SALT LAKE CITY — Children and teens in Utah would lose access to social media apps such as TikTok if they don’t have parental consent and face other restrictions under a first-in-the-nation law designed to shield young people from the addictive platforms. Two laws signed by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox Thursday...
Walters: Winnowing Legislative Grain From Chaff
During the pre-industrial era, crops of wheat were planted, cultivated, harvested and processed by hand. The latter included “winnowing,” typically by using a shallow basket to toss the crushed kernels of wheat into the air, allowing the wind to separate edible grain from the lighter and disposable chaff. The term...
House Sets Vote on $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is voting Tuesday on a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package with an unusually large load of unrelated provisions on the must-do legislation. The package, some 2,313 pages long, was unveiled Monday as lawmakers prepared to wrap up reams of unfinished work against a backdrop of...
Canada's Trudeau Wins 2nd Term but Nation More Divided
TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in a stronger-than-expected showing in Canada's national elections, claiming a "clear mandate" Tuesday despite a Parliament and nation increasingly fractured along regional lines. Trudeau's Liberal Party took the most seats in Parliament but lost its majority in Monday's balloting. That...
California Lawmakers May Trim Repeat Offenders’ Sentences
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are on the verge of approving legislation to trim prison sentences for repeat nonviolent felonies. Current law adds an additional year to offenders' sentences for each previous prison or jail term. The bill approved by the state Assembly on Thursday would remove the mandatory one-year enhancement....
Walters: Striking With a Hot Iron
The old adage of “strike while the iron is hot” is especially applicable to politics. Something that might be politically impossible at one moment may succeed when circumstances change if advocates for that something move fast enough. It’s why, for instance, dozens of otherwise obscure Democratic politicians are suddenly fancying...
Compromise Bill Would Reduce Drug Costs for Seniors
WASHINGTON — Two veteran senators — a Republican and a Democrat — unveiled compromise legislation Tuesday to reduce prescription drug costs for millions of Medicare recipients, while saving money for federal and state health care programs serving seniors and low-income people. Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden...
Walters: Secrecy Abounds on State Budget, Major Bills
Fair warning: By reading this you will be plunging into the Legislature’s almost impenetrably arcane thicket of internal procedures. To begin at the beginning, for decades the state budget was written in secret by the chairmen of the Legislature’s two fiscal committees, Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance. This...
Healthy Dog Euthanized for Burial With Owner, Sparks Debate
RICHMOND, Va. — Veterinarians and funeral homes in Virginia are rejecting the idea that pets should be buried with their owners after a recent case in which a healthy dog was euthanized so it could lie with her owner. WWBT-TV in Richmond reports workers at one animal shelter tried to talk...
State Lawmakers Block Expansion of Data Privacy Law
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers blocked an effort to expand the state's sweeping new data privacy law Thursday, handing a victory to the tech industry as it faces mounting scrutiny over how it collects, stores and sells consumers' information. The California Consumer Privacy Act will be the first of its kind...