Hope for Breakfast - Breakfast Bites (3/31)

https://hopeforbreakfast.substack.com/p/breakfast-bites-331

Hope for Breakfast is a newsletter that aims to highlight the positive gains and areas of pushback against what is going on in current US administration. Many of us could use some brightness in our day.

This story starts in January, when educator Sarah Inama (she teaches in Meridian, Idaho) was told to remove signs from her classroom that said “Everyone is welcome here” and had pictures of hands in different skin colors. She challenged the order and put them back up after initially taking them down. Now the story has gotten bigger. Protesters gathered outside the school on Sunday, students held a “Writing Rally,” and a local t-shirt shop that started producing t-shirts printed with “Everyone is Welcome” on the front is racing to fulfill the orders that are pouring in. This story doesn’t have a resolution yet, but it’s heartening to see so many people (in deep-red Idaho) who are standing in support of inclusivity.

On March 29th, Louisiana voters rejected four constitutional amendments that would have 1) lowered the maximum income tax rate (ultimately this would have made it easier for the governor and state legislators to spend the money), 2) made it easier for judges to send minors to adult jails and give them longer sentences, 3) allowed the formation of specialty courts, and 4) adjusted the rules for creating new judgeships or filling vacant ones.

The Montana legislature voted to maintain the expansion of Medicaid in February (this is big for Montana!), and Republican Governor Gianforte signed the bill last Friday. (He did not announce this, big surprise!) Ever since Medicaid was expanded, lawmakers have had to fight to renew the program. This bill ends that perpetual cycle… hopefully offering relief to the many Montanans who obtain health coverage through this program.

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/protesters-challenge-removal-of-inclusivity-posters-from-idaho-classroom-local-national/277-20d441a9-3793-4265-b710-0fc42e948546
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOuXFhr3uAw&ab_channel=KTVB
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/208/everyone-is-welcome-here-shirts-thousands-opposing-west-ada-decision/277-931a68c1-8fbe-4d29-a444-eb0c3ed944e4
https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/29/louisiana-amendments-3/
https://montanafreepress.org/2025/03/28/montana-governor-signs-medicaid-expansion-bill-lifting-2025-sunset/