Public Safety Update 7/29/22

House Democratic leaders delayed planned votes this week on a package of public safety bills that included police grant funding and an assault weapons ban, amid division within their caucus… 

Congress has a history of failing to move on gun reform after mass shootings, but  a study found state gun laws do change after mass shootings…

Concerns over the gun industry’s marketing practices and accountability grew this week, prompting more proposed legislation, a day after the CEOs of two leading gun manufacturers told Congress they bore no blame in the recent mass shootings…

Following last month’s Supreme Court decision that struck down New York state’s strict gun control laws, Governor Kathy Hochul called an extraordinary legislative session to pass a new gun control bill… 

After several mass shootings this year, the U.S. seems more prone to mass shootings than other countries… 

This week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing titled Law Enforcement Officer Safety: Protecting Those Who Protect and Serve…

Last week saw the implementation of the National 988 Lifeline…

A network of conservative activists falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election is working to recruit county sheriffs to investigate elections based on the false notion that voter fraud is widespread…

Weekly CA-COVID Update 7/26/22

California

The recent rise in cases have been met with little reaction from the public…

One year after Congress passed record funding in COVID-19 relief, a new analysis reveals that California school districts so far have spent little of it on efforts to address learning setbacks caused by the pandemic…

Researchers found that between 2019 and 2021, the life expectancy for Latino Californians fell by almost six years — from 82.5 years to 76.8…

The projected 2023 rates released last week follow an usually low streak: a 1.8 percent increase for this year, a record-low 0.5 percent bump in 2021 and a 0.8 percent rise the previous year…

Coronavirus

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that a newly authorized vaccine from Novavax be used as an option for adults seeking a primary immunization against COVID-19…

COVID-19 is surging around the U.S. again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet…

The Biden administration is creating a new division within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the nation’s response to pandemic threats and other health emergencies, a recognition that the department is structurally ill equipped to handle disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic…

Weekly Federal Update 7/25/22

President and Administration

Microsoft has released a new Digital Equity Data Dashboard to help create a better understanding of the economic opportunity gaps in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the United States…

Nearly two months after the first case of monkeypox was identified in the U.S., the pace of the nation’s response continues to echo mistakes made in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak…

On Wednesday, 7/20, President Joe Biden announced a series of climate change actions as heatwave records topple in the U.S. and Europe and his climate goals drift further out of reach… 

President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, 7/21…

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Education Department’s Title IX guidance , which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation… 

Congress  

Congress is gearing up for August break… 

The House passed the $405 billion six-bill spending package Wednesday, 7/20, but there is still an increasing chance that a continuing resolution will be needed come October… 

Some members of Congress are trying to codify changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would make it easier for teachers, social workers, and other public service workers to get debt relief…

Last week, a bipartisan group of senators finalized a deal to reform a 135-year-old law that governs the peaceful transition of power, hoping to pass it before the end of the year…

Education

A new report explores how Hispanic-serving institutions are serving Latino graduates after they earn their degrees… 

A new report by Lightcast, a company that provides labor market data, found that going back to college is an especially good investment for adults learners…

High school students among the class of 2022 completed 4.6 percent more FAFSA applications this year than in 2020, an early indicator of possibly more high school grads headed to college this fall according to the National College Attainment Network…

With the Supreme Court poised to reduce or even eliminate affirmative action in college admissions, a recent study has offered a unique window into the magnitude of racial preferences in America’s elite colleges…

Colleges and universities worldwide experienced a surge in ransomware attacks in 2021, and those attacks had significant operational and financial costs, according to a new report from Sophos, a global cybersecurity leader…

According to a new survey of higher education employees from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, 57.2 percent of respondents were somewhat likely (22.3 percent), likely (12.5 percent) or very likely (22.4 percent) to seek work elsewhere within the next year…

The Education Department released new guidelines for colleges to follow when requesting a change in accrediting agencies…

The American Federation of Teachers’ national Teacher and School Staff Shortage Task Force released a report outlining solutions to retain teachers… 

Schools should “redouble” their efforts to keep students with disabilities from being removed from the classroom for behavior problems and modify their discipline policies to avoid discrimination, according to new Department of Education discipline guidance released last week… 

New federal data show chronic absenteeism - defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days - has continued to rise among both students and teachers in public schools…

New NWEA research found that initial signs of academic rebounding were evident in 2021-22 with academic gains (fall to spring) that paralleled pre-pandemic trends, especially in math and among younger students…

Public Safety Update 7/22/22

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2021 on 7/20, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), that would ban the sale, import, manufacture or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons…

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary plans to meet Tuesday, July 26th for a hearing titled: Law Enforcement Officer Safety: Protecting Those who Protect and Serve…

Protesters allied and marched on Capitol Hill last week for a federal ban on assault weapons…

A Texas House committee released a 77-page report on 7/17 on the Uvalde school shooting, concluding that “systemic failures” allowed an 18-year-old gunman to enter Robb Elementary School on 5/24 and kill 19 children and two teachers…

Safety anxieties in the wake of recent mass shootings are fueling a multibillion-dollar industry of school security products…

The federal government must create a new “clearinghouse” of school safety practices backed by research as part of the gun reform legislation President Biden signed into law last month…

Leaders at Washington D.C.-area colleges and universities say they will spend the next several months researching solutions to reduce gun violence — an effort that comes as gun-related crimes rise throughout the region, mass shooters claim lives and campus leaders contend with a mental health crisis… 

Bellwether Education Partners examined juvenile justice education policies in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico and found that only about a third of states have policies for programs for incarcerated youth that underperform… 

San Jose Unified School District board has extended more than two dozen contracts with San Jose Police Department officers, allowing principals and school staff to use the officers at its middle and high schools through at least June 2023…

A new report asserts that ordering juvenile offenders to pay compensation to their victims often derails their lives, and victims’ rights groups see shortcomings as well…

Since 2017, approximately 600 people have been killed by police after being stopped for a minor infraction…

People experiencing a mental health crisis can now call or text the numbers 9-8-8 to receive help…

More than 230 San Diego police officers left the department in FY 21-22 — a 52 percent increase from the year before…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign a controversial gun control bill modeled after Texas’ vigilante abortion law on Friday, teeing up a legal battle with a U.S. Supreme Court friendly to 2nd Amendment groups and firearm owners…

Weekly CA-COVID Update 7/19/22

California

New COVID-19 infections in parts of California may be surging even higher than winter’s Omicron wave, potentially explaining why so many people seem to be infected simultaneously…

State public health officials announced guidance for the 2022-23 K-12 school year with no mask requirement for students or staff…

Coronavirus

COVID-19 vaccines are now authorized and recommended for children aged as young as six months in the United States, although vaccine uptake for children aged younger than 11 years in the U.S. has been slow, and prior research has shown that nearly 25 percent of U.S. parents were vaccine hesitant before the pandemic…

In Europe, BA.4/5 is driving a case surge…

Moderna will advance two Omicron vaccine candidates, one designed against the BA.1 variant and another against the BA.4 and BA.5…

Federal officials are urging schools to assess and improve campus air quality during summer break as COVID-19 levels remain elevated throughout the country…