Government

“The right to vote is the fundamental right upon which our democracy is built,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “For too long in our history, many voters with disabilities have faced barriers in exercising their voting rights. Many of these barriers continue even today, including physical barriers that prevent them from entering polling places or accessing a ballot dropbox. The ADA requires election officials to select and provide accessible ballot dropbox locations so that voters with disabilities can have the same voting opportunities as other voters. The Justice Department is fully committed to vigorous enforcement of the ADA to ensure that voters with disabilities no longer face discrimination in the election process.” The publication covers the elements and features of a ballot dropbox that election officials should consider meeting the ADA’s accessibility requirements. The publication discusses the requirements for an accessible route to a ballot dropbox, such as a level walkway without gaps and steps. It also discusses accessibility features of a ballot dropbox such as a handle or lever that can be operated with one hand and without tight grasping, pinching or twisting of the wrist. The guidance includes a checklist of the accessibility standards used to assess a ballot dropbox. more »

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)/Education and Labor; House Administration; Oversight and Reform; Ways and Means (2/9/22) — A bill to extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave and pension plans, and to ensure equitable treatment in the workplace; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)/Placed on Senate legislative calendar (2/9/22) — A bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994; On Tuesday, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will mark up several bills, including S. 2042, the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act of 2021. Appropriations — Bipartisan Violence Against Women Act This week, the Senate is expected to vote on a continuing resolution (CR) (H.R. 6617) to fund the government through March 11. The current CR expires on February 18.   more »

"According to Paul Wolfram [Yale] ’21 PhD now a postdoc with the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland, the study shows that 'the elephant in the room is the supply chain of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, not that of electric vehicles'. He notes that the faster we switch to electric vehicles, the better — at least in countries with a sufficiently decarbonized electricity supply, like the US Yale economics professor Ken Gillingham, whose research has focused extensively on alternative energy adoption in transportation, says this research provides a better understanding of how comprehensive carbon pricing — which includes the full supply chain — can shift consumers toward electric vehicles." more »

The study included more than 13,000 pregnant individuals from 17 U.S. hospitals, approximately 2,400 of whom were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Participants delivered between March 1 and December 31 2020, before SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was available. The researchers compared outcomes among those with COVID-19 to those from uninfected patients, and tabulated the study results as a primary outcome — whether the patient had died from any cause or had a serious illness or condition related to common obstetric complications. They also evaluated the results in terms of several secondary outcomes, including cesarean delivery, preterm birth, and fetal and newborn death. more »