Louisiana looks to block foreign (Chinese, Iranian) land purchases.

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Louisiana votes to prohibit some Chinese land purchases. Nebraska caps out-of-pocket insulin costs. A look at Idaho's reentry programs for prisoners. Critics take aim at Dollar Stores. These are your weekly outside-the-Beltway political stories.

The Daily 202 generally focuses on national politics and foreign policy. But as passionate believers in local news, and in redefining "politics" as something that hits closer to home than Beltway "Senator X Hates Senator Y" stories, we try to bring you a weekly mix of pieces with significant local, national or international importance.

Please keep sending your links to news coverage of political stories that are getting overlooked. They don't have to be from this week! The submission link is right under this column. Make sure to say whether I can use your first name, last initial and location. Anonymous is okay, too, as long as you give a location.

Louisiana's legislature has passed legislation to prohibit the Chinese government and people from buying land in Louisiana — after watering it down to ease concerns it would block purchases by legal immigrants, Sam Karlin reported for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The bill takes aim at people "[c]onnected to ‘foreign adversaries’ — namely, the governments of China, Iran, Venezuela and several others defined in federal code — from buying or leasing property in Louisiana. The House and Senate agreed on the bill's particulars Tuesday; it now heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ desk for his signature or veto," Karlin reported.

In the face of protests, lawmakers amended it to ensure people in Louisiana legally are not affected, and "wouldn't apply to purchasers of single-family residential properties, regardless of whether those buyers live here legally or illegally," according to Karlin.

The politics: This is both about the bipartisan national animosity toward China, and about the backlash to some of the policy responses. Other states are also taking aim at land purchases or banning TikTok.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) on Tuesday signed legislation capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 starting Jan. 1, Veronica Barreto reported for KLKN.

"Nebraska joins 23 other states, along with the District of Columbia, that have enacted caps on insulin costs," Barreto wrote.

The politics: Capping insulin costs appears to have broad bipartisan national appeal. And the issue of prescription drug costs more broadly looks politically potent, though it remains to be seen how the states will act on that front.

Thanks to Mia Maldonado of the Idaho Capital Sun, I learned this week that no democratic nation on Earth locks up a higher percentage of its people than Idaho, which also incarcerates more women than any other state.

Maldonado's report focuses on the programs — run by the state or nonprofits — Idaho uses to help people reintegrate society after they serve their time. That means work and housing programs, but also mental health and substance-abuse treatments.

Of note: Idaho Department of Correction spokesperson Jeff Ray "said the reentry process begins on a resident's first day in correctional custody, and residents undergo extensive testing upon their arrival to determine their educational and treatment needs that guide decisions about where they will be incarcerated and the programs they will be offered."

The politics: The United States has a shockingly high incarceration rate, which implies a significant appetite for rehabilitation programs at the state level.

From reader Kirstin A. in Harrisburg, Pa., comes this critique of the American food industry, notably consolidation of huge supermarket chains.

At the Ohio Statehouse Journal, Marty Schladen reported on critics who warn "huge grocery chains and ubiquitous dollar stores are limiting some rural and urban communities’ access to healthy food at the same time they bankrupt the farmers who produce it."

Independent stores — often easier to get to than the bigger national stores — struggle to compete on pricing, for instance. Small suppliers exist at the whim of large chains. One conclusion: "it's all good until too few players control too much of the marketplace."

The politics: Every single link in the food industry chain — from farmers, to shippers, to markets, to consumers — is suffused with politics. Congress is about to take up the annual Farm Bill. This could hardly be more political even if it plays out on the economic front and in American mouths and wallets.

See an important political story that doesn't quite fit traditional politics coverage? Flag it for us here.

"Two of Donald Trump's top lawyers said Friday that they were quitting his legal team, moments after the newly indicted former president said he would be bringing on new lawyers, and suggested the two attorneys may be departing," Kelsey Ables, Adela Suliman, John Wagner and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff report.

"The evidence leading to the historic indictment of former president Donald Trump includes an audio recording from 2021 in which he talks about an apparently secret document and says, ‘As president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't,’ a person familiar with a transcript of the remarks said Friday," Devlin Barrett, Jacqueline Alemany and Perry Stein report.

"Merrick B. Garland, whose mission as attorney general has included depoliticizing the Justice Department, is now seeing his department prosecute a former president for the first time, an action that presents an extraordinary test for the soft-spoken former judge," John Wagner reports.

Getting caught up on the indictment? Look no further:

Follow our live coverage here: Trump, indicted over classified document handling, must appear in federal court

"Weather forecasters predict that the wildfire smoke from Canada that has blanketed much of the eastern United States could begin to subside Friday, though air quality alerts remained in effect in many states in the morning," Matthew Cappucci, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Victoria Bisset report.

"Last fall, President Biden vowed to impose ‘consequences’ on Saudi Arabia for its decision to slash oil production amid high energy prices and fast-approaching elections in the United States," John Hudson reports.

"A handful of liberal lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to prepare an alternative plan to cancel student debt, as the Supreme Court could soon strike down the White House's program for forgiving the debts of tens of millions of American borrowers," Jeff Stein reports.

"A Supreme Court decision Thursday on redistricting delivered Democrats an unexpected jolt of energy headed into next year's congressional races, offering a path to pick up additional House seats — perhaps enough to alter the balance of power in the narrowly divided body," Patrick Marley and Matthew Brown report.

"Garret O’Boyle, an FBI agent who was presented in a public hearing by House Republicans as a whistleblower, was suspended by the bureau because internal investigators had concluded that he leaked sensitive investigative information to the right-wing group Project Veritas, according to a bureau official," NBC News's Ryan Nobles reports.

"Blue states are crafting a new kind of legislation to respond to a dramatic wave of restrictions on abortion access and gender-affirming care across the country. Democrats are invoking the fall of Roe v. Wade as a reason to protect both areas of health care simultaneously — while aiming to create safe havens for those fleeing surrounding Republican-controlled states," the 19th's Grace Panetta and Orion Rummler report.

"President Biden said Thursday that Americans can trust an independent Justice Department as it investigates former president and 2024 Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump," Mariana Alfaro reports.

"President Biden forcefully pushed back Thursday against a rash of ‘cruel’ state laws curtailing the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, including transgender youths, saying the measures are being adopted by ‘prejudiced people’ and pledging that his administration will stand up for those being targeted," John Wagner reports.

"Senior U.S. officials are convinced that future support for the Ukraine war — and President Joe Biden's global reputation — hinges on the success of Ukraine's counteroffensive," Politico's Jonathan Lemire and Alexander Ward report.

"President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order that aims to bolster job opportunities for military and veteran spouses whose careers are often disrupted by their loved ones’ deployments," the Associated Press's Aamer Madhani reports.

"White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha will step down next week as the Biden administration formally ends the role, the latest marker that officials believe the virus threat has largely passed," Dan Diamond reports.

"Since November, the front lines have been largely stagnant as both sides dug in for a cold winter and muddy spring. But as Russian forces have reinforced their positions, at least one factor may have tipped the state of play in Ukraine's favor: the provision by Western allies of increasingly sophisticated, highly coveted weapons, some of which could provide serious advantages on the battlefield," Alex Horton and Samuel Granados report.

"Democrats in the House and Senate plan to introduce a bill Friday that would overhaul the debt-ceiling process, eager to capitalize on widespread anxiety in the party regarding the regular brinkmanship over the country's borrowing limit," the Wall Street Journal's Lindsay Wise reports.

"Many GOP officials jumped to the former president's defense on Thursday night, and one long-shot rival for the Republican nomination, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy , said he would ‘pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025’ if elected," Hannah Knowles reports.

More: Worries over electability pierce united GOP front on Trump indictment

At 1:10 p.m., the Bidens will tour Nash Community College in Rocky Mount, N.C. At 1:30 p.m., they will "discuss how career-connected learning and workforce training programs are preparing students for good-paying jobs in North Carolina."

The Bidens will leave for Fort Liberty at 2:40 p.m., where they will meet with service members and their families.

At 8:05 p.m., the Bidens will leave North Carolina for Joint Base Andrews. They’ll arrive at the White House at around 9:45 p.m.

Me: "Oh nice, the air in DC doesn't burn my eyes and lungs as much today — let's have a great Friday everyone!"Martin: "A Black bear is now roaming the streets of DC" https://t.co/DXqC6Y0TpO

Thanks for reading. See you next week.