Political News

Rebekah Barber Originally published by The 19th On January 1, Illinois will become the first state in the country to officially eliminate its cash bail system when the Pretrial Fairness Act goes into effect. Under the new system, a person will only be detained before trial if a judge determines …

Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune Dallas-based Southwest Airlines faces a federal investigation into whether it violated its own legally required customer service plan amid a blizzard of flight cancellations that ruined plans and angered travelers over the Christmas holiday. In a statement late Monday, officials at the U.S. Department …

Uriel J. García and Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to keep in place the emergency health order the federal government has used for more than two years to quickly turn away migrants, including those seeking asylum, at the southwest border. The latest ruling replaces …

Jon King, Michigan Advance The man called the “driving force” behind a plot to kidnap and assassinate Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 has been sentenced to prison, although not nearly as long as prosecutors had sought. Adam Fox, 39, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker on Tuesday …

Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout Brenda Scott’s father came to west Tennessee as a sharecropper. By 1971 — as a result of hard work and government loans — he had 129 acres of his own, some of which his descendants occupy today. His adult children and grandchildren belong to an enclave …

Human rights defenders condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and “extremist Republicans’ cruel values” after several busloads of migrants were dropped off outside U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, D.C. home in subfreezing temperatures on Christmas Eve. For the second time since September, Central and South American migrants were bussed from …

Claire Leavitt, Smith College After 18 months, more than 1,200 interviews and 10 public hearings that presented 70 witnesses’ testimony, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack released its 845-page final report late on Dec. 22, 2022. The report recommended that the Department of Justice prosecute former …

Casey Quinlan, Florida Phoenix Of the 20 states that have failed to raise the minimum wage above the federal $7.25 an hour standard, 16 have more than 12% of their children living in poverty, according to a States Newsroom analysis of wage and poverty data. Anti-poverty advocates say that’s a …

Jayme Lozano, The Texas Tribune More than 100 migrants bused from Texas arrived at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve — enduring freezing temperatures in the state’s latest instance of sending migrants to cities led by Democrats. The Washington Post reported Sunday that volunteers who …

Caitlin Sievers, Arizona Mirror Kari Lake didn’t get what she wanted for Christmas, as a judge on Christmas Eve rejected all of her claims in a lawsuit that sought to overturn her election loss and confirmed that Katie Hobbs is the governor-elect. Lake is a Trump-endorsed Republican who lost the …

Sean Hannity, the Fox News opinion host and erstwhile purveyor of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie,” did not believe the disgraced former president’s 2020 election fraud claims “for one second,” details from a sworn deposition revealed Wednesday. Hannity, who was deposed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against …

Quentin Young, Colorado Newsline Jenna Ellis, the Colorado attorney who represented former President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn the 2020 election, is under investigation by the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. Ellis has been the target of formal complaints regarding what critics characterized as her professional misconduct …

Derek T. Muller, University of Iowa Presidential elections are complicated. But in a move aimed at warding off future crises like the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Senate and House have passed legislation to clarify ambiguous and trouble-prone aspects of the process. Currently, all 50 states …

Jacob Fischler, Arkansas Advocate The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever …

Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder The U.S. House voted Friday to approve a sweeping $1.7 trillion government spending package that carries along with it dozens of new initiatives, including an update to how Congress certifies electoral votes for president and new protections for pregnant workers. The 225-201 bipartisan vote, with one member voting present, sends …