National
Apart from the federal elections, states had their own say with ballot measures, with abortion and marijuana being focal points.
Abortion rights measures failed in three states: Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Florida currently institutes a six-week ban, while Nebraska has a twelve-week ban, and South Dakota has a full ban.
More than 57% of Florida voters supported a measure to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution, but Florida requires a 60% threshold to amend the constitution.
In Nebraska, the measure was a point of confusion. One measure that will amend the state constitution to restrict abortions after the first trimester won a majority of the votes, but a measure to protect abortion rights failed with 49% of the vote.
South Dakota’s ban is one of the strictest in the country.
However, seven other states codified abortion rights into their constitutions: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and New York.
Missouri saw the largest jump, going from a full ban to fetal viability, which is about twenty-four weeks, while the Arizona measure repealed a fifteen-week ban in favor of viability. Colorado and Maryland currently have no abortion limits, but their recently-passed measure will instill new protections, with Colorado specifically repealing a law that prohibited use of public funds to pay for abortions. Montana and New York originally banned the procedure at fetal viability, but abortion rights are now enshrined in their constitutions with new protections.
In Nevada, voters passed a measure to protect abortion rights until fetal viability passed, but it must pass again in the next general election to result in addition to the state constitution.
The septet of states now joins several others who have passed similar measures since the 2022 overturning of Roe Vs. Wade. Kansas was the first state to retain its abortion provisions in its constitution; Kentucky followed suit two years ago. Michigan, California, Vermont, and Ohio all passed measures within the last two years to enshrine “rights to reproductive freedom.”
The 2024 elections broke the winning streak for the pro-choice measures across the country.
Currently, eleven states have full abortion bans, while Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have six-week bans. North Carolina and Utah have differing limits.
State
PROPOSITION ONE PASSES 62%-38%
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has earned enemies far and wide in their latest move.
On October 30, Peanut the Squirrel (pictured below) was seized from his owners’ home by DEC and euthanized soon thereafter. The famed social media squirrel’s death was widely publicized, attracting widespread condemnation from legislators, celebrities, and the general public.
Peanut was an eastern gray squirrel found and rescued in 2017 by Mark Longo, who sought shelter for the squirrel, but was unsuccessful. Longo bottle-fed Peanut for eight months until attempting to release him into the wild, only for the squirrel to return the next day.
Peanut spent seven years with Longo in Norwalk, Connecticut, where Longo did not obtain a license to legally keep him. In New York State, it is illegal to keep squirrels as pets.
Longo shared videos of Peanut on social media, where his account obtained over a half-million followers. Longo and his wife moved from Norwalk to New York in 2023 to found the P’Nuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, most of the contributions to which were raised through social media. The sanctuary had rescued over three hundred animals by November this year, but Longo was not a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
On October 30, NYS DEC took Peanut and a pet raccoon named Fred from the home in Chemung County. Two days after their seizure, DEC alleged that Peanut had bitten one of the officers involved, which resulted in their euthanizations to subsequently test for rabies.
Longo alleges that DEC officers used excessive force during the five-hour raid.
“Instead of focusing on critical needs like flood mitigation in places like Steuben County, where local officials have to struggle just to get permits from the DEC to clear debris-filled waterways, they’re out seizing pet squirrels,” said Congressman Nick Langworthy (R, NY-23).
The squirrel’s death has resulted in sponsored legislation: “Peanut’s Law: Humane Animal Protection Act.” Proposed by Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz (R-Oyster Bay) (pictured below), the bill would amend State Environmental Conservation Law to restrict regulatory overreach and place stricter limitations on government animal seizures.
Local
PROPOSITION TWO PASSES 71%-28%
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), the Suffolk County Department of Social Services (DSS), the Suffolk County Bar Association and the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare are hosting a conference, “Creating Transformational Change for Families Involved with the Child Protective System” on November 8 at Suffolk Community College.
The keynote speaker is Katie Beers, who was part of the Child Protective Services (CPS) system for years and was famously kidnapped and kept captive in an underground space in a Bay Shore garage before being freed. She is joined by Carolyn Gusoff, author of Buried Memories, which tells Katie’s story.
“Our children must be protected, and bureaucracy gets in the way of that mission. The only way we can affect change is to come together, identify our challenges to find common ground and move forward,” said Romaine. “This conference includes CPS professionals, judges from family court, clergy and Katie, who was failed by the CPS system.”
Joining Suffolk DSS Deputy County Executive Dr. Sylvia Diaz and DSS Commissioner John Imhof are Judge Fernando Camacho and Judge Caren Loguercio who will speak of their experiences on the bench hearing these difficult cases and Father Francis Pizzarelli of Hope House Ministries, a human service agency that provides housing, educational assistance, addiction care and counseling for thousands of individuals in crisis.
“I have no doubt that this event will ignite the flames of change for the CPS system everywhere, not just in Suffolk County,” said Romaine (pictured above). “There have been too many instances where children have fallen victim to a broken system that often does not allow caseworkers to do their jobs. Hearing Katie’s story firsthand will surely change the lives of anybody in attendance.”
The conference is scheduled for November 8, from 8:30a.m. to 3:30p.m. at the Van Nostrand Theatre at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood.
