By Chauncey Alcorn Shanta Matthews and her family were three months behind on rent last week and were preparing to be booted from their two-bedroom condo in Charleston, South Carolina, when they got a last-minute reprieve from the federal government. US health officials issued a new eviction moratorium on August 3, temporarily barring landlords from
More
By Rebekah Riess Heated arguments spilled out into the parking lot Tuesday night after a school board in a suburban Tennessee county approved a temporary requirement for masks in elementary schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As debates over masks in US schools have reemerged as the academic year begins, the Board of Education in
More
By Rebekah Riess and Gregory Lemos A mother in Atlanta has filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education alleging her children’s elementary school placed Black students in separate classrooms from their peers based on their race. Kila Posey, the mother two Black children enrolled in Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta,
More
By Madeline Holcombe and Hannah Sarisohn More than 4,400 students in Mississippi are quarantining after being exposed to Covid-19 in the first weeks of the school year, according to data from the state’s department of health. The department tracked student and staff Covid-19 exposure and positive cases by individual schools and counties from August 2
More
By Tierney Sneed A key piece of congressional Democrats’ voting rights push faces not only a near-impossible odds of becoming law, but also a daunting court battle in front of a conservative judiciary if it does. The legislation, known as the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” is now a focus of the House and
More
By Kaitlan Collins and John Bonifield The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce within the next 48 hours that it is authorizing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for some people who are immunocompromised, according to a source familiar with the discussions. This would be a third shot of the current two-dose Pfizer and
More
By Shawna Mizelle President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on August 6, 1965. The legislation served to protect and enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution. It was enacted in response to voter suppression in the 1960s by state governments, local governments and law enforcement, and
More
By Dakin Andone and Raja Razek A Black realtor was showing a house to a Black man and his 15-year-old son in a Michigan suburb last week when they looked outside and saw police officers surrounding the property with their guns drawn. “I knew once they surrounded the home they were preparing for a standoff,”
More
By Clare Foran and Daniella Diaz, Senate Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to advance their signature voting and elections overhaul bill in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This was an effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the chamber to put Republicans on the record on the voting rights package and to
More
By Betsy Klein Vice President Kamala Harris is set to travel to Singapore and Vietnam later this month, becoming the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit Asia so far. “Her trip will build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s message to the world: America is back,” her office said in a statement. The statement continued, “Our Administration sees
More
