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Who Said That

Bill Callahan, Ocean Casino’s general manager, regarding the eroding beaches of Atlantic City, N.J., after weeks of winter storms. Three of the city’s northernmost casinos, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts and Hard Rock, are urging federal and state governments to expedite a beach replenishment program that was supposed to have been completed last year. Last summer, Ocean Casino spent $600,000 to truck in and dump sand on its beach. (Associated Press — March 18, 2024)
Book critic Ron Charles, after testing ChatGPT’s knowledge of classic literature. (Washington Post – March 15, 2024)
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, regarding his interest in buying the social media platform. (NPR — March 14, 2024)
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, regarding a vermin infestation of confiscated weed at police headquarters. The building has housed the department since 1968 and is decaying, with mold and cockroaches. The City Council is considering a proposal to spend $7.6 million on a 10-year lease to temporarily relocate the force to a pair of high-rise buildings downtown. (Associated Press — March 13, 2024)
Margaret Nimno, chief engagement officer for enCircle, referring to budget cuts to West Virginia's services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite an ongoing federal investigation into the state's treatment of people with disabilities, an amendment on the final night of the session cut spending. (West Virginia Watch — March 12, 2024)
House Majority Leader Jamie Long is lead author of a Minnesota bill aimed at preventing the practice of majority parties drawing favorable district maps and prohibiting lawmakers from becoming lobbyists within one year of leaving office. (Minnesota Reformer — March 11, 2024)
Ohio state Rep. Sean Brennan, regarding the replacement of police dogs as an unintended consequence of legalizing recreational marijuana. Nearly 400 dogs in the state who were trained to detect marijuana will need to be retired because they cannot reliably be retrained. Proposed legislation would provide each agency with up to $20,000 per dog to offset the cost of acquiring, training and equipping narcotics dogs. (Associated Press — March 7, 2024)
Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz, regarding his proposed legislation that would remove a mandate that state, county and local decision-making bodies are balanced by gender. (Associated Press — March 7, 2024)
Dawn Ramsey, mayor of South Jordan, Utah, regarding the scores of dried tumbleweeds that bounced into the city after several days of high winds. Crews were able to remove about 13 dumpster loads of tumbleweeds. (Associated Press — March 5, 2024)
Greg Reilly, a southeast marine campaigner for International Fund for Animal Welfare, regarding the year’s first confirmed death of a baby right whale from collision with a ship. There are fewer than 360 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, making every baby vitally important to the future of the species. The federal government has been working on new ship speed rules designed to protect whales from injuries and deaths, but new policies have not been finalized. (Associated Press — March 5, 2024)
Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, referring to an NYT/Siena poll that showed him taking 12 percent of the party’s vote against President Joe Biden. (X — March 3, 2024)
Oregon state Rep. Ed Diehl, regarding a bill that would recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs in the state. (OPB — Feb. 29, 2024)
Caitlyn Peca, a rookie police officer in Fowlerville, Mich., allegedly said to a colleague over the radio, according to a case summary. Peca misread a 0.02 breath test of a man from Japan as 0.22, which would be nearly three times the state’s blood-alcohol limit for driving. Fowlerville has agreed to pay the man $320,000 to settle the case. (Associated Press — Feb. 29, 2024)
Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute, regarding a growing movement of Christian nationalism across the country. (NPR — Feb. 28, 2024)
Washington state Sen. Phil Fortunato on withdrawing an amendment which would have created ID cards for those in state custody or care. Under his proposal, those getting cards would have to pick up the cost, rather than the state paying for them. Without missing a beat, Sen. Marko Liias asked, “Can we call her about other amendments?” (KNWN Newsradio — Feb. 24, 2024)
James Gordon of DeLand, Fla., regarding the state’s Florida Man Games that took place this weekend. Gordon won the first event of the weekend by eating a plateful of barbecue pork and sausage faster than the nearest competitor. Spectators paid $45 per ticket or more to attend the games at Francis Field in St. Augustine. (Associated Press — Feb. 24, 2024)
Valli Pendyala, a freshman at Georgetown University, on student-planned protests at 25 campuses across the country to demand their universities kick Starbucks off their campuses because of the coffee giant's failure to negotiate contracts with the thousands of baristas who've unionized over the last two years. (CBS News – Feb. 22, 2024)
New Hampshire state Rep. Jennifer Rhodes, speaking against proposed legislation that would allow people to voluntarily prohibit themselves from buying guns. Those against the bill have expressed doubt that removing oneself from the prohibited list would be as easy as supporters have claimed. (Associated Press — Feb. 22, 2024)
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, referring to carjackers in a speech to the Legislature on Monday, Feb. 19, the first day of a crime-focused special session. Proposed legislation would impose tougher sentences for certain crimes that plague urban areas, including carjacking, which would carry an elevated minimum sentence of five years. (Associated Press — Feb. 20, 2024)
Angelique EagleWoman, a Native American Law professor in St. Paul, Minn. Despite the fact that overdose deaths are ravaging Native American communities, Native law enforcement is not allowed to prosecute non-Natives for most crimes, including drug trafficking. Many Native American leaders want to see the rules changed. (NPR — Feb. 20, 2024)
Jonathan Adkins, CEO of the Governors Highway Safety Association, regarding the use of automated cameras to enforce speed limits. (NPR — Feb. 16, 2024)
Andy Ashby, co-owner of Memphis Made Brewing in Tennessee, regarding proposed legislation that would ban the sale of cold beer across the state, warning of the potential impacts on his industry. State Sen. Paul Rose and state Rep. Ron Gant sponsored the legislation in hopes of reducing drunk-driving crashes by making alcohol less readily available. (The Hill — Feb. 15, 2024)
New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks, regarding the district’s use of snow day remote learning on Feb. 13. Parents and students had troubles logging on to the remote learning system, which was expected to host nearly a million students. (The Hill — Feb. 13, 2024)
Mark Farrell, who served as interim mayor of San Francisco back in 2018, announcing his candidacy Tuesday for a full term in the job. The city has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, with residents and businesses continuing to complain about vandalism, break-ins, tent encampments and open drug use. (Associated Press — Feb. 13, 2024)
The caption of a 30-second video that President Biden posted to TikTok, his first ever, on Sunday, Feb. 11, that consisted of a Super Bowl-themed question and answer, signaling what could be a push for the youth vote in his re-election campaign. (The Hill — Feb. 11, 2024)
Sally Hudson, a University of Virginia professor and former member of the House of Delegates, on the way that the state’s legislative sessions are structured. The General Assembly considers thousands of bills in sessions scheduled for, at most, 60 days and lawmakers don’t meet on the weekends, which often results in public commentary and legislators being cut off or encouraged to “make it quick!” (Associated Press — Feb. 9, 2024)
Kim Callinan, CEO of the advocacy group Compassion & Choices, regarding the growing support for physician-assisted death. Two-thirds of voters in Virginia support allowing mentally capable adults with terminal disease the right to request and obtain medication to end their life. Ten states and Washington, D.C., allow patients with terminal illness to request life-ending medication from their doctor. (NPR — Feb. 8, 2024)
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, the parent of a 5-year-old in Fort Worth, Texas, regarding the mixed messages parents have received about when they should or should not keep their children home from school when they are sick. During the pandemic, schools urged parents to keep their children home at any sign of illness. Now, some advocates, school systems and states are changing their guidelines to encourage students to return to class even if they have sniffles or other nuisance illnesses, like lice or pinkeye. (Associated Press — Feb. 7, 2024)
North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, regarding his opposition to an industry request to raise homeowners’ insurance premiums by an average of 42 percent. Causey said that he and his department received more than 25,000 emails, phone calls and letters about the proposal and “almost nobody was in favor of it.” (Associated Press — Feb. 6, 2024)
Trent Rhorer, executive director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency. A local public safety proposal that will appear on the March 8 ballot would require single adults on welfare to be screened and treated for illegal drug addiction, or lose the cash assistance. (Associated Press — Feb. 5, 2024)