California
Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California’s ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles to adults younger than 21 was unconstitutional…
Despite expert predictions that local homelessness rates have soared due to the pandemic, new data released Monday, 5/16, showed that San Francisco’s unhoused population has fallen 3.5 percent since 2019, the first such decline the city has reported in years…
The superintendent of Hayward schools has emerged as the top pick for San Francisco’s new superintendent, ending a months-long national search for a leader to take over the struggling district as it emerges from more than two years of controversy and upheaval…
California’s three systems of public higher education are set to get a big funding boost - but in exchange will need to meet comprehensive targets to improve access, affordability and equity under Gov. Newsom’s revised budget proposal unveiled Friday, 5/13…
This week, California will jumpstart a seven-year initiative to convert potentially thousands of schools into full-service, parent-focused community schools…
On Thursday, 5/12, Gov. Newsom’s office announced an $18 billion inflation relief package meant to offset rising costs that continue to burden Californians…
California’s new $300.6 billion budget was released on Friday, 5/13 - “No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this” Gov Newsom announced…
The Legislative Analyst’s Office served up a much more pessimistic view of the state’s finances days after the governor touted California’s massive surplus and laid out his plan for spending a lot of it…
California’s minimum wage for all employers will rise to $15.50 an hour in January, advisors to Gov. Newsom said last week, the first time that rising inflation has triggered a provision of a six year old state law governing automatic pay increases…
The suspect in a shooting that killed one person and injured five at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods on Sunday, 5/15, appeared to be motivated by political hatred of Taiwan, officials said Monday, 5/16…
A landmark California law requiring corporate boards to include women resulted in California firms more than doubling the number of female company directors was overturned last week…
Coronavirus
California’s positivity rate hit 5 percent today, 5/18, and hospitalizations are on the rise in what may become a familiar ebb-and-flow battle with the virus…
The Treasury Department is set to begin infusing states and local governments with about $105 billion of aid, the second installment of pandemic relief payments…
The Biden administration issued a mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the federal Head Start program last fall…
Yesterday, 5/17, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 5 and 11, extending booster doses to the youngest age group yet…
Today, federal health officials warned that one third of Americans live in areas where the threat of infection from COVID-19 is now so high that they should consider wearing a mask in indoor public settings, whether local leaders require it or not…
The U.S. government will extend the COVID-19 public-health emergency past mid-July, continuing pandemic-era policies…
Widely used methods for counting COVID-19 hospitalizations can make vaccines appear less effective than they actually are, according to a group of Boston-based researchers…
Just two months after the administration unveiled a nearly 100-page roadmap out of the crisis, doubts are growing about Congress’ willingness to fund the nation’s fight…
The White House said yesterday, 5/17, that Americans were now eligible for a third order of free, at-home COVID-19 tests shipped through the Postal Service, available at covidtests.gov…
The Biden administration will consider giving schools up to 18 months of extra time - and perhaps even longer - to spend their federal COVID-19 relief aid on upgraded air-circulation systems or other infrastructure…