California
Last week state health officials confirmed that on 6/15 businesses can open at full capacity, the vaccinated can ditch their masks in most places, and large indoor events will once again be allowed, as long as attendees show proof of vaccination or test negative for the virus…
Amid a pandemic that left law enforcement agencies stretched thin and forced shutdowns that left people with little to do, California registered a devastating surge in homicides in 2020 that hit especially hard in Black and Latino communities…
Months after the state approved $2.6 billion to help California tenants pay rent amid hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates say a disappointingly low number of people have applied, as the program has been hampered by a slow start, confusion and bureaucratic red tape…
Last Thursday, 5/20, the state Legislature decided the fate of hundreds of measures…
CalMatters’ dashboard is intended to monitor whether the state is on track for a more equitable economic recovery…
Drought is afflicting 88% of the American West, up from 40% a year ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor…
Nearly a third of California’s restaurants permanently closed and two-thirds of workers at least temporarily lost their jobs as the pandemic set in more than a year ago, a legislative committee reported last week…
San Francisco could potentially break its record for drug-related deaths, one year after it recorded its deadliest year for overdoses…
Coronavirus
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated hunger among military families, adding to pressure on bipartisan lawmakers to grant them more federal nutrition assistance…
The U.S. is on track to begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine to children younger than 12 by early next year, Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious-disease expert, said last week…
The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt LGBTQ students in unique and troubling ways, according to a new report by the Point Foundation and the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law…
If the connection between child care and the economy hadn't been clear before the pandemic, it certainly is now, as some 2.3 million women were forced out of the labor market…
President and Administration
On Thursday, 5/20, President Joe Biden signed a bill meant to address a proliferation of assaults and other violent crimes against Asian-Americans since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrating a rare moment of overwhelming bipartisanship but warning that Americans must do more to combat hate crimes…
The Supreme Court announced last week that it will reconsider the right to an abortion it established almost 50 years ago, agreeing to review Mississippi’s ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy…
Administration officials have quietly begun evaluating clemency requests and have signaled to activists that President Biden could begin issuing pardons or commutations by the midpoint of his term…
The White House acknowledged on Friday, 5/21, that lawmakers are unlikely to pass an overhaul of policing practices in the U.S. by President Biden’s deadline, the 5/25 anniversary of George Floyd’s killing by a White police officer in Minneapolis…
White House officials have left key campaign promises on health care out of their upcoming budget proposal…
Congress
The Biden administration on Friday, 5/21, said it was slashing the price tag on an infrastructure proposal by more than $500 billion in an attempt to win Republican support…
Democrats and Republicans divided over the scope of President Biden‘s infrastructure package are seeking a bipartisan deal on at least one component: beefing up job training for Americans out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic…
On Friday, 5/21, a group of bipartisan House lawmakers introduced legislation designed to protect critical systems against cyberattacks, a week after a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline significantly disrupted the fuel supply for portions of the country…
The Senate Commerce Committee approved Biden Cabinet nominee Eric Lander to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Thursday, 5/20, in a bipartisan voice vote…
Education
When students read, do their personal and cultural backgrounds determine how they understand the text, or are the skills and knowledge they pick up in the classroom more important?…
California school districts have big plans for summer school this year…