Voters in deep-red Oklahoma weigh Medicaid expansion tomorrow as virus cases climb

Voters in deep-red Oklahoma this week could order Medicaid expansion for at least 200,000 poor adults, defying state and Trump administration officials fighting to limit the Obamacare program.

If voters approve a ballot measure on Tuesday, Oklahoma would become the first state to broadly expand government-backed health insurance to many of its poorest residents since the beginning of a pandemic that has stripped many people of coverage. At the same time, that could scuttle the Trump administration’s efforts to make Oklahoma a test case for its plan to transform the entitlement program into a block grant.

While ballot measures on Medicaid expansion in recent years have succeeded in other Republican strongholds like Idaho, Nebraska and Utah, the Oklahoma vote comes at a volatile time. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is warning the program would be unaffordable while the state suddenly confronts an estimated $1.3 billion shortfall. Voter turnout is also in question as infection rates surge and the state braces for the possibility of cases stemming from President Donald Trump’s recent rally in Tulsa. At least eight Trump staffers working the event last weekend have tested positive for the virus.

The ballot measure would extend coverage to poor adults without children earning just about $17,000 per year. Many of them have limited affordable coverage options, since they earn too little to qualify for subsidies to purchase health insurance on the Obamacare marketplace. Supporters believe the rise in urgent medical needs during the pandemic will help convince voters to approve it, though there’s limited reliable polling before the vote.



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/29/oklahoma-first-expand-medicaid-during-pandemic-341841

Democrats add four candidates to 'Red to Blue' program

Dana Balter, New York
Michelle De La Isla, Kansas
Hillary Scholten, Michigan
Cameron Webb, Virginia




https://www.rollcall.com/2020/06/29/democrats-add-four-candidates-to-red-to-blue-program/

North Carolina House Democrats Raise Half a Million Dollars during Inaugural "Day of Giving" Event

North Carolina House Democrats Raise Half a Million Dollars during Inaugural “Day of Giving” Event

The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus raised more than $500,000 between Caucus fundraising, Member fundraising and Candidate fundraising, completing the single largest day of fundraising in Caucus history.

“Our Inaugural “Day of Giving” is just the most recent in a series of unprecedented fundraising efforts this cycle,” said Amanda Eubanks, NC House Democratic Caucus Deputy Director. “We know what's at stake in this election. Democrats across the state, and country, are coming together to turn North Carolina blue this November.”

The effort combined social media as well as partnerships with national organizations, including an interview with Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer, participation from EMILY's List, Fight For Reform NC, Future Now Fund, Swing Left, National Democratic Redistricting Committee, and the DLCC as well as a virtual NC Artists Showcase.

“North Carolinians know it’s time to flip the House,” said Dana Walton, NC House Democratic Caucus Executive Director. “Our supporters from Murphy to Manteo know what’s at stake this November and are standing with us in our fight for a brighter future.”



http://www.caswellmessenger.com/news/article_7f9d49ac-b7e4-11ea-9b8e-37c16593f8ec.html

Three Texans in Congress exposed to COVID-19 while at detention center

WASHINGTON - Three Texas members of Congress were potentially exposed to COVID-19 while touring a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in south Texas on Monday, but all have tested negative for the virus.

A Trump administration official notified congressional staffers on Friday that while touring an ICE facility in Dilley, Texas, Democratic U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Sylvia R. Garcia of Houston were exposed to an ICE staffer who tested positive for the virus three days later.

"I was just informed that one of our ICE employees who met Mr. Castro, Ms. Garcia, and Mr. Cuellar at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX on Monday, June 22, 2020 tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)," ICE official Sean Hackbarth wrote to a Congressional Hispanic Caucus staffer.

"While the employee wore a mask for the entire duration of the visit and maintained the minimum social distancing of six feet, out of an abundance of caution, I'm providing notification to you can share it with the appropriate member offices and Hill personnel."




https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/27/texans-congress-exposed-coronavirus-border/

MA-01: Progressives zero in on another House chairman in primary

Progressives energized by last week’s congressional primaries have another high-ranking House Democrat in their sights: Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts.

Neal, 71, is facing a challenge from Alex Morse, a 31-year-old mayor who was born just a few weeks after Neal began his first term in Congress.

Morse spent Tuesday in New York campaigning for progressive insurgent Jamaal Bowman, who holds a double-digit lead over House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel as officials continue to tally up the votes.

He hopes to build on last week’s strong showing by the left in New York and Kentucky with a primary victory on Sept. 1 against Neal in the 1st Congressional District, which spans the western and central parts of Massachusetts.

“Eliot Engel and Richard Neal were elected to Congress on the same day back in 1988,” Morse said in an interview with The Hill. “They’re both chairs of committees that are part of House Democratic leadership, and are out of touch with their districts.”

Morse — the mayor of Holyoke, a city with a population of about 40,000 — faces an uphill climb against a prominent member of Congress. In 2018, Neal easily fended off a progressive challenger and had no Republican opponent in the general election for the solidly Democratic seat.



https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/504860-progressives-zero-in-on-another-house-chairman-in-primary

Golden State Killer Suspect Expected to Plead Guilty and Avoid Death Penalty

The man accused of committing a series of murders and rapes in California during the 1970s and ’80s — crimes that spawned widespread fear and the sobriquet “Golden State Killer” — is expected to accept a plea deal that would allow him to avoid the death penalty, one victim and close relatives of two other victims said on Monday.

As part of the agreement, the man, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., is expected to plead guilty later this month to dozens of criminal counts, including murder and kidnapping, that would send him to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, a victim and victims’ family members said.

They said that prosecutors had briefed them about the likely plea agreement, which still must be approved by a judge.

It was not immediately clear if there was unanimity among the group of prosecutors involved in the case, the victims and their families. The plea agreement was widely reported by the news media in California, where the case has become a phenomenon and inspired an upcoming HBO documentary series. It was the first high-profile case to be cracked with genetic genealogy.



https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/us/golden-state-killer-death-penalty.html

CNN's Van Jones Secretly Helped Craft the Weak Trump Police Reform He Praised on TV

Houston Hospitals Hit Capacity

Texas Medical Center hospitals have stopped reporting key metrics showing the stress rising numbers of COVID-19 patients are placing on their facilities, undermining data that policy makers and the public have relied upon during the pandemic to gauge the spread of the coronavirus,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

“The change came one day after the hospitals reported their base intensive care capacity had hit 100 percent for the first time during the pandemic, with projections showing the institutions — which together comprise the world’s largest medical complex — were on pace to exceed their ‘unsustainable surge capacity’ by July 6.”




https://politicalwire.com/2020/06/28/houston-hospitals-hit-capacity/

Brett Kavanaugh was a secret source to Bob Woodward while working as a lawyer in Ken Starr's 1999 in

New York Times reporter Ben Smith revealed a bombshell in a puff piece about the Washington Post on Sunday. While President Donald Trump has railed against anonymous sources, it appears his own Supreme Court judge used to be one.

According to the report, writers at the Post can look at upcoming stories by looking at the back end of their content management system. “And at the height of the furor over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2018, some who did saw a shocking article awaiting publication,” wrote Smith.

“In the article, Bob Woodward, the Post legend who protected the identity of his Watergate source, Deep Throat, for 30 years, was going to unmask one of his own confidential sources. He was, in particular, going to disclose that Judge Kavanaugh had been an anonymous source in his 1999 book Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate,” said the report.

Woodward wanted to expose Kavanaugh because he had publicly claimed, “in a huffy letter in 1999 to The Post,” that he wasn’t a source for Woodward in 1999. According to the claim, Kavanaugh gave Woodward juicy details about Ken Starr’s investigation behind the scenes while serving as a lawyer on Starr’s team.




https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/brett-kavanaugh-was-a-secret-source-to-bob-woodward-while-working-as-a-lawyer-in-ken-starrs-1999-investigation-report/

Fauci says Covid-19 vaccine might not get us the herd immunity we need

(CNN)Dr. Anthony Fauci says he would "settle" for a Covid-19 vaccine that's 70% to 75% effective, but that this incomplete protection, coupled with the fact that many Americans say they won't get a coronavirus vaccine, makes it "unlikely" that the US will achieve sufficient levels of immunity to quell the outbreak.

With government support, three coronavirus vaccines are expected to be studied in large-scale clinical trials in the next three months.

"The best we've ever done is measles, which is 97 to 98 percent effective," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "That would be wonderful if we get there. I don't think we will. I would settle for [a] 70, 75% effective vaccine."

A CNN poll last month found one-third of Americans said they would not try to get vaccinated against Covid, even if the vaccine is widely available and low cost.



https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/health/fauci-coronavirus-vaccine-contact-tracing-aspen/index.html