| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1971, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the government could not prevent the New York Times or The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers, a Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War. | | |  | The big idea | | Malaria in the U.S. Fentanyl in San Fran. Your weekly non-Beltway political stories. |  There are new concerns about malaria, the mosquito-borne disease, in parts of the United States. (James Gathany/CDC via AP, File) | | | Malaria spreads locally in the U.S. for the first time in 20 years. California doubles the state police presence in San Francisco in a crackdown on fentanyl. Connecticut experiments with "baby bonds." Some in Florida protest Gov. Ron DeSantis's immigration law. These are your weekly outside-the-Beltway political stories. The Daily 202 generally focuses on national politics and foreign policy. But as passionate believers in local news, and in redefining "politics" as something that hits closer to home than Beltway "Senator X Hates Senator Y" stories, we try to bring you a weekly mix of pieces with significant local, national or international importance. Please keep sending your links to news coverage of political stories that are getting overlooked. They don't have to be from this week! The submission link is right under this column. Make sure to say whether I can use your first name, last initial and location. Anonymous is okay, too, as long as you give a location. | Malaria cases get scientists buzzing | | Reader Jeff R. in Wilsonville, Ore., flagged the unsettling news that five cases of malaria have been logged in Texas and Florida, the first time in 20 years the mosquito-borne disease has spread locally – as opposed to being brought in from abroad by someone already sick. | | "Malaria, which is mostly found in tropical countries, can be life-threatening but is preventable and curable. The World Health Organization says in 2021 there were an estimated 247 million cases of malaria worldwide. Of those cases, an estimated 619,000 people died from the disease," Ashley Westerman reported at NPR. The politics: Setting aside for now the possibility that this spreads more, consider that climate change will likely make this worse over time. Scientists worry that rising temperatures mean expanded areas in which disease-bearing mosquitos thrive. | A San Francisco crackdown on fentanyl | | While promising "I'm not going back to the old, failed war on drugs," California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) told the San Francisco Chronicle's Sophia Bollag this week he'll double the number of state police officers tackling fentanyl dealing in San Francisco. (Thanks to reader Marilyn M. for putting this on my radar via Twitter.) | | "He called the open-air drug dealing in the city 'unacceptable' and said California needs to do a better job enforcing the drug and theft laws it already has by putting more police officers on the streets and enhancing collaboration between law enforcement agencies. He said the state-local effort in San Francisco is an example of that strategy in action," Bollag wrote. The politics: Fentanyl is thought to be the leading cause of death in Americans 18-49 and policymakers have tried (and are trying) a broad range of policies to counter the worsening epidemic. More treatment? Tougher enforcement? A blend? | | Andrew Brown at the Connecticut Mirror reports on the launch of the state's new "baby bonds" program, "an initiative that was created to combat income inequality and to break the cycles of systemic poverty in the state." The initiative "will invest $3,200 for every child that is born after July 1, 2023 and is eligible for the state's Medicaid program," Brown wrote. | | "Those investments will be managed by the state until the children turn 18, at which point the recipients will be able to use the money to buy a home, pay for college, start a business or save for retirement — the type of financial assistance that children from wealthier households often receive from their parents or families," according to Brown. The politics: This is very interesting public policy to battle poverty. Worth watching both whether and how it works in Connecticut and whether other states consider their own versions. | Immigration protests in Florida | | An anonymous reader in Fort Myers, Fla., flagged recent protests in South Florida against an immigration crackdown championed by DeSantis (R). The legislation, which strictly punishes the hiring of undocumented workers, takes effect July 1 but has reportedly already led to an exodus from the Sunshine State. You undoubtedly already have opinions about immigration and DeSantis, but this detail from Luis Zambrano and Emma Behrmann of the Fort Myers News-Press jumped out at us: | - "Florida has an estimated undocumented population of 772,000, while undocumented farmworkers are estimated at 300,000."
| | The politics: Beyond the human impact, it'll be interesting to track how this law affects Southwest Florida's agricultural, construction, and tourism industries. | | |  | Politics-but-not | | | Click through to submit ideas for potential inclusion in our weekly roundup of stories you might not find in other political newsletters. Read more » | | | | | |  | What's happening now | | Supreme Court rejects Biden student loan forgiveness plan |  A sign calling for student loan debt relief is seen in front of the Supreme Court as the justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in two cases involving President Biden's bid to reinstate his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt on Feb. 28. (Nathan Howard/Reuters) | | | "The Supreme Court on Friday said President Biden does not have the authority for his roughly $400 billion plan to forgive student loan debt, the latest blow from a Supreme Court that has been dismissive of this administration's bold claims of power. The vote was 6 to 3 along ideological lines, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing for the court's dominant conservatives," Robert Barnes and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel report. More on the landmark decision: | Supreme Court protects web designer who won't do gay wedding websites | | "The Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled in favor of an evangelical Christian graphic artist from Colorado who does not want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples, despite the state's protective anti-discrimination law. The vote split along ideological lines, 6 to 3, with the liberals in dissent," Robert reports. | The affirmative action ruling has already upended college applications | | "Teenagers of all backgrounds are reconsidering their shot at getting into competitive colleges. Admissions counselors are rethinking how students should discuss their race in application essays. The Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that colleges cannot consider race in admissions has left applicants in turmoil, they say," Hannah Natanson reports. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | A year after Congress passed a landmark gun bill, is it working? | | One year after Congress passed a landmark gun reform bill, lawmakers discuss if it has had an impact on gun violence rates and what could come next in this video with Rhonda Colvin. | Ukraine's top general, Valery Zaluzhny, wants shells, planes and patience | | "For Ukraine's counteroffensive to progress faster, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the top officer in Ukraine's armed forces, says he needs more — of every weapon. And he is telling anyone who will listen, including his American counterpart Gen. Mark A. Milley as recently as Wednesday, that he needs those resources now," Isabelle Khurshudyan reports. | - "In a rare, wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Zaluzhny expressed frustration that while his biggest Western backers would never launch an offensive without air superiority, Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets but is expected to rapidly take back territory from the occupying Russians. American-made F-16s, promised only recently, are not likely to arrive until the fall — in a best-case scenario."
| Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they'll also be illegal. | | "Fake reviews are ruining the web. But there's some new hope to fight them. The Federal Trade Commission on Friday proposed new rules to take aim at businesses that buy, sell and manipulate online reviews. If the rules are approved, they'll carry a big stick: a fine of up to $50,000 for each fake review, for each time a consumer sees it," Geoffrey A. Fowler reports. | The military recruiting crisis: Even veterans don't want their families to join |  Civilians and members of the military watch the Joint Services as they compete in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Oct. 19, 2022 in Washington. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) | | - "Influencers are not telling them to go into the military," said Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in an interview. "Moms and dads, uncles, coaches and pastors don't see it as a good choice."
| Miami has a lot in common with San Francisco | | "It's a large coastal metropolis that has been losing residents to other parts of the US for years and lost population outright early in the pandemic. Increasingly unaffordable housing appears to be the main cause. That description applies to multiple cities. That Miami is one of them might be something of a surprise," columnist Justin Fox writes for Bloomberg. | Trump says he may skip first Republican debate, hold rival event | | "Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he might not participate in the Republican Party's first 2024 election primary debate in August and may hold an alternative event, citing his lead in opinion polls and what he claims is the hosting network's bias against him," Reuters reports. | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Biden administration could soon approve sending controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine |  Biden waves during his walk to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) | | | "The Biden administration is strongly considering approving the transfer of controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN, as the Ukrainians struggle to make major gains in their weeks' old counteroffensive," CNN's Natasha Bertrand reports. | Biden sharply criticizes Supreme Court after affirmative action case | | "President Biden said Thursday the current Supreme Court has done 'more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history,' but he stopped short of calling for overhauling or expanding the court, as some in his party demand," Cleve R. Wootson Jr. reports. | Biden administration approves potential $440 million arms sales to Taiwan | | "The Biden administration has approved two potential arms sales totaling $440 million to Taiwan amid ongoing tensions between the self-governing island and Beijing, the State Department announced Thursday," CNN's Michael Callahan reports. | - "One sale, totaling about $332 million, includes 30mm ammunition and related equipment, and the other $108 million is for spare and repair parts for vehicles and weapons to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office – Taiwan's diplomatic outpost in the United States – the State Department said."
| | |  | What more Americans retiring than ever before means for you, visualized | | | "The ranks of retirees are growing much faster today than the number of new workers, ushering in an unprecedented graying of America that will reshape our workforce and economy," Alyssa Fowers and Kevin Schaul report. | - "For the past 50 years, the baby-boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, have worked through the American labor force like a big meal inside an anaconda. As they age, the workforce is becoming older than ever. As they retire, they'll push the worker-to-retiree ratio lower than ever."
| | |  | Hot on the left | | The mysterious case of the fake gay marriage website, the real straight man, and the Supreme Court |  The Supreme Court of the United State building was built during the Great Depression and completed in 1935. Architect Cass Gilbert's design is based on a Greco-Roman temple. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) | | | "The Supreme Court [delivered] its opinion in a case in which Stewart plays a minor role … It took just a few minutes to reach him. I assumed at least some reporters over the years had contacted him about his website inquiry to 303 Creative—his contact information wasn't redacted in the filing. But my call, he said, was 'the very first time I've heard of it,'" Melissa Gira Grant writes for the New Republic. | - "Yes, that was his name, phone number, email address, and website on the inquiry form. But he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman. 'If somebody's pulled my information, as some kind of supporting information or documentation, somebody's falsified that,' Stewart explained."
| | |  | Hot on the right | | Moms for Liberty didn't exist 3 years ago. Now it's a GOP kingmaker. |  Tina Descovich, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, poses for a portrait inside her home with her dog, Coco, in October 2021. (Zack Wittman for The Washington Post) | | - "This weekend, five Republican presidential candidates — including front-runner Donald Trump and his leading rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — plan to take the stage at a Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia, highlighting their conviction that educational issues will mobilize their base in the 2024 election."
- "It also signals how polarized education politics have become — and spotlights the veneration with which conservatives now regard Moms for Liberty, a group that didn't exist three years ago but which today boasts more than 100,000 members across 44 states."
| | |  | Today in Washington | | | At 4 p.m., Biden will leave the White House for Camp David.
| | |  | In closing | | Take the Department of Data Anniversary Quiz! |  (Illustration by Michelle Rohn for The Washington Post) | | | We at The Daily 202 love the Department of Data and hope you do, too. And it's the DoD's birthday today! Take this quiz to revel in all of the factoids you've learned in the last year – and the chance to win an official Department of Data hoodie. | | Thanks for reading. See you next week. | | |
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