Undocumented immigrants could have a new pathway to the American dream of owning a home. Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) introduced Assembly Bill 1840 last month to expand the eligibility requirement for a state loan program to clarify that loans for first-time buyers are available to undocumented immigrants. The California Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loans program that launched last March by the California Housing Finance Agency offered qualified first-time home buyers with a loan worth up to 20% of the purchase price of a house or condominium. The loans don't accrue interest or require monthly payments. Instead, when the mortgage is refinanced or the house is sold again, the borrower pays back the original amount of the loan plus 20% of the increase in the home's value. read more
People who test positive for Covid-19 no longer need to routinely stay away from others for at least five days, according to new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued Friday. read more
A 20-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, alleging that his race is listed as Caucasian in his personnel file, but he "currently identifies as Egyptian and African American." Mohammad Yusuf, 43, claims that the department only offered Caucasian, Black, and Hispanic as race designations when he joined the force in 2004, so he chose "Caucasian." But the department now allows incoming officers to choose from "over nine" different racial designations, the lawsuit says. The police department has a "blanket prohibition" against changing an officer's race in its records. Yet, it allows officers to "have their gender identity corrected to match their lived experience," Yusuf's suit claims. read more
Dozens of Chicago students gathered outside the Board of Education president's house in the summer of 2020 calling on the school board to end its contract with the Chicago Police Department that day. In a close and controversial vote, the board opted to keep police in schools. Four years later, some of those same kids have since graduated from Chicago Public Schools but were back at the district's downtown headquarters celebrating what they viewed as a mission accomplished. The Board of Education voted Thursday to remove dozens of uniformed police officers from 39 high schools that still have them and, in a separate vote, to drop janitorial giant Aramark as the district's cleaning provider. read more
The Teamsters union's political action committee donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee's convention fund in January, according to federal election commission disclosures, but an RNC official told NBC News that "we haven't received any contribution." The Teamsters PAC's donations overwhelmingly go toward Democrats, but the $45,000 donation would be the first significant donation to the RNC in years. The fund is specifically designated for the convention rather than general usage. The donation to the RNC was made on Jan. 25, according to an FEC filing. Trump met with the Teamsters Union days later. Trump had previously met in early January with Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien, the union posted on X. The union backed President Biden in the 2020 election.
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