California
On Tuesday, 11/30, a federal appeals court decided to uphold California’s ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines, in a ruling that is likely to lead to the court’s approval of the state’s ban on assault weapons…
California, Texas and New York are getting the most in the first year’s allotment for water investments from the $550 billion federal infrastructure bill passed last month, a document released Thursday, 12/2, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed…
All California community colleges will be able to offer virtual medical and mental health care to students through a new partnership between the Foundation for California Community Colleges and TimelyMD, a telehealth provider that serves colleges and universities…
Scientists and water managers say that at some point California’s snowpack could simply disappear…
Gun violence in Oakland has become a ‘pandemic within the pandemic’…
With California on the verge of allowing multi-unit housing in neighborhoods previously reserved for single-family homes, some cities are rushing to pass restrictions on the new developments…
Nearly 1,500 unhoused people are estimated to have died on the streets of Los Angeles during the pandemic, according to a new report that raises alarms about authorities’ handling of a worsening humanitarian crisis…
California’s redistricting process is facing a legal challenge just weeks before line-drawers are set to release the final maps of new legislative districts…
It's the first time California has made an initial prediction of zero percent of contracted deliveries to the 29 urban water agencies around the state that receive supplies from the State Water Project…
Coronavirus
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strengthened its COVID-19 booster-shot recommendations last Monday, 11/29, reflecting the potential threat the new Omicron variant poses to the pandemic response in the U.S. and world-wide…
U.S. health officials said yesterday, 12/5, that while the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than Delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations…
The State Data Report from American Academy of Pediatrics found that as of 11/18, almost 6.8 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic…
Last week, a federal judge blocked President Biden from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in a court order that said that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had no clear authority from Congress to enact the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled and poor…
President and Administration
The Treasury has released a highlight report describing how states and communities are using their portion of the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds…
The U.S. will stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over concerns about China's record on human rights, the White House announced this afternoon, 12/6…
Congress
Lawmakers averted a shutdown with a day to spare, as the House and Senate cleared a stopgap measure on Thursday, 12/2, to fund the government through 2/18, though they face other legislative deadlines this month and could struggle to strike a spending deal later in the winter…
Lawmakers still face challenges this month on the Democrats’ Build Back Better bill, the debt limit, and the defense authorization bill…
Last week’s Supreme Court argument on abortion has accelerated an urgency among Senate Democrats to fundamentally alter how the court operates, fueled in part by lingering anger over Republican confirmation maneuvers that have led to three new conservative justices in the past four years…
Build Back Better: Latest on Negotiations
Senate Democrats negotiating an expansion of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction aren’t near a deal, raising prospects that talks will spill into this week - and potentially next year…
The Senate Parliamentarian will meet with the Democrats today, 12/6, to begin talking through health care provisions in the reconciliation bill…
An array of civil rights organizations including the NAACP, Urban League, Unidos US and others are sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today, 12/6, urging passage of the Democrats’ reconciliation bill…
Education
Last week, the Education Department launched two new multistate communities of practice to support states in addressing the impact of lost instructional time from the pandemic on students’ social, emotional, and mental health, and academic well-being…
Students who dropout of college are disproportionately women, low income and working students, according to a new study of adults ages 20 to 34 who completed some college but earned no degree…
Butler County Community College in Pennsylvania and Lewis and Clark Community College in Illinois were victims of ransomware attacks last week, the latest in a string of costly cyberintrusions at American higher education institutions…
The Education Department announced Friday, 12/3, that it will establish the Institutional and Programmatic Eligibility Committee for a negotiated rule-making process beginning in January…