Weekly Update 10/2/23

California

Laphonza Butler, President of Emily’s List, will replace Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office confirmed Sunday night, 10/1…

On Monday, 9/25, Governor Newsom signed a bill to curb book bans — his most concrete policy rebuke of attacks on instruction about race and sexual orientation that have taken root in more conservative enclaves of California…

President and Administration

Greg Beckett texted his girlfriend one Thursday evening in January…

In an interview on Friday, 9/29, President Biden argued that there is no constitutional reason the Supreme Court can’t have a code of ethics as justices prepare to start a new term…

Congress

Today, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) threatened to use a procedural tool — called a motion to vacate — to try and strip Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) of his office sometime this week…

Education

Los Angeles charters could lose access to space in nearly 350 district schools under a resolution the school board approved Tuesday, 9/26…

Education has become the fifth most targeted industry for data breaches, according to a recent report from Nord Security, with U.S. schools experiencing a sharp increase in hacks in recent years…

Public Safety and Justice Update: 9/29/23

Two new laws (SB2 and AB28)  regulating gun control in California were signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this week…

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a controversial bill this week that designates human trafficking of a minor as a serious felony, expanding a law that criminal justice activists for years have been trying to weaken…

A bill that could have freed some of California’s aging killers serving life in prison without parole failed to advance this year, after running into opposition from victim advocates and law enforcement officials…

Fan violence is increasing at high school football games, sometimes involving gunfire. In Sacramento, 15 shots were fired at a recent youth football game…

In January, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price vowed to hold police accountable for misconduct, announcing that her office would review six fatal police shootings and two in-custody deaths to determine whether any of the officers involved should face criminal charges…

Three Baton Rogue, LA police officers are on administrative leave after a series of federal lawsuits exposing the abuse and sexual humiliation taking place at an unmarked torture warehouse known as the “Brave Cave” that was operated by members of the Baton Rouge police department (BRPD)…

A judge dismissed the case against a former Philadelphia police officer charged with murder in connection to the death of Eddie Irizarry…

Weekly Update 9/25/23

California

Governor Newsom is pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to review a controversial ruling that has prevented cities from clearing homeless encampments…

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Gov. Newsom (D) have agreed to participate in a televised debate in November that will be moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity…

President and Administration

With a potential government shutdown now less than a week away, President Biden and other administration officials this weekend intensified their warnings of the consequences of closing government agencies as they pressed congressional Republicans to find a way out of their spending stalemate…

The federal government will again offer free COVID-19 tests through the mail starting today, 9/25, amid an uptick in the number of COVID hospitalizations…

On Friday, 9/22, President Biden announced the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to reduce gun violence and implement and expand upon key executive and legislative action which has been taken to save lives…

The Education Department is outlining procedures schools will use to extend spending deadlines for nearly $130 billion in federal pandemic aid…

Congress
House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) released a long-awaited budget on Tuesday, 9/19, that proposes fiscal goals for the next decade, while his party fails to coalesce around any kind of plan to keep the government open…

House Republicans plan to launch their impeachment investigation of President Biden this week…

Education

As a new school year gets underway in California, districts are desperately trying to lure thousands of missing, tardy and truant students back to the classroom in what many view as a pivotal moment for education in California…

The rapid growth of universal school choice programs continued Friday, 9/22, as the North Carolina legislature passed a state budget with an education savings account available to any family that wants to opt for private education…

Weekly Update 9/18/23

Federal Government Funding: Appropriations Update

The House has only passed the Military Construction-Veteran Affairs bill…

California

In a rare 40-0 vote, the state Senate on Thursday night, 9/14, passed one of the most consequential reforms to the state’s mental health programs in decades, sending it to the governor for certain signing before voters get to weigh in next year…

Governor Newsom announced a lawsuit Saturday, 9/16, against five major oil companies and their subsidiaries, seeking compensation for damages caused by climate change…

President and Administration

The Biden administration is going after health insurers for flouting a federal law requiring them to provide mental health care on the same terms as other care…

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Mandy Cohen formally endorsed updated COVID-19 shots for all individuals six months and older on Tuesday, 9/12, following the CDC's vaccine advisory panel's recommendation earlier in the day…

The Biden administration announced a slate of cancer moonshot initiatives on Wednesday, 9/13, aimed at achieving the president's goal of reducing the cancer death rate by half over the next 25 years…

With schools continuing to find themselves caught in emotional debates over students’ access to controversial books, the U.S. Department of Education has hired a new official to oversee its response to content challenges and take action if it finds that removing materials violated students’ civil rights…

The Agriculture Department plans to use $1 billion allocated from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support nearly 400 programs that will increase the amount of green space in urban communities…

Education

Middle- and high-school students, who have the least time to catch up before they leave the K-12 system, may be suffering the most as schools emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, warns a new report released Wednesday, 9/13…

A new study reveals vastly improved college enrollment and completion rates for students who attended both KIPP middle and high schools as compared to a similar group of children who applied for enrollment but were not selected in the network’s lottery system…

Public Safety and Justice Update: 9/15/23

There were a record 188 school shootings resulting in injuries or deaths in the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest available data included in a report released today by the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics…

According to a new report released by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the rate of nonfatal violent victimization in the United States rose to 23.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2022, after reaching a 30-year low of 16.4–16.5 during 2020–2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic…

Mobile crisis teams have been around for decades in places like Oregon, Arizona, and Georgia and in March 2022, the White House included them as a key pillar of its mental health Unity Agenda, investing almost $1 billion into community-based services that include mobile crisis response…

A Philadelphia police officer was charged with murder after he fatally shot 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry at near point-blank range…

Complying with court orders to end unconstitutional policing in Minneapolis will require hiring nearly three dozen new workers at a cost of millions of dollars each year for years…

Lawmakers wrapping up the legislative session this week have sent dozens of bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom on weighty topics including guns, drugs, and crime and punishment…

Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante evaded authorities for two weeks despite a substantial manhunt launched following his escape from Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township, a Philadelphia suburb…

Hunter Biden was indicted this week on federal firearms charges, the latest step in a long-running investigation…

The sudden retirement announcement of San Jose’s civilian police watchdog followed an encounter at a community festival in which she appeared to drunkenly accost police officers working security at the venue…

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the central role he played in organizing his followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021…