You were past your prime. Hell, i know something about that. President biden was cracking jokes with defending World Series Champions at the white house yesterday. That looked fun. We do have a lot to get to this morning. A very confused judge in fort pierce. Oh, my gosh. She was shocked, shocked that you could have two grand juries going on at the same time. Its not a good sign, actually. Whered she go to law school . Oh, boy, a lot of questions. Not a good sign. Well go through the flurry of legal filings last yesterday in the 2020 election case that has the judge summoning both sides to a washington, d. C. , courtroom. Different judge. This is a different judge, a different case. Plus, action around the Fulton County courthouse in atlanta. Different case. Sparking speculation that another indictment, another one, could be coming very soon for the former president. Also ahead, well explain how the fight for Abortion Rights in ohio could hang on what happens in todays special election
major cries and drawn our attention to threats such as smoking, hiv aids and obesity. this is one of those moments. a hallmark of american democracy is that elections have been largely run by local, usually non-partisan volunteers and officials, not anymore. as trust and social ties that used to bind communities together have frayed, apathy, isolation and polarization have undercut the old we re all in this together ethos. instead of non-partisan volunteers and civic organizations like the league of women voters, we have maga election deniers and qanon enthusiasts. there s now a widespread shortage of poll workers because so many have faced harassment and abuse just for doing their jobs and helping people vote. i mean, this is, i think, kind of where trump found a sweet spot in the american psyche.
and tim snyder before them. good local journalism encourages good civics. yeah, that s right. there s actually a pretty big body of research at this point that shows that when a local newspaper vanishes from a community, voter turnout drops, polarization increases, misinformation proliferates. there s even some evidence that city budgets will balloon because there s less accountability for the dysfunction and corruption that can happen in local government. so what really happens is that these local newspapers not only provide an important check on people in power, they also kind of bind communities together. when you lose them, you make it easier for demagogues and other kind of divisive figures to come in and pull people apart for their own gain. some of these big newspapers we were just talking about, they re not gone. they re still there. they still publish. they might be thinner than they