Sacramento Observer
OPINION – Shelby County, Ala. is suing the Justice Department because they think that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and its reauthorization in 1982 and 2006) is unfair. The facts: The small city of Calera redistricted its boundaries in a way that the sole African American councilman lost his seat. Section [...]
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration and civil rights groups are defending a key section of the landmark voting rights law at the Supreme Court by pointing reformed state, county and local governments to an escape hatch from the law’s strictest provision. The Voting Rights Act effectively attacked persistent discrimination at the polls by keeping close [...]
WASHINGTON – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says President Barack Obama’s campaign was “eight, maybe 10 years, ahead” of the Republican Party last year in understanding the rapidly changing face of the American electorate. Gingrich tells “CBS This Morning” that GOP strategists have failed to respond effectively to the new demographic landscape. Gingrich, who ran [...]
SACRAMENTO — All California schools will receive at least the same amount of money as they currently do, and poorer ones will receive significantly more, under Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping proposal to change K-12 education funding, according to district-by-district estimates released Wednesday. Last month, the Democratic governor released a budget plan that proposed drastic changes [...]
WASHINGTON – Facing heightened expectations from gay rights supporters, the Obama administration is considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage – a move that could have a far-reaching impact on same-sex couples across the country. The administration has one week to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the justices outlining its [...]
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s Democratic allies in the Senate are unveiling legislation to avoid a looming set of sharp, across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies in just two weeks. The measure would impose a minimum tax rate on million-dollar incomes and replace the automatic cuts, known as a sequester [...]
WASHINGTON – Seeking to focus on nation-building at home, President Barack Obama will use his State of the Union address to call for more spending on infrastructure and manufacturing, while also announcing the withdrawal of 34,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan within a year. The highly-anticipated announcement on the next phase of the troop withdrawal will [...]
WASHINGTON – The Republican Party’s problems with minority voters have preoccupied strategists since November, and it’s possible those difficulties will persist or worsen. But an opening for marked improvements in GOP-minority relations may be at hand, or at least close by. Republican leaders would have to make some timely decisions and get a few breaks, [...]
WASHINGTON – As he prepares to announce a new wave of Cabinet and other senior posts, President Barack Obama is aiming to put a more diverse face on his administration _ an image that was missing as he filled the first round of vacancies of his second term with a parade of white men. Obama [...]
WASHINGTON — Days before President Barack Obama outlines his agenda for the coming year, a think tank with close ties to the White House is outlining a plan that would provide preschool for all children within five years. The Center for American Progress proposal, released Thursday, provides a road map for how the Obama administration [...]
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