California
Assembly Bill 1690, introduced last week, would ban single-use cigarette filters, e-cigarettes and vape products in the state with the aim of benefiting the environment and public health…
Gov. Newsom and state lawmakers reached an agreement last week to again require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave to recover from COVID-19 or care for a family member with the virus…
Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) is proposing to require that all schoolchildren receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting in 2023, a law that would be the nation's strictest student mandate if approved…
San Jose is now the first city in the nation to mandate gun owners to have liability insurance and pay an annual fee in an effort to curb gun violence…
California State University trustees strongly indicated Wednesday, 1/26, they will permanently scrap SAT and ACT testing requirements for admission - a move that would align it with the University of California, which dumped the standardized exams it criticized as biased and of little value…
Coronavirus
A new resource from Rockefeller and Duke university highlights case examples from Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina’s Test to Stay programs and identifies four keys to success to help state and local officials overcome the challenges of Test to Stay programs…
The Omicron variant may be more dangerous for children than earlier COVID-19 strains, a study of hospitalization data from one of South Africa’s biggest medical insurance programs showed…
Child care centers in which children wear masks are less likely than others to shut down from COVID-19 outbreaks, according to a large-scale, year-long study of child masking in the U.S. Conducted by researchers at Yale University…
President and Administration
On Tuesday, 1/25, the House Democratic leadership released the America COMPETES Act, aimed at boosting U.S. high tech research and manufacturing, with a heavy focus on the semiconductor industry…
SAMHSA has released: Ready to Respond: Mental Health Beyond Crisis and COVID-19, which addresses…
On Thursday, 1/27, President Biden and the Supreme Court’s oldest member - Justice Stephen Breyer - held a press conference announcing Breyer’s retirement…
Companies doing business with the U.S. government have faced greater legal and regulatory changes than the average employer outside of health care under Biden, with more developments potentially ahead…
The White House has named a point person in the Biden administration’s efforts to reverse the alarming rise of homelessness across the U.S…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has committed another $240 million in Emergency Connectivity Funding…
President Biden is planning to visit New York City on Thursday, 2/3, to discuss how to combat gun violence with NYC Mayor Eric Adams…
The State of the Union is set for March 1…
The nation’s top financial regulators will soon embark on a controversial, first-of-its-kind mission: forcing banks and other industry players to prepare for potential threats to the U.S. financial system from climate change…
Congress
Government funding runs out 2/18 and appropriators are hoping for a year-long funding deal as part of an omnibus spending package…
Dozens of Democrats on Wednesday, 1/26, called on President Biden to release a legal memo his administration prepared about his powers to cancel student debt…
American families are feeling the financial squeeze of inflation and a persistent pandemic as Democrats return to Washington this week no closer to a deal on a reconciliation bill party leaders hoped would by now provide relief…
Speaker Pelosi announced last week that she plans to run for reelection, but did not announce that she will run for speaker in her video announcement…
Education
At least six historically black colleges and universities received bomb threats this morning, 1/31, disrupting campus operations and launching police investigations…
A new report from the education consulting firm EAB, released on Friday, 1/28, examines some of the ripple effects of the pandemic that could hurt student retention, including social disengagement and worsening mental health among college students, as well as lower transfer rates…
When Congress voted last spring to send schools an unprecedented $125 billion in COVID-19 relief funds, it laid down some basic guidelines…
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Thursday, 1/27, laid out his vision for continued recovery through the pandemic and key actions in four priority areas that will guide the Department's work over the coming months and years…
The Ed Recovery Hub, launched last week, showcases innovative, high-potential actions that states, districts and schools are taking right now that deserve additional consideration and emulation…
Going to college financially benefits low-income students, but less so than peers who are not low income, according to a new report…
The College Board announced last week that the SAT will be delivered digitally internationally beginning in 2023 and in the U.S. in 2024…