Southern Progressives

Moving to the left one post at a time

May 03, 2023

National News:

Judge rejects Zooey Zephyr bid to return to Montana House floor

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the transgender Montana lawmaker who was silenced after telling Republicans they would have blood on their hands for opposing gender-affirming health care for kids, cannot return to the statehouse House floor and participate in debate, a judge ruled Tuesday. The ruling came after attorneys for the state of Montana asked the judge to reject Zephyr’s attempt to return after she was silenced and then banished for admonishing Republican lawmakers and encouraging a raucous statehouse protest. Lawyers working under Attorney General Austin Knudsen cautioned that any intervention by the courts on Zephyr’s behalf would be a blatant violation of the separation of powers. Tuesday's ruling came just hours before lawmakers wrapped up their biennial session.

https://apnews.com/article/zooey-zephyr-montana-transgender-lawsuit-cce3cfcf6ec2e71abee383b2ad1d4b72

May 1, 2023

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) today to warn him that the Treasury will be unable to pay the government’s bills by early June, possibly as early as June 1. She wrote: “I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/may-1-2023?r=2cuzj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

April 30, 2023

Thanks to Heather Timmons, White House editor for Reuters, whom I met a lifetime ago in summer 2016 as we tried to figure out what on earth was going on in the Republican Party, I got to hear President Biden’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in person last night. Speaking in the giant hall in the Washington Hilton where the event was held, the president was relaxed and funny, poking fun at himself, entrepreneur Elon Musk, former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson, and House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Finally, he embraced the Dark Brandon meme that suggests he has a laser-eyed alter-ego who ingeniously defeats his opponents.

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/april-30-2023?r=2cuzj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

State News:

Vanderbilt Poll: majority of Tennessee voters support red-flag laws – Tennessee Lookout

A Vanderbilt University poll found a majority of Tennesseans support red-flag laws to take guns from people at risk of harming themselves.

https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/05/03/vanderbilt-poll-majority-of-tennessee-voters-support-red-flag-laws/

Local News:

FROM ATHENS UTILITIES BOARD: Over the past few days, a few

Athens Utilities customers have called in saying their water has a funny

taste to it. Etowah Utilities recently put out a news release about the

same issue. “This taste that some sense in the water is apparently due to

Hiwassee River water, which supplies AUB some of the treated water

that is distributed on our system,” said AUB’s Wayne Scarbrough. “This

is not a new issue by any means. There is not a problem with the water

from a health standpoint in any way. But there is, for some, a strange

‘earthy’ taste,” he said. This taste is apparently the result of seasonal

changes in the Hiwassee River or in the lake that feeds it. “The seasonal

changes can include algae growth or simple water turnover, as colder

water falls and warmer water rises, which can bring on the strange taste

some people sense and some don’t,” he said. “That is what we’ve been

seeing on our water system, particularly with customers who live closer

to the pipe that transports treated water to Athens from the Hiwassee

Utilities Commission (HUC), which gets its water from the river. But

some customers who live on the same road taste nothing,” Scarbrough

said. “We’ve seen the same thing at AUB. We have had several people

to taste water that we have collected from different points on the system.

Some taste a little something while others sense no difference in the current water and water from their past experience,” Scarbrough said. The

water that comes to Athens Utilities from HUC is perfectly safe to drink,

even if you do sense that slight ‘earthy’ taste. The water has been fully

treated and tested by HUC and meets all safe drinking water standards.

“We feel certain that this odd taste some can sense in their water will go

away soon with the seasonal change and the flow of the Hiwassee River

getting back to normal,” Scarbrough said

The Arts:

Bill Freeman is Southern Progressive Newsletter

If you would like to support what news I bring to progressives in McMinn County, buy me a coffee so I will have the energy to keep on going.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/calabash52M

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