Indiana county copes with being surrounded by legal weed: The Flyover

The Flyover

The Flyover

Hello, flyers. Seth Richardson is out today, so I’m at the controls. (How do these work anyway?) I’m Andrew Tobias, and you can follow my coverage of the Ohio Statehouse here. Now that our flight pre-check is over, let’s get on with it.

Recreational pot in Michigan and Illinois makes life interesting for one bordering Indiana county. An Ohio lawmaker and a lobbyist help put “ectopic pregnancy re-implantation” on the map. And a Democratic PA congressional hopeful apparently thinks opposing ICE is good politics. Read on in today’s Flyover.

Check-in

Caught in the middle: Indiana’s northwestern-most county is considering easing penalties for marijuana possession after bordering Michigan legalized recreational pot and with Illinois not far behind, according to the Associated Press. Lake County Council endorsed an ordinance Tuesday that would give sheriff’s deputies the discretion to write a $50 to $250 ticket for possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana, instead of taking someone to jail. “I don’t want anybody to think we’re advocating for the legalization of marijuana. We’re not,” said county Council President Ted Bilski. “We’re trying to be fiscally responsible.”

Off the books: With recreational marijuana becoming legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Fox in a Wednesday circuit court hearing called for the expungement of 1,012 low-level marijuana convictions, Matthew Hendrickson writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. Gov. J.B. Pritzker was among those in attendance.

Puff, puff? Pass: Meanwhile, a Wednesday Republican proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin was quashed within an hour by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck. Fitzgerald said he personally opposes the idea and doesn’t believe his GOP-controlled chamber is on board.

Close collaboration: An Ohio state lawmaker who proposed permitting private insurers to cover re-implantation of ectopic pregnancies — a medical procedure doctors say isn’t understood to be possible — worked closely with a conservative lobbyist in developing and defending his legislation, per the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jesse Balmert (hard paywall). Emails obtained by Balmert and Equity Forward, a research group that supports abortion rights, show Becker worked with Barry Sheets, a lobbyist for the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio.

Cha-ching: NCR Corp. is paying $245.2 million to help clean up an 80-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River and connected flood plains under the terms of a settlement announced Wednesday by the U.S. EPA. As John Flesher reports for the Associated Press, the company is among those responsible for the Kalamazoo being polluted with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from paper recycling mills. The cleanup effort began more than 20 years ago.

Not nice, ICE: Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Wednesday became the latest official to call for the closure of a family detention center in Berks County, near Reading. Per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff Gammage, DePasquale has no authority over the facility, which is operated by the county in contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But he pointed out inspections of the facility are paid for by state taxpayers. DePasquale is a Democrat who is running in the primary to challenge Republican Rep. Scott Perry in November.

Baggage check: The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to advance a bill that would block local governments from banning single-use plastic bags. As I report, the measure now heads to the Ohio Senate, which has been holding hearings on its own bag-ban ban legislation. If the bill makes it into law, Ohio would join fellow Flyover states Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin in banning bag bans.

More in bans: The Michigan House voted Wednesday to ban cell-phone use by drivers 17 and younger, Beth LeBlanc reports for the Detroit News. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer urged the Senate to take up the legislation “as soon as possible.”

Appreciate it: Despite trade tensions and other forces causing a downturn in agriculture, farmland in Iowa grew 2.3% more valuable in 2019, according to the Des Moines Register’s Donnelle Eller. The Iowa State Study found low interest rates, strong yields and a limited amount of available land helped boost the statewide average to $7,432 an acre. The increase was only the second time in six years farmland values have increased.

Declining use: An Iowa state-run family-program created to exclude Planned Parenthood from receiving state funds has seen a 75% drop in clientele since 2017. As Barbara Rodriguez reports for the Des Moines Register, state officials say prospective clients are going elsewhere, while advocates say the numbers show people are falling through the cracks.

Arrivals/Departures

Sen. Elizabeth Warren opened her Michigan campaign office on Wednesday, making her the first Democrat to do so, per MLive. (She previously was the first Democrat to open an office in Ohio.)

Vice President Mike Pence is headed to Indianapolis on Friday to stump for Gov. Eric Holcomb’s re-election campaign, per the Indianapolis Star.

Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro was in Nevada, Grinnell and Iowa City, Iowa, on Wednesday, per the campaign.

Businessman Andrew Yang was in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday, per the campaign.

The Des Moines Register held a beer caucus on Wednesday, per the Des Moines Register.

Author Marianne Williamson is headed to Council Bluffs and Fairfield, Iowa today, per the campaign.

Yang will be in Ames, Iowa today, per the campaign.

White House Director of Urban Affairs and Revitalization Ja’Ron Smith will be in Cleveland on Friday, per cleveland.com. He’s staying around for a community event on Saturday at which Trump allies say they’re giving away $25,000 cash.

Trump will be in Philadelphia on Dec. 14 to watch the Army vs. Navy football game, per PennLive.

At least six presidential candidates will be in Pittsburgh on Dec. 14 for a public education forum, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, will be in Sterling Heights, Michigan, on Dec. 17, per MLive.

Trump will be in Battle Creek, Michigan, on Dec. 18 for a “Merry Christmas rally,” per MLive. Pence will join him, per the Detroit News.

This Is Your Captain Speaking

"You’ve seen the school walkouts. You’ve seen our participation at marches and at rallies. I think that’s just going to continue to build, because we know that the world in 30 years, 40 years, is going to be ours.”

- Cameron Tiefenthaler, a 17-year-old senior at Columbus School for Girls, to the New York Times. She attended a conference last month in Columbus, Ohio organized by a group encouraging young women to run for elected office in the future.

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Email Seth at SRichardson@cleveland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.

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