Second Iowa Bill Would Allow Guns in School and Employer Parking Lots

New legislation that would allow people in Iowa to have guns and ammunition in their vehicles at schools, colleges, prisons, and workplaces has received preliminary approval from an Iowa Senate subcommittee. Schools and casinos also would be allowed to authorize individuals to carry weapons on the premises or in school vehicles. A similar bill in the Iowa House also was advanced by a subcommittee last week and appears to have broad support for passage. MORE

Armed Services Committee Members Received $5.8 Million From Defense Sector During 2022 Election Cycle

The defense sector steered $18.9 million in campaign contributions to members of Congress last year, according to a new report. Much of that went to members of the committees tasked with crafting the annual defense budget. Virtually all of the top defense contractors avoided making contributions following the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, although they resumed political giving — including to members who voted against certifying the 2020 election results — around the time Congress began work on the annual defense budget a few months later. MORE

Biden Issues Executive Order Aimed at Reducing Gun Violence

President Biden issued an executive order this week that aims to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer. The president discussed his latest efforts at curbing gun violence in a speech from Monterey Park, California. In January, a gunman stormed a dance hall in the community near Los Angeles and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration. MORE

UN Disarmament Official Lays Out Path to Reverse 'Dangerous' Nuclear Trends

The head of the United Nations disarmament division warned last week of the need for urgent global action to eliminate atomic weapons, especially during the current heightened tensions between the United States and Russia—the world's leading nuclear powers—over the latter's thermonuclear threats during its invasion of Ukraine. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu highlighted "five key measures that can be taken" to "reverse current dangerous trends." MORE

How Many Nuclear Weapons Does China Have In 2023?

China is continuing the nuclear weapons modernization program that it initiated in the 1990s and 2000s but is expanding it significantly by fielding more types and greater numbers of nuclear weapons than ever before. The Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project estimates that China’s stockpile now includes roughly 410 nuclear warheads, with more in production. MORE

Australia Expected to Buy Up to 5 Virginia Class Submarines

Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines in the 2030s as part of a landmark defense agreement between Washington, Canberra, and London, four U.S. officials said, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China. To date, no party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) other than the five countries the treaty recognizes as weapons states - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France - has nuclear submarines. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell the Biden Administration Family Detention is Immoral

Recent reports revealed the Biden administration is considering reinitiating family detention as a strategy to deter migrants from seeking refuge. The conditions in detention facilities are abusive, meager, and beyond inappropriate for the healthy development of children and adults. Migrants seeking refuge deserve protection and opportunities. Instead, the administration is considering meeting them with cruelty. Sojourners ask us to join them in telling the White House family detention is not acceptable. TAKE ACTION

Hundreds of Migrants Try to Force Their Way into U.S. at Mexico Border

U.S. officials stopped hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants entering the country from Mexico last weekend after a large group broke through Mexican lines to demand asylum in the U.S., only to be thwarted by barbed wire, barriers, and shields. The migrants are frustrated with problems securing appointments to seek asylum using a new U.S. government app.   MORE

How To Seek Asylum (Under Biden’s Proposed Asylum Transit Ban), In 12 Not-At-All-Easy Steps

The Biden administration recently announced a proposed regulation that would all but eliminate access to asylum for the overwhelming number of asylum seekers who come to the United States via the southwest border. But those “lawful pathways” don’t really exist for many people, and the process they’ll be shunted into instead is tantamount to a near-complete asylum ban. Immigration Impact outlines the complicated procedure. MORE

The Biden Administration Approves the Controversial Willow Drilling Project in Alaska

The Biden administration has approved a massive new oil drilling project in Alaska, over the objections of environmental advocates who have said greenlighting the plan would violate the president's climate goals. It came a day after the administration said it was blocking or limiting drilling elsewhere in the state. The government on Monday approved a scaled-down version of the so-called Willow project, which means the energy firm ConocoPhillips can move ahead with its plans to drill in the National Petroleum Reserve, located on the state's North Slope. MORE

It Would Take Less Than 3% of Big Oil’s Profits to Clean Up Methane Emissions

Oil companies and governments have pledged to slash methane emissions in recent years, but so far have little to show for it. Emissions of this potent greenhouse gas by the fossil fuel industry continued to climb in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency. The group condemned the oil and gas industry for failing to address this problem even as it saw record profits last year. The technology needed to eliminate most methane emissions already exists and would require spending only a tiny percentage of those profits to deploy, the agency said. MORE

One State Generates Much, Much More Renewable Energy Than Any Other—and It’s Not California

A new batch of data about the country’s electricity generation shows the increasing dominance of one state as the clean energy leader. No, it’s not California. This state has produced more gigawatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources than any other state for several years running, thanks largely to wind energy. Now, the state is expanding its lead by continuing to be the county’s leader in wind energy, by a mile, and quickly closing the gap on California on utility-scale solar power. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Urge Transparency in Congress for Guest Workers

A bipartisan group of lawmakers once again introduced the Visa Transparency Anti-Trafficking Act. This common-sense legislation is aimed at the system of temporary work visas, which is poorly designed and rife with trafficking and exploitation. This bill would give researchers, workers, and NGOs more of the information necessary to keep traffickers from gaming the system. Polaris invites us to tell Congress to pass the Visa Transparency Anti-Trafficking Act and fix the system that brings trafficking to our supermarket shelves.  TAKE ACTION

Trafficked Children Are Being Sent to Adult Prison – Here’s How We Stop It

Research shows that most people with experience in the sex trade started when they were minors, wanted a way out, and were harmed by it. Traffickers target young people, often from marginalized communities. They go after youth who are girls (mostly of color), LGBTQ+, in the foster system, survivors of abuse, experiencing economic and housing insecurity, disabled, or any combination of these. All this leaves kids from disadvantaged backgrounds at the greatest risk of being bought and sold for sex, and also with few options for getting help. MORE

Washington State Considers Banning Over-the-Counter Rape Kits

Washington state lawmakers are considering a proposal that would ban the sale of DIY rape kits, which advocates say are, at minimum, confusing the sexual-assault survivors who need professional medical and legal assistance. If enacted into law, it would put Washington among the first states in the country to ban the sale of a product that advocates say misleads survivors of sexual assault about their options. MORE

‘The War Made Him a Monster’: Ukrainian Women Become Victims of Domestic Violence After Husbands Return from Battlefield

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has entered its second year, the trials and tribulations of Ukrainian women, especially the ones whose husbands have been sent to fight the battle, have only seen a rise. Ukrainian women who are able to flee the war are met with a different kind of violence at their homes at the hands of their traumatized soldier husbands. Cases of domestic violence have increased in Ukraine as men return to their families after long spells of being on the battlefield. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Pass the PRO Act

Members of the House and Senate have reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act–H.R. 20) which would make it easier for workers to join unions, a right that has been whittled away by corporate threats and retaliations. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the number of unions in 2022 was at an all-time low. The Progressive Caucus Action Fund urges us to tell Congress to pass this important piece of legislation. TAKE ACTION

Texas Inmates Say ‘Decade After Decade’ of Solitary Confinement Is Torture

Texas prisoners who joined a hunger strike in protest against the state’s widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement have described the damage to inmates’ mental and physical health inflicted by a system they equate with torture. Guadalupe III Constante said that despite having a clean disciplinary record, he has been held in isolation every day since he was convicted of robbery 17 years ago.   MORE

Anibal Canales, Jr. is scheduled to be executed on March 29 by the state of Texas for the murder of Gary Dickerson. Please hold Anibal, Gary, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION

Aaron Gunches is scheduled to be executed on April 6 by the state of Arizona for the murder of Ted Price. Please hold Aaron, Ted, their families, and the people of Arizona in prayer. TAKE ACTION

Louis Gaskin is scheduled to be executed on April 12 by the state of Florida for the murders of Robert and Georgette Sturmfels.  Please hold Louis, Robert, Georgette, their families, and the people of Florida in prayer. TAKE ACTION