Iowa governor, board of education announce intent to appeal stay on “sexually explicit” books law: A federal appeals court will hear Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bid to lift a judge’s Jan. 1 stay on the state’s new law that limits the mention of gender identity and sexul orientation in public schools and also bars books with sexually explicit content, reports Iowa Capital Dispatch. Plaintiffs challenging the law contend it is unconstitutional; Reynolds, the state’s department of education, and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd contend the new law, passed last year, protects elementary schoolchildren from inappropriate sexually explicit material at school.
Killings by police officers reached highest level since 2013 last year: The 1,232 people killed by law enforcement in 2023 was the highest number in 10 years. In only 2 percent of cop killings in 2023 were police charged with any crime, reports The Nation. In addition, Black people accounted for 26 percent of killings by police, almost twice the percentage of Americans that are Black.
Federal agency letter recommending reclassification of cannabis is released in full: The recommendation to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug comes after 11 months of new scientific review initiated by the Biden administration, and an initial heavy redaction that removed almost all information from the letter, reports Marijuana Moment. In addition to recommending cannabis’ reclassification, the letter proclaims that cannabis has less potential for abuse than not only Schedule I drugs like heroin, peyote and ecstasy, but also Schedule II drugs like Oxycontin, and opium.
Battle brewing over federal “crisis pregnancy center” funding: A move by the Biden administration to drastically reduce funding to “crisis pregnancy centers” is drawing the ire of Republicans, reports Yahoo News. The centers, which counsel against abortion and often provide misleading information about the procedure, currently receive federal funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) federal block grant program. The Biden administration is seeking to require that states focus more of their TANF money on employment assistance, job training, and cash assistance to impoverished families.
Illinois sheriffs’ refusal to enforce assault weapons ban highlights upstate/downstate divide: Courthouse News reports that Illinois sheriffs’ trend toward refusing to enforce the state’s new assault weapons ban not ony heightens the divide between the urban Chicago area and the largely rural downstate of Illinois. Some gun control experts are also concerned the sheriffs’ open defiance of the law may set the stage for more mass shootings.
(photo credit: Fibonacci Blue through Wikimedia Commons, showing protesters May 26, 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin)
