California’s recall election will determine whether Gov. Gavin Newsom remains in office or is removed and replaced by another candidate. As voters make their choice, they may encounter misinformation or confusion about how the recall process works. To help sort through the facts, PolitiFact California debunked false claims about the election and demystified how it […]
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 […]
When kids head back to school this fall, for some it will be the first time they’ve been in a real classroom with other students since the pandemic began. Even if they attended classes in person last year, the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 will require a new safety calculation, particularly […]
Two outspoken Republican lawmakers were penalized by online platforms Aug. 10 for sharing misinformation about the impact of COVID-19 vaccines and mask-wearing. Twitter suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for a week after she falsely claimed that the vaccines were “failing,” while YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for a week over a since-removed video […]
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made it clear he isn’t taking his marching orders from President Joe Biden when it comes to how Florida will handle a surging number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. So it was perhaps a bit odd on Aug. 10 when reports said that Florida was receiving 300 ventilators to […]
In quick succession, severe weather walloped towns and cities on three continents. In June, the thermometer hit 112 degrees in Portland, Ore., the result of an atmospheric anomaly called a heat dome. Then heavy rains brought floods to Germany and Belgium. And a July storm in China dumped a year’s worth of rain in four […]
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 […]
EDITOR’S NOTE, Aug. 4, 2021: On Aug. 3, the CDC announced it was issuing a “new order temporarily halting evictions in counties with heightened levels” of coronavirus transmission. This follow-up article addresses the scope of the new CDC approach as well as the legal challenges. The eviction moratorium that gave millions of households a cushion as the pandemic […]
Question: When will the COVID-19 vaccines get full Food and Drug Administration approval? Answer: That’s a question on a lot of minds as the daily number of COVID-19 cases rise across the U.S., driven by a more contagious mutation of the coronavirus. More public and private institutions are considering or imposing vaccine mandates on their […]
The delta variant now represents more than 83% of new coronavirus cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. And a new study in China says that people infected with the delta variant have a viral load of about 1,000 times higher than patients earlier in the pandemic. “The delta variant […]