Public Safety Update 6/10/22

The House passed a sweeping gun package on Wednesday, 6/8, in response to last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, T.X., that killed more than 30 people and reignited gun reform talks on Capitol Hill…

Senators have an outline of a bill to address gun violence and respond to recent mass shootings, but crucial details that will determine whether the legislation can get 60 votes to pass remain…

Leaders of March for Our Lives, the organization founded by student survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, FL high school, are expecting thousands in Washington, DC tomorrow, 6/11, in support of ending gun violence…

Chief executives at 228 American companies co-signed a letter on Thursday, 6/9, urging members of the US Senate to take “bold, urgent action” to pass legislation aimed at reducing gun violence in America…

A day after a man armed with a pistol, a knife, and other weapons was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home, House Democrats delayed consideration of a Senate-passed bill to bolster security for Supreme Court justices…

President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) secured the 50 votes needed for confirmation after two conservative Democrats came out in favor of his nomination on Thursday, 6/9…

On Thursday, 6/9, voters recalled D.A. Chesa Boudin, one of the nation’s most progressive prosecutors…

A new poll by UC Berkeley and The Times shows less than 1/3 of city voters surveyed said they approve of the LAPD’s overall performance — a startling drop from 2009, when a Times poll found 77 percent of people approved of the department…

Weekly CA-COVID Update 6/7/22

California

Early turnout has been dismal before all polling sites opened today, election day, in California… 

An extensive report released by California officials on Wednesday, 6/1, details the state’s history of racism against Black residents and offers recommendations for repairing those harms - the first government-sponsored study of its kind in more than five decades…

Los Angeles will ban many businesses from selling tobacco products that come in sweet, spicy and minty flavors under new restrictions backed Wednesday, 6/1, by the City Council… 

The California Department of Public Health’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is expanding its list of baby formula brands covered by WIC benefits from five to 130, the department announced… 

Leaders in the Senate and Assembly last week unveiled their draft budget, laying out plans to send nearly $10 billion back to Californians and shore up the state’s reserves against an apparently inevitable fiscal downturn in years to come…

California regulators on Thursday, 6/2, gave a robotic taxi service the green light to begin charging passengers for driverless rides in San Francisco, a first in a state where dozens of companies have been trying to train vehicles to steer themselves on increasingly congested roads…

Coronavirus

There are initial signs that California’s latest wave of COVID-19 cases may be slowing, although it’ll take more time to be certain…

COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5 years old are likely to begin June 21, according to White House COVID Response Coordinator Ashish Jha on Thursday, 6/2… 

Masks reduce the spread of COVID-19 by preventing virus particles from traveling from one person’s nose or mouth into the air and infecting another person…

Schools mulling renewed mask mandates don’t need to wait for COVID-19 risk levels to increase in their community if outbreaks are already occurring on campus, according to updated COVID-19 operational guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as campuses begin summer break…

Weekly Federal Update 6/6/22

President and Administration

An independent watchdog this week opened a broad investigation into Social Security Inspector General Gail Ennis and her office following a report that revealed how an anti-fraud program has imposed massive penalties on disabled and elderly people…

Last week, oil prices climbed after the European Union moved to cut off Russian crude, raising the specter of even higher gasoline prices and intensifying economic reverberations for both consumers and the White House…

President Biden, who as a candidate vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, is scheduled to travel there this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time when he is seeking to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad…

Last week, the Supreme Court blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express…

Congress  

Republicans last week introduced a road map describing how they would mitigate rising gasoline prices and address climate change if the party wins control of the House of Representatives in the November midterms…

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released an official notice that it will hold the first hearing on what it has found so far about the deadly siege on Thursday, 6/9, at 8 p.m. ET… 

Education

Ask most teachers or principals about the mental health of their students this year, and they will tell you stories of how much worse the situation is… 

In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, United Educators is partnering with The Jed Foundation (JED) to motivate institutions to implement mental health programs on their campuses…

Parents matter more than in the past in the college admissions process, according to a survey by EAB of 4,848 high school seniors who graduated in 2021…

After the Uvalde shooting, school police departments’ readiness to confront lethal threats under a microscope, but research is elusive on their effectiveness against mass shooting…

A group of 35 civil rights organizations sent a letter to the Education Department to demand it investigate claims that colleges and universities are requiring students to sign nondisclosure agreements before the institution will look into a Title IX claim…

The Education Department will automatically discharge $5.8 billion in federal student loans owed by over 560,000 borrowers who attended any campus operated by Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit education company that was found guilty of defrauding students…

Public Safety Update 6/3/22

On Thursday, 6/2, President Joe Biden addressed the nation and called for a series of specific actions to respond to the recent mass shootings across the country…

On Thursday, 6/2, the House Judiciary Committee approved a wide-ranging package of gun control in the wake of this month’s mass shootings…

 A bipartisan group of senators met again on Wednesday, 6/1, to work towards a bill in the wake of the Uvalde mass shooting… 

Democrats and Republicans will forever argue about the effectiveness of gun laws to prevent mass shootings…

Last week, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the Age 21 Act, a bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21… 

As Congress remains gridlocked on gun legislation in the wake of recent shootings, Democratic state leaders are demanding immediate action… 

Four people were killed by a shooter inside a Tulsa, OK medical facility on Wednesday, 6/1…

The investigation into last month’s hate-related mass shooting in a Buffalo grocery store revealed the suspect spent months planning the attack and evaded New York’s red flag laws…

Ohio and Louisiana are considering decreasing the requirements to arm school staff members or permitting employees to carry firearms after they fulfill the required training, despite opposition from gun safety advocates, teachers’ groups and school security experts…

The FBI released data showing a rapidly escalating pattern of public shootings in the U.S. on Monday, 5/23, one day before the massacre in Uvalde… 

A growing body of research suggests these assaults spread similar to a viral disease… 

In a 2018 survey conducted by the Harris Poll for the American Psychological Association, 75 percent of young people between 15 and 21 said that mass shootings were significant sources of stress for them…

From 2019 to 2020, firearm homicides increased more than any other time in the last 100 years of record keeping…

On the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, 5/25, Biden signed an executive order aimed at changing how police use force…

The City of Baltimore sued one of the country’s largest “ghost gun” manufacturers on Wednesday, 6/1, seeking unspecified damages for its role in “flooding” the city with illegal guns and for the trauma and injuries caused… 

Attorney General Merrick Garland has revised rules governing the use of force by law enforcement agencies overseen by the Justice Department - the first revision of the department’s use-of-force policy in 18 years…

 District Attorney Chesa Boudin has been a leader of the national movement for criminal justice reform, however, a well-funded recall campaign could unseat Boudin next week…

The Department of Justice launched a new National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab in April that provides free training, technical assistance, and a resource hub for police to promote constitutional policing, improve public safety and build trust in communities…

State and local lawmakers are placing limits on “pretextual stops,” when an officer pulls over a person for a low-level offense because they want to investigate the driver for an unrelated matter…

Criminal justice experts estimate that police carry out tens of thousands of no-knock raids every year nationwide, mostly in drug-related searches… 

Weekly CA-COVID Update 6/1/22

California

More than 2,900 refugees evacuated from Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal have landed in Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose and Turlock, where the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has its Northern California offices… 

Asian Americans are often seen as successful students, but the stereotype masks “incredibly disconcerting” gaps in college outcomes among the multiple ethnic groups who make up the larger community in California, according to a new report released yesterday, 5/31…

Republican Rep. Young Kim and Democratic Rep. Mike Levin could be in for tougher reelection races than they anticipated… 

California’s first-in-the-nation task force on reparations for African Americans will release a report today, 6/1, documenting in detail the harms perpetuated by the state and recommending steps to address those wrongs, including expanded voter registration, making it easier to hold violent police accountable and improving Black neighborhoods… 

Last week, the California Legislature moved forward on several important bills…

The state’s Child Abuse Central Index is meant to be a comprehensive database of substantiated child abuse cases in California… 

Yesterday, 5/31, the Los Angeles City Council instructed its lawyers to draft a major change to the city’s anti-camping ordinance, barring homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers… 

Last week, Health officials reported California’s first suspected case of monkeypox in a Sacramento County patient recently returned from abroad…

Coronavirus

Pfizer-BioNTech’s new three-dose vaccine for children under five years old is 80 percent effective at staving off COVID-19, including from the Omicron variant, the companies announced last week…