California
The California Legislature on Friday, 6/26, finalized a state spending plan that closes an historic $54.3 billion deficit by temporarily raising taxes on businesses with more than $1 million in annual revenue, cutting funding to courts, colleges and state worker salaries, and delaying billions of dollars in payments to public schools…
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, California’s top schools official, said Wednesday, 6/24, that his office is working to re-imagine the role of police officers at the state’s 10,000 public schools while maintaining that some schools would still need officers on campus to protect students' safety...
California voters in November will decide whether the 1996 ban on affirmative action policies can be considered by governments and public colleges and universities in hiring and admissions decisions — all against the backdrop of a presidential election and cultural upheaval over racial injustice...
The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school district, rejected a proposal Tuesday, 6/23, to defund police in schools...
Coronavirus
The CDC last week updated and expanded the list of who is at risk for getting severely ill from COVID-19…
The White House Coronavirus Task Force renewed calls for vigilance on Friday, 6/26, acknowledging rising cases across Southern states and in parts of California...
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), the Chairman of the Select Committee Overseeing the Federal Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, threatened on Friday, 6/26, to stop holding in-person proceedings if GOP lawmakers won't comply with the Capitol physician's guidance to wear masks...
The rush to disseminate information about COVID-19 is exposing cracks in the scholarly research system...
President and Administration
President Trump signed an executive order Friday, 6/26, to shift the focus for hiring for federal government jobs from college degrees to skills...
On Saturday, 6/27, President Trump reiterated a vow to protect those with preexisting conditions after his administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday, 6/25, to strike down ObamaCare...
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California on Friday, 6/26, in a 2-1 ruling found that the Trump administration’s use of Pentagon funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border violated the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, which gives Congress the exclusive power of the purse...
The Supreme Court won’t review an environmental case that could have had significant implications for both the US-Mexico border wall and a major legal doctrine affecting federal agencies...
Education
School boards in St. Paul, Minn.; Oakland, Calif.; Seattle; San Francisco, and two San Jose-area districts all voted in recent days to suspend or dismantle school policing programs following the Minneapolis district’s decision on June 2…
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a new rule Thursday, 6/25, advancing a policy requiring public schools to share more coronavirus relief funds with private schools than federal law currently mandates...
The U.S. Department of Education issued a notice establishing an August 1, 2020 deadline for institutions of higher education (IHEs) that did not initially apply to receive allocations to transmit their applications for funds from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund under sections 18004(a)(1), 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3); Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act...
Congress
The House on Friday, 6/26, failed to override President Trump's veto of bipartisan legislation that would have overturned new regulations from the Education Department that restrict access to federal student loan forgiveness...
The House of Representatives voted on Friday, 6/26, to grant statehood to Washington, D.C., the first time a chamber of Congress has approved establishing the nation’s capital as a state...