Congress Breaks For 5 Weeks, But Much Work Undone

In October, a group of Medicaid providers warned Colorado lawmakers that they were in trouble. One after another, the providers — from hospitals, mental health clinics and community health centers — described a budgetary collision that’s played out for more than a year: Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans lost Medicaid coverage after the pandemic ebbed, resulting in less money for the clinics’ already-thin operations.

I hope your New Year is beginning well. I underwent eye surgery on the day after New Year's and am still recovering. Also trying to aim for a bit of zen before the freakshow begins. Here is your Sunday morning cartoon. What are you doing differently in this new year? - Karoli read more

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It was made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago region. It takes approximately 700,000 megawatt hours of electricity to power Chicago’s more than 400 municipal buildings every year. As of January 1, every single one of them—including 98 fire stations, two international airports, and two of the largest water treatment plants on the planet—is running on renewable energy, thanks largely to Illinois’ newest and largest solar farm. The move is projected to cut the carbon footprint of the country’s third-largest city by approximately 290,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year—the equivalent of taking 62,000 cars off the road, according to the city.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Explosions roared through the canyons lining the Klamath River earlier this year, signaling a new chapter for the region that hugs the Oregon-California border. In October, the removal of four hydroelectric dams built on the river was completed—the largest project of its kind in US history. The blast of the final dam was just the beginning.

When I saw the movie Magnolia, in 1999, and heard this poignant and emotional song, I had to buy it. The words and music of Aimee Mann's Wise Up reaches into your soul, rips it out and makes you look at it, blood dripping from your hands. "See what you did with your life, asshole?

The bipartisan House Ethics Committee announced earlier this week that it unanimously opted to close several investigations involving alleged campaign finance violations by three Republicans and one Democrat, a move that one expert characterized as a "New Year's Eve Ethics Massacre." The decision to close the investigations into Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), and Alex Mooney (R-W.