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Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3 seats on Orlando City Council attract slew of candidates as election season approaches
With election season beginning to ramp up, 11 so far have declared their candidacies for three seats on the Orlando City Council that represent residents from Lake Nona to downtown Orlando up into College Park and Rosemont. More than half are in District 3, where Robert Stuart is retiring after representing it since 2006. So far, six candidates have filed to succeed him serving the northwest portion of the city. While in fast-growing Lake Nona, incumbent Jim Gray, the nonpartisan board's lone Republican, is trying to hold on to his seat and faces familiar challengers in former state Rep. Tom Keen, D-Orlando, and Sunshine Grund, also a Democrat. And District 5 could have more twists and turns ahead as interim commissioner Shan Rose is slated to take on Regina Hill, who was suspended last year following a felony indictment on charges that have yet to be tried in court. The three contests could evolve further, as candidates don't have to qualify for the ballot until noon Sept. 11. Election Day is Nov. 4. In District 1, spanning Lee Vista and Lake Nona, as well as Orlando International Airport, three military veterans have tossed their hats in the ring so far. Gray, an Air Force veteran and commercial real estate executive, has represented the area since 2012. For years he's been critical of the city's management of downtown — arguing the mix of businesses leans too heavily in favor of nightlife — with not enough dining, retail and family entertainment options. So far, he's the best-funded candidate in the race with $54,000 in his most-recent campaign finance report. Keen served one year in the Statehouse, winning a special election last year to flip a red district in a victory Florida Democrats hoped would propel the party from its statewide doldrums. Ultimately, it did not, and Keen lost a November rematch for a full term representing the district. A Navy veteran, Keen said he wants the city to better address traffic in the booming district and plan for growth. He's raised $29,000 so far. Grund, who served in the Army National Guard, is a real estate broker. She said she's building her platform by talking to voters who've emphasized public safety and traffic among their concerns. She doesn't accept campaign contributions and believes in keeping money out of politics. In District 3, covering neighborhoods like College Park, Baldwin Park and Rosemont, a slew of candidates have entered the fray. So far Jason Albu, Samuel Chambers, Roger Chapin, Chris Durant, Kimberly Kiss and Mira Tanna have declared their candidacies. Albu owns a Winter Park-based construction company. He said he believes a focus on economic development will prove impactful in improving transportation, housing, parks and public safety. Chambers is a Valencia College professor who was elected to the county's Soil and Water Conservation Board. His top priority is to end urban sprawl and support denser developments in urban areas. Chapin, who owns a public relations firm, is an Orlando Utilities Commission board member. He said his campaign is focused on affordability — ranging from rental costs to other housing opportunities — as well as expanding transit options. Durant works in real estate and also wants to improve affordability, public safety and advocate for protected bike lanes. Kiss is a lawyer whose website states she's a skilled problem-solver who will take on challenges such as building more affordable housing as well as roads where pedestrians, bikers and drivers can safely coexist. Tanna is the city's grants manager and wants to improve the Lynx bus system and operate SunRail on weekends. She supports more affordable housing through decreasing parking requirements and minimum lot sizes. In District 5, voters may get to choose between political rivals who have represented them before. Rose won a special election last summer to represent the district on an interim basis after Hill's suspension. Now she may take on Hill for a full four-year term in the district spanning downtown Orlando and neighborhoods west of I-4. She advocated for expanding youth mentorship programs, supported downtown nightlife businesses as city officials weigh further regulation of the industry and backed a plan to purchase a pair of shelter buses for the Christian Service Center. Hill, who represented the district for a decade and remains popular there, wants to expand job training programs she started while in office and grow programs offering services for youths and seniors. Hill's candidacy remains up in the air as she faces seven felony charges related to fraud and elder abuse. A status hearing in her trial is scheduled for Wednesday, which could determine if a trial is possible before the election as she hopes. She's pleaded not guilty to all counts and maintains her innocence. If charges are eventually dropped, or Hill wins at trial ahead of Election Day, she could return to serve out the remainder of the term. If convicted of felonies she'd be ineligible to hold office. If the trial is still pending she'll be allowed to campaign and appear on the ballot. If she wins she could presumably return to office — suspensions don't apply to future terms. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis could suspend her again until the trial is over. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Want to buy a house in Massachusetts? You'll need to earn the highest amount of any state.
Massachusetts residents looking to become homeowners need the highest annual income of any state in the country to achieve that dream, according to a new analysis by Massachusetts is the third least affordable place for the typical household to buy a median-priced home, according to Aug. 1 report. The rankings are based off an analysis that compared the minimum recommended household annual income to afford a median-priced home in the state with the actual state median income. The minimum recommended income was calculated by using the '30% rule,' or that a household should not spend more than 30% of its gross monthly income on housing costs. The affordability gap was calculated by subtracting the actual annual income from the minimum recommended income to afford a median-priced home and dividing it by the actual income. The analysis of July data found that affordability gaps ranged from 0.6% to 138%, with Massachusetts near the top at 114%. How much do you need to earn in Massachusetts to buy a home? According to analysis, Massachusetts homebuyers need to earn $210,074 a year to comfortably afford the median list price in the state of $797,000. It was the highest minimum required income and median list price in the U.S. as of July. But the actual median income in the state, according to the report, is $98,170: about $112,000, or 114%, less than the income needed to afford a house in Massachusetts. That ranks it third on the list of least affordable states. In which states do buyers need the highest incomes to purchase a home? Montana is the least affordable place to buy a home, according to the analysis. The median household income needed to buy a home in Montana is $171,301 as the median home price is $649,900. However, the median income is $72,066 – about 138% less than the minimum recommended income. "Montana's housing market has grown expensive due to an influx of out-of-state buyers, especially during and after the [COVID-19] pandemic, seeking remote work-friendly, scenic, and less densely populated areas," said senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. The only other state less affordable than Massachusetts is New York, where residents must make $210,074 to afford the median home price of $797,000 – exceeding the actual median income by $111,904. Here are the least affordable states to buy a home, according to Place State Median home list price Median household income recommended 1 Montana $649,900 $171,301 2 New York $671,500 $176,994 3 Massachusetts $797,000 $210,074 4 Hawaii $761,000 $200,585 5 California $750,000 $197,685 6 Idaho $599,450 $158,003 7 Oregon $577,000 $152,086 8 Rhode Island $599,450 $158,003 9 Washington $659,475 $173,825 10 Nevada $499,450 $131,645 In which states do buyers need the lowest incomes to buy a home? If you're looking for affordability, try the Midwest. Iowa, Illinois and Kansas are the three most affordable states in this category. "Located in the highly affordable Midwest, Iowa boasts incomes that are roughly in line with home prices," says Jones. "In fact, all five of the most affordable states are located in the Midwest, shedding some light on the recent popularity of the region." In Iowa, the median household income is $75,999, just $430 or 0.57% less than the recommended amount to purchase a home with the median list price of $290,000. That home price was about $150,000 below the national median in July. Here are the most affordable states to buy a home, according to Place State Median home price Median household income recommended 1 Iowa $289,938 $76,422 2 Illinois $323,225 $85,196 3 Kansas $301,126 $79,371 4 Ohio $289,950 $76,425 5 Indiana $309,450 $81,565 6 Pennsylvania $324,995 $85,662 7 Missouri $311,000 $81,973 8 West Virginia $270,000 $71,167 9 Minnesota $399,000 $105,169 10 Michigan $316,950 $83,542 About how much money do you need to earn to buy home in each New England state? According to the study, you need: Connecticut: $145,000 Maine: $128,000 Massachusetts: $210,000 New Hampshire: $158,000 Rhode Island: $158,000 Vermont: $138,000 This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Looking to buy a home in MA? Here's how much you'll need to make. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Pack a toothbrush. Pack hair spray.' How the Texas Democrats are living on the run
A child starting kindergarten is a milestone most American families wouldn't dare miss, but it's one John Bucy will be absent from this month when one of his daughters takes a first step in her education. The 41-year-old Texas state legislator, whose district includes parts of northern Austin, is among the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who've fled the Lone Star State to thwart President Donald Trump's effort to protect his razor-thin Republican majority in Congress. He packed his suitcase to be gone for 30 days – maybe longer. "It makes me scared. It makes me sad," Bucy said in an interview about his self-imposed exodus from his family. "I want to be a part of their lives every chance that I can. But what scares me more is if I'm not here, if they grow up and things are worse off in this country because we didn't stop this gerrymandering." More: Why Trump's political war in Texas is much bigger than the Lone Star State Bucy is staying at an undisclosed hotel in Illinois while he and his fellow Democrats continue to block their Republican colleagues from conducting official business back in Austin, such as the rare mid-decade redrawing of their state's maps that define congressional district boundaries. He said he's still in touch with his legislative staff, who are keeping up with constituents and connecting them to state agencies. Texas is a part-time legislature with a $7,200 annual salary, so like many members, Bucy also has a regular job running a statewide organization that provides athletic, academic and arts competitions for charter school students. Other Texas colleagues who aren't able to work remotely say they are juggling their personal lives, too, amid a partisan firestorm that is spilling over into other Republican and Democratic-controlled states ahead of the November 2026 midterm election campaign. Texas state Rep. Donna Howard said she had to take her grandson along when she left town. Baker, 4, has one parent in recovery and another who isn't in the picture. He's since become a "mascot" for the Democratic legislators at the hotel who have volunteered to help watch him when she speaks with constituents, conducts media interviews or when she needs time alone. "It is a village and my village is stepping up to support me with my grandchild," said Howard, 73, whose district includes parts of southern Austin. "I can't tell you how many people I don't even normally work with on things who have come up and said, 'Can I take him for a little bit and go throw the ball?' So he's kind of like 'King of the Hill' in a lot of ways." Texas Dems resist 'headache factor' but for how long? More: Trump says FBI 'may have to' force Democratic lawmakers back to Texas USA TODAY spoke with more than a dozen Texas Democrats at the center of the national tug-of-war who are facing $500-per-day fines, plus sharp rebukes from Trump and his allies. They have made arrangements to secure extended childcare. They have requested longer-than-expected work absences and found new locations for aging loved ones who require 24-hour caretakers. But they also said living in close quarters has an upside: their relationships and team-building have improved with activities such as daily exercise groups. "Pack a toothbrush. Pack hair spray, because hey, this could go on for a while and you got to be ready for it," said Democratic state Rep. Ann Johnson, an attorney who represents parts of Houston. Johnson, 50, participated in the last Texas quorum break orchestrated by Democrats in 2021, when they fled to Washington, D.C., to resist the GOP tightening the state's election rules. She said she was more prepared this time, but added that this fight is a more stressful and significant situation given the Trump administration's pressure campaign. More: Texas Democrats flee state amid heated redistricting battle. Has this happened before? "They'll continue to try to break us, but I actually feel, unlike 2021, there's a really strong coalition here," Johnson said. "There's a drastic difference... now the threats are so much harsher, they're so much more significant, and the risk of what we lose if we are not successful is really large." Republicans are also doing their part to stymie the Democrats' political efforts, not to mention making their personal lives uncomfortable. Three-term Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest and expel the missing Democrats from the legislature. The state's Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, filied an Aug. 8 lawsuit seeking to get 13 of them removed from office. The FBI is also helping with the search for the lawmakers, according to U.S. Sen. Jon Cornyn, a Texas Republican facing his own 2026 primary challenge from Paxton and who made the request for help. "A lot of people are demanding they come back," Trump told reporters on Aug. 5. "You can't just sit it out. You have to go back." In suburban Chicago, an Aug. 6 bomb threat at the hotel where some of the Texas Democratic legislators have been staying woke them from sleep with a blaring siren echoing through the halls every 30 seconds. It forced an evacuation of the building and took about two hours before guests were allowed back inside, several lawmakers told USA TODAY. Many of the Democrats said the bomb threat marks a turning point, and made them think of officials being targeted in other states, such as in Minnesota, where an alleged gunman shot two state lawmakers and their spouses at their homes in June, killing one of the couples. "We have people who are threatening our lives, threatening our families' lives by exposing us," said state Rep. Christian Manuel, 38, whose district covers an eastern portion of the state that includes Beaumont, Texas. Manuel, who is Black, helps take care of his 95-year-old grandmother and remains in constant contact with family members. Living an hour outside of Jasper, Texas, where a Black man named James Byrd was dragged to death by confirmed white supremacists in 1998, he said the bomb threat at the Illinois hotel reminded him of the potential danger. "My family is aware," Manuel said. "We are all on alert." For many of the absconding Democrats, these incidents have hardened their resolve to resist what progressive critics say are Trump and Abbott's attempts to change the math in their favor for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who represents parts of Houston, went viral this week after she slammed Abbott's attempt to have the legislators return. She was also embroiled in controversy for comparing the redistricting plan to the Holocaust in an Aug. 5 interview on "The Don Lemon Show," for which she later apologized. Jones said she serves as her mother's primary caregiver and that other relatives and neighbors back home have stepped up to help, but that she remains worried about her mother's well-being, given Jones' high visibility. "My mother can't live by herself – that's the bottom line. So me deciding to quorum break was a big deal," Jones, 59, who is running for a Houston-based seat in Congress, told USA TODAY. "I don't know what would happen to my mom if she opened the door and, would they barge in, what would they do? I'm absolutely concerned." Dems hope to frame Texas battle as flood victims v. Trump's whims Experts warn the endgame of the quorum break looks bleak for Democrats even as the national party and liberal activists say they believe the fight could be an inflection point against the Trump administration. "They walked out to stop Republicans from hijacking our democracy," said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America, a left-leaning voting rights group that has been running ads on social media and TV to mobilize its members against the redistricting efforts. The current Texas special session is scheduled to end Aug. 19, and Democratic legislators say they're committed to staying away from Austin for the long haul. But Abbott can also keep convening legislators, over and over, legal and political experts say, while applying legal and law enforcement pressure until the Republican-controlled legislature gets what it wants. The governor is adding a "headache factor" for lawmakers, Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University, told USA TODAY. Even if none of Abbott's efforts bear fruit, they could lead to the need for the runaway legislators to at least respond to a lawsuit and incur costs, lost time and extra effort, he said. Quorum breaks have been a tool used by the minority party in Texas since 1870. Often, the move is more of a messaging effort with little success in blocking the specific proposal, experts point out. Texas rules say the House must have two-thirds of its members, or 100 people, present to move forward. Of the 62 House Democrats, a few have remained behind in Austin, meaning only a handful need to be arm-twisted into returning to the state for a quorum to be restored and votes to proceed. Jones, the Rice University professor, said the roughly 50 legislators would have to stay out of the state through the end-of-year holidays and into the spring of 2026 for their long-term strategy to prevail. Asked how long they can stay out of Texas, many of the Democratic legislators pivot in their responses to hammer the argument that Abbott is putting the two-term Republican president's desires over a needed aid package for the destructive and deadly flooding that submerged central parts of the state in July. For now, it's unclear how the public is coming down on the Democrats' framing of the fight. A poll conducted by Texas-based Z to A Research, a Democratic-aligned firm, found that 63% of likely voters – including 41% of Republican voters – believe it's unnecessary to be redrawing the congressional district lines several years before it typically happens. An overwhelming majority of 94% said they support funding flood warning systems and relief efforts, according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee memo. Wherever the Texas battle lands, the Democratic legislators who have fled to Illinois – a few others have been part of press conferences and public events in California, New York, Massachusetts – said they have become a stronger caucus as a result. They described bonding in ways they couldn't during regular sessions, and they believe that sense of unity will spread to Democrats in other states as the Trump administration looks to expand its redistricting strategy. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How the Texas Democrats are living on the run: 'We are all on alert'
