Poli Alert Politics & Civics

By James Barragán, The Texas Tribune Jan. 13, 2022 The Travis County district attorney on Thursday found that Attorney General Ken Paxton violated the state’s open records law by not turning over his communications from last January when he visited Washington, D.C., for a pro-Trump rally that preceded the Jan. …

Last week, Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ)introduced legislation to ban members of Congress and their families from trading stocks while in office. In a move widely praised by government groups across the political spectrum, the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act will require all members of Congress, their …

On a late summer day in 1963, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the National Mall before hundreds of thousands of demonstrators who had gathered to march for freedom, justice, and equality.  On that day, Dr. King shared a dream that has continued to inspire a Nation:  To bring …

On Saturday, Republican Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as Virginia’s 74th Governor. He’s the first Republican governor in the state in over a decade. Youngkin defeated former Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in November of last year. Just hours after being sworn in, Youngkin signed nine executive orders and two executive …

President Joe Biden on Friday announced his nomination of three Federal Reserve officials as he seeks to reshape the central bank amid bumpy economic recovery. Biden nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as Vice-Chair for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and nominated Lisa Cook …

On Friday, President Joe Biden announced a $27 billion program to repair and upgrade roughly 15,000 bridges across America over the next five years in the biggest investment of its kind since the creation of the interstate highway system in the 1950s. The funding will come from the $1 bipartisan infrastructure …

A federal grand jury has indicted Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on charges of perjury related to a COVID-19 financial hardship withdrawal and a false statement on a loan application. A federal grand jury returned the indictment Thursday, charging Mosby on federal charges of perjury and making false statements …

Student loan processor Navient has agreed to a nearly $2 billion settlement with 39 state attorneys general, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Navient is one of the largest student loan processors in the U.S. The settlement requires the company to cancel about $1.7 billion in delinquent private student loan …

The Biden administration on Friday launched a new website for Americans to request up to four free COVID-19 rapid tests per household. The administration is buying 1 billion at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, and Americans will be able to begin ordering the tests online on Jan. 19 at COVIDtests.gov. This is part …

Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and ten other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Rhodes, 56, was arrested Thursday at his home in Granbury, Texas, on one count …

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attacks at the US Capitol is asking House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to voluntarily provide information to the panel, including about communications he had with former President Donald Trump on the day of the riot and Trump’s state of mind following …

The US Supreme Court overturned a vaccine mandate imposed by the Biden administration on employees of large companies, while upholding a narrow vaccine mandate on health workers. In a pair of rulings handed down Thursday, the court struck down the federal requirement imposed by President Biden, via the Occupational Safety …

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol has sent subpoenas to Alphabet, Meta, Reddit and Twitter for information from their social media platforms. The committee is requesting that the four social media companies produce records related to the riots by Jan. 27, citing “inadequate …

The United States Senate has passed a bill to posthumously award Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley the Congressional Gold Medal. Till was tortured and murdered by two white men, K.W. Milam and his half-brother Roy Bryant, after Bryant’s wife, Carolyn, claimed he whistled to her at a grocery store …

Amanda Becker Originally published by The 19th When the U.S. Senate returned to Washington last week after its winter recess, Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia poured cold water on the prospects for the Build Back Better plan, a sweeping $1.75 trillion Democratic economic proposal with numerous measures designed to …