Poli Alert Politics & Civics

A congressional panel on Friday published its final report on the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the Trump administration’s “failed stewardship” and detailing how a “persistent pattern of political interference undermined the nation’s ability to respond” to a crisis that has claimed more than a million lives in the United States. The …

Campaigners on Friday warned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that the Democratic Party is on the cusp of rendering far-reaching antitrust legislation “a historical footnote” if the congressional leader fails to prioritize the passage of several bills that would rein in Big Tech before the new year. A coalition including …

Two men – including the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys – were each sentenced today to four years in prison for their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of …

Jim Small, Arizona Mirror Kari Lake is demanding that the courts overturn Katie Hobbs’ victory in last month’s midterm and instead declare the former television news anchor Arizona governor-elect or, barring that, entirely throw out the 2022 election and re-do it. In a sprawling lawsuit that claims the election in …

Last month, voters in Nevada, Seattle and at least six other jurisdictions around the country approved measures to change how they elect their leaders. Instead of voting for just one candidate, they instead will rank a slate of candidates. Ranked choice voting has seen steady success in recent years. Nationwide, …

Danielle J. Brown, Florida Phoenix The Florida House of Representatives is down a member following the resignation of former Rep. Joe Harding following his federal indictment. Harding sponsored the “Parental Rights in Education” or “Don’t Say Gay” bill from the 2022 session that became law in July. But the effects …

With Republicans poised to take control of he U.S. House of Representatives in January, the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol will likely be dissolved in the coming weeks. But Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told constituents this week that the committee will issue a final report …

Ariana Figueroa, Arizona Mirror Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona’s senior U.S. senator, has left the Democratic Party and re-registered as an independent. “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she told Politico, which broke the news Friday morning. The first-term senator wrote in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic that she …

The House on Thursday passed 350-80 the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act after making several concessions to the Senate, which did not pass its own version of the bill for the second straight year in a row. The $858 billion NDAA amounts to an 8% increase over FY22 defense …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams  U.S. Women’s National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner on Thursday was freed from a Russian penal colony and is headed home thanks to a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout. “Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner,” tweeted U.S. President Joe Biden, who also spoke …

Jennifer Shutt, Pennsylvania Capital-Star The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill Thursday that would ensure same-sex and interracial couples continue holding many of the rights they have now, should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the cases that established those constitutional protections. The measure now heads to the desk …

The Republican state lawmaker behind legislation that’s pushed some LGBTQ+ teachers in Florida to leave education is facing federal charges for allegedly defrauding a federal program meant to provide aid for small businesses of his during the Covid-19 pandemic. State Rep. Joseph Harding was indicted by a grand jury and …

Jennifer Shutt, Missouri Independent Members of the U.S. military would no longer be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine under a proposal Congress could pass as soon as this week. The provision eliminating the vaccine mandate is tucked into the massive National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill that Congress …

Ariana Figueroa, Georgia Recorder U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer jubilantly announced Wednesday that the Georgia runoff election victory will next year end an evenly divided U.S. Senate, giving Democrats more subpoena power in committees and a quicker turnaround in approving federal and judicial appointments. Schumer, a New York Democrat, …

Lynn Bonner, Missouri Independent North Carolina Republicans appeared to have at least three of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices on their side Wednesday in a case that could determine the future of elections nationwide, and leave decisions about federal elections in the hands of state legislatures and beyond the …