Analysis | How opioid death trends are changing. Your weekly … – The Washington Post

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 strictly inside-the-Beltway stories, we try to bring you a weekly mix of pieces with significant local, national or international importance.

But we need your help to know what we’re missing! Please keep sending your links to news coverage of political stories that are getting overlooked. (They don’t have to be from this week, and the submission link is right under this column.) Make sure to say whether we can use your first name, last initial and location. Anonymous is okay, too, as long as you give a location.

More and more opioid deaths involve cocaine and meth

Our colleague David Ovalle reported this week on the latest wave of the nation’s drug epidemic: People who are dying from opioids are increasingly also using stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine. (Important note – researchers say fentanyl is still the main drug killing these people, despite it being mixed with other substances.)

Researchers who study the illicit drug market think most of these deaths involve users knowingly consuming these drugs alongside fentanyl. “Fentanyl is so sedative that people are having a hard time staying awake,” Jon E. Zibbell, a senior scientist at the nonprofit research institute RTI International, told David. “So people are using stimulants alongside fentanyl just to be able to do life.”

The politics: The fentanyl epidemic keeps shifting, and policymakers are not known for being especially nimble in their response to public health issues. Whether and how lawmakers react to this new wave could be telling.

The U.S. needs lithium. This couple found a lot, but Maine won’t let them dig it up.

The U.S. desperately needs lithium for the Biden administration’s promised clean energy transition. Right now we rely heavily on China for our supply. 

Five years ago, gemstone hunters Mary and Gary Freeman found the world’s richest known deposit of the mineral in the woods of western Maine, TIME’s Alana Semuels and the Maine Monitor’s Kate Cough report.

It seemed like they hit the lithium jackpot – the stores they found could be worth as much as $1.5 billion. But so far, Maine’s strict mining regulations have made it impossible for them to dig up most of the substance.

From Alana and Kate’s story: “‘Our gold rush mentality regarding oil has fueled the climate crisis,’ says State Rep. Margaret O’Neil, who presented a bill last session that would have halted lithium mining for five years while the state worked out rules (the legislation ultimately failed). ‘As we facilitate our transition away from fossil fuels, we must examine the risks of lithium mining and consider whether the benefits of mining here in Maine justify the harms.’”

The politics: Should mining rules be loosened despite environmental and other concerns if the minerals in question could advance a greener future?

King County, Wash., to distribute bleeding-control kits

This story, pointed out by Jeff B. of Seattle, is a sign of the times. Emergency management agencies across a county in Washington are distributing more than 1,700 bleeding-control kits, Daisy Zavala Magaña reports for the Seattle Times. And the highest-priority recipients? Schools.

There’s a clear reason for this grim preparation: The number of school mass shootings has risen rapidly in recent years. Through 2017, the country averaged about 11 school shootings a year, never surpassing 16 in one year. But starting in 2018, the incidents started climbing. In 2021, 42 K-12 schools experienced school shootings, and 46 endured one the next year.

The politics: With Republicans and Democrats failing to agree on the best way to stop mass shootings, emergency responders are left to make sure high-risk places like schools are as prepared as they can be for tragedy.

Ohio is spending $1 million on security for…the solar eclipse?

My home state (go Bucks!) will be one of the best places in the nation to view the total solar eclipse in April. That means big crowds are expected in some parts of the state, which could be a huge economic boost for Ohio but this also means accidents are more likely. 

To get in front of those concerns, Ohio lawmakers recently approved $1 million to be allocated toward eclipse security in the 2024-25 state budget, the Columbus Dispatch’s Lily Carey reports. The money will go to local authorities if they have to handle emergency costs related to the solar event.

The politics: Looking at how states choose to spend their money is a good way to understand their priorities. The eclipse will likely be a big moneymaker for Ohio, so making sure safety i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed ahead of the festivities makes sense.

See an important political story that doesn’t quite fit traditional politics coverage? Flag it for us here.

Judge Cannon schedules Trump’s classified documents trial for May 2024

“The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump’s indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents ruled on Friday that the high-stakes criminal trial should begin in late May of next year,” Perry Stein and Mark Berman report.

• “The timeline was an early source of friction between federal prosecutors, who sought a trial date as soon as this year, and defense attorneys for Trump, who wanted to delay until after the 2024 election, in which Trump is again running for president.”

Trump attorneys again push to block Georgia 2020 election investigation

“In an order issued Thursday but made public Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville recused the entire judicial bench in Fulton County from hearing Trump’s motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and her office from further probing Trump. The motion also calls for throwing out evidence and a final report gathered by a special grand jury that investigated the case,” Holly Bailey reports.

Lunchtime reads from The Post

The Fed has a new instant payment system. Here’s what it means for you.

“The Federal Reserve on Thursday launched FedNow, its attempt to make instant money transfers the standard for all Americans. The Fed hopes the program eventually will allow Americans to send and receive money in real-time and around-the-clock, cutting back on fees and costs that lower-income people disproportionately face as a result of lags in the current system,” Tory Newmyer reports.

Activists split over whether reparations should go to Black immigrants

“When [Boston] announced earlier this year that it would consider giving reparations to its Black residents, it was heralded as another victory in a national movement to offer recompense for the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow segregation,” Emmanuel Felton reports.

• “But as the mayor started choosing members for the Boston task force, the city quickly became one of the chief battlegrounds of an adjacent fight playing out within the Black community: Should reparations programs be limited to people who trace their ancestry back to American slavery, or should they include Black immigrants who came to the country by choice?”

Trump prosecutions consume campaign funds and messaging as charges mount

“Any distinction between the former president’s White House bid and his criminal defense is vanishing as the charges against him mount. Fighting those prosecutions is increasingly dominating his time, resources and messaging, making the centerpiece of his candidacy an appeal to stay out of prison. As he forges ahead, much of the Republican base appears to be cheering him at each turn,” Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey report.

• “What is likely to come is a campaign like the country has never seen before: A candidate juggling multiple criminal indictments while slashing the Department of Justice and his opponents, shuttling between early primary states for rallies and courtrooms for hearings, and spending his supporters’ money on both millions of dollars’ worth of campaign ads and burgeoning legal bills.”

CIA chief says Wagner mutiny revived questions about Putin’s rule

“In the most detailed public account yet given by a U.S. official, the director of the C.I.A. offered a biting assessment on Thursday of the damage done to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by the mutiny of the Wagner mercenary group, saying the rebellion had revived questions about Mr. Putin’s judgment and his detachment from events,” the New York Times’s Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger report.

• “Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual national security conference, William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, said that for much of the 36 hours of the rebellion last month, Russian security services, the military and decision makers ‘appeared to be adrift.’”

The political economy may have just hit its recession

“Candidates for office were practically swimming in grassroots money over the last few cycles, as politics increasingly went online and the money followed. This cycle, the well is drying up. A POLITICO analysis of federal campaign finance data found a dramatic downturn in small-dollar donations across the board,” Politico’s Jessica Piper and Brittany Gibson report.

Top tech firms sign White House pledge to identify AI-generated images

“The White House on Friday announced that seven of the most influential companies building artificial intelligence have agreed to a voluntary pledge to mitigate the risks of the emerging technology, escalating the Biden administration’s involvement in the growing debate over AI regulation,” Cat Zakrzewski reports.

Biden creates team to find ways of ending debt limit standoffs

“White House Counsel Stuart Delery and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard will lead the group, composed of administration officials and without any Republican members. The effort will consider actions Congress can take as well as what the administration is calling ‘Constitution-based’ solutions to avert future debt-ceiling standoffs, according to a statement obtained by Bloomberg News,” Jordan Fabian reports.

The current extreme heat wave, visualized

“The summer of 2023 has featured the most intense heat in modern records averaged over the planet. June was Earth’s hottest on record, and the oceans are exhibiting unprecedented warmth. Far and wide, already-exceptional weather events are being pushed into record territory by the effects of human-caused climate change,” Matthew Cappucci and Dylan Moriarty report.

Texas abortion hearing culminates with tension and emotions high

“Four women delivered hours of emotional testimony in a Texas courtroom this week about the trauma they say the state’s abortion law has racked on their pregnant bodies, culminating Thursday with a mother who said she felt ‘abandoned’ by her home state when she was prevented from ending a doomed pregnancy within its borders,” Caroline Kitchener, Ben Brasch and Rachel Roubein report.

• “The witnesses are part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 women who had medically necessary care denied or delayed because of the Texas abortion ban. Their case is a key moment in the debate over how abortion bans affect women with medically complicated pregnancies.”

Ron DeSantis is planning a campaign reboot as he struggles to close the gap with Trump

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign is planning a reboot, top campaign officials said, with a significant shift on messaging, events and media strategy,” NBC News’s Dasha Burns reports.

• “Expect fewer big speeches and more handshaking in diners and churches. There will be more of a national focus than constant Florida references. And the mainstream media may start to get more access. In short, DeSantis will be running as an insurgent candidate rather than as an incumbent governor.”

At 1:30 p.m., Biden will speak about artificial intelligence in the Roosevelt Room.

Oppenheimer met the president after atomic bombs: ‘I have blood on my hands’

“The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had pulverized life and changed the world, and J. Robert Oppenheimer celebrated by clasping his hands like a prize fighter, soaking in the roaring applause from the crowd in Los Alamos, N.M. It was a thrilling time for Oppenheimer, who told the crowd in August 1945 in the place where the bombs were designed and built about his only regret: not that thousands of people had been killed, but that ‘we hadn’t developed the bomb in time to use it against the Germans’ earlier in World War II,” Timothy Bella reports.

• “But Oppenheimer’s feeling of triumph evaporated in the months after the destruction of Nagasaki, caused by another atomic bomb three days after Hiroshima, that the scientist believed was unnecessary and unjustified. His revulsion was so evident on his face that President Harry S. Truman asked him what was the matter when they met at the White House for the first time in October 1945.”

Thanks for reading. See you next week.