California
Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last week implementing a series of measures to make college more accessible as a part of the state’s COVID-19 recovery efforts…
On Wednesday, 7/28, California’s public health officials recommended universal masking for state residents in all public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, following similar guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) a day earlier…
From July 18 to 24, California providers administered an average of about 64,000 vaccines a day - about 3,100 more daily doses than the week before…
In all California counties, Medi-Cal enrollees have been vaccinated at substantially lower rates than the overall population…
A recent U.C. Berkeley poll showed that 47% of likely voters support recalling Newsom, while 50% oppose the effort…
Newsom's past energy proclamations were tied to individual heat waves that threatened to trigger rolling blackouts…
Government officials who spoke to the crowd before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were not shielded by their job title, the Justice Department argued in a new filing in a lawsuit brought by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)…
Coronavirus
Last week, the CDC recommended that vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans in COVID-19 hotspots wear masks indoors again, particularly in crowded indoor settings…
The efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech fell from 96% to 84% over six months, according to data released Wednesday, 7/28, a decline that could fuel Pfizer’s case that a third dose will eventually be required…
As more than 56 million children prepare to return to U.S. schools, a new analysis provides evidence that implementing routine COVID-19 testing can significantly reduce - and in some cases eliminate - in-school virus transmission…
President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates…
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to allow Johnson & Johnson to extend the shelf life of its COVID-19 vaccine from four-and-a-half to six months…
Top Senate Republicans are dramatically stepping up their pro-vaccine outreach as several of their home states lag behind national COVID-19 inoculation rates and mask recommendations return in many areas…
President and Administration
Local governments, non-profit groups, state food-benefit agencies and local community organizations should engage to help poor families receive child benefits, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report that says that immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and those who are less tech-savvy or lack reliable internet are most at risk of missing benefits…
Prevailing wage standards on publicly financed building projects are attracting a rare national spotlight as the infrastructure push heats up on Capitol Hill, raising the prospect of increased focus on federal investigations…
Congress
The Senate is heading toward passage this week of a $550 billion infrastructure bill that would provide an infusion of federal spending on public works projects…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the Biden administration should extend the eviction moratorium through 10/18, in a letter also signed by other House Democratic leaders…
Last week Pelosi said that Biden doesn't have the authority to broadly cancel student loan debt…
House Democrats passed a $600 billion spending package Thursday, 7/29, in their bid to fund the government, approving millions of dollars in bipartisan community projects after a decade-long ban on earmarks…
Education
Today, 8/2, the Education Department announced it will expand the Second Chance Pell experiment for the 2022-23 award year…
Today, 8/2, the Education Department released the “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return to safe, healthy in-person learning this fall…
A federal judge largely upheld a controversial 2020 final rule on Title IX promulgated by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, but he struck down a key provision that prohibits colleges adjudicating sexual misconduct allegations from considering statements not subject to cross-examination…
There's no shortage of evidence that the college "transfer system" is badly broken given only one in seven community college students earn a four-year degree earn one within six years, and the typical student who tries to change colleges loses 43 percent of credits…
LGBTQ adults are more likely to have federal student loans than non-LGBTQ adults, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law…
A working paper through Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, “School-based Mentoring Relationships and Human Capital Formation,” finds that high school students with mentors tend to earn better grades, stay in school longer, and make more money than peers who are otherwise similar to them…
The Education Department issued a Request for Information last week on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to better understand how it can be fixed…