Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®, which shares the latest from the wild west of political landscapes, highlighting news that fits the qualifications of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright absurd.

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GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, FR]

MI GOV. WHITMER SIGNS 2 BILLS ADDRESSING DEEP FAKES & AI-DRIVEN SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: Two bipartisan bills have made it over the finish line thanks to both receiving Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature. The companion bills, HB 4047 & HB 4048, aim to tackle issues at the intersection of deep fakes, AI and sexual exploitation, by making the creation and distribution of AI-generated images and videos that include the depiction of a specific person in sexual scenarios, a crime. The legislative combo also comes with sentencing guidelines for those that are found guilty of violating the law.

MD GOV. MOORE LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO COMBAT SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN RURAL AREAS: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore unveiled a new $1.6M grant program, the Rural Advancement for Maryland Peers [RAMP], that aims to reduce substance abuse in the state’s rural communities. The program’s funds are to be used to bolster and expand what’s known as the certified peer recovery specialist workforce – a workforce, per the Governor’s Office – that is composed of those with lived experience in recovery, and that are trained [and certified] to help people going through recovery. Specifically, the monies distributed to programs through RAMP grants [up to $200k/per] will be utilized to provide free training, certification, and career advancement opportunities within the certified peer recovery specialist field. Those applying for RAMP, must serve state-designated rural communities; partner with at least two recovery-focused and/or community-based orgs; and partner with at least three employers that will offer paid internships + employment to participants that are in the process of getting a peer recovery specialist certification.

RI GOV. MCKEE SIGNS BILL THAT CREATES LAND BANK FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Ocean state Gov. Dan McKee signed a bill that creates what’s going to be known as a housing land bank that’s equipped with the goal of making it easier to identify properties that would be used for affordable housing – namely, vacant or underutilized lots that have potential. Specifically, the housing land bank, which will run through the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, will be essentially a repository, that will “accept, hold, transfer, and sell properties,” and in doing so, will also lower land acquisition costs for affordable housing developers.

EXTREMISM

…that’s the tweet [or the x]

• In an unfortunately characteristically unhinged move, Trump canceled former VP Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection late last week. The VP’s protection detail was supposed to go through next July [2026]. Harris’ home state of California has stepped up, granting her dignitary status, resulting in the California Highway Patrol being slated to provide Harris security. 

• In an extremism triple header that again jolted a nation way too accustomed to mass school shootings – Robin Westman, killed two children, injured many others, and forever scarred all involved, by firing through the windows of a school church where students were praying. The now deceased suspect [self-inflicted], posted previously on YouTube about his affection for other school shooters and per ABC News reporting, ‘ideations of harm to self and others.’ His weapons were also inked with extremist language. The GOP x far-right crew have taken the tragedy and used it to target trans people, blaming a minority for a type of crime that is overwhelmingly conducted by straight white men.

• A Washington man who shot two men in Virginia last year because he identified them as Hispanic, was sentenced to a life-sentence behind bars. The shooter’s lawyer shared that his client was influenced by extremist, anti-immigrant right-wing rhetoric and is a Trump supporter. Both men targeted and injured by the shooter, were simply on their way home from work and will now have life-long injuries as a result of the incident.

• Resurfaced video footage from a 2022 hearing shows Texas state Senator Charles Perry sharing that the way to “deal with immigrants” is to “shoot, shovel, and shut up.”

CATACLYSMIC CORRUPTION

And other moves of disproportionate idiocy 

• A whistleblower at the Social Security Administration, Charles Borges, the agency’s now former Chief Data Officer, resigned after giving the real real on what DOGE had been up to. Borges' complaint claimed that DOGE had uploaded a copy of the entirety of the nation’s Social Security info to a cloud account, like one with no oversight and possible security issues, putting Americans’ sensitive personal info at risk to bad actors like those that self-employ in the field of identity theft.

• A fmr Tennessee state Senator – Brian Kelsey – who had pleaded guilty to charges in 2022 for trying to illegally funnel campaign money, but received a pardon from Trump this past March, has had his law license reinstated by the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. Yes, really, that is what board is called.

• Falling in line with the current President, Missouri’s GOP Governor – who is known to go against the wishes of his state’s residents – called a legislative special session to redraw the state’s Congressional Districts aka gerrymander a Democrat out of their seat, as well as to make it harder for citizens to use ballot measures to create policy that they actually want.

• The Trump family brought in billions of dollars following the launch of a new crypto venture – an industry defined by sketchy dealings and tool-ish Miami guys with overpriced sports cars. The venture is seemingly run through the Trump family-owned firm, World Liberty Financial.

• Girly with the Cruella de Vil hair, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, allegedly publicly disclosed the name of an underscore CIA officer, when she released her list of people she was stripping security clearances for [a story you’ll remember from last week]. The result is apparently more bad blood between her and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. 

HEALTH & WELLNESS

In the club, we’re all sick

• The man that once dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park, that’s now America’s Health Secretary, RFK Jr. made a claim lathered in lies that the nation’s children are suffering from “mitochondrial challenges,” and that he’s able to somehow diagnose children by simply “looking at them.” Totally dude, totally.

• RFK Jr. also apparently has a vendetta against beans…? The protein and fiber-packed food group was apparently supposed to be a focus area in his soon-to-be-released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, but got the axe. This anti-bean, anti-lentil, anti-plant-based protein source move, comes after what NewsNation reports as RFK jr. ‘ghosting’ the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee that help make the guidelines happen.

• A number of hospitals and cancer centers are being forced to stop enrollment in six pediatric brain tumor studies as a result of the federal government pausing funding for them.

• Following the ouster of CDC Director Susan Monarez by the Admin that had nominated her, details on her replacement Jim O’Neill have come to light. The quick deats/ick list via The Guardian: he has no training in medicine or infectious diseases, he used to work for wackadoodle right-wing nut job and GOP mega-donor Peter Thiel, and during COVID, he was a fanboy of treatments with no basis in science like ivermectin.

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to call a special legislative session to address the health crisis that is gun violence, following last week’s mass shooting in Minneapolis. Walz said that he will release a gun control package this week for the legislature to consider, which likely won’t go anywhere because of the GOP majority that exists because of the assassination of Dem state Rep. Melissa Hortman earlier this year.

• In yet another Truth Social rant, and following last week’s CDC chaos that’s led to an even more anti-vax environment than before, Trump came after drug manufacturers, demanding them to prove to him that COVID-19 treatments are actually successful [this is the same guy that thought injecting bleach was the move, so…].

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Stories that are guaranteed to make it to the group chat

• The most shocking part of the following story is the fact that the FBI Director, Kash Patel has a girlfriend. The GF, a country singer named Alexis Wilkins, is suing a podcaster named Kyle Seraphin for defamation. The complaint filed claims that the podcaster falsely claimed that Wilkins is essentially a spy whose goal is to compromise the FBI and its director.

• A GOP election official in North Carolina has resigned after being arrested for allegedly spiking his granddaughter's ice cream with illegal narcotics. The now former official, James Yokeley was also caught on camera, with video footage that was reviewed by investigators on the case showing him putting the pills in their blizzards.

• Astrology has entered the Trump Admin chat in the form of a restraining order, with Trump’s Undersecretary of Defense, Anthony Tata, seeking an RO against internet astrologer, “Starheal.” Tata – yes, literally his name – allegedly had a long-term extramarital affair before attempting to circle back to that thing called a WIFE. The dude also invested his money into Starheal’s astrology biz, so there’s that. 

• Once odd bedfellows turned duo that low-key makes sense, Congressman Ro Khanna [D-CA] and Congressman Thomas Massie [R-KY] have teamed up for a presser on Sept. 3rd with ten of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. The goal? To force pocket Trump, Mike Johnson to bring a House vote on their bill that would require for Trump’s DOJ to release the Epstein files in full. 

• Caught on camera in 4k, is this odd scene at the White House showing someone throwing things out of a second story window – and yes, it’s giving the vibes of a rom-com where someone finds out their partner is cheating. 

• Trump put a contractor that had been working at the White House on blast for damaging the limestone in the Rose Garden that he ordered paved over. 

• Hair dye drip Giuliani is being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by buddy he got in trouble for, Trump. The announcement followed Giuliani being injured in a car accident this past weekend.

CHRONICALLY ONLINE

Politics meets social media

• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been taking lake side hot gov walks and taking press questions along the way as well. And in this particular case, he spoke with NBC Chicago on Trump’s plans to expand ICE operations in the city.

• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu brought the jams, the signs and the vibes to remind people to vote in the upcoming pre-lim election with this Reel.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom joined Kara Swisher on the Pivot Podcast, which dropped this clip sharing him teasing the possibility of dropping a meme coin to mock Trump’s.

• Senator Elizabeth Warren shows she scrolls [or at least her team does] with this TikTok sharing her reaction to her near perfect score when it comes to money in politics [or out of them for her].

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID

That money though

• Over 30 countries have hit pause on parcel shipments to the U.S. over the latest stage of Trump’s tariffs. This stage includes saying RIP to the “de minimis” trade agreement, which had allowed for packages that were worth less than $800 total to enter the U.S. duty-free.

• New reporting shows that since January, 1.2 million immigrants have vanished from the labor force, with the number including both those in the U.S. legally and illegally. 

• A federal program known as the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which according to AP, has helped build and repair 1.3M+ affordable homes, with a large portion in rural areas, is on Trump’s elimination to-do list. The program, BTW, was started under a GOP president, and whether it ends under another one is TBD.

LEGAL BEAGLE

Lawsuits & legal tings to know about

• Trump’s DOJ has announced that following the firing/forced retirement of over 100 immigration judges, that the new temporary immigration judges it will be bringing on board, will not need to have any – like 0% – experience in immigration law. And an important contextual note on the sitch from ABC News: ATM there’s a backlog of over 3.7 MILLION immigration cases.

• Late last week, a federal appeals court dealt Trump a major setback in the realm of tariffs, ruling that he went too far in declaring national emergencies to justify global tariffs. That said, the ruling didn’t strike down the tariffs themselves, and instead gave the Trump Admin time to appeal to their besties-in-robes at SCOTUS.

• A federal judge blocked the deportation of 600 Guatemalan children, in other words unaccompanied minors, with a restraining order that puts the move on hold for at least two weeks. Advocates on behalf of the children say that these children were being denied the protections they’re supposed to be granted for those seeking asylum. The Trump Admin, in contrast, claims that this isn’t the case and that these children are being sent back to be reunified with family in concert with apparent agreements being negotiated with the Guatemalan government. The children’s advocates rebuke what the Trump Admin claims, and similar to the judge involved point to the sketchy, over the weekend, children already boarded on planes, sitch orchestrated by the Trump Admin when they assumed people wouldn’t be paying enough attention.

• In response to Trump’s threats to put troops on the ground in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order dubbed, “Protecting Chicago.” The headline-maker of the EO is that it bans law enforcement from wearing masks in the city, and requires them to display both their agency and badge number at all times. 

• A U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and the Marines to LA in June, was illegal. The judge gave the Trump Admin until Sept 12, 2025 to comply with his order to stop using military troops in California for a long list of things including for traffic control, security patrols, interrogation, and more.

WEATHER REPORT

Climate & enviro-related deats

• Kristi Noem and crew have decided to waive 31 environmental and public health laws to make way for the continued construction of Trump’s border wall, which will slide through a critical wildlife corridor for endangered species, the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

• Florida is home to 1,000+ fresh water springs – springs that the state’s residents rely on for clean drinking water. That water is under threat because of agricultural pollution, development, etc – and now in the central and northern part of the state, where about 30 of what are known as “first magnitude springs,” are located, there are only four remaining that aren’t polluted, according to AP.

• New polling shows that the majority of people find FEMA necessary after a natural disaster; specifically 86% of those polled, inclusive of 83% of Republicans and 95% of Democrats.

• The Koch brother-founded conservative with claims of libertarianism political network, Americans for Prosperity, which has shown its passions to be in the land of climate science denial, is trying to influence climate action and policy in Vermont. On its face, their moves seem to be about “affordability,” but their track record shows the reality has nothing to do with that.
  

KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

• Washington Post: This conservative county lost teachers after administration cut a $21 million grant

• Them: Swimmer Riley Gaines Admits She’s Just Using Sports to Make Trans Rights “Crumble”

• The Atlantic: ‘It Feels Like the CDC Is Over’

• WyoFile: A Wyoming town massacred its Chinese workers 140 years ago. Descendents returned to dig for the Chinatown ‘burn layer.’

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