California
All fully vaccinated adults in California seeking a COVID-19 booster shot should be eligible to get one…
It’s been more than a decade since California’s education system placed a strong emphasis on teaching reading…
Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and Oakland are the first large school districts nationwide to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for older students, becoming a national test case for the logistical hurdles and possible lawsuits…
California Rep. Devin Nunes (R) could be motivated to move a few miles and Rep. Katie Porter (D) would have to figure out how to win in a district with fewer fellow Democrats under the draft congressional map now out for public comment…
Several groups filed a federal lawsuit last week against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claiming the agency has chosen not to intervene in California’s repeated failures to meet decades-old air pollution targets for fine particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley…
Coronavirus
New COVID-19 infections are rising again in most states for the first time in two months, and deaths are increasing in about half of the states…
Anxious about a surge of COVID-19 infections enveloping Europe as cases tick up in the United States, senior health officials in the Biden administration are pressing urgently to offer vaccine booster shots to all adults…
Last week, the American Federation of Government Employees urged the Biden administration to delay the deadline for federal workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from 11/22 to 1/4…
A federal appeals court ruled Friday, 11/12, to keep in place a stay blocking a Biden administration rule requiring that large employers mandate their employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing…
A new Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 78 percent of U.S. adults either believe or aren’t sure about at least one of eight false statements about the COVID-19 pandemic or COVID-19 vaccines, with unvaccinated adults and Republicans among those most likely to hold misconceptions…
During the month of September, Texans not vaccinated against COVID-19 were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19-related complications and 13 times more likely to test positive than people who were fully vaccinated, according to a new study by the Texas Department of State Health Services…
President and Administration
The Department of Justice on Wednesday, 11/10, sued Uber alleging a “pattern” of discrimination violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, signaling that the Biden administration is more aggressively targeting tech companies’ civil rights records…
U.S. food banks already dealing with increased demand from families sidelined by the pandemic now face a new challenge - surging food prices and supply chain issues…
Consumer prices surged 6.2 percent over the past 12 months, the fastest pace since 1990, with inflation accelerating monthly…
The Pentagon is stepping up efforts to get family members of U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, creating a database of the dozens who are trapped there…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has committed $421 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Funding…
President Biden on Friday, 11/12, nominated former Commissioner Robert Califf to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in a move that would bring the Obama-era official back for a second tour atop the agency…
Congress
House Democrats are hoping to pass the Build Back Better bill sometime this week while Senators meet with the parliamentarian to debate whether key components bring a direct budgetary effect…
With the Senate expected to consider its version of the annual defense policy bill this week, senators have already filed hundreds of amendments…
This week’s rush to move along a massive spending package is only the first item on a holiday season list Democrats must check off…
Democrats’ plan to undo former President Trump’s $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction is likely to end up enshrining looser restrictions on the popular and politically important write-off for the foreseeable future…
A House panel Wednesday, 11/10, advanced a bipartisan measure that would set up the nation’s first online database to connect retirement cash with those who may not even know they’re owed the money…
Seven months ago, a House committee advanced a bill to study reparations for slavery, after more than three decades of efforts to build support for the idea…
On a highly distorted congressional map that is still taking shape, the Republican party has added enough safe House districts to capture control of the chamber based on its redistricting edge alone…
Education
The number of new international students increased by 68 percent this fall over last fall, and the number of total international students grew by four percent across more than 860 U.S. higher education institutions that responded to a “snapshot” survey on fall international enrollments conducted by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and nine other higher education associations…
President Biden has nominated Glenna Gallo for assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services at the U.S. Department of Education…
Last week in an interview, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said that it "wasn't a mistake" to keep schools closed for as long as they were throughout the COVID-19 pandemic…
Each year, millions of students who receive federal financial aid are required to undergo an additional review of their financial information by the Department of Education called verification, a process that has proven to be burdensome for both students and institutions…
A group of 13 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to leaders in the House of Representatives last week asking them to revise a part of the Build Back Better bill that extends a boost in the Pell Grant award only to students who attend nonprofit public and private institutions…