California
California is using a smaller percentage of its available COVID-19 vaccine doses than every other large state…
On Friday, 1/8, Gov. Newsom unveiled a record $227 billion January spending plan that marks a dramatic reversal from summer fears that the state would head off a financial cliff…
A federal appeals court panel appears poised to find that Gov. Newsom's months-long COVID-19 limits on houses of worship violate the religious freedom rights of Californians, but a majority of the judges on the case sounded unlikely Monday, 1/4, to immediately reverse tighter stay-at-home restrictions imposed last month due to a record surge in infections…
Coronavirus
Days after being sworn into office, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) has tested positive for COVID-19 following contact with a COVID-positive person…
Lawmakers who huddled together for safety last week — as a deadly siege overtook the U.S. Capitol — were potentially exposed to someone infected with the coronavirus, the Office of the Attending Physician warned Sunday, 1/10. Several Republicans were seen without masks while in the crowded room, despite being offered extras by Democrats…
President and Administration
Impeachment and the invocation of the 25th Amendment against Trump are being considered following the Capitol riots…
President Trump officially announced he will not be attending President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on 1/20…
President Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency…
On Thursday, 1/7, both Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned…
Former Attorney General William Barr accused President Trump on Thursday, 1/7, of a “betrayal of his office” — a rebuke of the president following the pro-Trump riots inside the Capitol…
The top federal prosecutor in D.C. said Thursday, 1/7, that President Trump was not off-limits in his investigation of the events surrounding Wednesday’s, 1/6, riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying “all actors” would be examined to determine if they broke the law…
Congress
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley about guardrails in place that could prevent "an unstable president" from wielding the military or the country's nuclear arsenal on Friday, 1/8. Milley's spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, said Pelosi initiated the call with the chairman…
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) is calling on President Trump to resign following the riots at the Capitol, making her the first Republican senator to take that step…
Three days before supporters of President Trump rioted at the Capitol, the Pentagon asked the U.S. Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower…
Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office plan to open a federal murder investigation into the death of Brian D. Sicknick, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died Thursday night, 1/7, after sustaining critical injuries during the storming of the Capitol…
The House adopted a new set of rules for the 117th Congress in a 217-206 party-line vote on Monday, 1/4, with provisions to extend remote voting during the pandemic, protect whistleblowers and limit the minority’s ability to amend legislation on the floor…
Democrats will soon have the balance of power required to repeal Trump’s limitation on a prized tax deduction, but doing so will likely require a tricky procedural process and a politically fraught vote…
Transition
As expected, President-elect Joe Biden will, upon taking office 1/20, instruct the Education Department to continue the pause excusing student loan borrowers from making payments, David Kamin, who will be deputy director of the National Economic Council in the Biden administration revealed…
President-elect Joe Biden filled out his team to lead federal agencies team on Thursday, 1/7, by naming judge Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general, Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island as his commerce secretary, Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston as his labor secretary and Isabel Guzman, of California and a former Obama administration official, as head of the Small Business Administration…
The Trump EPA began implementing on Wednesday, 1/6, its controversial new science rule that limits the types of research the agency can rely on in making policy — a move that stands to complicate the incoming Biden administration's efforts to swiftly issue aggressive new environmental protections…
Education
Billions of dollars dedicated to colleges and universities in the recently enacted relief legislation won't come close to helping the institutions fill budget deficits caused by pandemic, Fitch Ratings said Thursday, 1/7…
Many community colleges across the country are working to meet a surge in demand for food and other basic necessities…