AL Political Reporter: “A committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference ruled last week that U.S. Circuit Court Judge Bill Pryor and U.S. District Court Judge Corey Maze – both of Alabama – should be investigated for their decisions to hire a law clerk who made overtly racist comments in her past.  The Committee on Judicial…

NY Times: “The breadth, speed and seriousness of the criminal investigation into election meddling by former President Donald J. Trump and his associates in Georgia were underscored on Friday by the revelation that two pro-Trump state senators and the chair of the state Republican Party were sent letters by an Atlanta prosecutor informing them they…

AL Political Reporter: “The Alabama Democratic Party will select a new chair and officers of the state committee at an organizational meeting in Birmingham in less than a month. Rep. Chris England, Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, informed newly elected and at-large members of the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) that the 2022 organizational…

NC Policy Watch: “UNC-Chapel Hill has reached a settlement with acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones over the failed attempt to hire the her last year, avoiding a potential lawsuit. Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of the best-selling 1619 Project, was courted by the university’s journalism school for a Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Policy Watch…

Political Wire: ““Mississippi’s top legal official has no plan to prosecute the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, an aide said Friday following revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman,” the AP reports.”

Sun Herald: “Attorneys are wrangling Mississippi’s former governor into the welfare department’s massive civil lawsuit, which one attorney called a “no-holds-barred death match.” The attorney for the state agency is subpoenaing the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for any of its communication with former Gov. Phil Bryant and his wife Deborah Bryant. The Mississippi…

WUNC: “The North Carolina state employee health plan will resume coverage of gender affirming treatments for transgender employees, the state treasurer said Wednesday, complying with a recent federal court ruling that declared the refusal of coverage unconstitutional. State Treasurer Dale Folwell and the State Health Plan Board of Trustees agreed to reinstate coverage of “medically necessary services”…

CNBC: “Texas on Thursday asked a federal court to block the Biden administration’s requirement that physicians and hospitals provide abortions in medical emergencies. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, argued that federal law does not confer a right to an abortion….

AP: “Sentencing for a former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a probe of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has been set for December, as his lawyer indicated that his client continues to cooperate with federal investigators in multiple jurisdictions. After several postponements, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg will be sentenced on Dec….

NC Policy Watch: “More than 7,000 people wrote the State Board of Elections with their thoughts on the state Republican Party request to allow county elections officials to verify mail-in ballots by matching ballot signatures with those on voter registration documents. Most commenters opposed allowing local elections officials to use signature matching, with hundreds of…