a candidacy beyond what is outlined in the U.S. Constitution.
https://www.nhpr.org/post/nh-lawmakers-vote-down-bill-requiring-presidential-candidates-release-tax-returns
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Democrat John Delaney Says His 2020 Campaign Geared Toward Independents
John Delaney is a former Congressman from Maryland who's running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He first announced his candidacy almost two years ago after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and he's been in the Granite State several times since.
Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley sat down with Delaney to chat about his candidacy and views on where the Democratic Party is headed.
You've been pretty clear that a priority for you is bipartisanship. I think that's been a real theme so far of your campaign. You've pledged to focus solely on bipartisan proposals in your first 100 days in the White House if elected. Can you tell us about your most significant achievement or something that required real negotiation as a Congressperson -- when you really reached across the aisle?
Sure. Well a great example is something I did right before I left Congress, which was to craft the only bipartisan carbon tax bill in the Congress. In other words, get Democrats and Republicans together to agree how we can actually put a price on carbon, how we give all the money back to the American people and how we actually create something that can get done that makes a big difference on climate change. So you know, I mean I was ranked the third most bipartisan member of the house. And the thing about bipartisanship, it's kind of a means to an end, right? Bipartisanship in and of itself is not a goal. What the goal is is to get things done. The goal is to actually do things that matter to the American people. And if you look back, all the great stuff we've ever done as a country has been done when we build big coalitions, and to some extent of a coalition builder.
Read more: https://www.nhpr.org/post/democrat-john-delaney-says-his-2020-campaign-geared-toward-independents
Shaheen introduces health care affordability package
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire has introduced a health care affordability package to reduce patient costs and expand access to critical medical services.
Shaheen, a Democrat, says the goals are to lower premiums, reduce deductibles, drive down out-of-pocket costs and improve the health care system.
One part would reduce deductibles and co-pays for low-income and middle-income patients by expanding the cost-sharing reduction assistance that insurers are required to provide to individuals enrolled in marketplace coverage. It would appropriate funding to reimburse insurers.
Another part would increase the value of tax credits for families currently eligible for federal assistance and expand eligibility to include more middle-income families. A third part would establish caps on now much hospitals and doctors could charge enrollees in the individual market for services provided by out-of-network medical providers.
Read more: https://www.concordmonitor.com/Shaheen-introduces-health-care-affordability-package-24564305
Distracted driver had goat on lap, cell phone in hand, but no driver's license, say Marlborough
Distracted driver had goat on lap, cell phone in hand, but no driver's license, say Marlborough policeMarlborough police say they stopped a woman Monday who was using a cell phone while driving with a baby goat on her lap and no license.
A merry April Fools jape were it not true, they told Facebook.
"One of our officers just stopped a woman on Main Street who was using her phone and had a baby goat on her lap while driving without a valid license. 🐐 I wish this was another April Fool's joke baaaht it's not 😦 Please don't drive distracted. #CantMakeThisUp #NewHampshireProblems," Marlborough police posted.
As sad but true as it was, it didn't take long for 147 to reply. A sample by genre:
-snip
GREATEST OF ALL TIME - "I hope Tom Brady's kid was unharmed!" - Jason Taylor
Read more: https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/distracted-driver-had-goat-on-lap-cell-phone-in-hand/article_e048894e-550a-11e9-82f7-7bd6031d23bd.html?block_id=664693
Brady Sullivan agrees to $500k fine over disposing contaminated Manchester soil
MANCHESTER — Brady Sullivan has agreed to pay a $500,000 administrative fine related to managing contaminated soils removed from 195 McGregor St., according to state officials.
The Manchester-based real estate company will pay $50,000 to the state’s hazardous waste cleanup fund and the remaining $450,000 will be used in supplemental environmental projects in Manchester, Bartlett and Londonderry, according to the Department of Environmental Services on Tuesday.
That includes paying $125,000 to the city of Manchester to fund a project involving contaminated soil cleanup at 307 Kidder St., a city-owned lot associated with a hotel and parking garage development, according to DES.
Prior to 2013, as part of construction and development activities, Brady Sullivan transported contaminated soil from 195 McGregor St. in Manchester, known as Mill West, to a gravel pit property that it owns in Londonderry at 6 Roundstone Drive, according to DES.
Read more: https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/brady-sullivan-agrees-to-k-fine-over-disposing-contaminated-manchester/article_1b7b0103-fd57-5eec-b759-c718e8ca04ca.html
House budget draft nixes plan for $26M secure psychiatric hospital
CONCORD — House budget writers have zeroed out one of Gov. Chris Sununu’s most widely applauded initiatives — his plan for a new secure psychiatric unit to house some of the state’s most challenging mental health patients.
The House Finance Committee will vote Wednesday on its version of the two-year revenue and spending plan, which is at odds with the governor’s plan on several fronts, including family medical leave, capital gains taxes, business taxes, education funding and mental health services.
The recommended House budget, scheduled for a floor vote on April 11, strikes out $26 million for a new 60-bed forensic psychiatric hospital, which would have to be planned by November 2019 and operational by June 2021, according to the budget proposal Sununu submitted in February.
The House is taking a more cautious approach, recommending funding for a study committee to oversee planning for such a facility, but with no groundbreaking anticipated until 2022, if at all.
Read more: https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/house-budget-draft-nixes-plan-for-m-secure-psychiatric-hospital/article_e3b1ccff-1ead-53b1-a931-a560695fab8c.html
Lauren McCauley On Equal Pay Day, women workers, businesses call for end to workplace discrimination
In Augusta on Tuesday, Maine women and advocates marked the annual Equal Pay Day with a celebration and promise to double down in the fight for full economic justice between the sexes.
This year, April 2 marks the symbolic date that women’s pay “catches up” to the wages their male counterparts took home in 2018. On average, full-time working women in Maine make 84 cents for every dollar men earn. For women of color, that gap is much worse. Black women in the state make just 65 cents for every dollar made by a white man.
Under the State House dome, Maine legislators in the House and Senate indicated their support for closing this gap by passing a bill, LD 278, which would amend the Maine Human Rights Act to protect against pay discrimination by barring prospective employers from asking about an employee’s pay history.
“Equal pay day is about recognizing women’s worth and paying women what they deserve,” said bill sponsor Sen. Cathy Breen (D-Falmouth) at a press conference.
Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/on-equal-pay-day-women-workers-businesses-call-for-end-to-workplace-discrimination/
Collins once supported same attacks on ACA she now calls 'disappointing'
Last week, Senator Susan Collins said she found the Trump administration’s refusal to defend the Affordable Care Act “very disappointing,” but in a previous legal brief, Collins made some of the same legal claims as the ACA’s current challengers, arguing that the entire law should be overturned.
This about-face and votes she has taken to undermine the ACA and put the Act in legal jeopardy are leading supporters of the health care law to accuse Maine’s senior senator of hypocrisy.
In 2010, Collins and 35 other U.S. senators signed on to an amicus curiae brief in the case of Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services. In that filing, authored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the lawmakers argued that the individual mandate is central to the Affordable Care Act and that the entire ACA should be struck down if the mandate is removed.
“[T]he individual mandate was at the heart of the Patient Protection and Afford-able Care Act (“PPACA”) and was essential to the passage of the entire law,” argued the senators. “The PPACA cannot stand without it.”
Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/collins-once-supported-same-attacks-on-aca-she-now-calls-disappointing/
U.S. House GOP leader McCarthy assails ranked-choice voting in Maine
AUGUSTA — Ranked-choice voting remains a top target of Republicans from Augusta to Washington.
The GOP leader in the U.S. House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, cited the defeat of U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in a ranked-choice race last year as a prime example of the way Democrats are allegedly manipulating elections “because they can’t win in a fair fight.”
It is an argument a number of Maine Republicans have also made in their unsuccessful quests to stamp out the voting method approved by Mainers in a 2016 referendum and endorsed at the polls again in 2018.
They have a handful of bills that would stymie or kill ranked-choice voting in the state in the unlikely event they are approved by a Legislature controlled by Democrats. Democrats, taking the opposite stance, have a couple of proposals on the table that would extend ranked-choice voting in Maine.
Read more: https://www.sunjournal.com/2019/04/01/house-gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-assails-ranked-choice-voting-in-maine/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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