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Biden on leaked draft opinion on abortion: The ‘right to choose is fundamental’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his administration “will be ready when any ruling is issued” on abortion rights, after the nation was rocked by the leak of a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court that confirmed the court is planning to overturn access to abortion. “I believe that a woman’s right […]
EPA issues waiver for sales of 15 percent ethanol blend during summer driving season
WASHINGTON — The EPA has issued a fuel waiver to allow for a heightened ethanol gasoline blend to be sold at service stations this summer, an attempt by the Biden administration to lower soaring fuel prices. In a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, EPA administrator Michael S. Regan wrote Friday that the waiver will […]
U.S. House panel looks into disinformation targeted at communities of color
WASHINGTON — Experts tracking disinformation efforts online detailed to lawmakers on a U.S. House Administration panel Thursday how communities of color are targets for those disinformation campaigns. Democrats on the Subcommittee on Elections expressed their concern about how communities of color are the subject of election and COVID-19 misinformation through various social media platforms such […]
Health risks for families in military private housing probed by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel this week grilled officials running private housing for service members about reports of deplorable living conditions from military families. The hearing, led by Chairman Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, and top GOP member Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, followed a joint release of a […]
Biden issues first pardons and sentencing commutations of his presidency
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday granted clemency to nearly 80 individuals charged with nonviolent crimes and unveiled an administration strategy to help formerly incarcerated people secure employment. Of that list, three were pardons and 75 were commutations, which is a reduction in an individual’s prison sentence. They were the first pardons and commutations […]
LGBTQ community, people of color in the crosshairs of banned book movement
Students in one Pennsylvania school district were not allowed to read a biography of the first Black President, Barack Obama. In some Tennessee classrooms, a nonfiction comic book about the atrocities of the Holocaust is banned. And one school district in Wisconsin banned from libraries a picture book about a gay rights activist who was […]
DOJ rule cracks down untraceable firearms known as ‘ghost guns’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Monday unveiled the Department of Justice’s plan to regulate untraceable firearms known as ghost guns, as well as announced his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Department of Justice’s final rule bans the business of manufacturing ghost guns, such as “buy build shoot” kits that […]
‘Sitting on a time bomb’: Mobile home residents at risk in red-hot housing market
WASHINGTON — Jon Zang walks his dog several times a day in his mobile home community in West Goshen Township, Pa. It’s quiet, as most of his neighbors are at work. But he often wonders how many more walks he and his bulldog mix, Ladybug, will have down the streets of the place he’s called […]
More than 1,500 books have been banned in public schools, and a U.S. House panel asks why
WASHINGTON — A U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee panel is examining examined why thousands of books, predominantly written by marginalized authors, have been banned from public schools, and the impact of those actions on students and teachers. “Most books being targeted for censorship are books that introduce ideas about diversity or our common humanity, […]
U.S. House Democrats applaud end of Trump-era policy on migrants at the border
WASHINGTON — Democrats at a U.S. House Homeland Security panel hearing on Wednesday praised the end of a Trump-era policy that turned away migrants pleading for asylum at the border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the so-called Title 42 policy, enacted on public health grounds at the beginning of the […]
Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through Aug. 31
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “If loan payments […]
Biden administration to halt pandemic policy blocking migrants who claim asylum
WASHINGTON — The federal government will terminate a Trump-era policy that prevented migrants from claiming asylum during a health crisis, including the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced. The policy will end on May 23, the CDC wrote in its notice. “There is no longer a serious danger that the entry of […]