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Josh Shapiro may be the biggest fundraising juggernaut Pennsylvania politics has ever produced
As the governor seeks reelection with an eye on a presidential run, he’s raising more money than any Pennsylvania chief executive since at least 2010.
The Opera Bell Band’s ‘A Salute to Corn’ showcases its commitment to fun with a side of science
The Opera Bell Band, known for its campy stage presence, originally had no intention of performing live.
Health inspectors check food safety at Milwaukee Night Market
TMJ4 went behind the scenes as Milwaukee health inspectors checked food vendors at the city's first Night Market of the year.
Weekly Entertainment Report: Live music and lively arts, July 23-26
Fun Fact: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" is a great song from the Sound of Music soundtrack, a word that most of us can say, but not spell.
Asia's rich swap sponsorships for stakes in sports as dealmaking hits record
Asian wealthy families and fund managers are increasingly moving beyond sponsorships and charity-linked sporting events to invest directly in sports assets, betting that growing audiences and rising media-rights fees will drive longer term returns.
Business remains open as GoFundMe surpasses $300
Car crashes into Bradenton dog daycare; owner works to rebuild.
GiGi’s Playhouse teams up with F-M Science Museum for rocket fun
Valley News Live at 5:00PM On KVLY
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
House takes first step to unlock Iran war funding — but fate in Senate uncertain, with measure tied to ‘SAVE America Act’
The House of Representatives on Wednesday took the first step toward funding President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, as well as approving tens of billions in additional Pentagon money and aid for US farmers.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla reintroduces Health Equity and Accountability Act
Along with other federal Democratic lawmakers, Padilla said the proposal to reduce health disparities has become more urgent after funding cuts
GiGi’s Playhouse teams up with F-M Science Museum for rocket fun
Museum staff will be back tomorrow with another hands-on activity, this time, focused on fossils.
Honoring a legacy of compassion in health care: OHIO announces the creation of the Anita Chesser Potts Memorial Scholarship
The new scholarship fund creates a lasting tribute to the late Anita Potts, one of the early graduates of Ohio University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.
Is the California State Fair affordable? What to expect to pay for food, rides
Sacramento Bee reporter Veronica Fernandez-Alvarado visited the California Sate Fair on opening day to find affordable food and fun.
Trump administration to shift R&D funding from academia to individual scientists
The Trump administration announced it plans to shift some of the $200 billion in annual funding for research and development away from academic institutions to focus on individual scientists. In a …
New Pixel 11 Images Show Us Google’s Fun Frame Colors
Since we caught that official Pixel 11 Pro image the other day, which was our follow-up to all of those early retail listings of each Pixel 11 series phone color, we have another round of images...
Trump science adviser urges lawmakers to pressure National Academies on climate
The president has demanded an investigation of the National Academies that could cut off government funding.
House passes temporary government funding bill months early
The deadline for action is more than two months away, but House GOP leaders are not leaving to chance another possible shutdown souring the mood of voters shortly before they go to the polls.
GOP blocks Schumer's effort to ground taxpayer funding for Trump's Qatari Air Force One
Senate Republicans blocked Chuck Schumer's bill to halt taxpayer funding for the new Air Force One Boeing 747-8 retrofit over nuclear concerns.
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME CLASS OF 2027 TO BE ANNOUNCED BY WALK OF FAMERS MING-NA WEN AND SHEILA E. AND HOLLYWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESIDENT & CEO RON FRIERSON DURING LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE AT FUNKO HOLLYWOOD
A new group of 32 entertainment professionals in the categories of Motion Pictures, Television, Live Theatre/Live Performance, Radio, Recording, and Sports Entertainment have been selected to receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Commissioners Grant LGRC $50,000 for Recovery House, Mental Health Board Provides Opioid Fund Updates
Three months after Geauga County awarded its first opioid settlement fund grants, Geauga Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services Executive Director Christine Lakomiak met with Geauga County Commissioners to provide updates and discuss the program’s future. Under an agreement with the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office, $100,000 annually from the county’s opioid settlement funds is
5 projects at UW–Madison aimed at transforming science and energy with AI receive DOE Genesis Mission funding
The projects, spanning fusion to critical minerals, are among 278 funded awards to national labs, companies, universities and non-profits in order to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery and national security through a new platform that combines AI, supercomputing, quantum systems and advanced scientific instruments.
USDA NIFA NEXTGEN Animal Science Discovery Program Expands National Reach in Third Summer
New Sustainable Urban Agriculture track, expanded student cohort and growing institutional partnerships highlight the USDA-funded initiative preparing the next generation of agriculture professionals. The USDA NIFA NEXTGEN Animal Science Discovery Program (ANSCId) concluded its third summer on July 10 with a closing ceremony at the Douglass Student Center, Trayes Hall, on the Rutgers–New Brunswick campus. […]
Planned Parenthood endorses Pingree for governor
After receiving the Planned Parenthood endorsement, Pingree said she will push for a state constitutional amendment to guarantee a right to abortion, look to partner with other states to ensure access to medication abortion and work to backfill gaps in federal funding.
Pickleball courts open at Los Banos sports complex
A new place to enjoy some fun in the sun is now available in Los Banos. The first city-owned pickleball courts opened on Saturday.
Department of Energy's New AI-for-Science ‘Genesis Mission’ Awards Funding to 5 UT Research Projects
Five UT teams have been awarded funding from the DOE’s Genesis Mission, an initiative working to harness artificial intelligence for advances in energy dominance, discovery science and national security.
Former NFL player, funded by league notables including Roger Goodell, wins Arizona GOP Congressional Primary
Jay Feely won an Arizona Republican primary for Congress after getting major NFL backing from Roger Goodell, multiple team owners, and former players.
Trump administration steers $5B toward AI research
The initiative marks a wider push to steer federal science funding toward AI-powered research and individual investigators.
‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’ review: A bafflingly unfunny spinoff
A spinoff of "The Big Bang Theory," "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" (premiering Thursday on HBO and HBO Max) ultimately plays as one big shrug.
Scientists discover hidden gateways that allow the brain to clear waste
The brain continuously produces metabolic waste that must be removed to maintain healthy function. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays a central role in this process by carrying away proteins such as amyloid-β, ...
As Congress grapples with budget issues, OC business leaders urge lawmakers to renew ‘critical’ transportation funding
A bevy of federal transportation funding is set to expire this fall, which OC business advocates say could disrupt the regional economy if not reauthorized.
Is Mushroom Coffee Healthy? Here's What to Know
The fungi-infused beverage isn't backed by much science. Here's what experts say about it.
White House wants to shift billions of dollars of research funding away from ‘slow consensus peer review’ and into individual scientists and AI
Moving funding to individual scientists and AI could undermine US scientific credibility at home and abroad.
Pritzker for president? Handicapping the Illinois governor’s political future
The Illinois governor is showing up in presidential polls, and he’s building coalitions with state parties while also strengthening his national name recognition. He’s also explored fundraising that doesn’t include self-funding — if a presidential run is truly in the cards.
US science funding barred for Chinese partnerships
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) will prohibit funding for US institutions collaborating with Chinese universities and other entities on the government’s restricted parties list.
House passes temporary government funding bill months early
The bill funds the federal government through December 4
House passes temporary government funding bill months early
The bill funds the federal government through December 4
Feed-A-Palooza returns bringing free health and wellness resources, family fun to Lake Eola
One Heart for Women and Children, in partnership with AdventHealth, is hosting the Feed-A-Palooza Community Health & Resource Fair Saturday, July 25, offering free community resources, family activities, and more.
How loan syndications help businesses fund major growth investments
For companies pursuing a major acquisition or substantial real estate purchase, a syndicated loan may be the most practical path forward. Learn about Commerce Bank's role in arranging and participating in loan syndications for its business customers.
US to spend $5 billion on health, construction research powered by AI
Agencies will use the funding to identify the root causes of chronic diseases, accelerate drug discovery, develop longer-lasting building materials.
The greenest goodbye: Human composting and the science of becoming soil
In 2020, Recompose was the first U.S. company to develop the technology needed for the commercial composting of human bodies, disrupting a funeral industry that had been largely unchanged for decades. Now 14 states have legalized the climate-friendly practice and more than a dozen others are considering it. Additional startups have launched to offer a greener goodbye and all are looking to scale.
Stanford and SLAC to lead Genesis Mission projects
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the first phase of funding for projects using artificial intelligence to tackle the nation’s most complex science and technology challenges, including six led by Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Why one of the world's largest health databases matters
The NIH's All of Us program could accelerate medical research — but its future depends on continued funding.
Trump administration says 15 agencies will get $5bn in ‘AI for science’ effort
Administration will also overhaul how US government funds federal research by supporting individual scientists and AI over universities
New Jersey’s Noncitizen Voting Reveal Is a Nightmare For Democrats | WSJ Politics Newsletter for July 22
Plus, Pete Hegseth says the cost of the war in Iran is now $37.5 billion, and the administration freezes $1 billion in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota.
Hegseth turns tables on Dems as sparks fly during hearing clash: 'I put this on you'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth clashed with Democratic senators over Iran war strategy and military funding amid a record $1.5 trillion budget request.
US to Spend $5 Billion on Health, Construction Research Powered by AI
By Courtney Rozen WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. will spend $5 billion to tackle long-standing scientific problems across multiple fields using AI, the Trump administration said in a statement on Wednesday. The agencies will use the funding to identify the root causes of chronic ...
House narrowly passes short-term funding bill to avert government shutdown
The vote sends the stopgap, known as a continuing \u200bresolution, to the \u200bSenate.
Dark money group emerges to bankroll pro-Stevens ads in Senate race
The group A Stronger Michigan is mostly funded by Center Forward, a nonprofit organization that has ties to major corporations and industry groups.
House Narrowly Passes Stopgap Spending Bill, but Shutdown Fight Looms
Republicans managed to push through legislation to fund the government through Dec. 4. But with Democrats opposed, the stage is set for a broader battle.
House passes bill to fund the government until after midterm elections
Senate appropriators are working on a different version of a stopgap bill with the aim of attracting some Democratic support.
The battle for Congress gets a Wall Street-style scoreboard powered by real-money bets
Kalshi's new Midterms Hub combines live prediction markets with polling, fundraising data and historical results to track House, Senate and governor races.
Dimension Capital's $800M third fund shows the intersection of science and compute is booming
The four-year-old firm's latest fund is 60% larger than its second vehicle announced 18 months ago.
Mamdani's commission unveils five ballot proposals on improving government
The questions range from speeding up the construction of bike and bus lanes to establishing a savings target for the city's rainy day fund.
Senators grilled Hegseth on Iran. Here are 3 big moments from the hearing
Hegseth said at the top of the hearing that the supplemental funding was an “urgent, necessary injection of resources” for the department’s needs. He didn’t directly mention the Iran war in his opening statement.
AG James: Owners of Newburgh apartments must make repairs, refund tenants
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement in a lawsuit filed against the owners of the Kenney Apartments.
New Michigan budget delivers mixed results for business community
The 2026-27 budget expands community college scholarships and a child care program while reducing funding for workforce training, business attraction and tourism.
Exclusive | White House to Redirect Billions in Research Funds Toward AI, Away From Colleges
The overhaul will reshape $200 billion in spending a year and favors individual scientists to outpace China.
US funding cuts deal blow to global HIV treatment: Report
UNAIDS chief calls for 'radical change' as aid cuts gut HIV clinics and treatment worldwide.
Breaking down N.C. U.S. Senate candidates' latest finance reports
With fundraising numbers in the millions, one expert breaks down what it means for the election, the role outside donors will play and much more.
Nintendo customers have no legal right to tariff refunds, company tells judge
Nintendo says Switch buyers got what they paid for, urges court to dismiss lawsuit.
WATCH LIVE: Hegseth, Caine testify on Trump's funding request before Senate as Iran war reignites
Social map startup Corner has raised $7.5 million in funding
Corner, a social app for saving and sharing local spots, has raised $7.5 million.
Advocates say federal funding is being cut from groups fighting HIV
The administration is shifting some funding to states, but community groups are set to lose out.
How to Use Flexible Funding Strategies in Public Health
Use this toolkit to incorporate flexible funding strategies into your public health agency's operational and project management procedures.
9 Vitamins and Supplements That May Support Brain Health
Certain vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats benefit brain health by supporting nerve function, protecting brain cells from damage, and improving focus.
Loads of fun planned for Sullivan Daze
The town of Sullivan will host Sullivan Daze, its annual “celebration of community and place,” at Sumner Park and other nearby locations on Friday and Saturday, July 31 and Aug.
CBO investigating feasibility of using healthcare fraud savings to fund Trump’s war
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is looking into the effectiveness of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ crackdown on waste and abuse in safety net healthcare programs, and whether the efforts could effectively generate tax revenue the government could then spend elsewhere.
Philadelphia offers forgivable $50,000 loans to help small businesses expand
Philadelphia's Boost Your Business program provides funding and other resources for selected companies each year.
Nintendo files motion to dismiss consumer lawsuit over tariff refunds
"If a consumer did not want to pay the advertised price, they were free to abstain from purchasing the product or seek out competing products"
Freedom, trust and the future of science: Nobel laureates reflect on the ideas shaping tomorrow
Behind every scientific discovery are years, sometimes decades, of fundamental research, failed experiments, uncertain funding, international collaboration and the freedom to pursue questions without knowing where they might lead. The Nobel laureates recently gathered at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany argued that scientific breakthroughs depend on far more than brilliant ideas alone. Those conversations unfolded against the backdrop of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and growing geopolitical competition. The question running through the discussions was therefore broader than science itself: what conditions make discovery possible? ‘Europe is a space of freedom’
International Courts Against the Defunding of Climate Science? Revisiting the ICJ’s Climate Change Advisory Opinion
Introduction The first eighteen months of the second Trump administration have witnessed a sustained assault on scientific infrastructures enabling understanding of anthropogenic climate change. This has taken the form of cuts to national science agencies; freezes and dramatic reductions in grants to universities; and attempts to dismantle observation arrays and crucial monitoring stations. It has […]
FDA issues recall of portable imaging systems
A notice from the agency indicates that systems that have had column replacements might not function appropriately afterward and could pose patient harm.
Nintendo says it has no legal duty to pass its U.S. tariff refunds on to consumers
Nintendo is asking a court to dismiss a proposed class action suit that was filed this past spring by gamers who say the Mario maker is breaking the law if it doesn’t pass on its U.S. tariff refunds to consumers. Those consumers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” when buying price-hiked Nintendo goods last year, the company said in a filing on Monday in the case of Hoffert et al v. Nintendo. “Plaintiffs are not entitled to a rebate simply because of intervening legal developments related to tariffs.” Nintendo increased the price of Switch 2 controllers and the original Switch last year, following the imposition of globe-spanning U.S. tariffs (tariffs described by Nintendo’s lawyers on Monday as “sweeping” and “constantly changing”). This past February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs were illegal. A month later, Nintendo sued the U.S. government to get a refund. And in April, gamers filed the class action claim against Nintendo in Washington, saying it would be illegally double-dipping if it made money from tariff-hiked sales and then from a refund. The gamers sought relief for anyone in the U.S. who bought price-hiked Nintendo items between February 2025 and February 2026. “The common thread among Plaintiffs’ claims is that it is somehow ‘unfair; that Nintendo has not retroactively adjusted its prices for completed sales in response to the outcome of the tariff litigation,” the company’s lawyers wrote in today’s motion to dismiss. “But that is now how commercial transactions work.
A quarter-century of baseball, hoops — and scaling walls of ice? Denver Sports Commission celebrates 25 years
The group responsible for bringing sporting events to Colorado says there’s more fun on the horizon.
Brewers Spoil Peralta's Return in Win Over Mets
The Milwaukee Brewers did not provide a fun homecoming for New York Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta.
How Cascade Plans To Help Constructors Win New Business Worth Millions
London-based startup Cascade has raised $3.5 million of new funding for a platform that promises to connect construction firms with valuable new business opportunities
Health Brief: The grants showdown
The administration loses a key grants case, even as it presses ahead with a broader rewrite of federal funding rules.
House Momentum, Senate Headwinds, and the Return of Shutdown Politics
With the House finally beginning to break its floor paralysis, appropriations may be back in motion. However, the path to funding the government for FY27, and keeping the lights on past September 30, remains complex. Last week, the House passed the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs (NSRP) appropriations bill, which included a closely watched vote on Rep. Thomas Massie's amendment targeting aid to Israel.
Health response brings lifesaving care closer to thousands in Yemen
Thousands of people in some of Yemen's most conflict-affected communities are receiving lifesaving health care closer to home, thanks to funding from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) through the Yemen Humanitarian Fund.
G.O.P. Boxed In on Iran War as Trump Sidelines Congress
Republicans now face a worst-case political scenario of being asked to fund an unpopular war over which they have exercised little oversight.
Asset Management Business Model Transformation
Asset management business model transformation is key for growth. Adapting beyond investment strategy is crucial as competition shifts. Explore evolving business models.
'Saved the day for us': Local business steps up to help Big Brothers Big Sisters after S2 eviction
What was supposed to be a time of celebration and fundraising for an Idaho non-profit quickly turned stressful after their event location closed with just days’ notice. Thanks to another local business that stepped in at the last minute, they were able to pull off their most successful fundraising event ever. Big Little Dill Big […]
Cyclospora outbreak has me worried about public health cuts
As the cyclospora outbreak wreaks havoc across the country, federal funding cuts have weakened the public health system, columnist Naomi Ishisaka writes.
Bipartisan Bill Pushes $25M 4D Software for Veterans' Respiratory Health
Lawmakers unveiled a bipartisan bill to invest VA funds into diagnostic scanning software that could detect asthma or lung conditions.
This Week: Muni 1 Bus Improvements, Car Free Happy Hour, SF Politics 101
Here is a list of events this week. Tuesday Park Presidio and California Evening Pop-Up. This SFMTA project aims to improve the Muni 1 California bus route from 33rd Avenue to Steiner Street. Come learn about it. Tuesday, July 21, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Corner of Park Presidio and California, S.F. Tuesday East Bay Car Free Happy Hour. Whether you’re car free, car light, car free curious, or just want to hang out with fun people and have nerdy urbanist conversations, everyone is welcome. Tuesday, July 21, 5:30-7 p.m., Drake’s Dealership, 2325 Broadway, Oakland. Wednesday SF Politics 101 with Joel Engardio. SF Politics 101 is an entertaining look at how local politics work and the history that shaped San Francisco — brought to life with visuals and narrative storytelling. Wednesday, July 22, 6-7:15 p.m., SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission Street, S.F. Friday Woman and Non-Binary Morning Ride. Join the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for a socially distanced bike ride for women and nonbinary cyclists. Friday, July 24, 7:15-8:45 a.m., McLaren Lodge, 501 Stanyan Street, S.F. Saturday Smart City Cycling 3 — Road Practice. In this class, you’ll go on a guided group ride to practice street-riding skills on increasingly high-volume streets. This class is the third in the Smart City Cycling sequence, and Smart City Cycling 2: Maneuvering is a prerequisite. Saturday, July 25, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Arguello Extension, Arguello Blvd and Lincoln Way, S.F. Sunday Adult & Teen Learn-to-Ride Workshop. This three-hour workshop is for adults and teens who have not yet learned to ride a bike or would like a refresher on the basics of balancing, pedaling, and steering. Sunday, July 26, Alameda Waterfront Park, 2151 Ferry Point, Alameda. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.
Federal Funding Should Support Communities, Not Political Agendas
Congressional investments should reach the communities they were intended to serve.
Bored Kids? Try These Easy At-Home Science Experiments
Science expert Kate Biberdorf, better known as Kate the Chemist, joins TODAY to share fun experiments to keep your kids entertained during the dog days of summer.
New grant to improve discovery of potential diagnostic, therapeutic molecules
Carly Schissel, assistant professor of chemistry, is part of a multi-institution team that has been selected to receive funding from the Scialog: Automating Chemical Laboratories initiative. The initiative supports teams of early-career scientists doing fundamental science to accelerate advances in laboratory technologies using automation and artificial intelligence.
Your LG TV Remote Can Control Your PlayStation 5 - Here's How
Sony offers a media remote for the PlayStation 5, but you don't need it if you own an LG TV remote. You can set it up via the Simplink function.
Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process
[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
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I’m not sure how many of you are watching “Star City,” Apple TV’s spin-off of its “For All Mankind” program (2019-present), but it’s one of the better sci-fi series I’ve seen in a while, with an impressively dark political message. (Some light spoilers below.) For the uninitiated, “For All Mankind” presented a slightly tweaked history of the U.S. space program in which it was the USSR that landed on the Moon first in 1969, and shortly thereafter put a woman cosmonaut on the lunar surface. This sparks an ongoing space race that, in the original series, yields a lot of benefits for humanity. President Nixon’s insistence on a female astronaut corps to compete with the Soviets boosts the feminist movement of the 1970s and the ERA passes. New fuels generated for the space program create clean and cheap energy around Earth. There are also some darker changes — the USSR is thriving well into the 2000s, there are terrorist counter-technology movements around the globe, laborers on Mars work in nightmarish conditions and organize strikes and riots, etc. the @smotus report is a reader-supported publication. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. Subscribe That show offers glimpses into the subtle ways this Earth is different. Teddy Kennedy never went to Chappaquidick because he was racing back to Washington to deal with the space program crisis; he gets elected President in 1972. John Lennon survives his early 1980s shooting but Pope John Paul II does not. The Apple Newton succeeded. Pretty much the whole of season 4 is a setup for an Al Gore joke. Again, mostly, the vision that “For All Mankind” presents is a positive one, with technology advancing many human interests. “Star City” goes in a very different direction. This spin-off show is about the same set of events but from the Soviet perspective. As we meet them, the team of scientists and cosmonauts responsible for the lunar landing are still basking in their hero status, but their program is embedded deep in the Soviet security state of the late 1960s. Everyone’s apartment is bugged. Whole teams of clerical staff spend their days transcribing recordings of people’s lives. People in the program, including respected cosmonauts, are regularly arrested. An incredibly menacing Colonel Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) forces confessions and tortures and kills, expressing little more than annoyance in the process. Meanwhile, the space program’s highly respected Chief Designer (Rhys Ifans) has a vision for the program that he knows the government will not approve. He insists that they need to think past the Moon to focus on colonizing the solar system, starting with Venus. (This is a rough parallel to the Americans’ pivot to Mars in the original show.) He essentially builds a secret space program within the space program, calculating that the government will embrace the mission after it has succeeded. (As an aside, I’m not sure why the Venus obsession, as a successful mission can’t produce the biggest public relations payoff: a cosmonaut standing on the surface holding the Soviet flag. Anyone standing on Venus would be immediately crushed by the 92-bar atmosphere and then cremated in the 900°F temperatures. But in a country with no free press perhaps the visual payoff was less valued.) But the overall vision is that the technological advances have only amplified the most fearsome aspects of the Soviet system. The state is paranoid (but not incorrect) about American spies and does monstrous things to protect its secrets. People are terrified to trust each other. Classic banality-of-evil figures order people to harm those they care about; those people comply rather than get shot. Others are forced into criminal behavior to protect loved ones. We’re reminded all the time these days of what happens when a government despises science. It manifests in the defunding of schools, the elevation of fossil fuels as the rest of the world pivots to solar, outbreaks of measles and diarrhea, etc. But “Star City” offers a vision of a bad government that likes science. It’s not encouraging. It’s not yet clear if there will be a season two of this show. But I strongly recommend season one. It’s both thoughtful and gripping. Share
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