A California state senator wants to give citizens easier access to drugs to improve equity in the criminal justice system. Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco has proposed one bill to end mandatory prison time for nonviolent drug crimes.

In 2009, Matt Price was 23 and had recently moved to Austin when a friend asked him to help coach the baseball team at Reagan High School, an academically failing school where Price found discouraged players and a ballfield full of weeds and potholes. 

The baseball team told him they had nowhere to play during the summer, so Price and a friend organized a summer team. In the process, they built relationships with the players—many of whom had no fathers at home—and talked about the gospel.

The idea of raising the minimum wage is gaining steam in the United States. Twenty states increased their minimum wage at the start of this year—at least by $0.08 and at most by $1.50. President Joe Biden’s proposed COVID-19 legislation increases the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. But some economists warn that the move will backfire, leaving fewer jobs and smothering the small businesses that have survived the pandemic thus far.

Two and a half years after courts ordered an end to family separations at the U.S. southern border, advocates are still searching for more than 500 missing parents whose children are in the United States.

Congress’ most recent coronavirus stimulus legislation accomplished one of criminal justice reform advocates’ major goals: restoring Pell Grants to prisoners.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, California has made unemployment payments to more than 20,000 ineligible prisoners, with $42 million going to inmates in other states. In December, the state Employment Development Department estimated fraud consumed $4 billion of the state’s pandemic relief money.

Congress’ new defense spending bill shrank a controversial program that provides military weapons to police departments. On Jan. 1, Congress overrode President Donald Trump’s veto to pass the $731 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill, which funds troop levels and purchases of military equipment, included new restrictions on the Defense Department’s 1033 program, which drew criticism during this past summer’s protests against police brutality.