• Colorado lawmakers prepare to relaunch criminal justice commissions amid skepticism from reformers

    Colorado legislators are working to launch two commissions that will help shape criminal justice policy statewide into the near future, an effort that's drawn the praise of policymakers while reigniting the same simmering tensions that helped sink a predecessor last year.

    • WGNO

    Louisiana House passes bill to reform Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans billing

    A bill aimed at reforming Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans customer bills passed in the Louisiana House on Tuesday, April 16.

  • Sunak considering exemptions to Rwanda bill for some Afghans

    Lords also press ministers to allow independent Rwanda monitoring as deportation bill returns to CommonsUK politics – latest updatesRishi Sunak’s government is considering concessions on the Rwanda deportation bill to allow exemptions for Afghans who served alongside UK forces, parliamentary sources say.Ministers are also being pressed to give ground to an amendment to the legislation so that the east African country could be ruled unsafe by a monitoring committee. Continue reading

  • Letter to the editor: Criminalizing abortion not the right path

    A lot of pro-lifers are upset at Donald Trump for his stand on abortion (“Trump declines to endorse a national abortion ban and says it should be left to the states,” web, April 8).

  • Supporters: Juvenile justice bill is about “true second chances”

    Demanding more age-appropriate interventions for young adults charged with crimes, youth activists and formerly incarcerated individuals urged lawmakers Thursday to advance bills that would overhaul how 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds are prosecuted. The Judiciary Committee has less than two weeks to take action on what supporters call "Raise the Age" legislation (H 1710 / S 942), which []

  • House sends foreign surveillance reform bill to Senate

    The House on Monday settled its procedural business on a bill to reform the nation's warrantless surveillance powers, kicking the controversial reauthorization over to the Senate. The Monday vote came after a tie in the chamber on an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

  • Debate over vaping regulation bill continues in Missouri legislature

    MISSOURI — A bill designed to regulate the retail of vaping products in Missouri continues to move its way through the legislative process. It's called House Bill 2211, introduced by Representative Lane Roberts of Joplin. The goal of the bill is to mandate every manufacturer of vapor products to receive marketing authorization and regulations from []

  • Letter: Zoning reform results in increased rent, evictions

    I was disappointed to see such misleading information from as prominent a source as the Pew Trust in a recent commentary on upzoning (“Zoning reform can cure isle struggles,” Star-Advertiser, Insight, March 24). The author claimed that in Minneapolis “rents haven’t risen in seven years.” This would be remarkable if true. But it isn’t. A quick look at table DP04, published by the U.S. Census as part of the American Community Survey, shows that between 2017 and 2022 (the last year for which Census...

  • Letter: Definitely better off now than four years ago

    "The Republican National Committee keeps asking, are you better off today than you were four years ago? My answer to that is definitely a big yes."

  • Letter from London: Letters from Everywhere

    Despite writing this letter each week, I still wonder why so few of us write real ones anymore. I was thinking of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, who corresponded frequently but met only once: ‘The present racial crisis in this country carries within it powerful destructive ingredients that may soon erupt into an uncontrollable explosion,’ More

  • 67-year-old man sentenced for criminal sexual conduct

    Steven Bryant Davis pleaded guilty Nov. 15, 2023, to one count of felony criminal sexual conduct with penetration or contact with a person under the age of 13.

  • Bill expanding emergency powers for Illinois state agency advances

    (The Center Square) – A measure now in the Illinois House says the Illinois Emergency Management Agency would be able to do “all things necessary, incidental, or appropriate for the implementation” of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. Opponents of Senate Bill 3434 said Illinois’ emergency authority continues under the Pritzker administration and giving more power lacks proper oversight. State Sen. Win Stoller, R-Germantown Hills, said the bill grants extraordinary...