Poli Alert Politics & Civics

By Abby Livingston, The Texas Tribune U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the lead GOP negotiator in the Senate’s efforts to pass bipartisan gun safety legislation, is managing expectations over what kind of bills he’s willing to get behind. But the answer to that question isn’t going to satisfy many Democrats who …

New York‘s governor signed a bill that raised the age for buying a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 on Monday, as she tightened gun laws following the racist massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo. Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a package of gun reform laws that had been passed by …

A federal grand jury returned a new indictment on seditious conspiracy charges Monday against five accused Proud Boys leaders – upping the ante in one of the Justice Department’s most high-profile Jan. 6 cases. The five defendants in the case – Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola, and …

by Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator A federal judge has struck down Louisiana’s congressional redistricting map that state lawmakers adopted earlier this year. In a ruling issued Monday, Judge Shelly Dick found the Legislature violated the Voting Rights Act by limiting representation of Louisiana’s one-third Black population to just one of the …

by Ariana Figueroa, Missouri Independent The Poor People’s Campaign is urging President Joe Biden to meet with low-income workers before the organization’s march on Washington, D.C., on June 18 to advocate for a $15 federal minimum wage. “What we cannot do is be silent anymore,” Rev. William Barber II, the co-chair …

by Marley Parish, Pennsylvania Capital-Star Former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick has conceded in the Republican U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, clearing the way for celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz to face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the November general election. McCormick announced Friday night that he had called Oz …

Henry L. Chambers Jr., University of Richmond In the upcoming midterm elections, states may use maps that a federal court has found unlawful. You read that right: The U.S. Supreme Court recently barred federal courts from requiring states to fix their newly adopted, but unlawful, congressional maps before the 2022 …

A retired police officer was arrested outside of the U.S. Capitol on Friday morning after he was found with a fake badge, a BB gun, body armor, high capacity magazines and other ammunition. Just before 5 a.m., a U.S. Capitol Police patrol officer started talking to a man who had …

by Jared Strong, Missouri Independent The Biden administration has set aside billions of dollars to help the nation’s food supply chain recover from the coronavirus pandemic — and, more recently, the looming global effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and on Wednesday, it announced new funding and a comprehensive …

The Biden administration has moved to erase $5.8 billion in student debt for former students of the collapsed for-profit Corinthian Colleges chain. This is the largest single federal loan discharge in the history of the Education Department. It will result in 560,000 borrowers receiving full loan discharges. “Providing this targeted relief …

On June 1st, Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced that Baltimore City filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest ghost gun manufacturer, Polymer80, Inc. The lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, asks the Court to order Polymer80 to stop the public health crisis that the company has …

Former White House advisor Peter K. Navarro has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress stemming from his failure to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 breach of the United States Capitol. Navarro, 72, is …

by Ariana Figueroa, Florida Phoenix Survivors of two horrific mass shootings in New York and Texas will appear before the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday to relate their experiences with gun violence. The witnesses will include fourth grader Miah Cerrillo of Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and …

by Quentin Young, Colorado Newsline Many public officials are guilty of bad behavior. But few can as readily be held responsible for harassment, personal threats and violence as Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. What’s worse, ghastly conduct represents the totality of her public service. Her legislative record is a …

The Biden administration is preparing to ship out to the states millions of COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 5 in the coming weeks. White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said Thursday that if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for young …