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Booker says he will ask Amy Coney Barrett if she will recuse herself from presidential election-related cases
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Sunday that he would meet with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump ’s Supreme Court nominee, and would ask her whether she was willing to recuse herself from cases relating to the 20
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman to lie in state in the US Capitol. Here's who else made history
(CNN) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is still making history, even after her death. Ginsburg, who died last Friday due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer, will become the first woman to lie in
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Trump says "fake news" about New York Times report that he paid $750 in federal income taxes while in office
President Trump took to the podium Sunday hours after a bombshell New York Times report alleged he only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2017, the year he took office. Mr. Trump insisted the report was 'fake news' an
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Trump mocks virus as he launches potential superspreader sprint to win reelection
(CNN) — Donald Trump on Monday launched a three-week quest to save his presidency, behaving as though the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans was already a memory in front of a packed-in crowd -- even amid chilling new warnings about the resurgent virus. In his first rally since his...Mitch McConnellRepublicanCoronavirus Disease 2019Social DistancingElection DayPandemicDemocratic Party (United States)Patient Protection And Affordable Care ActUnited States Senate Committee On The JudiciaryTrump CampaignPresidential CampaignGOP PollsPresidential PollsCapitol HillTrump 's Supreme CourtDonald TrumpJoe BidenMitch McconnellAnthony FauciHillary ClintonJake TapperLindsey GrahamErin BurnettJaime HarrisonJoni ErnstEzekiel EmanuelAmy Coney BarrettRead Full Story
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Trump's demands run into McConnell's maneuvers
(CNN) — In the weirdest of twists at the end of his presidency, President Donald Trump is now in league with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders over $2,000 Covid-19 relief checks, doing battle with Republican leaders over Pentagon policy and warning the political party he overtook and remade in his own image could soon be dead. Strange days at the end of the Trump era. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a solution to anger both Democrats and Trump. It's an elegant form of political chess and a cynical form of governance that will both maintain the status quo of $600 relief checks and dispatch Trump's other demands, leaving the President with nothing to show for his recent tweets.The standoff over coronavirus relief checks entered a new phase when a bill that passed through the House with mostly Democratic support landed in the GOP-controlled Senate. Most House Republicans opposed it and others, like Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, perhaps unwilling to choose between their mercurial leader and the concerns about profligate spending they'll be dusting off as soon as he leaves office, skipped the House vote altogether."Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2,000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH!" Trump said on Twitter shortly after McConnell blocked consideration of the more generous House proposal Democrats sent him.McConnell is primed to tie the $2,000 relief check proposal, which could pass, with Trump's unrelated demand to strip tech companies of some liability protection -- a forced marriage of policies that have nothing to do with each other besides Trump's interest that could ensure both measures die in the Senate.New interest in doing 'the right thing'That Trump's now concerned with doing "the right thing" on the Covid relief checks after months of downplaying the pandemic has certainly changed political momentum. Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, running for their political lives before twin January 5 runoff elections in Georgia, have both now endorsed the idea of larger checks, matching their Democratic challengers.Trump plans to visit Georgia and campaign for Loeffler and Perdue. And Loeffler, at least, said she'll vote any way Trump wants."I've stood by the President 100% of the time, I'm proud to do that and I've said absolutely, we need to get relief to Americans now, and I will support that," she told reporters during a campaign stop Tuesday.Rediscovering the debtThe contours of those races mean everything to McConnell, who very much wants to stay majority leader, but to do so needs Republicans to win at least one race to retain a 51-seat majority in the chamber.McConnell's also got to contend with the larger number of Republicans in the Senate who will oppose them.Sen. Pat Toomey, the budget-conscious Pennsylvania Republican, told CNN's Jake Tapper Tuesday that larger checks would add to the national debt and send help to Americans who don't need it. The country's economic problems, he argued, demand more focused relief."We've got very acute problems within certain employment groups, right? People who work for restaurants and hotels and travel and entertainment -- devastated," he said. "But we do not have a global macroeconomic depression underway at all. So it makes no sense to be sending this out to everybody who has a pulse."The Democratic retort to the deficit argument is simple: Why now and why not when Trump was pushing tax cuts?"Senate Republicans added nearly 2 trillion to deficits to give corporations a massive tax cut," Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Tuesday. "So I don't want to hear it that it costs too much to help working families getting a check when they're struggling to keep their jobs and pay their family families and live a normal life."How we got to $600 checksClearly Republicans will have to square their concerns about deficit spending with their support for the populist outgoing President who cares mostly about himself.Former Rep. Mia Love, a CNN analyst, said she does not envy the choice Republicans will have to make. "They have got to decide whether they're going to get back to the fiscally disciplined Republican Party, whether they're going to continue to follow the President. I do not see any win-win for them to continue to follow the President at all costs," Love said Tuesday.In fact, it was only after months of negotiations led by Trump's Treasury secretary that Republicans and Democrats agreed on the $600 payments for many Americans that the President signed into law on Sunday.McConnell, while he notably did not promise a vote on the larger checks, said the Senate would consider the matter in some way this week, along with Trump's calls to undo what's known as "Section 230," a piece of US telecommunications law that shields big tech companies from some lawsuits.Watch the clockWhat McConnell did promise is a vote Wednesday to override Trump's veto of the annual bill that authorizes Pentagon policy, although Sen. Bernie Sanders has indicated he'll try to hold up that defense bill without a vote on the larger checks, putting him and Trump strangely in league on that one issue. Trump wanted to tie that defense bill to the tech company issue. Now McConnell will tie it to the relief checks instead. Time could be on McConnell's side since this Congress ends on January 5. If the Senate can't or won't act by then, all these measures would need new votes.McConnell's solution may not satisfy Trump, who's already been described as moody during a winter holiday at Mar a Lago, despite golfing every day. Sources told CNN's Kate Bennett the President is angry about cosmetic changes to the comparatively small digs he'll soon call home, and wondering why there aren't more world leaders and VIPs angling to call on him as he nears the end of his administration.He can look to one piece of good news for his ego. Defeat at the polls didn't keep him from becoming the most admired man in America for the first time, according to an annual Gallup survey released Tuesday. It has, for years, been Barack Obama, Trump's predecessor, whose wife Michelle, is still the most admired woman. Gallup noted Republicans were united behind Trump in the poll, while Democrats were split behind Obama, President-elect Joe Biden, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.Biden and Fauci will soon be working together and the President-elect on Tuesday announced his plan to ramp up distribution of vaccines as the US falls behind schedule in deploying millions of doses to Americans around the country. That'll change when he takes office, Biden promised, promising to "move heaven and Earth.""This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation," he said. "But we're going to get it done. But it's going to take a vast new effort that's not yet underway."Senate RepublicansPoliticsRepublican LeadersDemocratsCNNPentagonHouseDemocraticASAPTwitterCovidAmericansRepublican PartyCongressGOP-controlled SenateMitch McconnellDonald TrumpNancy PelosiChuck SchumerBernie SandersKelly LoefflerDavid PerduePat ToomeyJake TapperMia LoveJoe BidenAnthony FauciBarack Obama
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2020 Daily Trail Markers: Senate Democratic hopefuls are raising serious cash. They're also spending it.
Democratic Senate hopeful Jaime Harrison of South Carolina raised $57 million between July and September. Sara Gideon in Maine raised more than $39 million in that same period. And Mark Kelly in Arizona brought in $38.7 million. These eye-popping numbers shattered the previous record for fundraising, Beto O'Rourke's $38 million cash haul in the third quarter of 2018. Now the Democrats are spending that money in the face of massive Republican super PAC funds, report CBS News political unit associate producers Sarah Ewall-Wice and Eleanor Watson. And it's left many Republican candidates with more cash on hand than the Democrats in the final weeks of the race. In South Carolina, where the Senate race is unexpectedly tight, Harrison's $57 million in three months was more than double what Republican incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham raised with $28 million, a state record for a Republican. Records show from July through September, Harrison spent more than $55 million. According to his October FEC filing, Harrison paid AL Media LLC more than $42 million over three months for TV, radio and digital advertising. He also spent another $6.5 million for digital advertising and services to Mothership Strategies, and $2 million to Blueprint Strategy LLC for radio and billboard advertising. $641,000 went to 'direct mailing services.' That amounts to more than $51 million spent on ads and direct mail alone. But after being outraised roughly 2 to 1, Graham's operating expenses covered about half of what he raised, $26.5 million and another $1.75 million was transferred to the state Republican party. In their pre-general election filings, Harrison raised another $22 million in just 14 days from October 1 through 14, but ended the period with just $3.5 million cash on hand. Graham raised less than half of that but had $7.3 million as of October 14.Read Full Story Democratic SenateBeto O'RourkeSouth CarolinaCBS NewsMaineIndianaRepublicansGOP VotersThe SenateCongressPAC ATTACK Pro-BidenRNCDFL -RRB- PartyMothership StrategiesTexas Supreme CourtJaime HarrisonBeto O'rourkeDonald TrumpJoe BidenMark KellyLindsey GrahamMitch McconnellDebra ToddKendra HornJocelyn BensonGina Ortiz JonesBill StepienSara GideonBernie SandersAdamKathy BoockvarJim HagedornTina SmithDan FeehanMike PenceStephanie BiceGreg AbbottKaren PenceWill HurdAmy Klobuchar
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POLITICO Playbook: Trump will introduce ACB for RBG’s seat
HAPPY SATURDAY. ONE WEEK AND ONE DAY AGO, RUTH BADER GINSBURG died. NOW, WE ARE 38 DAYS from Election Day, and at 5 p.m. today, President DONALD TRUMP will introduce AMY CONEY BARRETT as his nominee for the Supreme Court
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Tight races in Georgia and North Carolina, while Supreme Court is another factor — Battleground Tracker
Voters say the Supreme Court vacancy has added to the already high stakes of the presidential election. In the battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina, most say it makes the election feel even more important — it's
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The Latest: SKorea’s virus surge could bring more measures
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea has reported 386 new cases of the coronavirus, its fourth straight day of over 300, a viral resurgence that could force authorities to reimpose stronger social distancing restrictions after easing them in October to spur a faltering economy.The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday brought the national caseload to 30,403, including 503 deaths.More than 270 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where health workers have struggled to track transmissions tied to various places and groups, including schools, private tutoring academies, and religious facilities.Officials eased social distancing measures to the lowest level in October, which allowed high-risk venues such as nightclubs and karaoke bars to reopen and fans to return to professional sports.But the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases said in a statement on Friday that the country could be reporting more than 1,000 new infections a day in a week or two if the government fails to effectively strengthen its social distancing measures.___HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:— Pfizer asks U.S. regulators for emergency use of vaccine candidate— What does emergency use for a potential COVID-19 vaccine mean?— India’s total number of coronavirus cases crosses 9 million, daily numbers declining— Mexico tops 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, 4th country to reach milestone— Health experts clash over use of certain drugs for COVID-19 treatment___Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak___HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday announced $135 million in grants and loans to help businesses and workers hurt by new restrictions he imposed through mid-December.Inslee said that businesses would be able to apply for the assistance to help blunt the impact of restrictions that took effect this week, including the closure of fitness facilities and gyms, bowling centers and movie theaters, and the requirement that restaurants and bars to be limited to to-go service and outdoor dining. The economic package also includes $20 million in rental assistance and $15 million in utility payment assistance for those with low income. All of the funding is part of federal coronavirus outbreak assistance funds distributed to states.___CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has announced new limits on indoor and outdoor public gatherings. But he has not implemented a statewide mask mandate as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the state. The Republican governor and state health officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said Thursday that public gatherings will be limited to 25 people or fewer without restrictions. Indoor gatherings will be limited to 25% capacity, and outdoor gatherings will be limited to 50%. The new order goes into effect Nov. 24. No statewide mask mandate was approved, though nearly all of the county health officers have called for one as virus cases, hospitalizations and deaths have substantially increased in recent weeks.___AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has surpassed 8,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients for the first time since a deadly summer surge, and doctors are amplifying pleas to keep Thanksgiving gatherings small.Texas reported more than 11,700 new cases Friday, once again approaching record highs. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ruled out shutdowns and says cities and counties need to enforce restrictions already on the books, including occupancy limits and face coverings.The Texas Hospital Association is now appealing for families to keep holiday gatherings “very small” as doctors and nurses struggle to keep up with rising caseloads. The group says staff are “tired and emotionally drained” and worried about the health of their own families.___NEW YORK -- Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato has been hospitalized with COVID-19.The New York Post reported Friday that the New York Republican was being treated at a Long Island hospital.“I’m weak but I feel good,” the 83-year-old told the newspaper in a phone interview. He said he had a light fever and congestion.D’Amato said he started feeling unwell late last week, and didn’t know where he had gotten exposed to the virus. He said he had been mainly working from home, where he lives alone.D’Amato served as one of the state’s senators in Congress from 1981 to 1999.___LOUISVILLE, Kentucky -- Kentucky reported 3,825 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 20 more virus-related deaths Friday, as new restrictions went into effect aiming to slow the virus’s spread. “Remember, your decisions are going to be what determines how many people live or die. Do your part,” Gov. Andy Beshear said, urging Kentuckians to follow the new requirements. Starting Friday, private indoor gatherings are limited to two households, with a maximum of eight people. For roughly three weeks, bars and restaurants must close indoor dining, though they are permitted to continue curbside pickup, delivery and outdoor dining services. Event venue capacity is limited to 25 people. Gym capacity is lowered to 33%, and group classes, team practices and competitions are prohibited. Beshear has also encouraged houses of worship to refrain from in-person services. ___DETROIT — A judge on Friday declined to halt a three-week ban on indoor dining in Michigan that is one of the most recent coronavirus restrictions imposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration.The state health department, meanwhile, reported a new daily high of confirmed COVID-19 cases, 9,779, and 53 additional deaths as the virus continued to spike.In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo said a restraining order halting the indoor dining ban wouldn’t be appropriate, especially when the state hasn’t had a chance to respond to the lawsuit.The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association, which has thousands of members, is suing to try to stop the indoor dining ban that began Wednesday. The group said restaurants can take further steps to reduce coronavirus risk without cutting off customers.The group said its members were being unfairly treated compared to other businesses. The judge, however, wasn’t swayed. “Individuals who patronize the businesses that remain open can do so — and must do so — while wearing a face covering. ... In contrast, individuals cannot eat or drink while wearing a mask,” Maloney said.Maloney scheduled the next hearing for Nov. 30, nearly two weeks into the three-week ban.___TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is including movie theaters among the businesses to receive aid as the state gets close to wrapping up its distribution of federal coronavirus relief funds.Legislative leaders signed off Friday on a proposal from Gov. Laura Kelly’s pandemic recovery office to allocate $38.5 million in federal relief funds. The state received $1.25 billion and must spend the dollars by the end of the year.The proposal called for distributing $20 million for aid to businesses that have struggled because of restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic and $18.5 million on public health.The funds for businesses include $5 million specifically for movie theaters, to be distributed $10,000 per screen. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican, received assurances during the meeting of legislative leaders with Kelly that one- or two-screen theaters in small towns will be eligible.___SKOPJE, North Macedonia — North Macedonia has declared its first-ever nationwide state of emergency, allowing authorities to more easily use the armed forces as well as private resources to fight the pandemic.The 30-day order, the first of its kind since the Balkan nation became independent in 1991, will take effect Saturday and was imposed after COVID-19 treatment capacity reached its limit.The army will be used to help civilian authorities transport patients and build field hospitals.Government-imposed restrictions have so far failed to curb a rise in infection rates. A total of 1,462 people have died in the landlocked country of around 2 million people from the pandemic — with 39 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours and an estimated 20,000 cases still active.___TORONTO — Canada’s largest city is going back on lockdown. The province of Ontario announced Friday Toronto and the surrounding Peel Region will go into lockdown on Monday. Premier Doug Ford and health officials say they won’t allow indoor organized events or social gatherings except for members of the same household. Restaurants and bars will only be allowed to offer takeout and delivery. Retail will only be open for curbside pickup or delivery except for big box stores. The stricter measures come as Ontario reports 1,418 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, including 393 in Toronto and 400 new cases in Peel Region. Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says Ontario flattened the epidemic curve before and he’s confident it can be done again.___RALEGH, N.C. — North Carolina on Friday reported its fourth consecutive day of more than 1,500 people hospitalized for the coronavirus. Nearly 3,700 new positive cases were confirmed Friday.North Carolina has seen a substantial increase in the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive. More than 9% of tests came back positive on Monday, and the state has had a positivity rate around 8% over the last two weeks. This is far from the state’s aim to see less than 5% of tests coming back positive.Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said on Friday that North Carolina will soon ramp up efforts to get more residents to download a contact tracing mobile application ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.Cohen noted a couple of smaller hospitals in the state have “seen stretch in their capacity” but are staying afloat as other hospitals with more beds reduce strain.___PHOENIX — Four Democratic mayors called on Republican Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday to institute a statewide requirement for Arizona residents to wear masks in public, a move that came as state health officials reported over 4,000 additional known COVID-19 cases for the second consecutive day.They accused the governor of failing to provide leadership in the state’s battle against a new surge of the coronavirus.Ducey Chief of Staff Daniel Scarpinato pushed back on the request, noting that the mayors were doing little to enforce their own mask ordinances or ensure that existing safety measures put in place by the governor are being enforced.Ducey said at a news conference Wednesday that he would not impose a statewide order because 90% of the population is already under county and city mandates that he allowed them to implement in June.The state Department of Health Services reported 4,471 new confirmed cases and 43 additional deaths. That increased the state’s totals to 291,696 cases and 6,427 deaths.___PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon has reported a record number of coronavirus cases Friday, with hospitalizations at their highest since the pandemic began. Officials say the state hit a daily record of 1,306 COVID-19 cases, and 414 people are hospitalized. Nearly three dozen current and incoming Oregon lawmakers have sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Kate Brown demanding an immediate increase in COVID-19 testing statewide as case numbers spike. The letter sent earlier this week emphasizes that California and Washington outrank Oregon in testing but Oregon’s test positivity rate — the percentage of tests that are positive — is much higher. Brown has not responded to the bipartisan letter.___BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana will run out of federal coronavirus money before it pays out grants to all eligible small businesses and local government agencies seeking dollars from COVID-19 aid programs.Officials running the programs told the House and Senate budget committee Friday they received more applications than the dollars allocated by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and lawmakers.The money comes from direct coronavirus aid that Louisiana received from Congress. Lawmakers earmarked nearly $525 million to reimburse local government agencies’ virus-related expenses. They steered another $260 million to small business grants.The Edwards administration says it has $431 million in outstanding, eligible reimbursement applications from local governments that it can’t pay. The treasurer’s office says it has thousands of business applications it can’t fulfill in that grant program.___NEW YORK — The coronavirus surge is taking an increasingly dire toll across the United States a week before the Thanksgiving holiday. The U.S. is now averaging more than 1,300 COVID-19 deaths per day — the highest since the calamitous spring in New York City. On Thursday, the nation hit a record of nearly 188,000 coronavirus cases. The number of people in the hospital with coronavirus reached an all-time high at more than 80,000.Health experts are concerned Thanksgiving travel and holiday gatherings will fuel the spread of the virus. Many states and cities are imposing near-lockdowns or other restrictions. California ordered a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, covering 94% of the state’s 40 million residents. New York City closed its schools on Thursday. Total confirmed infections in the U.S. have eclipsed 11.7 million. There have been more than 252,000 confirmed deaths. Both categories lead the world. ___LONDON — The British government says it has asked the country’s medicines regulator to begin assessing a vaccine for COVID-19. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency had begun receiving data from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech about their vaccine, one of several in development.Hancock says if approved, vaccination of the U.K. population could begin in December “with the bulk of the rollout in the new year.”He says vaccination will be done in stages, starting with the elderly and most vulnerable. The vaccine will be delivered by doctors and pharmacists, in hospitals and at specially built vaccination centers.Hancock says vaccinating the entire population would be a “massive logistical challenge” but the National Health Service was up to the task.___BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota has surpassed 70,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. The Department of Health reported 1,408 news cases Friday and 23 more deaths. The latest deaths bring the total to 818, in age ranges from 50s to 100s. The department reported 13 new coronavirus hospitalizations Friday for a total of 289.There were seven ICU beds and 187 inpatient beds available in North Dakota, according to state data. ___OMAHA, Neb. — More Nebraska cities are making moves to require masks in public as the coronavirus outbreak worsens and hospitalizations reached a record high. Nebraska set a record of 983 hospitalizations across the state on Thursday, five more than the day before.The Omaha suburbs of Bellevue, Papillion, Ralston, Gretna and La Vista are considering masks in public, the Omaha World-Herald reported. This week, the cities of Beatrice and Kearney passed mask mandates. Grand Island will consider it next week. Nebraska has the fifth-highest rate of infection in the country. Over the past week, one out of every 115 people in the state was diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.On Thursday, 2,663 registered cases raised the statewide total to 109,280. There were 28 more deaths, bringing the total to 854.SkoreaNational Health ServiceThanksgiving TravelPublic HealthOntarioUnited StatesSouth KoreaInfection ControlInfectionsIncreased RiskDisease ControlSKoreaPfizerAPThe New York PostJay InsleeMark GordonGreg AbbottAndy BeshearGretchen WhitmerTroy WaymasterMatt HancockKate BrownLaura KellyJohn Bel EdwardsDoug DuceyDoug Ford
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Louisiana considering law changes after BB gun suspension
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana lawmakers are working to rewrite the state’s student discipline laws after a Jefferson Parish fourth-grader was suspended because a teacher saw a BB gun in his bedroom during online classes held amid the coronavirus pandemic.The Senate Education Committee backed the legislation without objection Monday, sending the bill by Rep. Troy Romero to the full Senate for debate. The House already has unanimously supported the measure by the Jennings Republican, which was sparked by the suspension of Ka’Mauri Harrison.Harrison, 9, was suspended in September for six days for violating a school policy banning weapons on school property and at school events after a teacher saw the gun in his room as he took a test via computer. Initially, Harrison was recommended for expulsion, though that later was changed to a suspension.The boy from Harvey has attended the hearings and votes on the legislation, and spoke Monday. The law, if passed during the ongoing special session, would be named after Harrison.“Thank you for helping kids my age and kids like me,” Harrison told senators.His father, Nyron Harrison, said his son’s brother tripped over the gun and Ka’Mauri picked it up briefly while visible on camera to move the gun. “I just felt like my home was totally invaded, once they told me he was taking his test and doing what he was supposed to do,” Nyron Harrison said.Romero’s bill would give students and their families more options to appeal disciplinary decisions such as expulsions that are reduced to suspensions, including filing some challenges in district court. It would require the state’s public school districts to clearly define the rules of conduct for students who are taking classes online, rather than in person. “If we just give everybody the rules, they can learn to follow them,” Romero said.Students like Harrison who were suspended or expelled for activities during online courses during the coronavirus outbreak this year would be entitled to a school board hearing and judicial review of those disciplinary actions.“This is a very good bill because it addresses a problem that none of us really anticipated,” said Liz Murrill, with the Louisiana attorney general’s office, testifying in support of the bill. “I don’t think anyone contemplated that all of the on-campus policies would apply to your home.”Louisiana’s school superintendents organization and the Jefferson Parish School System opposed the proposal. Jennifer Ansardi, representing the parish school system, said the system was concerned the measure creates new paths for legal action and damage awards against schools. “If you decide to clarify the law and do these types of things, please don’t penalize those that were operating” with the existing policies that had been in place, Ansardi said.Senators said people have privacy rights that apply to their homes that don’t apply to public school facilities.“This thing should never have made it to this point,” said Sen. Kirk Talbot, a Jefferson Parish Republican.Murrill said the attorney general’s office has found at least three instances where students have been recommended for expulsion because of BB guns in the home, visible during online classes. Harrison’s suspension has drawn criticism from people and groups across the political spectrum, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association. Harrison’s family is suing the Jefferson Parish school system.___The bill is filed as House Bill 83.___Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatteEducational TechnologyLegislationBaton RougeGun LawsState LawLaw SchoolHouse Bill 83APKa'Mauri HarrisonJennifer AnsardiMelinda DeslatteLiz MurrillHarveyNyron HarrisonBB GunsKirk Talbot