Legal hurdles make it practically impossible for most blue states to redraw district maps before the 2026 midterms. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (former Oregon congresswoman) to POTUS about ICE: "I hope you will come to Portland, Oregon and crack down." www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Utah "can no longer use maps that carved up Salt Lake City, a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red state, and must draw new lines using an independent commission in compliance with a 2018 ballot measure approved by Utah voters." www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Colorado is the first state to call lawmakers back to the Capitol to grapple with the ramifications of the massive federal tax and spending bill. My latest: www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

"Officials ... decided to let the fire burn for seven days — even as fuel and weather conditions repeatedly reached the brink of critical thresholds for fire risk." Important reporting on the Grand Canyon fire from @azcentral.com: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

States have been passing bills to shield lawmakers’ personal info following the assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. But those laws also have been criticized for making it harder to hold politicians accountable. My latest: www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Spotted at the Del Ray flea

Cherry farmers in Oregon are facing problems this season: "Chandler’s season began around the time that [ICE] began targeting California farms, where many of his employees work before Oregon’s cherry season. He thinks this drove his June labor shortage." www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

Where I’m coming from ➡️ where I’m going. Why. 💀

"The National Weather Service issued timely warnings in advance of the deadly floods, meteorologists say. But they emphasized that forecasts are only one piece of an effective response." via @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social: www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Few states over the last decade have been more successful for Democrats than Colorado. Between 1972 and 2004, the GOP won all but one presidential election there. But since 2008, Dems have swept the field — even routing Rs by more than 10 points in 2020 & 2024. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

“The only thing voters hate more than people who take away their benefits are people who lie and take away their benefits.” -veteran Dem strategist Lis Smith on how voters will respond to Republicans making cuts to Medicaid. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Fourth of July in rural Oregon

Father’s Day ❤️❤️

Update: Portland on Saturday saw… -10k peaceful protestors in waterfront park -In late afternoon/evening a few hundred gathered outside ICE office clashed with DHS. That demonstration was declared a riot by PPD. 3 arrested by local police, at least one detained by DHS. Per @opb.org

“If you push, Portland pushes back ... If they come to Portland acting up, Portland’s gonna return that LA energy.” www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Trying on the new beat for size: called up a number of state lawmakers, and chatted with a few current and former House members about their cities/states for this story about how Democrats are framing what's happening in Los Angeles. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

@natsfert.bsky.social leaving cannabis industry beat to cover state issues for @politico.com: talkingbiznews.com/media-news/p...

Some professional NEWS: After nearly 7 years on the cannabis beat — more than 5 of those at POLITICO — I am moving on. I’ll be covering all things STATES for POLITICO, from key legislative battles to political races — and I’m wildly excited about it!

"Legal experts have called the suit baseless, but Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has said she favors settling the case. She is seeking the Trump administration’s approval for a multibillion-dollar sale of her company to a Hollywood studio..." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/b...

A lot of conservative Evangelical households like mine in the 90s were fueled by PBS Kids. So when efforts to remove public funding from PBS ramped up recently, I wondered what had changed since I was a kid. So I asked some Evangelicals on the Hill about it: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

A lot of people have talked about MGP while talking past her. I really appreciated this @natsfert.bsky.social profile of her from last year. Helped me understand more. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

What the plan for marijuana policy in this Congress? The GOP-led House and Senate are taking a more conservative approach than in recent years, with bills geared toward attracting more Republicans. My latest for POLITICO Pro: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is offering to partner with the Trump administration to create a federal film tax credit program worth at least $7.5 billion to boost domestic film production, his office said. The proposal came after President Trump called for massive tariffs on foreign-made films.

“The slowdown will inevitably mean fewer ships coming and going, which means fewer shifts for longshoremen… ‘We’re kind of in uncharted territory,’ said Sam Cho… with the Port of Seattle.” Good tariffs story by @adamcancryn.bsky.social @ddesrochers.bsky.social: www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

Drama in Portland

The Fix our Forests Act is getting a hearing in the Senate Ag Committee next week:

A little #SAFEBanking Act News: Steve Daines will no longer be the lead Republican in the Senate in the bill - he’s handing the reins over to Freshman Ohio Sen. @berniemoreno. Moreno is on Senate Banking, which Daines vacated after last Congress. subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter/2...

Fell in the frontier airlines trap once again, having hope that a nonstop to Denver couldn’t be THAT bad. Reader: do not be me. Do not hope. We’ve been on the tarmac at DCA for an hour.

"Pro-hemp commenters made points designed to find a receptive audience with Texas’ overwhelmingly Republican Legislature, highlighting the state’s business-friendly reputation and invoking God when talking about the cannabis plant." www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

The Bureau of Land Management is no longer being shy about prioritizing logging in Oregon’s forests. I can’t say I ever noticed it using the hashtag #TimberDominance at the end of a press release before.

NEW: Western officials are scrambling to make sure they're prepared for fire season. “Forest fires aren’t going to take four years off just because of who’s in the White House,” @govofco.bsky.social told me earlier this month. w/Jordan Wolman: www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

NEW from me and Jordan Wolman: President Trump wants to create a new federal agency that will be responsible for “all wildland fire fighting nationwide” by 2026, according to a draft EO that’s currently under review at the White House. For @politico.com: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

“San Antonio sends almost half its exports to Canada, which makes the Texas trade hub one of the most vulnerable U.S. cities in the tariff war." Really interesting story from an unexpected place, by Sue Allan: www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

New from me: Staff cuts at HHS will have a palpable impact on the ongoing work of the agency on intoxicating cannabinoids, according to two HHS staffers familiar with its work on the issue — one of whom was recently laid off. subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter/2...

This week in cannabis news from me: Controlled Substance Staff at FDA avoid HHS chopping block — for now: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025... Psychedelics bill gives VA $30M to study alternative treatments: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

Scooplet: Employees of the Controlled Substance Staff division within the FDA have largely avoided Tuesday’s massive cuts to HHS. CSS is one of a handful of key hubs for cannabis policy in federal agencies.

Sherrod Brown in WaPo this morning: “The voters want somebody who’s going to fight for them … not somebody who says, ‘Well, inflation’s higher in Europe than it is here,’ because that doesn’t matter to anybody.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

“I see the attraction because [Trump will] talk about the forgotten man,” said former Oregon state Rep. Brian Clem, raised in the once-Democratic-now-MAGA stronghold of Coos Bay. “He’s speaking to them in a way people haven’t in a long time.” www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

NEW: At the National Religious Broadcasters conference, an evangelical Christian gathering, activists openly debated plans to overturn same-sex marriage. Experts say the threat isn’t individual efforts but a broad campaign — which is how Roe v. Wade was overturned. religionnews.com/2025/03/26/s...

My dad just sent me this pic of me in my great-uncle’s wheat field, lowkey chomping away on some bread…

Backers of a project to bring jobs back to a rural, Trump-supporting region of Oregon are retooling their arguments for the Trump administration — hoping his funding freezes and attacks on Biden-era projects won’t kill their port plans. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

When I was working down in the mill …. Democrats seemed like they were for the workers … Now it seemed to switch around the other way. Seems like the Democrats are not for the workers, and the Republicans are.” -Hubert Clem, Coos Bay native. My latest: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

New state Capitol unlocked: North Carolina (old Capitol on the left, current legislative building on the right)

NEWS from me — USFS pulled out of a California forest cleanup program targeting illicit cannabis grows. USFS notified the California Department of Fish & Wildlife on March 5 that they won't be continuing with a $1 million grant they received from CDFW. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

"MI Democrats are attempting to balance those realities — distancing themselves from the short-term economic pain that could come with the tariffs, while craving the long-term gain that would help spur manufacturing across the country" via @ddesrochers.bsky.social: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

“He’s trying to be a mini-Trump. I don’t think he got the memo that only Trump gets to be Trump." www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

New — A bill that aims to address trash and pollution created by illegal cannabis grows on federal lands is having a hearing next Tuesday in the House Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Federal Lands. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

Today’s #morningcannabis newsletter: Tx lawmakers face resistance to banning intoxicating hemp. Illegal weed is linking prices in four western state markets. Curaleaf is counting on its new line of intoxicating hemp beverages to boost it in 2025.  subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter/2...

an important thing to know about wildfire policy is that it's bipartisan. I talked to Republican senators and governors over the last week who all want more mitigation done. its a *western* issue before a partisan one.