BUFFALO, N.Y.—In her victory speech, India Walton—the community organizer and first-time candidate who’d just beaten four-term incumbent Byron Brown in the city’s June 22 Democratic primary for mayor—referred lovingly to her 500 or so campaign volunteers as her “band of revolutionaries.
”That may sound trite. It’s not. It’s probably not possible to understand how disruptive Walton’s win has been unless you’re from here. But I’ll try.

Walton is a community organizer, former head of a community land trust, a registered nurse, a labor activist, and a single mother of four who earned her GED while pregnant with twins. This was her first race for political office.

York State Senate to the mayor’s office on the second floor of Buffalo’s beautiful art deco City Hall. The massive building went up in 1932 at the origin point of the city’s original radial street plan when the city’s power elite believed—or professed to believe—that Buffalo’s rapid growth over the previous 50 years would continue unabated, that this would be a city of a million people by 1950.

That’s not what happened. Disinvestment had in fact already begun in the 1920s, and, after an economic bump from World War II, the city’s industrial economy continued to decline, finally cratering in the 1970s.
Buffalo has been a client of the state and federal governments ever since. State aid provides one-third of the city’s revenue; federal money flows through the city bureaucracy to fund a network of anti-poverty nonprofits.

“If we are going to make real progress on the urgent crises facing all of our communities, we need lawmakers who are committed to legislating boldly - that's Nina,” Pressley said in a statement endorsing Turner.

Pressey said Turner, who previously served as a national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, has been “unapologetic in her advocacy and her vision for the communities” in her district.

“As I’ve always said, policy is my love language, and I know Nina shares my belief in what we can accomplish when we create policies intentionally and in deep partnership with the community. I’m proud to endorse her candidacy, and look forward to working with her in Congress,” she added in a statement obtained by The Hill.

The endorsement makes Pressley the latest member of the progressive group of female congresswomen — which also includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — to back Turner in the race.

The 11th Congressional District special election has a surplus of candidates. Emphasis on the word “surplus” – as in there are 13 candidates in this race, only around half of whom have an overt understanding of policy. Even fewer of those have any shot whatsoever at winning. That was abundantly clear during the cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer editorial board endorsement meeting Wednesday. Twelve of the candidates were all in one room taking questions from the Editorial Board and it showed a clear pattern of what the talent in this race is actually like.

Through numerous forums and in-depth interviews, it’s become increasingly clear that only a handful of the 13 who will be in the Aug. 3 ballot have any real policy chops. Tariq Shabazz, the 27-year-old Navy veteran and activist is definitely a wonk and conceivably has a political future. Former City Councilman Jeff Johnson also has shown a high level of understanding and detail when discussing issues like criminal justice reform and economics. Their problem, however, is they haven’t been able to crystallize that policy knowledge into a message that reverberates.

Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown, whom many thought would be in a dogfight with Turner just seven months ago, has slipped tremendously. She figured to have all the establishment help she could ask for when she first announced, but the necessary gusto hasn’t seemed to coalesce.
It was evident during the editorial board interview, with many of her answers sounding repetitious. Talking points are important to a campaign, but being unable or unwilling to deviate from those talking points simply isn’t going to win over voters.

The fact of the matter is, based on interviews, public appearances, fundraising, endorsements and most other metrics, former state Sen. Nina Turner looks like she’s running away in the race. It certainly looked that way at the Editorial Board interview (Note: I am not a member of the Editorial Board, nor do I know who they will endorse).

Turner is leading the Democratic contenders who are vying to fill former Rep. Marcia Fudge’s seat in Congress, according to a new poll. Turner’s campaign highlighted results of the poll Tuesday morning, which was conducted by Tulchin Research. You can explore the poll in the document at the bottom of this story.

“Notably, the poll shows Nina Turner with a sizable lead with support from 50% of likely voters,” her campaign said in a press release. “Across every demographic, Turner is the favorite to serve as OH-11’s next Congressperson.”

Since launching her campaign in December, Turner has also received numerous endorsements – including support from various politicians, organizations and celebrities.

Eager to find a winning culture war issue, former President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders are increasingly touting themselves as champions of women in sports by pushing back against President Joe Biden's efforts to expand transgender rights.The effort — which critics call transphobic and likely to backfire — extends from the roughly 20 Republican-controlled states where legislators are advancing bills to keep transgender women from participating in interscholastic sports, to Trump himself, who told attendees this past weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida that it was “so important” to “protect women’s sports.”

“This issue will help [the] GOP win midterms,” said Stephen Miller, the former Trump White House aide who helped write his CPAC speech.

Eager to find a winning culture war issue, former President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders are increasingly touting themselves as champions of women in sports by pushing back against President Joe Biden's efforts to expand transgender rights.

The effort — which critics call transphobic and likely to backfire — extends from the roughly 20 Republican-controlled states where legislators are advancing bills to keep transgender women from participating in interscholastic sports, to Trump himself, who told attendees this past weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida that it was “so important” to “protect women’s sports.”

“This increase is phased in overtime and it, in fact, allows consumption to increase,” said Coalition President Saru Jayaraman.

The federal minimum wage stands at $7.25. The last increase was in 2009. Many small businesses feel a $15 minimum wage could put them out of business. Jayaraman says that small businesses actually fair better in states with higher wages.

“Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Minnesota all have had higher small business growth rates and job growth and restaurant industry sales prior to the pandemic than West Virginia,” said Jayaraman.

On Thursday, a group of lawmakers, including West Virginia’s Senator Shelly Moore-Capito (Republican) came out in favor of a phased in $10 federal wage increase. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin says he would support an $11 minimum wage.

White House imposes COVID-19 testing fee on reporters in latest step limiting press access

WASHINGTON — The White House is imposing a new $170 COVID-19 testing fee on reporters who want to access the West Wing, in what critics say is the latest step that constrains press coverage of President Biden.

The Biden administration already imposed sweeping restrictions, including capping at 80 the number of pre-approved journalists who are able to access White House grounds on a given day — each of whom must take a COVID-19 rapid test before 1 p.m.

Under former President Donald Trump, any reporter with a “hard pass” was able to breeze past the White House gates at any time and without taking a coronavirus test. But few abused the privilege due to peer pressure to limit visits.

The latest restrictions were announced in an on-the-record email from White House Correspondents’ Association President Zeke Miller, who is a reporter for The Associated Press.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/27/white-house-imposes-covid-19-testing-fee-on-reporters/