Poli Alert Politics & Civics

Declaring the war on drugs over in Baltimore, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday she will make permanent her COVID-19 policy to dismiss all criminal charges for the possession of drugs including heroin. “I am… announcing our COVID policies will now become permanent. And America’s failed policies on drugs, on …

Republican legislators in Missouri have blocked a bill that would fund a voter-approved expansion of Medicaid. State voters approved the expansion in August by a margin of 53.2 to 46.7 percent. The vote added an amendment to the state constitution making Medicaid available to people between the ages of 19 …

President Joe Biden is under fire for the influx of migrants at the southern border. Senator Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and more than a dozen Republican Senators went to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where most migrants are crossing into the United States. “John and I were able to …

During an interview on Fox News on Thursday, President Donald Trump told Laura Ingraham that his supporters, who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, posed “zero threat.” “It was zero threat. Right from the start, it was zero threat,” President Trump said. Five people were killed during the riot …

Democrats and voting rights activists are furious at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for signing an election bill that jeopardizes the voting process. Republicans think that the new bill will reestablish fair elections. “If there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that the Georgia election was certainly free of any consequential fraud,” Sen. Raphael Warnock said on MSNBC. “We counted …

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that judges must consider suspects’ ability to pay when they set bail. The ruling essentially requires defendants be freed unless they are deemed too dangerous to be released awaiting trial. “The common practice of conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday named Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, commander of the D.C. National Guard, as the 38th House sergeant-at-arms, marking the first time a Black person has served as the House’s top law enforcement officer. Walker is uniquely positioned to lead security efforts on the House …

The Senate voted 63-37 to confirm Shalanda Young to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday. Young was a professional staff member on the House Appropriations Committee for nine years and then served as the Democratic deputy director for the committee and then director. Lawmakers …

President Joe Biden announced plans to run for a second term in the White House in 2024 during his first press conference as president. “My answer is yes. I plan on running for reelection. That’s my expectation,” Biden said during the press conference. The press conference was largely centered around …

On Wednesday, Michigan Senate Republicans unveiled 39 wide-ranging bills to alter state election laws. The bills target areas like absentee ballots and voter qualifications, which were the focus of former President Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn his 2020 defeat. Trump lost Michigan by 3 percentage points or 154,000 votes, but the effort …

Evanston, Illinois is paying reparations to Black residents for harm caused by the city’s discriminatory housing policies and practices. It is the first time that a city in the United States has established a reparations program. “The program is a step towards revitalizing, preserving, and stabilizing Black/African-American owner-occupied homes in …

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp passed a bill that adds new restrictions to the voting process. Democrats believe that the bill disenfranchises Black voters. “Georgians turned out in record-breaking numbers because they could access the ballot,” Rep. Rhonda Burnough said. “Lies upon lies were told about our elections in response, …

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that there is no right to carry a gun in public. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 7-4 ruling rejected a challenge to Hawaii’s requirement that residents must pass an application to have weapons outside the home. Hawaii’s law requires residents to …

Kim Janey made history Wednesday when she was sworn in as the first Black and first female mayor of the city of Boston. “To think that my teenage grandsons were born at a time when there never had been a black person on our city council,” Janey said. “Today is …

President Joe Biden selected Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to combat the border crisis. “I have asked her, the VP, today, because she is the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that are …