The Each day 202 received’t publish on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll be again in your inbox on Tuesday.

Your weekly repair of nonpolitical political information

Poison in Hawaiian water, a “uncommon earths” trove in Sweden, a Catholic diocese going bankrupt and an Oklahoma Republican attempting to cross a legislation forbidding using corporal punishment on particular wants college students at school: These are your weekly nonpolitical politics tales.

In the event you’re new right here: The Each day 202 usually focuses on nationwide politics and international coverage. However as passionate believers in native information, and in redefining “politics” as one thing that hits nearer to dwelling than Beltway “Senator X Hates Senator Y” tales, we attempt to convey you a weekly mixture of items with vital native, nationwide, or worldwide import.

Please preserve sending your hyperlinks to information protection of political tales which might be getting missed. They don’t must be from this week! The submission hyperlink is correct below this column. Be sure to say whether or not I can use your first title, final preliminary and placement.

Water air pollution in Hawaii

Reader Carol A. in Honolulu kindly jogged my memory to tune in to the newest in the Pink Hill saga, which activates a catastrophic late-2021 leak of 20,000 gallons of gasoline at a Navy storage facility that poisoned a variety of ingesting water on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

A Navy investigation made public in July 2022 “revealed that shoddy administration and human error brought on gasoline to leak into Pearl Harbor’s faucet water final yr, poisoning hundreds of individuals and forcing army households to evacuate their properties for lodges,” the Related Press reported.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Sophie Cocke reported on Tuesday that the Environmental Safety Company will maintain two conferences subsequent week at which the general public can weigh in on a proposed settlement settlement with the Navy and Protection Logistics Company.

Cocke notes the Hawaii Sierra Membership and Honolulu’s Board of Waters Provide don’t just like the deal, with BWS warning not too long ago it “lacks particulars, clear timelines, strict penalties, and public transparency.”

The politics: Governmental accountability is a cornerstone of a functioning republic.

A ‘uncommon earths’ discovery in Sweden

A reader who wished to stay nameless flagged this BBC piece with a pithy and punchy intro: “Europe’s largest deposit of uncommon earths — that are used from cellphones to missiles — has been present in Sweden.”

Right here’s how the Related Press put it: “Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB stated Thursday it has recognized ‘vital deposits’ in Lapland of uncommon earth parts which might be important for the manufacture of smartphones, electrical automobiles and wind generators.

• “Greater than 1 million tons.”
• “In accordance with LKAB, it’s the biggest identified deposit of its variety in Europe. However the firm warned that it might take no less than a decade earlier than mining begins.”

The politics: the AP heralds the discover as maybe “[t]he starting of the top of Europe’s dependency on China,” which supplies about 98 p.c of the European Union’s uncommon earths.

A Catholic diocese plans chapter amid new abuse fees

Reader L.H. in Santa Rosa, Calif., introduced my consideration to the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa’s plans to declare chapter because it faces a flood of latest lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse.

Reporter Tori Gaines of the Bay Space’s KRON4 reported again in December:

“After Meeting Invoice 218 lifted the statute of limitations for a three-year interval, permitting victims to convey civil claims in opposition to the Diocese for sexual assault circumstances that occurred as early as 1962, extra claims have come to gentle. The Diocese is now dealing with greater than 130 sexual assault claims relationship again to its institution in 1962 till the current day.”

Gaines supplied this extra context: “Thirty-one dioceses throughout the U.S. had filed chapter by Might of this yr, in accordance with the Penn State Legislation Library.”

The politics: Not simply authorities, all highly effective establishments (sure, even the information media) must be held accountable in a wholesome republic.

Corporal punishment and particular wants children

From reader Jackson S. in Arlington, Va., comes this from reporter Payton Might of KOKH-TV in Oklahoma about a Republican state legislator, Rep. John Talley, who’s attempting to outlaw corporal punishment of particular wants children at school. (There’s a rule in opposition to it however not a legislation.)

“In the latest information launched by the U.S. Division of Training from 2017-2018, college students with disabilities served below the ‘People with Disabilities Act’ had been round 13% of enrollment nationwide, however 16.5% of the scholars who obtained corporal punishment,” Might reported. 

And he quoted Talley as saying: “Simply during the last two years we’ve had 63 college districts, 455 instances there was a particular wants pupil that has had corporal punishment used in opposition to them within the state of Oklahoma.” (Additionally, Oklahoma is considered one of 19 states that permit corporal punishment in faculties.)

The politics: Whom we punish (and the way and why and when and for what) is a really political query. Whom we educate, too. 

See an essential political story that doesn’t fairly match conventional politics protection? Flag it for us right here.

Biden internet hosting Japanese chief amid controversy over categorized paperwork

“At the moment, President Biden is welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White Home for conferences by which Japan’s main army buildup and nuclear threats posed by China and North Korea are anticipated to be on the agenda. As Kishida visits Washington, he’s coping with the fallout again dwelling from challenges together with the current resignations of 4 cupboard ministers,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report.

Trump Group sentenced to pay $1.6 million penalty in tax fraud case

“The Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace argued for the highest doable monetary punishment for the previous president’s personal firm, describing egregious and deliberate long-term conduct that each benefited former president Donald Trump’s namesake firm and the executives concerned within the dishonest,” Shayna Jacobs stories.

Lunchtime reads from The Put up

Home rebels pushed to alter Congress. Will they make it tougher to get issues performed?

“Republican and Democratic critics alike say the concessions — most of them a part of an off-the-cuff settlement between the 20 dissenters and McCarthy — will permit a small group of lawmakers to grind the legislative course of to a halt. And the stakes are excessive in a yr with not solely a price range battle coming within the fall but in addition a looming deadline to lift the nation’s debt restrict and keep away from a catastrophic default,” Amy Gardner and Marianna Sotomayor report.

“After witnessing the issue of getting a majority of their colleagues to elect McCarthy as speaker, some Republicans privately fear that their razor-thin four-vote margin will make it troublesome to achieve consensus on a number of pressing fiscal issues that loom.”

Western tanks seem headed to Ukraine, breaking one other taboo

“Western officers more and more worry that Ukraine has solely a slim window to arrange to repel an anticipated Russian springtime offensive, and are shifting quick to provide the Ukrainians subtle weapons they’d earlier refused to ship for worry of frightening Moscow,” the New York Instances’s Lara Jakes and Steven Erlanger report.

“Over the previous few weeks, one barrier after one other has fallen, beginning with an settlement by america in late December to ship a Patriot air-defense system. That was adopted by a German dedication final week to supply a Patriot missile battery, and within the span of hours, France, Germany and america every promised to ship armored combating automobiles to Ukraine’s battlefields for the primary time.”

FTC ban could also be take a look at of bipartisan opposition to noncompete clauses

“A proposal from the Federal Commerce Fee to ban noncompete agreements goals to appropriate what some say is a dangerous energy imbalance between firms and workers, a difficulty distinguished sufficient to have received over some members of the usually pro-business Republican Get together,” Roll Name’s Ellen Meyers stories.

“The transfer, nonetheless, units the stage for a battle — possible within the courts and probably in Congress, if the pushback is powerful — over whether or not the company can legally intervene in what are primarily contracts between staff and their employers.”

The physician received’t see you now: Covid winters are making lengthy hospital waits the brand new regular

“As america enters its third full covid winter, a high administration official is warning that the permanence of the coronavirus within the illness panorama might imply brutal and long-lasting seasonal surges of cold-weather diseases for years to come back, leading to hospitals struggling to look after non-covid emergencies and unable to provide sufferers well timed, lifesaving therapies,” Lena H. Solar and Joel Achenbach report.

Furor over paperwork creates surprising political peril for Biden

“President Biden, dealing with a particular counsel investigation amid new revelations of categorized paperwork in his possession after the vice presidency, abruptly confronts a ballooning political downside that threatens to hamstring his agenda and blunt the momentum he hoped to grab on the midway mark of his time period,” Matt Viser, Marianna Sotomayor and Yasmeen Abutaleb report.

Extra, from CNN: Biden’s whirlwind ultimate days as vice chairman had aides scrambling to shut his White Home workplace

Robert Hur, a ‘no nonsense’ former prosecutor, will look at Biden paperwork

“As a high lawyer on the Justice Division in the course of the Trump administration, Robert Ok. Hur was a key official overseeing and serving to to handle the particular counsel investigation into Russian election interference. He met usually with Robert S. Mueller III’s group and reported again to division leaders,” Ann E. Marimow and Perry Stein report.

Why Japan is the newest ally shifting Biden’s approach

“[Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida] involves the White Home recent off of outlining a plan for his nation to shed its postwar constraints, each political and psychological, and enhance its protection spending and enhance army capabilities to not simply deter assaults however to strike enemies if mandatory. It’s a profound shift for Japan, lengthy averse to militarization and cautious of getting dragged into international conflicts,” Politico’s Eli Stokols, Phelim Kine and Jonathan Lemire report.

Are e book bans discrimination? Biden administration to check new authorized principle.

“If the federal government finds within the ACLU’s favor, the dedication might have implications for faculties nationwide, consultants stated, forcing libraries to inventory extra books about LGBTQ people and requiring directors, amid a rising tide of e book challenges and bans, to develop procedures making certain pupil entry to books that some Individuals, particularly right-leaning mother and father, deem unacceptable.” Hannah Natanson stories.

How inflation slowed in December, visualized

“Inflation eased once more in December, giving aid to households and companies nationwide and providing extra assurance to financial policymakers that steep worth will increase are pulling again with out triggering huge penalties for the broader economic system — to this point,” Rachel Siegel stories.

Ro Khanna says he’s trying on the Senate. His allies are speaking concerning the White Home.

“Khanna has retained consultants who’re veterans of New Hampshire’s major and Nevada’s. He paid one Iowa agency as effectively, earlier than the Democratic Nationwide Committee made plans to revoke the state’s first-in-the-nation standing. He’s additionally begun to extra forcefully draw contrasts with potential political rivals, chief amongst them transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg,” Politico’s Holly Otterbein and Adam Wren report.

“These near Khanna say he’s protecting his choices open forward of a possible presidential run in 2028 or past. However others in his orbit are speaking about an much more compressed timeline: working in 2024 if President Joe Biden determined to not.”

Santos says ‘I’ve lived an trustworthy life’ amid requires him to resign

“Santos appeared on Stephen Ok. Bannon’s far-right podcast and responded to a sympathetic questioner — Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The freshman congressman struck a defiant tone and forged himself as an underdog locked in a battle with institution forces that don’t serve the general public. He dismissed criticisms he’s obtained, saying that it could be as much as the voters to resolve his destiny ‘in two years,’” Azi Paybarah stories.

“Look, I’ve labored my complete life,” Santos stated. “I’ve lived an trustworthy life. I’ve by no means been accused of, of any dangerous doings so, you already know, it’s my, it’s the fairness of my exhausting working self, and I’ve invested within me.”

At 11:15 a.m., Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White Home for a working lunch and bilateral assembly.

1:45 p.m.: Biden will depart the White Home at 1:45 p.m. for New Fortress, Del. He’ll arrive at 2:40 p.m.

Audio system of the Home, they’re similar to us

Thanks for studying, and glad Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ll see you Tuesday.