The States

A coalition of states has filed a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s latest executive effort to forgive a portion of Americans' student loan debt. Norfolk Southern reached a $600 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed after a toxic train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Consumer prices continued to rise at an elevated rate in March, according to newly released federal inflation data. According to an audit, California is not sufficiently tracking homelessness program costs and outcomes. The Seattle Public School District says activities requiring students to provide information protected by federal and state law do not violate the statutes as long as teachers do not store the information without parental consent. And the Fed may not make the 3 to 4 rate cuts the market was expecting this year.

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States file suit to block Biden's student debt forgiveness plan

Norfolk Southern announces $600M East Palestine settlement

Inflation speeds up in new federal data
Small business optimism drops: NFIB survey
California spends big, but can't tell if programs work as homelessness skyrockets
How Seattle Public School's use of 'social identity wheels' could violate federal law

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The federal government reported hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in improper payments last fiscal year and trillions over the last two decades. Kansas City’s professional football and baseball teams promised to stay in Jackson County if a 40-year sales tax to pay for stadiums was approved on Tuesday, but voters rejected the plan. The number of Chinese nationals illegally entering the U.S. – primarily single, military age men – has skyrocketed under the Biden administration. Both of Wisconsin's proposed constitutional amendments to keep outside money and poll workers out of election operations passed. Republicans may be gaining ground on national education issues during a presidential election year, responses from voters in a new nationwide poll reveal. 

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Feds report about $2.7 trillion in improper payments in two decades

Voters defeat 40-year sales tax for Kansas City sports stadiums

Chinese nationals illegally entering U.S .in record numbers since 2021

'Zuckerbucks' ban passes, MPS tax hike likely approved

Are Republicans gaining ground on education? Poll indicates voters want balance

Poll: Voters don't think schools should hide gender, name changes from parents

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Americans want states to have a role in stopping the flood of illegal immigration, which comes as the federal government and Texas grapple over who has the right to secure the southern border amidst the ongoing crisis there. The closure of the Port of Baltimore caused by the ship collision that collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge will likely have a greater impact on the local economy, but the ultimate strain may be on increased and longer ground transport, according to supply chain experts. A shakeup at the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has Republicans calling for reforms. Several years after King County, Washington purchased a former Red Lion Hotel in Federal Way, with plans for wrap-around services for the homeless, the building remains empty, potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars. And despite low test scores among Michigan students, most teachers received "highly effective" or "effective" ratings.

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Americans say states should have a say in border security efforts

Bridge: Experts expect regional economic impact in, near Baltimore

Republicans want change after Pritzker board paroles now alleged murderer

With millions devoted to the project, Federal Way homeless hotel remains vacant

Evaluation data shows virtually zero educators in Michigan are ineffective

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Former President Donald Trump is narrowly beating President Joe Biden in a head-to-head faceoff going into November, a new national poll shows but third party candidates could increase that margin for Trump. Passing the the bar exam will no longer be a requirement for becoming a lawyer in Washington state, the state Supreme Court ruled in a pair of orders. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case evaluating how the federal government censored Americans’ speech online, especially about COVID-19 and other controversial topics. Chicago residents were asked during Tuesday's primary election whether the city should change the way it assesses real estate transfer taxes on the sale of higher-valued property for the stated purpose of addressing homelessness, but voters appear to have rejected the tax increase referendum. A North Carolina school district reported a higher crime rate than the previous year after implementing an updated disciplinary policy for which it paid a nonprofit over $800,000 to help it create.

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Poll: Third party candidates boost Trump’s lead over Biden
WA Supreme Court: Passing the bar no longer required to be a lawyer
Supreme Court justices consider whether feds can regulate speech on social media
Chicago tax increase appears to fail after Black business owners call it a 'migrant tax'
Does this district's $800,000 equitable discipline policy help students?

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FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday confirmed that a smuggling organization working with the terrorist organization ISIS is funneling criminals through the U.S. border. Legislation dubbed by some as the "natural gas ban bill" and a "hot mess" by Lt. Gov. Denny Heck last week, passed the Washington State Legislature early Wednesday morning. President Joe Biden's budget proposal seeks to set aside billions of dollars to push progressive gender, sexuality and race ideology at home and around the globe. Pittsburgh will start rerouting certain early morning 911 calls in an attempt to save manpower. The Indiana General Assembly has voted to adopt legislation intended to counteract absenteeism at school by holding parents in the state responsible for their children’s attendance. And the latest reports on unemployment and disinflation look good for the job market.

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FBI director: Smuggling organizations connected to ISIS coming through US border
Environmental radicalism': WA Republicans decry passage of natural gas ban bill
Biden budget seeks to spend hundreds of millions to train school teachers in DEI

Pittsburgh's 911 policy follows police recruitment struggle

Indiana truancy bill that would hold parents accountable advances

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Biden gave the State of the Union address this week. As pay-to-play accusations fly around California's fast food minimum wage exceptions, the state legislature considers new exceptions. After Super Tuesday Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican primary race. The Chicago Teachers Union is gearing up for collective bargaining talks with the city. A study looking at equitable grading reforms raised questions about which reforms actually help students. And as the yearly income to comfortably afford a home rises, new homeowners are finding ways to make homeownership possible.

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Biden blasts GOP on border, is called out over Laken Riley murder by illegal immigrant
California lawmakers push minimum wage exemptions as pay-to-play accusations fly

Haley drops out of presidential race, does not endorse Trump 
CTU president: New teacher contract will cost taxpayers $50 billion

Equitable grading reforms harm the students they try to help

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This week on The Center Square Radio Hour, we look at where the election stands heading into Super Tuesday. We get an update on Tennessee's case against the NCAA and their Name, Image, and Likeness rules. We head down to the Texas border where President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump both held press conferences on Thursday. We head west to California where we hear some staggering numbers on the quantity of fentanyl seized by the California National Guard in the last year. We take a look at a new survey of teachers and students about how the debates over race and gender impact their classrooms. And we dig into the Congressional Budget Office's 10-year economic outlook.

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Tennessee judge awards preliminary injunction against NCAA NIL rules
Texas to make history Thursday with two presidents at its border on same day
California seized enough fentanyl last year to kill entire world 'nearly twice over'
Survey: Students and teachers weigh in on gender, race in school

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On this week's episode of The Center Square Radio Hour, the rise of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. university campuses often feature protesters calling for violence against Jews, leaving Jewish students feeling unsafe and frustrated by the lack of response from school administrators and federal officials. Denver’s public school system has been taking in as many as 250 new students a week since the new year, which it attributes to the increase in the number of migrants arriving in the city. James Biden, the president’s brother, testified before lawmakers Wednesday in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. As fentanyl-connected overdoses kill thousands of Pennsylvanians every year, the opioid shows up in traffic-crash data, too. Students at James Madison High School in south Houston, Texas, staged a walkout last week to protest a new zero-tolerance policy banning student cell phone use on that campus. And a number of factors contribute to the struggle of black families to buy their own homes.

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Jewish college students in the U.S. face antisemitism, little help from officials

Denver schools facing 'unprecedented challenge' with influx of migrant students
Joe Biden's brother defends president as impeachment inquiry continues

A third of fatal drug crashes in Philadelphia linked to fentanyl

Why students are protesting the cell phone policy at this Houston high school

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In its second vote attempt in exactly a week, the U.S. House on Tuesday night impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who becomes the first sitting cabinet member to be impeached in U.S. history. The executive director of the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council says the overall revenue picture for the state is “pretty good," but the elephants in the room as Dave Reich began his revenue forecast presentation Wednesday morning were the state Department of Revenue's Tuesday announcement that it had made a series of errors in tallying the state's new capital gains tax and the recent departure of a billionaire to live in another state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified Thursday that she did nothing improper with a man she hired to prosecute former President Donald Trump. The fiscal cliff that public transit has been warning about has arrived, and now state and local governments are starting to find ways to replace that revenue. Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a school shooter who killed his classmates in November 2021 at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a jury. And the latest inflation numbers were released this week.

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Mayorkas is first sitting cabinet member to be impeached in U.S. history

Jeff Bezos' move to Miami looms large at WA revenue forecast presentation

Combative Willis takes stand in disqualification hearing

Transit searches for ways to replace billions in federal emergency money

Conviction of Oxford shooter's mother is a legal first for accountability

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President Joe Biden won't be charged with a crime for his handling and sharing of classified documents, but the special counsel report accompanying the decision raises questions about his memory. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell 50 million shares of Amazon stock, which would have cost him hundreds of millions of dollars had he not moved out of Washington state. The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday against impeaching U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against impeachment. Tennessee did not get a temporary restraining order against the NCAA and its rules related to name, image and likeness earnings for athletes, but U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker wrote the lawsuit from Tennessee and Virginia is likely to succeed in its claim the NCAA rules are a violation of the Sherman antitrust act. Students of all ages at Seattle Public Schools faced extra-curricular lessons on oppression and privilege, racism and transgenderism in the classroom this week as the district participates in the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.

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Classified documents report calls Biden's mental capacity into question

Jeff Bezos to save $600M selling stock in Florida, not Washington

U.S. House votes against impeaching Mayorkas

Judge: States likely to prevail in NIL antitrust case against NCAA

Seattle students can expect lessons on privilege, gender and activism

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