Let's talk

A new community is born

Welcome to a Thursday edition of Progress Report.

As I’ve mentioned recently, one of my major goals is to transform Progress Report into an ongoing conversation. The newsletter will always be central to what we do, but I don’t want Progress Report to be an almost entirely one-way flow of information. There are too many smart and thoughtful readers for that.

So here’s the plan: Every Thursday morning will be a community conversation day here at Progress Report.

I’ll send out an email to premium subscribers with news and feature stories, along with a few question prompts. In the comments, people can discuss the stories, answer the questions, ask their own questions, or share stories that are interesting to them. People can also suggest subjects that we should cover here at Progress Report.

Note: I’m keeping the discussion to paid members for the moment both because they make this work possible. Plus, I get enough nasty emails from trolls and I don’t want them to start showing up in our conversations here. If you want to be part of the conversation but can’t afford a subscription, let me know and we’ll get you sorted. Today I’ll show the news stories and questions to everyone so they can have an idea of what we’re doing!

Now without further ado, the stories and questions.

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Stories to read and discuss

Housing:

1. Massachusetts is creating a new affordable housing fund that will aim to create 200-300 units per year

2. The California legislature is moving forward on a bill that would reduce the amount a landlord can charge for a security deposit from three month’s rent down to one month’s rent.

3. New York lawmakers just closed a loophole used by landlords to jack up the monthly rent on rent-stabilized buildings far past the legal limit (which, alas, just went up).

Billionaire Disasters:

1. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have agreed to a cage fight, and it’s only the second-dumbest billionaire story this week.

2. The people who climbed into an unequipped submarine to visit the site of the world’s most famous ocean disaster are believed to be dead.

3. Ahead of the vast expansion of Iowa’s scammy school voucher program, a Betsy DeVos crony is now in charge of Iowa’s Department of Education.

Supreme Court:

1. Samuel Alito’s relationship with conservative billionaire super-donors is even deeper than first reported on Tuesday night.

2. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin went on Morning Joe this morning and essentially announced that his committee will not be engaging in any actual oversight or investigations into the broad corruption in the Supreme Court. It was as pitiful as we’ve come to expect from the catatonic Illinois senator. Check it out:

Questions for you

1. What do you think Democrats should do about the Supreme Court corruption, and does their current approach make you more skeptical of the party? What do the people in your orbit think?

2. I live in NYC, so things are always a bit inflated, but I nearly lost my vision when I took a 12-pack of Coke to the grocery store checkout and was told it cost $15. How bad are prices around you? Are they still soaring?

3. Who are you rooting for in the battle of the billionaire dorks: Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg? I’m personally rooting for the mat.

4. Are there grassroots groups doing great work in your area? If so, do you think we should profile them?

5. Who is your political hero?

OK, discuss in the comments, and share all the questions and other stories that you have!