New York Times: “The governor of Wisconsin called a special session last week to debate gun legislation. It resulted in exactly zero new laws, and it lasted less than a minute. Such is life these days in Wisconsin, a state that for much of the last decade was a laboratory for some of the nation’s most conservative policymaking and a hotbed of partisan fervor, but where pretty much everything has now slowed to a crawl.”

“Acrimonious deadlocks have become the new normal in Wisconsin, one of three Midwestern states where Democrats ended full Republican control last year by flipping governorships. … Yet with attention turning to the presidential election, in which Wisconsin voters are seen as playing a decisive role, divided power has given way to frustrated impasse, with little chance for either party to hold up state policymaking as the showcase it once was here.”

The Guardian: “Leaked Signal messages from an online chat network around six-term Washington state Republican representative Matt Shea show new evidence of violent fantasies, surveillance of perceived adversaries, conspiracy thinking, Islamophobia, and support for white nationalists.”

“The messages from the chat group, exchanged between October 2017 and October 2018, show Shea’s network includes other serving, former and aspiring rightwing politicians from Idaho and Washington, alongside activists associated with militia groups, anti-environmental causes, and pro-gun activism.”

“They also show participants, including Shea, preparing for economic and societal collapse even as they campaign for the secession of eastern Washington from the remainder of the state.”

New York Times: “Of all the things that Virginia may pass now that Democrats have won control of the state legislature, none have been so long in the making as the Equal Rights Amendment.”

“First proposed almost a century ago and passed by Congress in 1972, the constitutional amendment — whose main clause reads, ‘Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex’ — was ratified by only 35 of the necessary 38 states before a 1982 deadline.”

“Nearly four decades later, in 2017, Nevada became the 36th. In 2018, Illinois was the 37th. Now, Virginia’s incoming Democratic leaders have promised to take up the amendment immediately when the legislature convenes in January — and given that it failed in the Virginia Senate by only one vote when the body was under Republican control, passage is almost assured.”

“The biggest question now is whether Congress will remove the deadline — or whether the deadline was ever enforceable to begin with.”

“A Virginia Democrat who lost her 2017 race for the state’s House of Delegates after another candidate’s name was picked out of a bowl in a tie-breaker handily ousted her Republican foe Tuesday,” CNN reports.

“Shelly Simonds defeated Republican incumbent Delegate David Yancey, allowing her to claim the seat she lost two years ago after a state law dating back to 1705 was used to settle the 11,608-vote tie between the two candidates. Simonds won the rematch with 11,556 votes to Yancey’s 8,069 votes.”

Los Angeles Times: “Just over half of California’s registered voters have considered leaving the state, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times.”

“Republicans and conservative voters were nearly three times as likely as their Democratic or liberal counterparts to seriously have considered moving — 40% compared with 14%, the poll found. Conservatives mentioned taxes and California’s political culture as a reason for leaving more frequently than they cited the state’s soaring housing costs.”

“Leaders of an Oklahoma legislative committee tasked with overseeing creation of a new watchdog budget office do not plan to publicly release details of who applied to be the office’s inaugural director,” the Oklahoman reports.

“Chairmen of the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency Oversight Committee declined this week to give The Oklahoman the names or applications of those who applied to lead the office.”

“A federal judge blocked Alabama’s near-total ban on abortions on Tuesday, stopping the legislation from taking effect next month,” the New York Times reports.

“The ruling, an early step in a legal confrontation that critics of abortion orchestrated to try to reach the United States Supreme Court, ensured that abortion services would remain available in the state, at least for now.”

“The professional future of Indiana’s attorney general is at stake with a disciplinary hearing that threatens his law license after allegations that he drunkenly groped four women at a bar last year,” the AP reports.

“A former state Supreme Court justice will open a perhaps weeklong hearing Monday on the professional misconduct complaint against Republican Curtis Hill. Hill disputes the claims from a state lawmaker and three legislative staffers that he inappropriately touched their backs or buttocks during a party at an Indianapolis bar celebrating the end of the 2018 legislative session.”

“Nevada gaming regulators are moving to have Steve Wynn, the casino mogul credited with shaping the Las Vegas Strip as it’s known today and accused of committing serial sexual misconduct against his employees, formally declared unsuitable to hold a state gaming license,” the Nevada Independent reports.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board lodged a complaint alleging Wynn “is not a person of good character, honesty, and/or integrity” who is “unsuitable to be associated with a gaming enterprise or the gaming industry as a whole.”

In an interview on WAAF, Nobody — formerly known as Richard Goyen Paul before legally changing his name — said he plans on challenging Gov. Chris Sununu (R) in a Republican primary.