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State redistricting stumbles amidst familiar partisan infighting
WASHINGTON — This year’s round of redistricting is already crumbling into partisanship and court challenges in multiple states, even as voters pay more attention than ever to new political maps that will shape elections for a decade. Hopes were high initially. Advocates in several states pushed measures over the last few years that they hoped […]
Democrats’ vision for free community college would boost undocumented students
WASHINGTON—The massive economic policy package Democrats are trying to muscle through Congress could open the door to free community college for undocumented immigrants. But that lifeline for many people now denied access to higher education could also reignite controversies in Republican-leaning states over immigration and federal overreach. The provision on immigrants was included in a plan drafted […]
How Michigan became a success story for prisoner college programs
WASHINGTON — Prison inmates around the U.S. are getting the chance to do something that was almost unheard of a generation ago: Pursue a college degree while behind bars and with financial support from the federal government. Inmates in 42 states and Washington, D.C., can now get federal grants to work with colleges and universities […]
Lawmakers pepper Congress with pleas for SALT tax break
WASHINGTON — Congress could soon have a chance to restore tax breaks that would especially benefit New Jersey residents, and the state’s congressional delegation is making sure that everyone on Capitol Hill knows how important the issue is to people in their districts. The push is to reinstate a federal tax deduction that disproportionately helps […]
GOP furor over ‘critical race theory’ hits college campuses
Professors say the Republican crusade to root out “critical race theory” is taking a toll on college campuses around the nation — places where academic freedom is supposed to encourage thought, discussion and analysis. Much of the “critical race theory” uproar to date has centered on teaching in K-12 schools. Bills banning the theory have […]
Teachers come under pressure as politicians, parents battle over ‘critical race theory’
WASHINGTON—Teachers from Tennessee to Iowa are swept up in a wave of outrage led by GOP politicians nationwide over how schools teach kids about race in U.S. history. Conservatives have pilloried much instruction about systemic racism as “critical race theory,” even when that academic term has never been mentioned. A half dozen states have already […]
Attempts to ban teaching on ‘critical race theory’ multiply across the U.S.
WASHINGTON — From statehouses to Congress, Republicans have launched into a fight against the teaching of “critical race theory,” which just a year ago was a niche academic term. Experts in critical race theory say it’s about acknowledging how racial disparities are embedded in U.S history and society, and the concept is being mischaracterized by […]
With ‘Amtrak Joe’ in the White House, states hope for a passenger rail renaissance
Stu Nicholson has been trying for decades without success to get Amtrak — or any other passenger rail service — to come to Columbus, Ohio. As director of All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail advocacy group, Nicholson helped explore possibilities, like creating a new route from Chicago to Pittsburgh, with Columbus in the middle. But […]
Key Republican seeks ties with farm-state Dems on Senate Agriculture panel
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall is vowing he’ll rely on the relationships he’s built with Democratic colleagues and the Biden administration to advance Kansas farming interests in his coveted new post on the Senate Agriculture Committee. That’s in stark contrast to the Kansas freshman’s recent history as an outspoken conservative who opposed the […]
Whitmer makes case to U.S. Senate for more federal infrastructure help
WASHINGTON — Senators who could decide the fate of President Joe Biden’s push for a major new infrastructure package seemed open to his priorities at a hearing Wednesday, particularly Biden’s emphasis on replacing vehicles that run on gas and diesel with ones that use electric power. But when it came to the question of who […]
Billions for Medicaid expansion dangled in front of holdout states
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats are trying again to entice a dozen holdout states — many of them in the South — to expand Medicaid coverage with the prospect of billions of dollars in federal cash. The new offer, included in a massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that House Democrats are pushing through committees […]
Buttigieg puts greenhouse gas reduction at center of Biden transportation policy
Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg offered an unapologetic defense of President Joe Biden’s vision for improved transportation and greenhouse gas reductions during a Senate hearing to consider Buttigieg’s nomination for U.S. transportation secretary on Thursday. “We need to build our economy back, better than ever, and the Department of Transportation can play a central […]