Marilyn W. Thompson, ProPublica, and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published. District of …
Read More »Biden Pitches To The Middle Class In Advance Of Midterms
Jacob Fischler, Kansas Reflector President Joe Biden at a community center in Portland, Oregon Saturday promoted Democrats’ efforts to bring down health care costs, in a visit to a normally Democratic state three weeks before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years. Speaking on …
Read More »Black Families Fall Further Behind on Homeownership
By Tim Henderson Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy. Read more at Stateline.org. Some cities and states are trying to boost Black homeownership, which dropped to a 60-year low even before the economic turmoil wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. …
Read More »Ron Johnson Booed and Laughed At in Debate With Progressive Challenger
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson repeatedly faced laughter and boos from the audience gathered at Marquette University on Thursday for the final debate between the two-term GOP incumbent and Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin‘s key U.S. Senate race. With less than a month to go before the November midterms, …
Read More »Black Farmers Sue U.S. Government Over Repealed Debt Relief
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump this week announced a class action suit against the United States government on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association. The lawsuit comes amid findings that Black farmers lost about $326 billion of land in America because of discrimination during the 20th century. During the …
Read More »Raphael Warnock, Herschel Walker Clash In U.S. Senate Debate
Stephen Fowler, GPB News Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican opponent Herschel Walker faced off in a contentious debate in Savannah Friday, the first and likely the only televised debate between the two in this pivotal race. In the hourlong meeting, Warnock largely touted bipartisan accomplishments and accused his …
Read More »Supreme Court Declines to Get Involved in Trump Fight Over Classified Docs
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to weigh in on the battle over documents that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took while executing a search warrant at his Florida estate. The ex-president’s lawyers wanted the court to ensure that more than 100 classified …
Read More »DeSantis Orders Voting Changes In Light Of Hurricane Ian’s Disruptions
Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has loosened voting regulations in the counties most damaged by Hurricane Ian to account for disruptions to polling locations and early voting sites, loss of power and cellphone access, displaced voters, and unavailability of poll workers. The governor signed an executive order …
Read More »Social Security Benefits To Increase By Nearly 9% In 2023
The United States’ Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced an 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2023 – the largest increase in four decades. The COLA affects the more than 70 million recipients of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in the States, ensuring that their payments rise in …
Read More »Alex Jones Ordered To Pay Sandy Hook Victims’ Families $965 Million
A jury in Connecticut has ruled that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre. The verdict is the second significant judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 …
Read More »DeJoy Faces Outrage Over New Postal Service Price Hikes
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is facing backlash over his newly announced plan to hike postcard and stamp prices as part of his proposed 10-year overhaul of mail operations, a strategy that critics warn will further damage the Postal Service. Late last week, the USPS notified the …
Read More »Four Things To Watch For At The Upcoming Jan. 6 Hearing
Jacob Fischler, Louisiana Illuminator The U.S. House committee investigating a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is back. It will hold its first hearing in nearly three months Thursday — and potentially its last. In a break from most of the panel’s previous eight hearings in …
Read More »FDA, CDC Greenlight Updated COVID-19 Booster For Kids 5 To 11
Jennifer Shutt, Arkansas Advocate The federal government on Wednesday recommended an updated COVID-19 booster for kids between 5 and 11, expanding use of the new bivalent shots beyond people 12 and older. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized the updated vaccines use in the morning before the Centers …
Read More »Black Americans Are Seven Times More Likely To Be Wrongfully Convicted
Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Center For Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Today Eddie Lee Howard Jr. and Sherwood Brown each spent 26 years on Mississippi’s death row for murders they did not commit — only to walk free last year. They are far from alone. They are two of 23 Black Mississippians who …
Read More »11 States To Share In $1 Billion In Funding For Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs
Jennifer Shutt, Florida Phoenix Biden administration announced Tuesday that an additional 11 states will receive up to $1 billion to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. Funding for the programs will come from the State Small Business Credit Initiative that Democrats reauthorized and expanded in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, …
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