California
The Biden administration will target six U.S. locations as part of a new strategy to reduce homelessness, the White House said Thursday, 5/17…
New numbers released by the Newsom administration show that California added homes to its housing stock at a faster clip than any time since the Great Recession — 123,350 additional units, or an increase of 0.85 percent…
California figured out how to build sports stadiums faster, and it can do the same for big energy, transportation and water projects, Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday, 5/19, while announcing legislation to speed up the state's notoriously slow permitting process…
President and Administration
The federal government has directed billions of dollars to repair Puerto Rico’s troubled energy grid, but there is disagreement on how it’s being spent…
Today, the U.S. Department of Education expressed its support for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's decision and commitment to decentralize the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE)…
This afternoon, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy plan to meet to discuss how to raise the debt limit after a weekend of staff negotiations which left each side accusing the other of throwing up new roadblocks to a deal…
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a resolution agreement with Forsyth County Schools (district) in Georgia concerning whether the removal of books from its school libraries created a hostile environment for students based on sex, race, color, or national origin under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will launch a pilot program next year that will allow a small number of people to electronically file their tax returns directly with the agency…
In an alarming reversal, death rates have now risen to the highest level in nearly 15 years, particularly driven by homicides, drug overdoses, car accidents and suicides, according to an analysis of federal death statistics from the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University…
A proposed change to federal policy on transgender students’ participation in school sports, released by the U.S. Department of Education in April, sought to find middle ground in a debate that has grown increasingly polarized and politically charged…
Two-thirds of the U.S. and Canada could face electricity shortfalls and blackouts this summer if temperatures spike, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s latest reliability assessment…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released provisional data that found 109,680 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2022. The new data highlights a significant — and growing — problem in the U.S. that lawmakers in Washington and states are scrambling to fix…
Congress
Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) said she hopes to "soon" mark up fiscal 2024 spending bills…
House appropriators took up their Agriculture-FDA and Homeland Security spending measures in a subcommittee last Thursday, releasing the bills about 24 hours in advance of the markups…
House lawmakers who requested earmarks in the next tranche of annual spending bills should expect to see their funding requests slashed under the levels Republicans are seeking, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) warned her colleagues in a private letter…
House Republicans unveiled their Homeland Security spending bill on Wednesday, 5/17, proposing a $2 billion increase for fiscal 2024, an increase of more than three percent above current funding levels…
House Republicans’ fiscal year 2024 spending bill for the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration would take a razor to programs popular among farmers and food companies while advancing Republicans’ agenda to rein in government spending…
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is launching a new package in response to monthslong discussions on the Senate HELP Committee about how to address growing health workforce shortages and financial woes of community health centers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic…
Education
The Biden administration released its long-awaited gainful-employment rule on Wednesday, 5/16, as part of a 1,000-page package of regulations that also includes rules on financial responsibility, administrative capability, certified procedures and ability to benefit…
Data released today by the nonprofit group YouthTruth suggest that it could be a tough year for colleges. In a survey of 25,000 high school seniors, the group found significant gaps between those who want to go to college and those who think they will go…
The U.S. Department of Education is releasing a new report on the state of diversity within America's schools…
House Republicans’ frustrations with the Biden administration’s education policies and embrace of the culture wars over education were on full display when Education Secretary Miguel Cardona testified before the House Education and the Workforce Committee…
The nation’s public pre-K programs saw a rebound last year as enrollment nearly reached pre-pandemic levels, new data shows…
The Hispanic population in the U.S. has made significant gains in college enrollment and educational attainment since 2005, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data…
A Grinnell College National Poll asked 1,000 adults over 18 whether states should be allowed to subsidize religious education with public funds…
The Biden administration recently filed a motion to a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit brought on by private lender SoFi, which put a pause on its student loan forgiveness plans earlier this year…