Southern Progressives

National News:

Messaging on the debt ceiling debate:

• Always keep the focus on what’s at stake: defaulting on the debt. The technical mechanism for preventing a default is “raising the debt ceiling,” but if we just ask people whether or not they want to raise the debt ceiling, we lose the debate. People generally don’t know what that means, and it sounds vaguely bad -- like you’re agreeing to wasteful spending. But if we instead frame the issue as a choice between raising the debt ceiling or defaulting on the national debt, we win the debate handily. So always remember: This is about default on the debt. We don’t want to; the other side is threatening to.

• Slashing funding for teachers and schools, and cutting Medicaid for disabled kids and seniors. Of everything in the GOP bill, the two least popular things are cuts to education and healthcare. The GOP bill eliminates 108,000 teachers’ jobs, taking away educational support for 32 million kids in the country. It would also put healthcare of 21 million people in jeopardy by slashing Medicaid, including seniors in nursing homes and children with disabilities. These should be our leading arguments against this proposal -- we should repeat, repeat, repeat until they become as well known as the earlier attempt to cut Social Security and Medicare.

State News:

Local News:

With the weather warming up, residents in Etowah will soon have an outlet to cool off.

City of Etowah officials are planning to open the town’s splashpad soon, while the city pool is slated to be available again beginning May 27.

According to Etowah Parks and Recreation Director Bryan Dalton, the city is currently waiting to replace some parts for the splashpad that became damaged during the winter.

“Our pool hours will be Monday through Thursday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday will be 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday will be 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.,” Dalton said. “The splashpad will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.”

The Arts: