California
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Friday, 3/5, allocating billions of dollars to get schools reopened faster after struggling for months to reach an agreement…
California will now send 40 percent of all vaccine doses to its most vulnerable neighborhoods in an attempt to inoculate people most at risk from COVID-19 and reopen the state’s economy faster, Gov. Newsom said Thursday, 3/5…
California’s high poverty rate, low wages and frayed public safety net require a new “social compact” between workers, business and government, according to a report by a blue-ribbon Future of Work Commission highlighting the state’s widening inequality…
Coronavirus
Teenagers' demand for mental health care skyrocketed last year amid the pandemic, even as their overall need for care declined, according to a new analysis by FAIR Health…
Johnson & Johnson plans to test its COVID-19 vaccine in infants and newborns, as well as in pregnant women and people who have compromised immune systems…
House lawmakers will hold a final vote as soon as tomorrow as Democrats aim to send their $1.9 trillion stimulus bill to President Joe Biden’s desk…
Last week, President Biden strongly criticized the decisions by Texas and Mississippi governors to lift statewide mask mandates, calling the plans “a big mistake” that reflected “Neanderthal thinking,” as his administration tries to manage the pandemic while state leaders set their own plans…
Vaccinated people can visit indoors without masks with other vaccinated people, but must still wear them in public and avoid large gatherings when around those who aren’t immunized or are at high risk for contracting COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today, 3/8…
An alarming figure came from Orange County’s top prosecutor during last month’s news conference in Little Saigon about hate toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community during the COVID-19 pandemic…
President and Administration
Biden will formally create a Gender Policy Council within the White House as part of two executive orders he intends to sign today, 3/8, to mark International Women’s Day…
The Biden administration will offer $250 million in grants for local communities to improve health care, Vice President Kamala Harris announced at a National League of Cities event…
President Joe Biden will give his first prime-time address on Thursday, 3/11, as he marks the anniversary of COVID-19 shutdowns with a speech to the nation…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is nearing completion of a regulatory update to a significant rule it finalized late in the Trump administration that would clarify whether workers are employees or independent contractors…
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is signaling a push to increase food assistance for the poor beyond the COVID-19 economic crisis…
Congress
House Democrats approved a momentous overhaul of American policing late Wednesday, 3/4, responding to claims of racial injustice in law enforcement…
The House passed expansive legislation late Wednesday, 3/4, to advance a centerpiece of the Democratic voting rights agenda amid fierce Republican attacks that threaten to stop it cold in the Senate…
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers on Wednesday, 3/4, that threats against members of Congress have nearly doubled in the past year…
Education
An opinion piece from Education Secretary Cardona was published in USA Today last week and details his plans to reopen schools…
The U.S. Department of Education might expect standardized assessments this year, but state and district leaders are predicting a lot of empty seats…
Ithaka S&R has published a report on efforts by community colleges to focus on students…
A years-long push to lessen the incentive for for-profit institutions to recruit veterans as students took a major step toward becoming law with the House’s passage of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package last week…