{"id":14585,"date":"2023-03-07T18:31:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T02:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14585"},"modified":"2023-03-07T18:59:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T02:59:17","slug":"good-news-for-democracy-in-mn-pa-and-for-accountability-in-co-bradcast-372023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14585","title":{"rendered":"Good News for Democracy in MN, PA and for Accountability in CO: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 3\/7\/2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_TimWalz-JoannaMcClinton-TinaPeters_030723.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">It&#8217;s another one of those elections-have-consequences episodes of <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>The BradCast<\/i><\/a>. Happily, most of those consequences are good ones today! [<i>Audio link to full story follows this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On Friday, Democratic Gov. <b>Tim Walz<\/b> signed a bill that will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/03\/03\/politics\/tim-walz-minnesota-voting-rights\/index.html\">re-enfranchise more than 50,000 formerly incarcerated felons<\/a> in <b>Minnesota<\/b>. That very good news for voting rights and democracy follows on the recent adoption of several other critical progressive measures in the state, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/gov-tim-walz-to-sign-law-to-strengthen-abortion-rights-in-minnesota\/600247932\/\">protecting abortion rights<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.evergreenaction.com\/blog\/how-did-minnesota-pass-a-100-percent-clean-electricity-standard-we-talked-to-the-experts\">mandating 100% carbon-free electricity<\/a>. The new laws were all passed and since January, after Democrats won a trifecta in the state last November, winning the Governor&#8217;s mansion and taking control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time in nearly a decade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>After flipping a stunning 12 seats in the <b>Pennsylvania<\/b> statehouse in last year&#8217;s midterms, Democrats in the chamber now have a majority for the first time in more than a decade and have <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pennsylvania-house-speaker-joanna-mcclinton-first-woman-black-7cdb79ab92094fb6695979fb765f71da\">finally seated<\/a> <b>Joanna McClinton<\/b> as the state&#8217;s first African-American female House Speaker. The months-long roller coaster ride toward between last year&#8217;s elections and McClinton becoming Speaker includes the unexpected death of a lawmaker and three special elections since last November, the surprise election of a different Speaker earlier this year, and the thinnest possible one-seat margin for Democrats in the House. We &#8216;splain the full crazy story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In <b>Colorado<\/b>, former Mesa County Clerk and aggressively gullible election fraud conspiracist, <b>Tina Peters<\/b>, has been <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pennsylvania-house-speaker-joanna-mcclinton-first-woman-black-7cdb79ab92094fb6695979fb765f71da\">found guilty of obstruction<\/a>, after she refused a lawful warrant to turn over an iPad containing courtroom videos a judge instructed her not to take. While she could face several months in jail on that conviction, there is likely <i>much<\/i> more trouble ahead for the disgraced Republican and last year&#8217;s failed GOP Sec. of State candidate. Peters faces a <i>separate<\/i> trial later this year on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/03\/09\/1085452644\/colorado-clerk-indicted-on-13-counts-of-election-tampering-and-misconduct\">seven criminal felonies and three misdemeanors<\/a> related to sneaking into her county&#8217;s secured voting system room in the middle of the night while still serving as County Clerk, turning off the security cameras and making illicit copies of <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13969\">sensitive Election Management System software<\/a> with two accomplices following the 2020 Presidential election. That proprietary software was subsequently <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13962\">leaked<\/a> to the public while she was on stage at an election denier&#8217;s conference in 2021. As all of this plays out, Peters &#8212; who has become somewhat of a hero to some equally duped knuckleheads on the Right &#8212; is hoping to become the next Chair of the Colorado Republican Party. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>As discussed on one of our programs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/03\/09\/1085452644\/colorado-clerk-indicted-on-13-counts-of-election-tampering-and-misconduct\">last week<\/a>, we are now waiting to hear whether the corrupted, stolen and packed U.S. Supreme Court will allow <b>President Biden<\/b>&#8216;s lawful program to forgive up to $20,000 to federal student loan borrowers making less than $125,000 in annual income. In the meantime, receiving much less news coverage is the Administration&#8217;s program to refund billions to students ripped off by for-profit schools which lied about their credentials, hoaxed students into enrolling and\/or who have gone out of business in recent years. The program, begun during the Obama Administration, was largely put on ice by Donald Trump&#8217;s Education Secretary <b>Betsy DeVos<\/b>. Following a court settlement last year against DeVos, the program has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/03\/09\/1085452644\/colorado-clerk-indicted-on-13-counts-of-election-tampering-and-misconduct\">now begun refunding students<\/a>, many of whom owe hundreds of thousands of dollars for their scam diplomas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14584\">our 1,300th Green News Report<\/a>! Including long overdue good news for the world&#8217;s <b>oceans<\/b>; good news for solar energy in <b>France<\/b>; another train derailment in <b>Ohio<\/b>, and a legal threat to <b>Minnesota<\/b>&#8216;s new law mandating 100% clean electricity by 2040&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-FelonVotingMN-McClintonSpeakerPA-PetersGuiltyCO-ForProfitSchoolRefunds_030723.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFkYmxvZy5jb20vcG9kY2FzdGdlbi9icmFkY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><strong>The BRAD BLOG<\/strong>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s another one of those elections-have-consequences episodes of The BradCast. Happily, most of those consequences are good ones today! [Audio link to full story follows this summary.] Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s program&#8230; On Friday, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill that will re-enfranchise more than 50,000 formerly incarcerated felons in Minnesota. That [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,921,89,675,37,299,1245,442,220,969,1630,1845,28,1529,242,320,477,1604,219,512,724,15,48,1815,300,126,542,1484,1670],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accountability","category-betsy-devos","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-colorado","category-democrats","category-department-of-education","category-dominion-voting","category-education","category-election-2020","category-election-2022","category-election-2023","category-election-reform","category-felony-disenfranchisement","category-france","category-joe-biden","category-kpfk","category-mike-lindell","category-minnesota","category-north-dakota","category-oceans","category-ohio","category-pennsylvania","category-railroads","category-republicans","category-rights-and-freedoms","category-solar","category-tim-walz","category-tina-peters","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14585"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=14585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}