Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is creating a new unit dedicated to ensuring “legality and purity in elections,” his office announced Friday. The 20-person team, the attorney general’s office said, will investigate and prosecute potential violations of election law and be a legal resource for state …
Read More »‘Republicans Keep Showing Us Who They Are’: Graham to Intro Federal Abortion Ban
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is expected to introduce legislation Tuesday that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a proposal that reproductive rights defenders warned is a signal of the draconian policy agenda the GOP intends to pursue if it retakes Congress in the upcoming November midterms. Graham …
Read More »Biden pitches ‘moonshot’ to cut the number of cancer deaths in half
Jennifer Shutt, Iowa Capital Dispatch Hoping to channel the momentum that led scientists to land Americans on the moon more than 50 years ago, President Joe Biden doubled down Monday on his quest to halve the number of cancer deaths as part of his revamped “cancer moonshot” initiative. Speaking from …
Read More »A Third Of House Democrats Oppose Manchin Permitting Deal In Stopgap Spending Bill
Jacob Fischler, Wisconsin Examiner The group of House Democrats asking the chamber’s leaders not to include environmental permitting changes in a stopgap spending deal this month comprises 72 members, including senior leaders of budget and spending committees and factions across the caucus’ ideological spectrum. The 72 signers on a letter …
Read More »Some States Could Tax Forgiven Student Loan Debt
Elaine S. Povich Indiana will apply state income taxes to federally forgiven student loans, joining North Carolina and Mississippi, diminishing the benefit to borrowers who live in those states. A handful of other state revenue agencies are considering doing the same. While President Joe Biden’s order last month forgiving student …
Read More »Congress Studies Addition Of Lynching Sites To National Park System
Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent …
Read More »Democrats Feel Pressure To ‘save the republic’ In Campaigns To Run State Election Systems
Kira Lerner, Pennsylvania Capital-Star Adrian Fontes is tired of responding to the outrageous claims of Mark Finchem, a Trump-backed Republican election denier with ties to QAnon. Fontes faces Finchem on the ballot this year for Arizona secretary of state. Finchem has said that if elected the state’s chief election official, …
Read More »Supreme Court To Revisit LGBTQ Rights – This Time With A Wedding Website Designer, Not A Baker
Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton A simmering, difficult, and timely question returns to the Supreme Court this fall: What happens when freedom of speech and civil rights collide? The court took up similar questions four years ago in the famous “gay wedding cake” case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado …
Read More »Michigan Court Rules In Favor Of Putting Abortion Rights Petition On November Ballot
Barbara Rodriguez This story originally appeared at The 19th The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a petition over whether to add a constitutional amendment expanding abortion rights must be on the ballot this fall. In a 5-2 decision, the state’s high court directed an election board to certify a …
Read More »Biden slams ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ as Democrats launch drive to midterm election
Jacob Fischler, Georgia Recorder President Joe Biden in a Thursday night speech to a crowd of party faithful promoted legislation passed by the Democratic Congress and attacked supporters of former President Donald Trump for defending rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t …
Read More »‘Huge Win’ for Civil Liberties as Judge Blocks Arizona Law Limiting Filming of Police
Civil libertarians on Friday applauded as a federal judge blocked enforcement of an Arizona law restricting how people can film police officers after agreeing that the legislation is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John Tuchi granted a preliminary injunction sought by the ACLU of Arizona and media outlets on the grounds …
Read More »Judge Dismisses Trump’s Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton
A federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump that blamed Hillary Clinton and others for conspiring to malign his character. In a ruling on Thursday night, the judge said the suit was not an effort to seek “redress for any legal harm,” but was …
Read More »Los Angeles Has Never Elected A Woman Mayor. Karen Bass Hopes To Change That.
Nadra Nittle, The 19th For 36 hours in September 1915, Los Angeles Councilmember Estelle Lawton Lindsey served as the city’s acting mayor when the sitting mayor and city council president left town — the first woman to ever do so. One hundred and seven years later, Los Angeles has yet to …
Read More »USDA Report Shows How Covid Relief Helped Slash Food Insecurity in 2021
Julia Conley, Common Dreams New food insecurity data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday provided the latest evidence that the enhanced child tax credit and other relief programs passed in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic significantly helped millions of Americans to support their families …
Read More »U.S. Justice Department To Appeal Trump Special Master Order
Jacob Fischler, Louisiana Illuminator The U.S. Justice Department will appeal a Florida federal judge’s ruling this week appointing an independent arbiter to review thousands of sensitive materials the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach residence, the department notified the court Thursday. Government prosecutors are also asking U.S. …
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