WJI's daily reads for Aug. 18, 2021

AP: Democrats unveil new voting rights bill.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, seeks to restore a key provision of the federal law that compelled states with a history of discrimination to undergo a federal review of changes to voting and elections. The Supreme Court set aside the formula that decided which jurisdictions were subject to the requirement in a 2013 decision and weakened the law further in a ruling this summer.

Reuters: Some Dems now saying, "Fund the police."

CBS News: Sackler family insisting on escape from lawsuits before it will OK bankruptcy court settlement.

Members of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma won't contribute billions of dollars to a legal settlement unless they get off the hook for all current and future lawsuits over the company's activities, one of them told a court Tuesday in a rare public appearance.

David Sackler, grandson of one of the brothers who nearly 70 years ago bought the company that later became Purdue, testified at a hearing in federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York, that without those protections, "I believe we would litigate the claims to their final outcomes."

"We need a release that's sufficient to get our goals accomplished," Sackler said in response to questions from a lawyer for the U.S. bankruptcy trustee. "If the release fails to do that, we will not support it."

The Trace: Missouri Second Amendment sanctuary law making difficulties for police trying to solve gun crimes.

Governing: Sacramento sheriff silent on jail deaths.

Despite six men dying in jail custody this year, a Sacramento Bee review found the Sheriff's Office publicly announced just one of the fatalities — Timothy Noble, who died last month. Since the start of the pandemic, 10 people have died in Sacramento's jails, including four men between August and December 2020.

Incarceration experts say notifying the public when someone dies in a jail should be a basic expectation, particularly during a pandemic. Failing to tell the public makes it harder for watchdogs and families to understand what's going on inside the jails. It fuels distrust, particularly in an era when law enforcement practices are under scrutiny, they said.

"There's too great a likelihood that something can be termed a 'natural death' but it is actually preventable," said Michele Deitch, an expert on jails and prisons who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Law. "So, in a jail, I would be more skeptical of 'natural deaths' and would want more information about them."

​Politico: Lawmakers drop efforts to reform qualified immunity.