Declaring the war on drugs over in Baltimore, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday she will make permanent her COVID-19 policy to dismiss all criminal charges for the possession of drugs including heroin. “I am… announcing our COVID policies will now become permanent. And America’s failed policies on drugs, on …

Republican legislators in Missouri have blocked a bill that would fund a voter-approved expansion of Medicaid. State voters approved the expansion in August by a margin of 53.2 to 46.7 percent. The vote added an amendment to the state constitution making Medicaid available to people between the ages of 19 …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday named Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, commander of the D.C. National Guard, as the 38th House sergeant-at-arms, marking the first time a Black person has served as the House’s top law enforcement officer. Walker is uniquely positioned to lead security efforts on the House …

The Senate voted 63-37 to confirm Shalanda Young to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday. Young was a professional staff member on the House Appropriations Committee for nine years and then served as the Democratic deputy director for the committee and then director. Lawmakers …

On Wednesday, Michigan Senate Republicans unveiled 39 wide-ranging bills to alter state election laws. The bills target areas like absentee ballots and voter qualifications, which were the focus of former President Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn his 2020 defeat. Trump lost Michigan by 3 percentage points or 154,000 votes, but the effort …

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that there is no right to carry a gun in public. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 7-4 ruling rejected a challenge to Hawaii’s requirement that residents must pass an application to have weapons outside the home. Hawaii’s law requires residents to …

Kim Janey made history Wednesday when she was sworn in as the first Black and first female mayor of the city of Boston. “To think that my teenage grandsons were born at a time when there never had been a black person on our city council,” Janey said. “Today is …

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday signed legislation that sets aside $577 million for Maryland’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The HBCU legislation becomes law after more than 15 years of court battles, protests, and political fighting. Alumni and boosters of the universities — Bowie State, Coppin State, Morgan State and the …

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has signed historic legislation abolishing the death penalty in Virginia. Northam scheduled a tour Wednesday of the death chamber at the Greensville Correction Center and signed the landmark legislation outside the facility. This makes Virginia the 23rd state and the first in the South to end …

Senator Chuck Schumer announced today that he will recommend three exceptional attorneys to serve as the United States Attorneys in the Southern, Eastern and Western District offices of New York. Schumer will forward the names of Damian Williams for the Southern District, Breon Peace for the Eastern District, and Trini …

Former President Donald Trump is said to be serious about launching a new social media platform to compete with the social networks that banned him earlier this year. “I’m doing things having to do with putting our own platform out there that you’ll be hearing about soon,” Trump told Fox News …

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday urged Americans to avoid travel while warning of a possible “avoidable surge” in the coronavirus. “Much of the travel, we know, is related to people who are going on spring break,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a press …

President Joe Biden will hold his first fundraiser since being elected to support Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Lance Bottoms endorsed Biden early in his candidacy. She campaigned for him in Iowa and spoke at the Democratic National Convention. The Mayor was rumored early on to be a potential vice …

Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan for Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Khan is an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, where she teaches and writes about antitrust law, infrastructure industries law, and the antimonopoly tradition. At 32, Khan would be the …

The Supreme Court has decided to review the Boston Marathon bomber’s death penalty case. A lower court opinion has just been brought back to the forefront, suggesting the death penalty as a sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev is one of the brothers convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The …