California
Bolstered by new coronavirus testing sites recently opened by the state, 23 rural California counties this week began to relax social restrictions and resume a resemblance of pre-pandemic life….
Governor Gavin Newson wants to direct discretionary federal coronavirus aid to school districts to help cushion the blow of a $15 billion loss in state funding, but districts are still expected to experience cuts to programs and the Local Control Funding Formula….
In short order, the coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a sweeping and historic emptying of California’s overcrowded prisons and jails, as officials have dramatically lowered the number of people held in custody…
President and Administration
President Donald Trump formally announced that Moncef Slaoui, the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline, and Army Gen. Gustave Perna, a general in charge of Army readiness, will lead the government’s effort to speed the development of potential coronavirus vaccines….
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that economic recovery will not happen unless there is a vaccine….
Education
As college administrators continue announcing plans to reopen their institutions this fall, two important questions have been largely lost in the debate: (1) What will it take for colleges to reopen responsibly as long as there is no vaccine or treatment for COVID-19; (2) How realistic is it that colleges can put measures in place by fall?
University of California president Janet Napolitano last week proposed a revision in the way the system admits students: a five-year plan to gradually reduce and eliminate the role of the SAT and ACT in admissions…
Congress
On Friday 5/15, the $3 trillion HEROES Act was passed the House of Representatives in a 208 to 199 partisan vote….
The House on Friday, 5/15, also approved the most radical change to its rules in generations, allowing its members to cast committee and floor votes from afar — the culmination of a months-long struggle to adapt the 231-year-old institution to the coronavirus pandemic…
Senators are beginning debate on a House-passed bill to reauthorize and update parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (HR 6172)….
Last week the FBI agents seized the mobile phone of Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as part of an investigation into stock sales….
“Public access to the U.S Capitol will be further restricted until June 9 due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Friday, following an extension of the District of Columbia’s stay-at-home order…
2020 Election
Many of Biden’s friends, donors, and associated have pressured the presidential candidate to find his running mate….