Latest Stories By Louis Jacobson

Amid a resurgence of coronavirus cases in the United States, the White House has expressed concern about efforts by some Republican-led states to prevent school districts from requiring masks. But the question is: Can they turn that concern into some type of federal action? In Florida, for instance, the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis […]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of a handful of GOP governors trying to block school districts from requiring masks in the classroom.  Under DeSantis’ direction, the state health department adopted a rule that gives families the ability to opt out of locally ordered school mask mandates. The state board of education approved another rule […]

If you have to show a photo ID to buy a beer, board a plane or pick up a ticket at will call, shouldn’t you have to show one to cast a ballot? Doesn’t our democratic process deserve at least that level of security? So goes a familiar argument for voter ID requirements. The argument […]

The Biden administration issued a new eviction moratorium on Aug. 3, heeding calls from housing advocates to help potentially millions of Americans who are behind on their rent. But the move risks an intervention by the courts. The order, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was crafted in a way that doesn’t […]

As President Joe Biden seeks to enact national voting rights legislation, he has turned his attention to attacking new state laws that he says will restrict voting. ​​”This year alone, 17 states have enacted — not just proposed, but enacted — 28 new laws to make it harder for Americans to vote,” Biden said during […]

In a speech on voting rights in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden vowed that his administration would fight back against new voting restrictions pushed by allies of former President Donald Trump. State legislators are now engaged in a “broad assault against voting,” Biden said July 13. Among the threats he cited were efforts to move power […]

If you’ve been paying attention to recent news reports about the coronavirus pandemic, you’ve probably heard public health officials say they’re pleased about the dropping rates of cases and deaths due to vaccination in the United States — but that they’re also worried that continued spread of the delta variant could reverse some of those […]

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the group Children’s Health Defense against the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Facebook, and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The lawsuit alleged that PolitiFact, a project of Poynter, had censored a truthful public health statement about vaccines through its fact-checking relationship with Facebook. Susan Illston, […]

Critics of President Joe Biden are saying that his proposal to increase corporate tax rates could break one of the highest-profile promises of his 2020 presidential campaign — that “if you make less than $400,000, you won’t pay a single penny more in taxes.” For instance, recent posts shared by several websites affiliated with the […]

If the Senate fails to pass voting rights legislation this week, as expected, it may not mean the end of federal election law changes this year. Democrats are already mulling several alternative strategies to protect voting rights nationwide.  If they fail to act at all, states will continue to hold the agenda-setting power for voting […]

As coronavirus vaccination rates rise and the United States opens up after a lengthy pandemic, one of the emerging flashpoints involves elite sports. The questions sports teams and leagues are facing are the same types of questions that are puzzling businesses, schools, shops and restaurants as the United States continues to open back up. But […]

At their recent summit in Cornwall, England, the G-7 countries backed an effort to offer an alternative to the “Belt and Road Initiative,” China’s sprawling, eight-year-old effort to build physical and digital infrastructure in other countries.  The G-7 effort, called “Build Back Better for the World,” or B3W for short, is being championed by President […]