California GOP’s answer to redistricting? A two-state solution

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Republicans are now suggesting a “two-state solution” to counter Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw congressional boundaries, following a second attempt earlier this week to get the state Supreme Court to intervene.

Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, unveiled a long-shot resolution Wednesday to sever inland counties from the coast and form a separate republic that he said would be more responsive to rural citizens’ priorities. During a press conference, he invoked “Go Down Moses,” the African American spiritual traditionally associated with the anti-slavery movement and the Civil War.

“A long time ago, a man went to a great king in a land where his people were being completely oppressed, economically oppressed,” Gallagher told reporters. “And he said to that king, ‘Let my people go.’ Well, in the same token, this morning, I’m saying, ‘Gavin, Let my people go.’”

The California Legislative Black Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The map accompanying Gallagher’s resolution corrals the state’s population centers, like the Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles and Sacramento into one state. Inner counties, including the North State, Inland Empire and Central Valley, would be siphoned off into another state, which Gallagher claimed would be the nation’s seventh-largest.

—The Sacramento Bee

Is crime a major problem? Poll reveals massive geographic divide among Americans

The vast majority of Americans believe crime is a major problem in large U.S. cities, but few say the same for small towns, rural areas and their own communities, according to a new AP-NORC survey.

A slim majority also say they approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of crime — while taking issue with one specific tactic.

The poll comes after Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and federalized the Metropolitan Police Department in early August in an attempt to bolster public safety.

“Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today,” he wrote in an Aug. 11 post on Truth Social. “Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!”

—Miami Herald

Minnesota pharmacists who refused to administer gender-affirming drugs sue Walgreens

Two Minnesota pharmacists who refused to administer gender-affirming drugs to patients are suing Walgreens and the state’s pharmacy board, claiming they were denied the right to refuse patient prescriptions that conflict with their religious beliefs.

Gender-affirming drugs are hormones or hormone-blockers that create physical changes in the body to align with the person’s gender identity. Rarely prescribed in the U.S., the medications have nonetheless become a flashpoint amid a wider cultural and political debate about transgender youth.

The federal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, alleges Walgreens fired Rachel Scott of Mahtomedi and drastically reduced the hours of Dora Ig-Izevbekhai of Woodbury after the two “Bible believing” Christians submitted formal requests for religious accommodations to not prescribe the drugs.

According to the complaint, Walgreens said their refusal to dispense the drugs over religious objections was illegal under Minnesota law. It further said the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy refused to clarify its administrative rules.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

US envoy’s mention of ‘animalistic’ behavior sparks press corps outrage

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s often-fractious press corps was united in anger this week over comments by Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy to Syria, who warned journalists against “animalistic” behavior and told them to “act civilized.”

Faced with a media scrum during a news conference held Tuesday in the Lebanese capital Beirut with a congressional delegation, Barrack strode to the podium and peremptorily told reporters they were “going to have a different set of rules.”

“The moment that this starts becoming chaotic — like animalistic — we’re gone,” he said. “You want to know what’s happening? Act civilized, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what’s happening in the region.”

Barrack is a real estate investor of Lebanese descent who, along with his Syria duties, serves as U.S. ambassador to Turkey. Barrack was accompanied by deputy envoy Morgan Ortagus, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and is visiting Beirut to pressure the government into making real its plans to disarm Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.

—Los Angeles Times