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If you're a liberal looking for some solace after last night's Republican rout in the midterms, there is a place where progressives rule, where voters want government to increase support for the poor, where the idea of taxing the rich to do that doesn't come off like class warfare. It's Seattle.

And last night residents there voted to tax themselves to fund a $58 million pilot program providing city-subsidized high-quality childcare to low-income families. What's more, the measure won with 67 percent of the vote. And the main dispute wasn't over whether or not to invest in universal preschool but which proposal to choose.

From the Seattle Times:

The Proposition 1B levy will cost the owner of a Seattle home valued at $400,000 about $43 a year, according to the city. The money will go to select, high-quality preschools to provide slots to families based on income. It will ramp up over time, serving 280 children in 2015, and subsidizing up to 2,000 by 2018.

It will make preschool free for families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $70,000 a year for a family of four.

And it will subsidize preschool on a sliding scale for families earning up to 760 percent of the federal poverty level, or $185,000 for a family of four. Families making more will receive a 5 percent tuition subsidy.

The property tax, as Seattle Mayor Ed Murray puts it, will cost homeowners each month less than the cost of a latt.

And the potential benefits? Research suggests that the earlier we invest in children, the greater the returns, for both kids and society. And those returns can play out in higher graduation rates, lower crime, better job outcomes and less welfare use. Spend a dollar of public money on early childhood interventions like great preschool, and society may get back anywhere from $1.80 to $17.07.

Emily Badger is a reporter for Wonkblog covering urban policy. She was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic Cities.

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Wonkblog: Voters in Seattle just taxed themselves to pay for preschool for the poor

Ask the Slot Expert: Can Casinos Cap Progressives? 5 November 2014

By John Robison, Slot Expert

Last week we had a question about finding a shirt with Bally's Quick Hit logo for the reader's husband. I wrote that I wasn't aware of Bally's ever making Quick Hit logo shirts for a promotion and asked readers if they knew of a source for the shirts.

A number of readers wrote to say that the logo image is very easy to find online (just Google "Quick Hit logo") and that a custom T-shirt store could make a shirt for her.

I didn't suggest making her own shirt because I'm sure that Bally's has all the legal protections possible for its artwork.

Is it legal for a casino (Indian or otherwise) to cap their progressives?

Certain games on bar machines at Potawatomi Carter casino have progressive video poker, but they cap the royal flush on quarter games at $3,000.

How can they do that? If it's a progressive they should keep it going. Last year they capped their $1 video poker progressive at $10,000.

What happens to all the extra revenue that they earn/win from people playing the progressive? It sure doesn't get added to the starting jackpot of the next progressive.

Even if it is legal, it's sure not ethical or right.

Originally posted here:
Ask the Slot Expert: Can Casinos Cap Progressives?

Chevron spent $3 million in the Richmond election this year, and appears to have wasted all of that money. Last night's results show that it's favored mayoral candidate Nate Bates was trounced by Councilmember Tom Butt, 35.46 percent to 51.43 percent.

"I'm still trying to process it," Butt told the Express on Wednesday. "I think it was two things: Chevron's campaign just backfired on them and the RPA [Richmond Progressive Alliance], which had huge loses in 2012, redoubled their efforts this time around and that paid off.

"I think the next two years are going to be fun," he added.

In addition, all three of Chevron's candidates for city council Charles Ramsey, Donna Powers, and Al Martinez are trailing progressive candidates Gayle McLaughlin, Jovanka Beckles, and Eduardo Martinez.

City Council (four-year seats; top 3 win) Gayle McLaughlin: 16.91% Jovanka Beckles (I): 16.21% Eduardo Martinez: 14.60% Jim Rogers (I): 13.59% Donna Powers: 12.83% Charles Ramsey: 10.50% Al Martinez: 5.86%

In the race for the two-year seat on the council, incumbent Jael Myrick easily defeated Corky Booz, 50.96 percent to 32.3 percent.

See the article here:
Progressives Blow Out Big Oil in Richmond

Failure of the Democratic Consultant Class (w/ Becky Bond of CREDO SuperPAC)
Becky Bond the Director of the Credo Super PAC explains the dangers that progressives face if Republicans win the Senate, what races is Credo focusing on? Why progressives need to vote and...

By: Sam Seder

Read the original here:
Failure of the Democratic Consultant Class (w/ Becky Bond of CREDO SuperPAC) - Video

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to supporters during a rally for Kentucky senatorial candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 369 meeting hall in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) more >

With Democrats in danger of losing big on Election Day, some progressives already have started blaming the Obama administration for failing to define any agenda for voters this year and are pledging to remake the entire party in the image of populist hero Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a rising force on the left and the biggest champion of Mrs. Warren and other populist liberals, took direct aim at President Obama Tuesday and said the Democratic party must be remolded.

The criticism comes as Democrats face the real prospect of relinquishing control of the Senate and losing seats in the House.

The White House failed to define any agenda for voters in 2014, the PCCC said in a statement Tuesday. Progressives will remold the Democratic party in Elizabeth Warrens image focused on big ideas and popular economic issues. Well organize in New Hampshire and Iowa to ensure that all Democrats running for president take a position on Warrens populist agenda of reforming Wall Street, reducing student debt, and expanding Social Security benefits.

Potential Democratic candidates for president, including frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton, have given clear indications they intend to sound a highly populist note in the 2016 elections.

But progressives dont want to wait until 2016 to see populist ideals come to the forefront in Washington. Theyre urging Mr. Obama to base the final two years of his presidency on the platform outlined by Ms. Warren.

If President Obama makes Elizabeth Warrens agenda the centerpiece of his agenda in 2015, his popularity will rise and Americans will get the debate about big, bold ideas that we deserve, the PCCC said.

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Progressives turn on Obama, plan to remake Democratic party 'in Elizabeth Warren's image'