UVALDE, Texas — The families of three children who survived the Uvalde mass shooting in May have filed the first lawsuit in a federal court against the Uvalde school district, law enforcement officials, gun makers and others, alleging that their negligence and failures contributed to the massacre.

The suit was filed Wednesday in Texas’ Western District Court and is seeking undetermined damages. One of the children in the lawsuit was wounded in the shooting and was best friends with one of the students killed, according to the lawyers.

“We are after accountability and damages, and because my plaintiffs are young, they will have to deal with the trauma of what they went through,” said Stephanie Sherman, the families’ lawyer. “It’s just a perfect soup of lack of care, and I can’t help but think this poor community was not protected in any way.”

In all, the suit names 10 defendants, including Robb Elementary School's principal Mandy Gutierrez, the city of Uvalde and the since-fired school district police chief, Pete Arredondo.

UVALDE, Texas — The families of three children who survived the Uvalde mass shooting in May have filed the first lawsuit in a federal court against the Uvalde school district, law enforcement officials, gun makers and others, alleging that their negligence and failures contributed to the massacre.

The suit was filed Wednesday in Texas’ Western District Court and is seeking undetermined damages. One of the children in the lawsuit was wounded in the shooting and was best friends with one of the students killed, according to the lawyers.

“We are after accountability and damages, and because my plaintiffs are young, they will have to deal with the trauma of what they went through,” said Stephanie Sherman, the families’ lawyer. “It’s just a perfect soup of lack of care, and I can’t help but think this poor community was not protected in any way.”

In all, the suit names 10 defendants, including Robb Elementary School's principal Mandy Gutierrez, the city of Uvalde and the since-fired school district police chief, Pete Arredondo.

A year after Amy Coney Barrett joined the Supreme Court, the boutique Indiana firm SouthBank Legal opened its first-ever Washington office in Penn Quarter, a move the firm hailed in a 2021 press release as an “important milestone.”

The head of the office, Jesse M. Barrett, is the justice’s husband, whose work is described by the firm as “white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and complex commercial litigation.”

But if anyone wants to find out whether Jesse Barrett’s clients have a direct interest in cases being decided by his wife, they’re out of luck. In the Supreme Court’s notoriously porous ethical disclosure system, Barrett not only withholds her husband’s clients, but redacted the name of SouthBank Legal itself in her most recent disclosure.

Over the past year, Virginia Thomas, known as Ginni, has gotten significant attention for operating a consulting business that reportedly includes conservative activist groups with interest in Supreme Court decisions as clients. Her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, has chosen not to reveal any of his wife’s clients, let alone how much they contributed to the Thomas family coffers, dating back to when her consulting business was founded.

At its essence, voters in a ranked choice contest can rank as many — or as few — candidates as they wish, rather than voting solely for one candidate. Once polls close, votes are counted, and a candidate wins only if they receive a majority of the vote. This differs from the current voting model in which candidates can win even if they don’t receive a majority of votes or a runoff ends up being required to determine the winner, an expensive, time-consuming process.

And if no candidate obtains a majority of votes initially, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters’ second choices are redistributed among the remaining field. This process repeats until either one candidate receives a majority of votes or two candidates remain.

Ranked choice voting is straightforward and gaining momentum. The results from the use of ranked choice voting suggest it could be crucial in transforming democracy for the better without creating new political parties......

Adopting ranked choice voting also leads to more diverse people running and holding positions of power. In places that use ranked choice voting, nearly half of all mayors and city council members are women. Further, in cities with ranked choice voting, more candidates of color run for office. By ensuring candidates — no matter their background — must reach as many voters as possible,

Ranked choice voting levels the playing field and fundamentally shifts the landscape of who runs for and ultimately wins elected office.

The combination of increased civility, engagement from campaigns and representation under a ranked choice voting model leads to the most important outcome: people turning out to vote. For instance, ranked choice voting in mayoral elections has led to a 10% average increase in turnout in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Young people are also more likely to vote where ranked choice voting is used.

At its essence, voters in a ranked choice contest can rank as many — or as few — candidates as they wish, rather than voting solely for one candidate. Once polls close, votes are counted, and a candidate wins only if they receive a majority of the vote. This differs from the current voting model in which candidates can win even if they don’t receive a majority of votes or a runoff ends up being required to determine the winner, an expensive, time-consuming process.

And if no candidate obtains a majority of votes initially, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters’ second choices are redistributed among the remaining field. This process repeats until either one candidate receives a majority of votes or two candidates remain.

Ranked choice voting is straightforward and gaining momentum. The results from the use of ranked choice voting suggest it could be crucial in transforming democracy for the better without creating new political parties......

Adopting ranked choice voting also leads to more diverse people running and holding positions of power. In places that use ranked choice voting, nearly half of all mayors and city council members are women. Further, in cities with ranked choice voting, more candidates of color run for office. By ensuring candidates — no matter their background — must reach as many voters as possible,

Ranked choice voting levels the playing field and fundamentally shifts the landscape of who runs for and ultimately wins elected office.

The combination of increased civility, engagement from campaigns and representation under a ranked choice voting model leads to the most important outcome: people turning out to vote. For instance, ranked choice voting in mayoral elections has led to a 10% average increase in turnout in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Young people are also more likely to vote where ranked choice voting is used.