Poli Alert Politics & Civics

Inflation reached a 40-year high for June as prices for gas, food and rent increased, according to the latest Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. Consumer prices for all items increased 9.1% for the 12 months ending in June compared to last year, the biggest year-to-year increase …

By Uriel J. García and Zach Despart, The Texas Tribune On the same day that a Texas House committee investigating the Uvalde school shooting announced plans to release footage of law enforcement response to the incident, a video showing police waiting for more than an hour in the school hallway …

by Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix The U.S. House panel investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results described Tuesday how the president explicitly called on his supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 for a “wild” protest — resulting in an insurrection. Trump exerted extraordinary …

by Jennifer Shutt, Nebraska Examiner The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday began wading through the dozens of state laws that have taken effect in the two weeks since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion and heard from witnesses who said the effect on Black patients …

A 48-year-old South Seattle man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of a hate crime for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), according to King County prosecutors. A judge on Monday ordered the man remain jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail but denied prosecutors’ request for an anti-harassment order …

Jake Johnson, Commom Dreams Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, interrupted President Joe Biden on Monday as he delivered a speech hailing the recent passage of a gun-safety package that critics warn is far too tepid to substantially …

Candice Norwood Originally published by The 19th The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday clarified its guidance by explicitly stating that abortion can be considered a stabilizing treatment for pregnant people experiencing medical emergencies. The news comes three days after President Joe Biden issued an executive order, …

By Matt Vasilogambros, Pennsylvania Capital-Star Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that expanded the right to carry firearms outside the home, gun rights activist Andrew Namiki Roberts rushed to the Honolulu Police Department to apply for four permits to carry handguns in public. He was fourth in …

by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, Arizona Mirror Arizonans who are within eight feet of a police officer while filming them can be thrown in jail for up to 30 days under a new law that Gov. Doug Ducey signed this week.  Whether it stays on the books will be up to the …

by Ariana Figueroa, Florida Phoenix Eighteen months into the Biden administration, immigration reform has stalled despite campaign promises to reform the system, with the most recent movement on immigration policy doled out by the U.S. Supreme Court and in lower federal courts. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the …

by Ariana Figueroa, Indiana Capital Chronicle Vice President Kamala Harris met Friday with Democratic state legislators from Indiana, Florida, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana to discuss ways to protect reproductive rights. “The U.S. Supreme Court took away a constitutional right,” Harris said, adding that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was …

Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Republican leaders in nearly two dozen U.S. states are attempting—potentially in violation of federal law—to use coronavirus relief funds approved by Congress last year to finance tax cuts instead of devoting the money to combating the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences. The Washington Post reported …

by Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder Frustrated abortion rights advocates are imploring President Joe Biden to make sweeping moves to protect abortion access, saying now is the time for Democrats to be bold as Republican-led states rapidly implement restrictions and outright bans. Stymied in the U.S. Senate by the filibuster, congressional …

Christopher Decker, University of Nebraska Omaha The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in June, signaling the labor market remains strong even as the Federal Reserve tries to weaken it to tame inflation. The July 8, 2022, jobs report also showed the unemployment rate remained at a 70-year low …

by Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes are illegal and voters must send their ballots by mail or deliver them in-person to local clerks.  The court’s four conservative members decided that the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) gave inappropriate …