Just as students are getting back into the swing of things post winter break, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 67 recipients of the EPA’s first Clean School Bus Program’s Grants Competition. The awards were possible thanks to President Joe Biden’s Investing in America initiative, and will allow for more than 2,700 school buses in 280 school districts serving over seven million students.

“It’s an exciting day for us to be able to announce this $1 billion, which will be a shot in the arm to get clean school buses to every community, sooner, rather than later,” Michael Regan, Director of the EPA, tells Parents.

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks to grow and improve maternal and infant health by connecting more people to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, outreach has been stymied by a Congress that keeps kicking the funding can down the road in six-week increments.

“We’re in a bit of a dilemma where it’s difficult to grow if you don’t have the additional funds,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean to the Emerald. “Congress has given us the ability to spend more of last year’s money in the early part of the year, and that’s been very helpful. All states have the resources they need. But we can’t do that forever because we’re going to run out.”

Right now, Congress is vastly divided over a plan to fund the government. And if lawmakers can't get their acts together, the government could shut down this weekend.

The Senate reached a stopgap spending agreement late Tuesday afternoon that would keep government agencies open through November 17. The short-term bill would fund the government at present levels, but it remains to be seen if it will pass through both a Senate amendment process and a contentious House by the time the deadline hits—this Saturday at midnight.

Democrats and Republicans in the House meanwhile are even farther apart in their own effort to come up with a temporary spending bill.

If a shutdown occurs this weekend or is kicked down the road a month from now, parents will feel a strain that many have felt before. Programs affected include those that have a disproportionate impact on parents, families, and children from low-income households. If a shutdown does happen, here is what parents need to know.

Washington State has already prohibited public universities from using affirmative action for the past quarter-century, but that doesn’t mean the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College won’t have far-reaching consequences beyond state collegiate systems. While the court has effectively ended admission policies that address inequity through race-conscious measures, this decision has the potential to set back equity efforts through the entirety of the educational pathway.

“I have real concerns not only for Seattle, but more prominently in the U.S., about how this is going to impact funding models long-term,” said Brandon Hersey, the South End’s director on the Seattle Public Schools board. Hersey recognizes that numerous universities and colleges have been working in preparation to ensure equity in their admission processes. His greater concern is the legal precedent of calling into question any strategy based on race, potentially limiting both the ability and resources to support students of color throughout their entire academic timeline.

Hate and bigotry apparently don't just trickle down, they can rise up as well. Tianna Bastien, a mom and TikTok-er under the handle @thecuratedlobe, lives just outside of Toronto. She recently shared with Parents that the ongoing escalation of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation and the anti-gay climate rising in the states have had the impact of empowering bigoted voices and are increasing hateful anti-gay sentiments and rhetoric in Canada.

Bastien's newest TikTok features her children and a friend attending the Drag and Brunch show at CommunityResto. "I decided that the voiceover that I was going to do for the video was going to take a sarcastic tone to highlight how ridiculous people who are against drag queens are actually sounding."

On February 13, 2022, South Dakota became the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Governor Kristi Noem signed HB1080 into law, making the South Dakota bill the first legislation passed in the country that calls for forced medical detransition of trans youth currently receiving care. Taking effect on July 1, medical practitioners providing hormone therapy to minors will have to terminate care immediately or systematically reduce all care to end no later than December 31. If they don't comply, they risk getting their professional license revoked.

This law places trans youth at risk for both self-harm, as shown by record high rates of suicide, as well as abuse or assault from others. The Trevor Project reports nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide. And according to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 34 transgender and gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S. in 2022.

Public policy and laws in the United States have not historically supported pregnant people or people who have recently given birth. Pregnant workers have never had the guarantee to be able to continue to earn income and have a healthy and safe pregnancy at the same time. This changed with the 117th Congress this past December 22, 2022 when the most racially and ethnically diverse Congressional body in history, a body made up of just over 25% of women with an additional 11 openly LGBTQIA+ members, made more political history.

Come June 2023, employers will now be required to grant reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers under the bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness (PWFA) and Providing Urgent Maternal Protections Acts (PUMP). Both acts were passed in the flurry of amendments to the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill at the end of last year, and are a huge victory for pregnant workers and families.

Kate McKinnon joined Colin Jost on Weekend Update to comment on Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill, HB1557, as it passed its final state Senate committee last week.

McKinnon sets up the segment with blissful ignorance, "I heard about this law, and I think it's amazing!" She spins to her middle school experience and the impact of hearing "that's so gay" or "ew, you're gay," exclaiming how wonderful it is that Ron Desantis has taken a stand to say "No, you cannot say gay in school anymore."

We put our toddler to bed and cozied up alongside the fireplace illuminating our small trailer in the woods. If you aren’t ready to have another child, then we have to change what we are doing. You can’t keep coming inside of me. He had protested the idea of a vasectomy (too emasculating). I tried an IUD, but the pain and heavy bleeding following its insertion led to its removal. My period had been irregular since giving birth, and between taking care of a toddler and healing from postpartum depression, I was never successful at tracking my cycle.