Public Safety and Justice Update: 2/24/23

So far, 6,278 people have died from gun violence this year in the U.S, as of 2/23, roughly an average of 116 daily deaths…

Community leaders and officials in Omaha, Nebraska have seen a steady drop in reported gun violence over 15 years…

Nationally, homicides rose almost 30 percent in 2020 and remained high in 2021…

The City of Buffalo is suing several gun manufacturers, including Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Glock, Remington and Bushmaster, arguing they fueled gun violence in the city, endangered the safety and health of the public and “must be held accountable”…

Two weeks after a man fatally shot three students at Michigan State University, and wounded five others, flags are scheduled to return to full-staff as students return to campus…

The farmworker accused of killing seven people last month at a pair of mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, CA pleaded not guilty last week in San Mateo County…

A city council member in Memphis, Tennessee, has proposed legislation that would bar police from pulling drivers over for six minor traffic violations, following the death of Tyre Nichols after a police traffic stop last month…

State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) recently released more details about his Senate Bill 50, which would prohibit law enforcement officers from pulling over drivers for minor infractions, such as a broken taillight or tinted windows, unless an “independent basis for a stop exists”…

Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden and others this week celebrated the launch of an organizational wellness unit at the Police Department's operations building…

Teen girls across the US are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” according to federal researchers who released data showing increases in rape and sexual violence, and record levels of feeling sad or hopeless…

Weekly Update 2/21/23

California

State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) on Wednesday, 2/14, unveiled SB 50, legislation that would prohibit officers from making traffic stops solely because of low-level violations, like an expired license plate…

With their new roles in California's education committees, State Sen. Josh Newman and Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi are expected to be less hostile to charter schools than their predecessors, Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) and Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach)…

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), charter schools that received Charter Schools Program (CSP) grants generally had higher enrollment growth compared to similar charter schools that did not receive grants…

In the span of two years, California's population has dropped by more than half a million people…

Tesla has agreed to open some of its fast superchargers to other models of electric cars by the end of 2024, freeing up a reliable and highly coveted network of plugs along American roads…

According to a report by the state’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, California has spent nearly $10 billion and provided services to more than 571,000 homeless people, each year helping more people than the last…

California’s in-home caregivers, a historically underpaid workforce that serves a rapidly aging population, could receive a significant boost in bargaining power under a new bill introduced Friday…

President and Administration

According to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, nearly one in five teen girls experienced sexual violence in 2021…

The federal government will officially run out of cash between July and September of this year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted Wednesday, 2/15…

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recipients of the bivalent (two-strain) COVID-19 vaccine booster were 14 times less likely to die of Omicron BA.4/BA.5 infections than their unvaccinated peers and five times less likely to die than recipients of the monovalent (single-strain) booster, particularly among older people…

According to provisional data released on Wednesday, 2/15, by the CDC, the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. has been steadily declining since the middle of last year…

 On Wednesday, 2/15, Moderna announced that it will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers, even after the federal government stops paying for it…

According to a new analysis by Politico Pro, student borrowers in blue states were more likely to apply for President Biden’s student loan relief program compared with Republican states, but not by much…

On Friday, 2/17, the Department of Education (ED) unveiled new Title IX resources on equal opportunity in athletic programs…

Congress

Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced the Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Service Act to expand an existing program that forgives student loans for those working to treat substance abuse disorder…

Education

According to the American Association of University Women, women make up less than 30 percent of the nation’s workforce in science, technology, engineering and math, which rank among the fastest-growing and highest-paying career fields in today’s economy…

A new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report notes some improvement in minority representation in higher education related to science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM), but not enough to match those groups’ share in the overall population…

To meet the growing demand of mental-health care on campus, Hamilton College in Clinton, New York has begun training about a dozen undergraduates a year to serve as peer counselors, a role that entails being a good listener to other students…

According to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente, individuals who attend school in states with poor quality education might be more likely to develop dementia later in life…

According to an analysis by the Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee, there are an estimated 230,000 students in 21 states whose absences could not be accounted for…

On Thursday, 2/9, the National Center for Education Statistic (NCES) released a survey that revealed public school leaders estimated that about half - 49 percent - of their students began the 2022-23 year behind grade level in at least one academic subject…

Campus and faculty leaders in the California Community College system are eagerly anticipating the selection of a new chancellor this week…

According to the Department of Education, nearly 47,000 people have been in student loan repayment for at least 40 years…

Weekly Update 2/13/23

California

California has expanded the eligibility for its Mortgage Relief Program…

In a letter to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Acting Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) are asking the IRS to refrain from taxing inflation-relief payments sent to more than 31 million Californians as the agency is poised to release guidance on the taxation of several states’ rebates…

According to California’s Homeless Data Integration System, from 2017 to 2021, California’s overall senior population grew by seven percent, but the number of people 55 and over who sought homelessness services increased 84 percent—  more than any other age group…

President and Administration

On Wednesday, 2/8, the Internal Revenue System (IRS) announced that it selected a non-partisan think tank to help prepare a report on the potential development of a free tax return e-filing system…

 According to new data from the Centers for Disease and Control (CDC), after two consecutive years of declines in suicide (47,511 in 2019 and 45,979 in 2020), 2021 data indicates an increase in suicide to 48,183, nearly returning to the 2018 peak (48,344)…

Congress

On Wednesday, 2/8, a bipartisan group of House members relaunched a "SALT" (State and Local Tax) caucus as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle prepare for another fight over scrapping a $10,000 limit on deducting state and local taxes…

Education

According to a new report, 45 percent of Black students considered stopping their coursework in 2022, weighing dropping out completely or taking a leave…

During the first full hearing of the House Committee on Education and Workforce on Wednesday, 2/8, the possible Pell Grant expansion was one of the main topics of discussion…

On Tuesday, 2/7, Federal Student Aid officials said that the new version of the Free Application of Student Aid (FAFSA) might not be ready by October 1, though the agency is planning to launch the application in the fourth quarter of this year…

Over 46,000 Arizona students now use an education savings account, which provides about $7,000 per child annually for a huge array of school services…

According to a recent State of the Student 2022 survey, undergraduate students are struggling to stay engaged in class…

Federal data shows that over the last decade, Mississippi had more corporal punishment incidents than any other state for every year data was collected…

An Indiana High School – Yorktown High School – is joining a growing number of schools and community organizations in the Indianapolis area using a new set of career skills “badges” that standardize what young people need to know…

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Schools submitted an application for a new charter school in Oklahoma…

Weekly Update 2/6/23

California

In California, where about 15.2 million people are enrolled in its Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, up to three million can potentially lose coverage because they no longer qualify or fail to re-enroll, state officials forecast…

There is a new push in California to not just stock school campuses with naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, but also allow students to carry and administer the drug…

According to state public health officials, children in California will not be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine to attend schools…

President and Administration

President Joe Biden will release his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year on March 9, 2023…

A coalition of major gun safety groups, including Brady United, Community Justice Action Fund, March for Our Lives and Newton Action Alliance, sent a letter to President Biden pressuring him to appoint a gun czar and declare a national emergency over gun violence…

In a bipartisan letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, 12 senators slammed the “repeated failures” of the FDA’s tobacco regulatory authority to take e-cigarettes that appeal to minors off the market…

On Wednesday, 2/1, the Department of Transportation announced that it will put forward a proposed rule that would require airlines to seat families together at no additional charge…

According to a new report, the U.S. would need to spend up to $1.3 billion to meet minimum standards for infrastructure to charge electric vehicles…

On Wednesday, 2/1, the Department of Labor reported that the nation’s demand for labor only got stronger in December as job openings rose to 11 million…

On Wednesday, 2/1, the Federal Reserve moved to increase interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, putting the borrowing rate between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent…

The Biden administration plans to end the COVID public health emergency on May 11, as the U.S. shifts away from responding to the pandemic as a national crisis and instead manages the virus more like a seasonal respiratory disease…

The Agriculture Department is proposing new, stricter nutrition standards for America’s school meals…

According to a new poll commissioned by the National Parents Union, only 36 percent of parent voters believe the country is on the right track while 58 percent say it’s on the wrong track…

Congress

On Wednesday, 2/1, Axios led conversations with policymakers on the agenda for the newly minted 118th Congress…

On Sunday, 2/5, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that all U.S. senators will receive a briefing about China on Feb. 15, following the Biden administration's decision to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon off the Carolinas…

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) is demanding records from the Department of Education about certain Biden administration decisions regarding threats against school officials during the COVID-19 pandemic…

Student Loans and Repayment

Five former education secretaries, 128 House Republicans and 43 senators said in amicus briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the Biden administration does not have the authority to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for eligible Americans…

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has a new brief examining how student debt affects retirees' financial security and how that would change under the Biden administration student debt plan…

Republican leaders of the House and Senate education committees want Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to extend the comment period on the proposed changes to income-driven repayment regulations…
Education

According to a new report from the Department of Education (ED), more than 18 million college students received federal COVID-19 emergency funds in the last two years—money that helped them stay in college and cover the cost of basic needs…

According to new data released by the Lumina Foundation, the national share of working-age Americans who hold college degrees increased across racial and ethnic groups and rose in all states between 2019 and 2021…

According to a study released in January 2023, the Connecticut Learner Engagement and Attendance Program (LEAP) made a significant difference in reducing absenteeism, particularly with secondary school students…

According to a new analysis from the National College Attainment Network, nearly $3.6 billion in Pell Grants was not claimed by eligible high school seniors last year…

Public Safety & Justice Update - Tyre Nichols 2/3/23

The Memphis officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols were part of an elite unit called “Scorpion” meant to patrol high-crime neighborhoods…

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) said the brutal footage of Memphis police beating Tyre Nichols demonstrated the need for "a national conversation" on law enforcement…

Family gathered with hundreds of mourners for Tyre Nichols’s funeral on Wednesday, 2/1…

Body cameras worn by Memphis officers who stopped Tyre Nichols recorded his anguished cries and the conflicting orders that were virtually impossible for him to obey…

Memphis police first described what happened with Tyre Nichols as “a confrontation” following a traffic stop…

The death of Sacramento native Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police reverberated throughout California's capital city after footage was released last week…