California
The effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom is shaping up to be an expensive national spectacle as unlimited fund-raising and partisan interests converge in the most populous U.S. state…
California appears in the midst of another drought only a few years after a punishing five year dry spell dried up rural wells, killed endangered salmon, idled farm fields and helped fuel the most deadly and destructive wildfires in modern state history…
Coronavirus
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said last week that the federal eviction moratorium has been extended through June 30, a move that will protect millions of tenants who have struggled to make their rent payments during the COVID-19 crisis…
Seeking to overcome vaccine hesitancy, the Biden administration on Thursday, 4/1, stepped up its outreach efforts to skeptical Americans, launching a coalition of community, religious and celebrity partners to promote COVID-19 shots in hard-hit communities…
On Wednesday, 3/31, Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective in a final-stage trial in children ages 12 to 15, which could pave the way for teens and pre-teens to get shots before the next school year and intensifies pressure on schools to decide whether to make shots mandatory when students return…
During Pfizer's Phase Three clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine, researchers have found that protection lasts up to six months after the second dose…
President Joe Biden and top health officials warned last week that COVID-19 infections are once again beginning to climb — urging Americans, including elected officials, to double down on precautions to prevent a fourth surge…
Fully vaccinated people can resume recreational travel in the U.S. at “low risk” yet should still wear a mask and avoid crowds, according to new advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…
President and Administration
Biden may address a joint session of Congress after about 100 days of his presidency, which falls on April 30…
President Biden is looking to send an unprecedented amount of federal funding to help people living in areas that have been disproportionately harmed by air pollution, contaminated water, and other environmental impacts…
The Biden administration is stepping up efforts to combat domestic extremism, increasing funding to prevent attacks, weighing strategies historically used against foreign terrorist groups and more openly warning the public about the threat…
The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) office that polices government contractors intensified its enforcement of anti-bias laws under President Biden, a marked change from the Trump administration’s focus on proactive measures…
President Biden announced his first slate of judicial nominees last week, elevating U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the influential appeals court in Washington to succeed Merrick Garland as part of the largest and earliest batch of court picks by a new administration in decades…
Amid steady progress with COVID-19 vaccinations, the U.S. economy is gathering so much steam that its gains will not stay at home…
Congress
Last week, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) said he won’t back any tax increases that President Biden proposes to pay for infrastructure legislation unless there is also a repeal of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions…
Republicans may be ready to support limited infrastructure funding in Biden’s spending proposal, which would require scaling back the $2.25 trillion plan by more than two thirds, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said…
Many of those who invaded the halls of Congress on 1/6 are likely to get little or no jail time…
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he plans to pursue comprehensive marijuana legislation but will likely face some resistance from the White House because Biden hasn’t backed full legalization…
Last week, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Mike Thompson led a letter signed by more than 100 of his colleagues asking President Biden to take Executive Action to regulate concealable assault-style rifles, like the firearm used recently in Boulder, Colorado…
Education
Last week, the Biden administration halted the collection of more than 1 million federally guaranteed student loans, extending relief to a subset of the borrowers who have been left out of the government’s unprecedented freeze on loan payments and interest over the past year…
Labor unions are making a new push to get the Education Department to use executive action to forgive the student loans of Americans working in public service jobs - the latest pressure from the left for the Biden administration to act more aggressively on student debt relief…
On Friday, 4/2, Education Secretary Cardona joined a roundtable discussion alongside Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Warren (D-MA) to listen as student loan borrowers and advocates shared their stories about the impact student loan debt has had on their lives…
President Biden’s new infrastructure plan proposes billions of dollars for higher education over eight years…
The U.S. higher education sector will feel a revenue hit for several years from a low number of international students enrolling in colleges and universities this fall, according to Moody’s Investors Service…
A string of recent court decisions have accepted sex-based discrimination claims by male students after their schools sanctioned them for harassment or assault, potentially complicating plans for a complete overhaul of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s campus sexual misconduct regulations…