News of the Week: Two SoCal GOP congressmen announce retirement
Each week we share articles on subjects that are important to NUHW and its members. Here are several must-read stories over the past seven days:
Two of the seven congressional Republicans from California targeted for defeat this November have decided not to run for re-election, improving the odds that Democrats can pick up both seats. Just one day after Rep. Ed Royce’s announced his retirement, Darryl Issa followed suit, according to CNN.
Last week, Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said the government should bring criminal charges against politicians in sanctuary cities. But Mother Jones reports that legal experts say the law would not be on his side.
Drug overdoses keep soaring east of the Mississippi, but not in California and the rest of the West. Drug overdoses held steady in California. Experts said one reason for that is the Golden State’s more progressive policies toward drug users.
“California has for many decades embraced harm-reduction strategies” that may be limiting drug deaths, said Lindsay LaSalle, a senior staff attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance, in a Kaiser Health News story that was reprinted in the New York Times. These include needle exchanges that provide drug users with information about how to avoid overdoses, and programs that distribute an overdose reversal drug to opiate-dependent people, she said.
As Congressional Democrats and Republicans struggle to agree on a plan to shield thousands of young immigrants from deportation, the Trump Administration announced Monday that nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador who have been allowed to live in the United States for more than a decade must leave the country.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/08/trump-end-salvadorans-protected-status-327570?lo=ap_b1