Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
Welcome to In Brief, the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog. In Brief provides a continuously curated collection of asides, recommended links, quotations, audio and video clips, still images, and transcribed dialogue. Click on a thumbnail to open an item.
Reporting by The Associated Press: “Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into the danger zone, not just for an overheating planet that’s losing its natural areas, but for the well-being of people living on it, according to a new study.”
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“America’s holiday travel quagmire is a reminder that we are a global laggard when it comes to high-speed rail,” writes Ray LaHood.
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“I have heard of long COVID clinics closing and dropping patients. At some point, the doctors that are researching it may just give up. Where does that leave all of us?” long COVID patient Frank Ziegler asked.
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From Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: “The FBI and Department of Justice routinely prosecute individuals, including high-level officers like former CIA Director David Petraeus, for misusing classified documents. There are several criminal provisions that may be implicated, depending on the exact contents of the documents.”
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Via The Los Angeles Times, summarizing reporting from the German newspaper Handelsblatt: “How bad is Tesla Autopilot’s safety problem? According to thousands of complaints allegedly from Tesla customers in the U.S. and around the world, pretty bad.”
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“Large parts of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon and Washington to British Columbia are bracing for unusually high temperatures this weekend. Some areas could see daily averages up to 30 degrees above normal, which could pose health problems to people who have not had a chance to build tolerance to heat so early into the warm season,” The Washington Post reports.
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“Scientists studying one of Greenland’s largest glaciers say it is melting far faster than expected in its most vulnerable region, a worrying sign that glaciers perched in the ocean could contribute to sea level rise more quickly than currently forecast,” The Washington Post’s Chris Mooney reports.
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Via The Washington Post: “The [right wing] Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based think tank and lobbying group, drafted state legislation to strip child workplace protections, emails show.”
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“Book bans, gassed up by state legislation pushed by conservative officials and groups, are stacking up at an alarming rate,” The Los Angeles Times reports.
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Film critic and movie recommendation newsletter author Ty Burr reacts to Netflix’s decision to kill off its DVD and Blu-ray disc rental by mail business.
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Watch highlights from the eighteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Ana de Armas, with Karol G as the musical guest, including the spring in a park cold open.
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Watch highlights from the sixteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Molly Shannon, with Jonas Brothers as the musical guest, including the Trump Easter cold open.
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Attorney General Bob Ferguson, State Senator Manka Dhingra, State Representative Vandana Slatter, Alicia Hupprich, and Courtney Normand of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates joined NPI’s Andrew Villeneuve to unveil our April 2023 My Health, My Data Act poll finding at a press conference in Olympia.
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Watch highlights from the sixteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Quinta Brunson, with Lil Yachty as the musical guest, including the Trump indictment cold open.
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“As a public service, we are debunking every brand- or celebrity-related April Fools’ prank we can find today in the hopes that no one is tricked against their will. Please read and commit to memory,” write Thomas Floyd and Avi Selk.
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Jonathan Levin of Bloomberg explains why a billionaire’s decision to symbolically move his firm’s headquarters is not actually about taxes, despite his grandstanding.
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Watch highlights from the fifteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Jenna Ortega, with The 1975 as the musical guest, including the Oscars Red Carpet cold open.
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“Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is a function of the Fed rate spike, and will surely trigger calls for its well-heeled tech and venture capital clients to get a bailout,” David Dayen writes.
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Read this Washington Post article about IRS preparations for “a normal tax season,” made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed into law solely with Democratic votes.
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Watch highlights from the fourteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Travis Kelce, with Kelsea Ballerini as the musical guest, including the Fox Dominion cold open.
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Watch highlights from the thirteenth episode of SNL’s forty-eighth season, hosted by Woody Harrelson, with Jack White as the musical guest, including the Trump train visit cold open.
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