On August 3, voters in Ohio's 15th CD will head to the polls to nominate candidates in the November 2 special election to succeed former NRCC Chair and GOP Rep. Steve Stivers, who resigned May 16 to lead the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. And, the critical GOP primary has turned into a proxy war between former president Trump and Stivers, a moderate who voted to certify President Biden's win.

Most members of Congress crave political security, and Terri Sewell has it. For more than a decade, she’s represented Alabama’s Seventh District, a 61 percent Black hodgepodge that awkwardly links the bustling cities of Birmingham and Montgomery via the sprawling, agriculturally rich Black Belt (named for the region’s dark topsoil), where more than a quarter of residents still live below the federal poverty line. The Seventh has never given her less than 72 percent of the vote.

By Will Andronico Jr. and Nyah Jordan Boston University News Service Will Andronico Jr. and Nyah Jordan examine the contents of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in the first of a two-part series.

Texas is still reeling from one of the worst winter storms in state history, nearly two weeks after the storm began. Winter Storm Uri brought power outages and below-freezing temperatures to Texans already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. At its peak, over 4 million people were without power in the Lone Star State. Dallas and Fort Worth were among the hardest-hit cities, with the National Weather Service reporting an overall low of minus 2 degrees for the area, breaking a 118-year-old re

Two teachers unions and the Boston City Council are pushing for educators to be higher on the prioritization list for the COVID-19 vaccine. This push from educators comes as a number of teachers are being required to work in-person. On Jan. 4, Massachusetts modified their priority list for the vaccine, causing The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts (AFTM) and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) to speak out against Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision to change the COVID-19 vaccin

Cambridge resident Norma Barrett, a parent of a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, has found it difficult to balance her full-time job while also ensuring her children are focused on school. While her youngest child’s daycare is now open seven hours a day, her son is attending school in a hybrid model. With Cambridge schools open for virtual and hybrid learning, families are struggling to maintain a normal routine while adapting to their new lifestyles. Until Oct. 13, all Cambridge schools were fully remote. Now in-person options are being offered in preschool through third grade, with capacity limits in second and third grades.

Boston University installed free menstrual product dispensers over the summer in six buildings on the Charles River Campus as part of a menstrual products pilot program first proposed to the university more than three years ago. The pilot was first proposed to the BU student government by Senate alumnus Nehemiah Dureus and College of Arts and Sciences senior Hayley Gambon in fall 2018. The initiative earned preliminary support from Senate and in spring 2019 a semester-long SG pilot program bega

Starting in the fall of 2020, Boston University’s new financial aid program, affordableBU, will be available to incoming freshmen. The expanded financial aid will be given to domestic students and will meet 100 percent of the calculated needs of admitted students. After considering a student’s FAFSA and CSS profile, BU will determine what a student’s family has the ability to pay. From there, students can receive varying financial aid packages ranging from scholarships, work-study, and low-inte

Being optimistic can increase one’s lifespan, according to a study led by a researcher from Boston University published by the National Academy of Sciences on Aug. 26. Lewina Lee, an assistant professor at BU, and Avron Spiro III, a research professor at BU, along with Peter James, Emily Zevon, Eric Kim, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Francine Grodstein and Laura Kubzansky of Harvard University found that optimism can expand your life to the age of 85 or higher.

During Boston University’s Spring semester, drilling noises have filled Bay State Road, caused by drilling for test wells for the new Data Science Center. BU spokesperson Colin Riley said that the school tries to have open communication with the construction crews that are working on campus. “One constant in the city of Boston is that work crews can show up and begin doing scheduled work and sometimes unscheduled work.” Riley said. Riley said that BU is drilling near Bay State in order to cre

The Boston City Council passed a new resolution with a 9-3 vote last week to support the Green New Deal, a package of proposed federal climate policies. The Green New Deal includes a plan to help the environment by switching to all-renewable energy usage in the United States over the next decade and providing support to working-class families and people of color who are often most affected by climate disasters. Under the proposed plan, by 2030, the federal government would use 100 percent clea

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced Friday that $20.6 million will be allocated for housing in the city’s 2020 fiscal year budget, an increase of 45 percent over the amount given last year. The funds are, according to a City press release, aimed at expanding access to affordable housing and combating homelessness in Boston. About a quarter of the proposed funds, or $5 million, will be generated as Boston implements the state’s new Room Occupancy Excise Law — which levies an increased 6.5 percen

Yawkey Station, the MBTA commuter rail stop near Fenway Park, is undergoing a name change to Lansdowne Station. The renaming, announced Thursday by the transportation agency, comes about a year after the renaming of Yawkey Way to Jersey Street. The name change will go into effect April 8, a day before the Red Sox’s first home game at Fenway Park, according to a press release from the T. Yawkey Way and Yawkey Station were named after Tom Yawkey, a late former owner of the Red Sox who is a contr

The Boston City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday that brings Boston closer to allowing electric scooters on its streets. The ordinance established regulations for scooter companies such as Lime and Bird and guidelines for a flexible licensing structure. Brookline will begin an e-scooter pilot program Monday morning, with Bird and Lime deploying 200 total vehicles across the city, according to MassLive. Under state law, e-scooters are not fully legal in Massachusetts. State law

Climate change has contributed to catastrophic losses of our natural surroundings, but during a pandemic, climate change contributes to environmental loss as well as the spread of the coronavirus. While scientists have not directly suggested that climate change has played a role in spreading COVID-19, the pandemic has exacerbated the outbreak through increased human and animal interaction that does not typically happen. The virus will continue to thrive without human intervention.

Environmental injustice is so ingrained into American life that it’s just as normal as the air we breathe. In 2020 alone, and continuing to allow the other thirty-four rollbacks, which includes revoking California’s power to set stricter tailpipe emission standards and loosening standards for toxic emissions for major industrial polluters.