In One Ear: A state cryptid?
While browsing through Google Alert emails, a story's recent headline on CaliforniaGlobe.com was a real eye-catcher: 'California Assemblyman Proposes Bigfoot as Official State Large Hairy Mythical Creature.' Huh?
'Assemblyman Chris Rogers (D-Santa Rosa) authored AB 666, to designate Bigfoot as the 'official state cryptid.' A cryptid is a creature whose reported existence is unproved,' the article said. And no, seriously, it's not a joke.
There really is a California AB 666 at tinyurl.com/CAcryptid, and here's the text: 'Existing law establishes the state flag and the state's emblems, including, among other things, the golden poppy as the official state flower and the California redwood as the official state tree. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would designate Bigfoot as the official state cryptid.'
The state of Washington better get with it quickly if they want Bigfoot to be their state cryptid first, because that's the state with the highest number of sightings, at 724, according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. California is only No. 2 at 463 sightings. Sadly, in comparison, Oregon has a paltry 260.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
8 hours ago
- Politico
Minnesota's slain Democratic leader lived the political divisions in the US every day
MINNEAPOLIS — Americans talk constantly about how their country is split down the middle politically. Melissa Hortman lived that every day as a Minnesota House member. Her unique perspective on politics came from her job as the House's top Democrat and its unusual challenge. She had to defend liberal priorities in a chamber divided 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans while working to see that the even split didn't keep the Legislature from funding state government. She and her husband were shot to death early Saturday in their Minneapolis-area home in what authorities are calling an act of political violence. Another prominent area lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, was shot and wounded, along with his wife, in their home about 15 minutes away. Hortman had served as House speaker for six years when the 2024 elections cost Democrats their slim majority. She led fellow Democrats in boycotting House sessions for almost a month, starting in mid-January, to prevent the GOP from using a temporary vacancy in a Democratic seat to cement control over the chamber, forcing Republicans into sharing power. She wanted to protect state health coverage for adult immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, a liberal policy enacted on her watch as speaker in 2023. But when the only budget deal that she could broker included a GOP bill to cut that coverage, she provided the single Democratic vote in the House, securing its passage so that state government would remain funded for the next two years. 'She battled fiercely, but never let it impact the personal bond that we developed serving as caucus leaders,' GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth said in a statement. 'I am beyond heartbroken by her loss.' The shootings shocked a state that prides its politics as being 'Minnesota nice,' even despite higher partisan tensions in recent years. To outsiders, Minnesota looks blue. The state hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972, and all of its statewide elected officials are Democrats. Yet the Legislature is now almost evenly split, with Democrats clinging to a 34-33 majority in the Senate. Republicans are still frustrated with how Democrats used their slim majorities in both chambers in 2023 and 2024 to roll over them and enact a sweeping liberal agenda. In 2023, Democrats had an ambitious wish list and passed practically everything on it, with Hortman a key player. The measures included expanded abortion and trans rights, paid family and medical leave, universal free school lunches, child care credits and other aid for families. But on Saturday, the mourning for Hortman, Hoffman and their families was bipartisan. Hoffman, 60, is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees one of the biggest parts of the state budget. He lives in Champlin, in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area, and owns a consulting firm, and he and his wife, Yvette, had one daughter. He previously was marketing and public relations director for a nonprofit provider of employment services for people with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities and supervised a juvenile detention center in Iowa. He was first elected to the Senate in 2012. In 2023, Hoffman supported budget legislation that extended the state MinnesotaCare health program to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, starting this year. On Monday, he voted against a bill to end that coverage for adults on Jan. 1 — a GOP goal that was a key part of the budget agreement that Hortman helped broker. Last year, Hoffman sponsored a bill designed to prevent courts from blocking people with disabilities from adopting children, and in 2023, he proposed an amendment to the state constitution to create a fund to pay for long-term care by taxing the Social Security benefits of the state's wealthiest residents. Hortman had served as the House Democrats' leader since 2017, and six years as speaker, starting in 2019. Under a power-sharing deal, her title became speaker emerita. She and her husband, Mark, lived in Brooklyn Park, another suburb in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area. They had two adult children. A lawyer, she twice lost races for the House before first winning her seat in 2004. U.S. Sen. and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar recalled campaigning door to door that year with Hortman, when Klobuchar was the elected chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. Klobuchar praised Hortman's support for free school lunches, women's rights and clean energy, calling her 'a true public servant to the core.' Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who attended the University of Minnesota's law school with Hortman, said: 'She was smart, savvy, strategic, kind, funny, brave, and determined.' Hortman became part of the Democrats' legislative leadership team in 2007, then House minority leader in 2017, before Democrats recaptured a House majority in 2019. Her proposals included state emission standards like ones imposed in California and a ban on the sale of products containing mercury. She also proposed studying the feasibility of ending state investments in fossil fuel companies. Demuth, the current Republican House speaker, said Hortman was a nationally recognized expert on energy policy. 'She wasn't only a leader — she was a damn good legislator, and Minnesotans everywhere will suffer because of this loss,' said Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, a former Minnesota state party chair and a friend of Hortman's.
Politico
8 hours ago
- Politico
Florida plans for peak hurricane season amid storm of FEMA reforms
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — The Trump administration's talk about drastically altering FEMA's role in disaster recovery has generated heavy uncertainty. But hurricane season is now in full-swing, and with more experience in storm recovery than any other state, Florida's local emergency management officials are trying to stay focused on staying prepared. Florida's storm season began June 1. With the most active, historically volatile stretch a couple months away, county emergency managers have no time to plan for changes that FEMA, the White House and conservative allies have been discussing for some time. Instead, the state's disaster recovery network has decided to rely on itself — even if they may need federal assistance down the road. Jonathan Lord, president of the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association, said most county managers determined the risk of a powerful storm is greater than six months of talk about ways to cut federal disaster funding. 'Emergency managers can't let that noise blur what they need to do for their community,' Lord said. 'Whatever our federal government decides to do, we at the local level will just morph or evolve our programs to adjust to that new reality.' Florida has the history to back up their prep work: The devastation from Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992 prompted officials to create a statewide emergency network that became a model for other states to follow. This safety net is fine-tuned after every hurricane season, from evacuation and sheltering plans managed by counties, to new training and education requirements for county emergency managers recently finalized by the state Legislature. But despite Florida's experience and expertise, the state historically has also relied on tens of billions of recovery dollars provided by FEMA. In most cases, the agency will agree to reimburse 75 percent of recovery costs incurred by the state, counties and municipalities impacted by a hurricane. But in many cases, FEMA has also agreed to cover 100 percent of the costs if the loss was deemed catastrophic, or if the community had no other means to cover repair bills. In 2022, Category 4 Hurricane Ian left Lee County with the largest cleanup bill in state history. A FEMA database of the $2.2 billion in funding requests awarded to Ian-impacted communities shows the agency agreed to cover 100 percent of Lee County's bills from the first several weeks after landfall. The days of 100 percent coverage from FEMA are expected to be far less frequent as the White House continues to review wasteful government spending. Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie told a joint-legislative budget committee meeting in June a similar message. 'Instead of us getting 100 percent disaster declarations for a period of time, those days are probably over,' Guthrie said as he defended his request for $850 million to cover costs from the hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes that hit the state last year. FEMA's case-by-case decision to award 100 percent funding has been a lifesaver for Florida's rural counties. After Category 5 Hurricane Michael tore through the Panhandle in 2018, FEMA had initially only agreed to cover 75 percent of the recovery costs incurred by counties impacted by the storm. Calhoun County was faced with millions in critical cleanup costs, but the county only had about $3 million on hand to front the millions more in cleanup costs that FEMA had agreed to pay. Those terms changed after Gov. Ron DeSantis took office three months after Michael made landfall and negotiated with the then-Trump White House to cover 100 percent of the costs that came up in the first several weeks after landfall. Guthrie's prediction on future federal disaster funding mirrors an April memo drafted by then-acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton. The memo, which Hamilton sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget, summarizes options to cut federal disaster spending, including increasing the share of the costs left to states and localities, and no longer agreeing to cover more than 75 percent. 'This is an action the President has already taken and can continue to take to reduce disaster costs,' Hamilton wrote in the memo, later adding, 'The President would retain authority to grant cost share exceptions.' President Donald Trump announced plans to eliminate FEMA shortly after he began his second White House term in January. Hamilton was fired by Trump in May after he told a House committee that FEMA should not be eliminated. He was replaced by now-acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, who pushed forward with a reorganizational plan that sought to end FEMA's oversight of recovery projects meant to help shield communities from devastation left by future storms. Richardson walked back his plans ahead of the start of this year's hurricane season on June 1, and Trump has since said plans to wind down FEMA will not take place until the season ends at the end of November. Without any concrete decisions from Washington, Florida's county emergency managers have pressed ahead preparing for this year's hurricane season. Eric Poole, director for the Institute of County Government at the Florida Association of Counties, said most county managers are confident the terms of a disaster declaration, which dictate the amount of money FEMA is willing to pay for storm recovery costs, will still be left to the discretion of the president. 'There's always going to be the discretion of the president through FEMA to increase the cost of a disaster,' Poole said. 'It's all going to depend on the severity of the event and the community and its fiscal capacity, and someone in the executive saying we've got to help these guys out.' Plans to slash federal disaster funding are not new to the Trump administration. FEMA's initial offer to only reimburse 75 percent of the devastation left by Hurricane Michael left Bay County, where the storm made landfall, to take out a $50 million loan to cover critical costs such as removing debris from roads. Other impacted counties, which are deemed as 'fiscally constrained' by the state based on low property tax revenue, saw recovery efforts stall for several months. The limited cash assistance from FEMA was part of an effort led in coordination with then-Gov. Rick Scott to make counties and cities pay a larger share of the recovery costs. This tough love approach to cash assistance was reversed by DeSantis, who convinced Trump to cover a significant chunk of recovery costs in the first weeks after he became governor. 'There's definitely trepidation for not knowing what might happen, or concern for something that might have been reimbursable at some level but may not be available come year's end,' Lord, who is also the Flagler County director of emergency management, said. 'That impacts budgets and cash reserves, which there is concern about, but at this point we just don't know.' One chronic problem with FEMA's Public Assistance grant program: The agency sometimes takes months to approve recovery funding requests. To help mitigate the delay, the Legislature in 2022 created a new trust fund that allows the state Division of Emergency Management to front cash for critical cleanup projects on behalf of counties and cities, allowing the recovery work to continue as the state negotiates reimbursements with FEMA. 'That $1 billion allows us to actually respond without having to worry about the federal government,' Guthrie told lawmakers as he explained his recent request for $850 million to cover last year's storms. 'We go out the door, we're ready to do what we need to do without dependency on the federal government.' The state Division of Emergency Management is an offshoot of the governor's office. The new trust fund allows DeSantis' office to draw money to support all executive orders, which includes efforts to combat illegal immigration. But despite concerns from lawmakers, Guthrie said only $9 million of the $850 million he requested was to cover outstanding bills tied to immigration. The rest of the money, which the joint-legislative panel approved, will go toward unpaid bills from last year's flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes. 'We do have flooding and we do have tornadoes and then there's severe hurricanes,' Guthrie said, adding the unpaid immigration enforcement bills, 'came to a very small amount.' State lawmakers will soon present their budget to DeSantis for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and talks between the House and Senate included plans by Trump to eliminate FEMA. State Senate budget chair Ed Hooper (R-Palm Harbor) said the prospects of losing the federal agency scared him when considering how to control state spending. One option already under consideration for future state budgets, should FEMA reduce federal recovery spending, was to add more cash to the state budget stabilization fund. 'We just have to take into account how we're going to get things done,' Hooper said. Guthrie was once considered a candidate to become FEMA administrator, but he was instead appointed by Trump to the FEMA Review Council, which will advise the White House as it makes changes to the agency. State House Appropriations Chair Lawrence McClure said Guthrie's role could play to Florida's advantage, especially with freeing up chronic issues with the agency approving recovery funding requests made by the state. 'Although we look further to maybe a reconstruction or recalibration of FEMA, we also have the federal government — I mean this is the United States, right?' McClure said. 'We take care of each other.'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Minnesota's slain Democratic leader saw liberal victories, then brokered a budget deal out of power
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota House's top Democrat helped shepherd a package of liberal initiatives to passage when her party had a narrow majority two years ago. After Democrats lost their majority, she helped broker a deal to keep state government funded and provided a crucial vote to pass it, though her party hated it. State Rep. Melissa Hortman, 55, the House's Democratic leader and former speaker, was shot to death early Saturday in her Minneapolis-area home along with her husband by someone posing as a law enforcement officer. Another prominent area lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, was shot and wounded, along with his wife, in their home about 15 minutes away in what Gov. Tim Walz described as 'targeted political violence.' The shooting shocked officials in both parties in a state that prides its politics as being 'Minnesota nice,' despite higher partisan tensions in recent years. While Minnesota hasn't voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 1972, and all of its statewide elected officials are Democrats, the Legislature is nearly evenly divided, with the House split 67-67 until Hortman's death and Democrats holding a 34-33 majority in the Senate. Hortman led fellow Democrats in boycotting House sessions for almost a month starting Jan. 14 to prevent the GOP from using a temporary vacancy in a Democratic seat to cement power over the chamber instead of working out a power-sharing arrangement. Yet when the partisan split in the House threatened to prevent the Legislature from passing a budget to keep state government running for the next two years, she not only helped broker the final deal but secured its passage by being the only Democrat to vote yes on a key part of the deal. 'She wasn't only a leader — she was a damn good legislator, and Minnesotans everywhere will suffer because of this loss,' said Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, a former Minnesota state party chair and a friend of Hortman's. The wounded senator chairs a key committee Hoffman, 60, is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, which oversees one of the biggest parts of the state budget. He lives in Champlin, in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area, and owns a consulting firm, and he and his wife, Yvette, had one daughter. He previously was marketing and public relations director for a nonprofit provider of employment services for people with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities and supervised a juvenile detention center in Iowa. He was first elected to the Senate in 2012. In 2023, Hoffman supported budget legislation that extended the state MinnesotaCare health program to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, starting this year. On Monday, he voted against a bill to end that coverage for adults on Jan. 1 — a GOP goal that was a key part of the budget agreement that Hortman helped broker. Last year, Hoffman sponsored a bill designed to prevent courts from blocking people with disabilities from adopting children, and in 2023, he proposed an amendment to the state constitution to create a fund to pay for long-term care by taxing the Social Security benefits of the state's wealthiest residents. Hortman had served nine years as Democratic leader Hortman had served as the House Democrats' leader since 2017, and six years as speaker, starting in 2019. She had to give up the speaker's job this year after the 2024 elections produced the even partisan split. Her official title this year was speaker emerita. She and her husband, Mark, lived in Brooklyn Park, another suburb in the northwest part of the Minneapolis area. They had two adult children. A lawyer, she twice lost races for the House before first winning her seat in 2004. U.S. Sen. and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar recalled campaigning door to door that year with Hortman, when Klobuchar was the elected chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. Klobuchar praised Hortman's support for free school lunches, women's rights and clean energy, calling her 'a true public servant to the core.' 'She was beloved by her colleagues,' Klobuchar said in a statement. Hortman helped push through a sweeping agenda in 2023 Hortman became part of the Democrats' leadership team at the state Capitol in 2007 and House minority leader in 2017, before Democrats recaptured a House majority in 2019. In 2023 and 2024, Democrats controlled both chambers and used their majorities to enact a sweeping liberal agenda and practically everything on an ambitious wish list. The measures included expanded abortion and trans rights, paid family and medical leave, universal free school lunches, child care credits and other aid for families. She previously proposed state emission standards for automobiles like ones imposed in California and a ban on the sale of products containing mercury. She also proposed studying the feasibility of ending state investments in fossil fuel companies. 'She knew how to stand firm on her values but understood the importance of teamwork and compromise and never backed down from hard choices," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. "She was tough, she was kind, and she was the best of us.' Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.
