the rare GOP governor who Dems live. conservative but seems pretty level-headed, a straight-shooter, spoke out against MAGA craziness and Trump.
Republican governors in deep-blue states are more common than one may imagine. The governor of Vermont, a liberal Republican, won re-election in November with 68.5% of the vote. Sanders won his re-election as Senator in 2018 with 67.4% of the vote, and Sen. Leahy (also from the left-wing of the Dems) with 61.3% in 2016. My theory is that people want small state govt but large federal govt in order to get stuff like healthcare and stuff. Pretty interesting regardless.
Hogan has definitely become a media darling since Nov., particularly after the capitol storming. Still he has bungled the state’s COVID response, and is forcing all public schools to return to in-person school full stop by April. The counties do have the right to refuse Hogan’s demand, but Hogan threatened cutting funding, teachers’ pay, and possibly revoking teaching licenses.
The county I’m in gave in, and is arranging for special education students along with the youngest elementary schoolers to start returning first by the spring. The thing is that the county nor the state are giving any teachers vaccines, and they’re not on the priority list from what I know. So the county teacher’s union just denounced the entire re-opening plan, demanding that *all* teachers get vaccinated, even those who probably wouldn’t be returning. Ideally the special education teachers would get vaccinated then return, but maybe the county, state, and the union will work something out.
Tbh I don’t see the point in returning back to school by March or April or whatever. It’s just be for the final quarter- not even a full semester. And again, given the health risks and the logistical nightmare it’ll be with having some teachers and students at school, and the rest at home still and making sure schedules work out it seems to not be worth it. I think I saw somewhere we may have herd immunity by June, which is the end of the school year...
The thing is is that both sides here say they’re doing what’s best for low-income minority students. Hogan says that if we don’t return them to in-person learning they will flop their classes, the union says if we return they’re way more likely to get sick and not receive medical attention. Both are right, imo.