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Biden administration defends COVID ‘surge response teams’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s key COVID-19 advisers on Thursday defended the administration’s strategies for boosting vaccinations in the states, after Missouri’s governor said federal door-to-door outreach efforts are not welcome there. Top Biden adviser Jeff Zients said anyone mischaracterizing the administration’s attempts is “doing a disservice to the country.” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson voiced […]
CDC study finds racial, regional disparities as schools reopened for in-person learning
WASHINGTON — After last year’s abrupt shutdown of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic, increasing numbers of students returned to in-person learning. But a new study shows that racial and geographic gaps persisted as K-12 students went back to their classrooms — with non-Hispanic white kids more often the ones attending a brick-and-mortar school full-time […]
‘We all have to do better’: White House urges locals to boost eviction diversion programs
WASHINGTON — With a national moratorium on evictions set to expire at the end of next month and delays in federal assistance for struggling renters, the Biden administration says it wants to help state and local officials aid Americans on the brink of eviction. To that end, the administration on Wednesday highlighted efforts in Michigan and […]
U.S. House votes to scuttle statues of Confederate leaders, bust of Dred Scott author
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted Tuesday to remove from the Capitol a bust of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, a Marylander who wrote the despised Dred Scott decision — as well as evict statues and busts of men who fought for the Confederacy or served in its government. The legislation passed on […]
Supreme Court affirms transgender rights in declining to hear Virginia school bathroom case
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not hear a case of a transgender student in Virginia who was barred from using the boys’ bathroom, a decision that affirms lower-court rulings that said treating transgender students differently violates federal law. Justices on the top court offered no comment in declining to take […]
U.S. Department of Justice takes Georgia to court over its elections law
WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Department of Justice is suing the state of Georgia to overturn a sweeping elections law passed in March, with a legal challenge that alleges the new statute violates the federal Voting Rights Act. The federal lawsuit is the latest in a series of challenges to Senate Bill […]
Biden and bipartisan senators clinch a deal on $1.2T infrastructure plan
WASHINGTON — The White House and a bipartisan group of U.S. senators said Thursday they’ve struck a deal on the outlines of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, marking a breakthrough on federal dollars for road and bridge projects after weeks of negotiations — but with significant hurdles still ahead. President Joe Biden stood with the […]
Murkowski to oppose Stone-Manning nomination, while Tester works to keep support among Dems
WASHINGTON — Another Republican senator plans to oppose President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, who has been targeted by conservatives over her connection to an Idaho tree-spiking scheme three decades ago. A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who serves on the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, […]
Cyberattack on New Hampshire school district illustrates growing threat to states and localities
WASHINGTON — In October 2019, officials at a tiny western New Hampshire school district suddenly realized they had a problem on their hands. The Sunapee School District’s servers, documents and other internal information systems had been locked down by an outside entity demanding a ransom payment. A cyberattack, like the Colonial Pipeline one that spurred […]
Marjorie Taylor Greene in new attack on Fauci demands his salary be stripped
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia on Tuesday led a group of House Republicans calling for the firing of Dr. Anthony Fauci, formalizing their intense criticism of his public statements and actions throughout the coronavirus pandemic into legislation. Those GOP lawmakers can’t actually oust Fauci from his post as director of the National […]
Troubled Maryland plant told to toss part of the J&J vaccine ingredient it manufactured
WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators have instructed Maryland’s Emergent BioSolutions to scrap some batches of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine substance manufactured at the company’s troubled Baltimore plant, while clearing a small portion to be used in the U.S. or sent abroad. Two batches of the J&J vaccine substance made in Baltimore were deemed “suitable […]
Missouri’s Robin Carnahan vows to modernize government IT systems as agency chief
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the General Services Administration, former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, told senators Thursday that she was “horrified” by the slow pace of federal pandemic relief. While Congress responded to the crisis with new programs and resources, in too many instances, that help was not fast enough in […]