Hunter Roberts assumed office on April 19 as secretary of the newly-formed South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Governor Kristi Noem (R) appointed Roberts to the position in August 2020. The Department of Agriculture and Department of Environment and Natural Resources officially merged on April 19. Noem had announced her intention to combine…
Incumbents Dawn Haynes, Asia Norton, Vereliz Santana and Daniel Gonzalez won in the Newark, New Jersey school board election on April 20, 2021. Haynes, Norton, and Santana, all incumbents, defeated challengers Nadirah Brown, Yolanda Johnson, and Philip Wilson in the regular election with 29.9%, 28.2%, and 27.1% of the vote, respectively, and will serve three-year terms on the board. No other…
A King County Superior Court judge on April 19 dismissed recall charges against six of the seven members of the Seattle Public Schools school board in Washington. The hearing on the petitions was held on April 16. The recall charges were filed against Liza Rankin, Lisa Rivera Smith, Chandra Hampson, Zachary DeWolf, Leslie Harris, and…
On April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted one new case for review during its 2021-2022 term. With the addition of this case, the court has agreed to hear 11 cases during the term, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 4. Hemphill v. New York concerns a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to be confronted…
Ballotpedia’s analysis of 2020 election data shows that at least twenty states rejected a lower percentage of absentee/mail-in ballots during the 2020 presidential election than they did in 2016. At least seven states rejected a greater percentage and four states’ rejected the same percentage. Nineteen states have not yet released data making a comparison possible…
Since our last edition What rules and restrictions are changing in each state? For a continually updated article, click here. Arizona (Republican trifecta): Gov. Doug Ducey (R) ended the executive order requiring masks on all K-12 school campuses. Ducey also signed an order prohibiting all state and local government agencies from requiring individuals to provide…