California
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked US District Judge Benitez's controversial ruling that overturned California's longtime ban on assault weapons, in which he likened the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife…
An 11-member en banc panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a challenge to a voter-approved ban of large-capacity magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition…
Gov. Newsom says California will pay off all the past-due rent that accumulated in California because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, a promise to make landlords whole while giving renters a clean slate…
An analysis of data shows that, in the Bay Area, businesses in higher-income or predominantly white census tracts were far more likely to have received a PPP loan than businesses in areas that are lower-income or have a higher share of Black and Hispanic residents…
California schools collectively have billions of state and federal dollars to spend on programs to help students catch up on the learning they lost while school campuses were closed…
Coronavirus
The Biden administration is likely to miss its goal of 70% of adults receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by July Fourth…
While women have received COVID-19 shots at higher rates nationally than men, polling indicates that higher shares of mothers than fathers are resistant to vaccinating their kids…
Troves of misinformation, language barriers and fears around immigration enforcement are hampering efforts to vaccinate Hispanic communities against COVID-19, challenging the Biden administration’s push to crush the virus as a dangerous new variant quickly spreads…
President and Administration
President Biden said on Wednesday, 6/23, that states could draw from $350 billion in federal stimulus money to shore up police departments and vowed to crack down on gun dealers who fail to run background checks…
The administration unveiled a raft of measures to prevent people who lost income during the pandemic from losing their homes on Thursday, 6/24, including extending nationwide eviction and foreclosure bans until 7/31…
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday, 6/25, that the Justice Department is filing suit against the state of Georgia over its sweeping election law recently passed by Republicans, alleging it violates the federal Voting Rights Act by seeking to disenfranchise Black voters…
On Thursday, 6/24, the U.S. Supreme Court discussed whether to hear a case that could settle whether states can exclude religious schools from publicly funded voucher programs…
A Pennsylvania school district violated a high school cheerleader’s First Amendment rights when officials punished her for a profane, off-campus social media post, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, 6/23…
Congress
Democrats are expected to bring a $715 billion infrastructure bill to the floor this week, the product of work by two committees…
According to a summary circulating, the budget plan under development by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders would overshoot Biden’s proposed spending by nearly $1.6 trillion over a decade, costing $6 trillion and adding $3 trillion to deficits…
Democrats suffered one of the biggest setbacks of Biden’s presidency last week when all 50 Republicans blocked Democrats’ voting rights bill from advancing to floor debate…
Last week, Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) outlined a proposal for curbing prescription drug prices as pressure builds on Democratic lawmakers to use the reforms to pay for infrastructure…
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nominations of David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and Ur Jaddou to be director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services…
House Democrats are creating a new select committee to investigate the deadly 1/6 insurrection, including the federal government’s response…
A House committee approved far-reaching legislation to curb the market dominance of tech giants, including Google and Facebook…
Education
Today, 5/28, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced that the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) now has full access to all federal education pandemic relief funds earmarked for the Commonwealth and other education program grant dollars…
The Education Department is planning to amend the regulations for Title IX put into place under the Trump administration and intends to release its proposed rule next May…
The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced the nomination of President Biden’s pick to oversee higher education policy James Kvaal, with bipartisan support in April, along with that of deputy secretary pick Cindy Marten…
In a new report, at-risk students were about half as likely as their peers to feel confident that they could find academic/advising support, and were more likely to prefer automated services like chatbots and phone menus compared to groups…
Last week, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona held a virtual roundtable conversation with rural students from grades 6-12...
Last week, the Education Department began its negotiated rule-making process by holding three days of public hearings, with commenters discussing topics for federal student aid regulations…