Evening Wrap

Just to really drive home the irrelevance of humidity, let’s start in North Carolina, where thousands of residents spent Christmas Eve in the dark after freezing temperatures wreaked havoc on power plants. That same inclement weather led to a spike in demand that defied Duke Energy’s projections, resulting in the first rolling blackouts in state history, per NC Policy Watch.

For some (probably happier) people, a new year is a chance to reset and refresh, but for others (me), it’s mostly a harbinger of new state legislative sessions. Lawmakers in 14 states are expected to gavel back in this week (seven on Tuesday, seven more on Wednesday); an additional 27 are scheduled to return later in January. It is a veritable cornucopia of state legislative happenings! I have so many choices here that I’m honestly not sure where to begin!

As our Nevada Editor Hugh Jackson often observes, with considerable frustration, the Silver State does not get the attention it deserves. It’s a big state, a growing and dynamic state, rich in history, scenery, and natural resources. It is a battleground state that can make or break a presidential campaign or decide control of Congress, with an electorate that looks a lot like America, politically, culturally and economically. Yet the national media rarely drops in for a visit and the national parties have declined to give this obvious bellwether state the leading role in their presidential primaries. 

One of the main things that government is supposed to do is make life better for its constituents. Don’t believe me? It says so right there in the Constitution. Congress has the power, among other things, to “provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” So why does it seem like that “general Welfare” is so hard to come by sometimes? Let’s check out some recent examples.

We know that the U.S. has the biggest, baddest collection of medical technology, institutions and professionals on earth. So why doesn’t the U.S. rank No. 1 in surveys of the best health care system? (We’re No. 18 in the annual World Population Review ranking.) Because our health care system is a disjointed, expensive mess that doesn’t always put patients first. Let’s review some recent examples.

Let’s start with arguably the only group in the country that never got the “nothing matters” memo: The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which concluded its work Monday by referring former President Donald Trump to the federal Department of Justice for potential criminal charges.

Let’s start with some crabby news out of Alaska, where two prominent crab harvests were canceled in the wake of a prolonged marine heat wave that’s prevented ice from forming in the Bering Sea for two winters. The sudden environmental shift decimated populations of snow crab, forcing state officials to close the fishery for the first time ever. That cancellation coincided with the second consecutive closure of the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest due to dwindling population numbers, per the Alaska Beacon.

Specifically, we’re going to talk about school funding, which is always a nationwide disaster. Education dollars come mostly from state and local budgets, which vary widely from place to place. Rural cities, small towns and areas with high rates of poverty have less money to invest in education, so schools in those areas generally receive fewer dollars per student than districts in wealthier jurisdictions. (Even in the same district, low-poverty schools often get more money than high-poverty ones.) The financial disparity is a giant driver of achievement gaps, particularly between majority-Black and predominantly white schools.

From a global perspective, water supplies in the United States are fairly secure. This year, America ranked 26th among 180 countries in terms of safe drinking water and sanitation systems, up about two spots from 2012. Most of us probably haven’t considered this, because most of us — roughly 99.4% of Americans — have access to clean drinking water. That seems impressive until you calculate exactly how many people that excludes: About 2 million.

It’s a harsh assessment that’s supported by data. Here’s a recent example: Child poverty declined by 46% from 2020 to 2021, thanks mostly to the pandemic-era expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit. The change sent more money to more families, lifting an estimated 5.3 million people — and 2.9 million children — out of poverty. 

Let’s check in on Kari Lake, a MAGA Republican who’s made increasingly desperate attempts at relevancy following her loss in Arizona’s gubernatorial race a month ago. Her latest gambit: A lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the election and hold a do-over on the basis of “intentional misconduct” in Maricopa County.

As ever in state politics, “work” is a relative term. The vast majority of state legislatures are adjourned, leaving just three (Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio) in regular session and another two (California and Florida) in special session. Lawmakers in other states are using their downtime in a variety of ways, ranging from banal session prep and transition planning to exceedingly dramatic legal wrangling and political bickering.