June 17, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Healthcare Workers Bonuses, Mental Health Funding, Gender Affirming Care & More

CA Lawmakers Budget Bonus for Health Care Worker The massive $300 million budget approved by California lawmakers last week has generally been acknowledged as a placeholder that technically meets the June 15 th constitutional deadline for getting a spending plan...
June 03, 2022

Governors Spotlight: Gun Control, Legal Weed, An Opioid Alternative & More

Govs Push Different Directions on Guns If anyone thought another murderous rampage would bring America’s two major political parties together to work on a solution to the nation’s mass shooting epidemic, think again. In the wake of two more horrific...
June 03, 2022

Tech Week: Supreme Court Ruling on TX Social Media Censorship Law, Musk Weighs in on RTO Policies & More

SCOTUS Blocks TX Social Media Censorship Law The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Texas law ( HB 20 ) that would have prohibited online platforms like Facebook and Twitter from censoring content because of that content’s viewpoint. The law was passed in September...
June 03, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Resident Physicians Unionizing, Higher Health Insurance Premiums Possibly Ahead & More

Resident Physicians Unionizing in CA, Other States Resident physicians pushed to the brink during the coronavirus pandemic along with nurses and other healthcare workers, have been unionizing in California and other states to demand better wages, benefits, and...
May 13, 2022

Governors Spotlight: Abortion, $18 Billion Pandemic Relief Plan, Paid Family Leave & More

Govs Take Opposing Sides on Abortion In the wake of a leaked memo indicating the Supreme Court of the United States will soon strike down Roe. V. Wade , red and blue state governors have quickly acted to further solidify their states’ positions on the issue...
May 13, 2022

Tech Week: Loosening of Facial Recognition Bans, Cyber Insurance Alternatives for Local Governments & More

Cities, States Easing Off Facial Recognition Bans In the last few years, roughly a couple of dozen state and local governments have imposed bans on the use of facial recognition technology due to concerns about it being racially biased. But with recent research...
May 13, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Demand Dropping for Traveling Nurses, Decriminalization of Fentanyl Test Strips & More

Tide Turns for Traveling Nurses During the pandemic traveling nurses earned double, even triple what staff nurses did. But with state and federal coronavirus relief now drying up, travel nurse contracts are disappearing, and hospitals across the nation are focusing...
April 29, 2022

Governor's Spotlight: Transgender Sports Measures, Election Police, Teacher Shortages & More

More GOP Govs Sign Transgender Sports Measures Two more Republican governors, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed measures last week intended to prevent transgender girls or women from participating in sports that align with their gender...
April 29, 2022

Tech Week: Twitter Buyout, Cities’ Wait-and-See Approach on Metaverse & More

Twitter Accepts Buyout Offer from Elon Musk Twitter announced last week that its board had accepted the offer from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to buy the company for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion. If the deal receives shareholder and regulatory approval Twitter...
April 29, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Medical Mall Makeovers, CT Mental Health Bill & More

Medical Mall Makeovers on Rise The decline of the American shopping mall over the past decade or so has been a boon for big-city healthcare systems. Healthcare providers now occupy at least some part of 32 enclosed malls across the country, according to a database...
April 15, 2022

Governor's Spotlight: Truck Backlog, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Transgender Bills, Redistricting & More

TX Growers Irate at Gov Over Massive Truck Backlog Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is drawing intense criticism from Lone Star State agricultural interests over an ongoing backlog of commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border caused by his order that each truck coming...
April 15, 2022

Tech Week: Elon Musk’s Twitter Offer, Amazon’s Inflation Fee & More

Elon Musk Makes $43M Offer for Twitter Last Thursday (4/14), a little over a week after it was reported that Elon Musk held a 9.1 percent stake in Twitter, he offered to buy the company for about $43 billion and take it private. Musk said he invested in the...
April 15, 2022

Healthcare Roundup: Healthcare Facility Visitor Access Laws, New Healthcare Workforce Initiative in ME & More

States Mandating Healthcare Facility Visitor Access At least nine states – most recently Florida, on April 6 – have passed laws allowing visitors to healthcare facilities even during a pandemic. Some of the laws, including those passed last year in...
April 01, 2022

Governors Spotlight: Transgender Sports Bans, Threats Against Healthcare Workers, Eviction Moratoriums & More

GOP Govs Split on Transgender Sports Ban A quartet of GOP governors has taken decidedly different tacks of late in addressing bills that bar transgender athletes from competing in school sports teams that align with their gender identity. In late March, Utah...
April 01, 2022

Tech Week: Comcast Thwarting WA Broadband Efforts, Airport Cyberattack in CT & More

Comcast, Telecoms Disrupting Broadband Development in WA Washington’s Public Works Board, one of three bodies in the state that award broadband grants, is considering changing its objection process to require objectors to provide more evidence to support...