Poli Alert Political & Civics

by Casey Quinlan, Michigan Advance The sturdy labor market continued to chug along in March, with an unemployment rate of 3.8%, marking the 26th straight month of an unemployment rate under 4%. The economy added 303,00 jobs, according to the monthly report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on …

Jimmy Williams As former President Donald Trump vies for a return to the presidency, a notable group of ex-officials are vocally opposing his candidacy, citing concerns about his leadership and its potential impact on democracy. Despite this dissent, Trump retains significant support within the Republican Party. Former Defense Secretary Mark …

Jimmy Williams Federal prosecutors announced on Sunday that a man, identified as Shant Soghomonian, aged 35, was charged with setting a fire outside the Vermont office of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. According to officials, Soghomonian entered the building on Friday and proceeded to Sanders’ third-floor office, where security footage captured …

Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson Originally published by The 19th A growing number of states are considering restrictions on guns near voting sites, a move that some lawmakers and voting rights groups hope will better protect not just voters, but election administrators and poll workers, from threats of violence and intimidation …

Tatishe Nteta, UMass Amherst; Adam Eichen, UMass Amherst; Douglas Rice, UMass Amherst; Jesse Rhodes, UMass Amherst, and Justin H. Gross, UMass Amherst Right-wing activists who have long criticized liberalism and “wokeness” in higher education and helped force the resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first African American president, have now …

Jennifer Shutt, Pennsylvania Capital-Star President Joe Biden traveled to Maryland on Friday to tour the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge by helicopter before meeting with the families of the construction workers who are presumed or confirmed dead after the collapse last week. Biden said he understood the families’ pain of …

Jimmy Williams Former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case faced a setback on Thursday as a Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Scott McAfee, denied their bid to dismiss the charges on First Amendment grounds. In his 14-page ruling, Judge McAfee stated that while the …

Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix April 4, 2024 Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the constitutional amendments that Floridians will vote on in November — abortion access and recreational weed — are “extreme” and “radical” and predicts that both measures will come up short of the 60% voter threshold required to become …

Olivia Rosane, Common Dreams Campaigners have issued a “red alert” over language included in the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that could pave the way toward banning student loan cancellation. The current draft of the routine bill bars executive branch officials from cancelling or forgiving student loans taken out …

Michelle Andrews, KFF Health News Originally published by The 19th Companies have increasingly offered generous fertility benefits to attract and keep top-notch workers. Now, the federal government is getting in on the act. Starting this year, federal employees can choose plans that cover several fertility services, including up to $25,000 …

Jimmy Williams Special counsel Jack Smith has criticized a recent ruling by Judge Aileen Cannon in the case of former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, calling her request for jury instructions based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.” Smith argued that the ruling could distort the trial …

Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder The 2024 election season may further highlight contentious voter eligibility challenges and result in the enactment of new rules governing future elections in Georgia. Republicans in the Georgia Legislature passed a series of election rules as the 2024 session concluded last week that would change how …

Zachary Roth With polls showing unauthorized immigration as Republicans’ best issue for the fall, the GOP is looking to raise the alarm about voting by non-citizens and the undocumented. The multi-pronged effort has been advanced in congressional legislation, public statements by top election officials and U.S. senators, plans produced by …

Jimmy Williams A judge overseeing Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial in Manhattan has rejected his attempt to postpone the trial until after the Supreme Court rules on his claim of “presidential immunity” in another criminal case. The decision, issued on Wednesday, blocks Trump’s efforts to further delay the trial, which …

Jimmy Williams In the latest development surrounding former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, his legal team is once again seeking to have Judge Juan Merchan removed from the case. This move comes as they raise concerns about potential bias stemming from the judge’s daughter’s involvement with a political firm …