Public Safety & Justice Update- 1/24/2025

Solomon Henderson, a 17-year-old student at Antioch High School, shot and killed Josselin Corea Escalante, 16…

The Office of Gun Violence Prevention web page on the White House website is now offline…

President Trump’s new Justice Department leadership has put a freeze on civil rights litigation and suggested it may reconsider police reform agreements negotiated by the Biden administration…

President Trump on Monday, 1/20, issued roughly 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14…

President Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website…

A former executive director for the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, Joanne Segovia…

Immigration Update - 1/22/25

Several executive orders and policy changes took immediate action on immigration, significantly escalating immigration enforcement by…

Despite the speed at which President Trump is moving to alter immigration policy significantly, actions against these policies are unfolding just as swiftly…

Trump will most likely need more funding from Congress to make good on his promises for mass deportations…

State and local leaders nationwide are expecting aggressive immigration policies and possible mass deportations that President Donald Trump vowed to enact soon after his inauguration…

The Trump administration has instructed federal prosecutors to investigate and potentially prosecute state and local officials who fail to comply with immigration enforcement…

Some sanctuary cities are shifting their stance on immigration enforcement as Trump’s mass deportation plans take shape…

President Trump’s executive order targeting sanctuary cities threatens to block federal disaster aid to Los Angeles as it recovers from devastating wildfires…

Weekly Update 1/21/25

Reconciliation

In just three weeks House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) is expected to unveil and approve a budget resolution out of committee for reconciliation process targeted for floor consideration the week of Feb. 10…

President and Administration

President Trump on Monday (1/20) pardoned members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and signed dozens of executive orders addressing the first priorities of his administration…

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 30 percent increase in Americans receiving psychotherapy via teletherapy, but this shift has widened healthcare disparities…

SAMHSA’s new National Guidance on Essential Specialty Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Care articulates a core or essential set of services for adults with SUD…

SAMHSA’s Community Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications (OORMs) Planning Toolkit is now available…

SAMHSA released updated National Behavioral Health Crisis Care Guidance (National Guidance), comprised of three documents…

Congress

An anti-trans sports bill from Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) will hit the House floor today (1/21), and while the issue has largely been partisan before…

Just as they have in each of the last two sessions, Republicans are kicking off the 119th Congress by prioritizing a bill that would reaffirm…

California

House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to reporters Monday (1/20) there’s “been some discussion” of tying California wildfire aid to a debt limit…

Education

Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has proposed a controversial rule requiring parents to disclose their citizenship status when enrolling…

New data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights reveals persistent disparities in the education system, particularly for Black and Latino students…

Lawsuits and legislation targeting social media’s impact on youth mental health are increasing in 2024-2025…

Recent studies on teacher labor markets show that initial salary gaps of up to $40,000 tend to persist throughout careers…

A 2025 Indiana bill proposes dissolving Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and four other districts, converting their schools into charters due to declining…

Public Safety and Justice Update: 1/17/2025

Several Democratic attorney generals have asked to join federal legal efforts to preserve two gun control measures enacted under President Joe Biden…

States are continuing to drift further apart on gun policies, and a new report by a gun violence prevention advocate found that many states with the toughest restrictions had lower rates of gun violence, though a handful did not…

President Biden announced today that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a U.S. president…

President-elect Trump's pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, appeared this week at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing…

As wildfires continue to burn in the Los Angeles area, a California state lawmaker is leading a push to give incarcerated firefighters pay raises, including those who are battling blazes for as little as $30 per day…

A federal grand jury has indicted Oakland’s recalled Mayor Sheng Thao and her partner Andre Jones as part of a federal public corruption inquiry…

Weekly Update 1/13/25

Reconciliation

The House Budget Committee floated a $5 trillion list of potential spending cuts which includes Medicaid; federal-state health care programs…

President and Administration

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday (1/8) that his budget-cutting effort on behalf of President-elect Donald Trump would most likely not find $2 trillion in savings…

A federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule nationwide…

Congress

Anti-immigrant state officials and federal judges would have new power to dictate immigration enforcement…

A vehicle to raise the debt ceiling was discussed at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend among GOP leaders and President-elect Trump…

Blue-state Republicans believe that President-elect Donald Trump is supportive of a higher cap on state and local tax deductions…

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday (1/6) said California has swung from one of its largest budget deficits ever to a "modest" surplus…

Newsom also estimated that funding guaranteed to schools under Proposition 98 will be $119 billion…

Wednesday's (1/8) firestorm in a wealthy area of Los Angeles could be the final straw that breaks California's insurance market. The state's insurance market has been teetering on the edge of insolvency for years…

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders have agreed to set aside $50 million to defend California…

Education

When it comes to factors that affect a student’s well-being in adulthood, better math skills might not be the first thing that comes to mind..

The Student Engagement and Attendance Center (SEAC) has developed a planning tool to enhance family engagement across levels of the school organization…