On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that the lower court must immediately issue an order to release rapper Meek Mill, whose prison sentence sparked a national debate over the severity of his sentence. Mill was sentenced to serve two to four years in prison for violating probation. “Although I’m blessed to have the resources to […]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions claimed on Monday that a caravan of around 1,500 Central American immigrants nearing the southern U.S. border had ignored Mexico’s generous offer to let them stay in the country, instead continuing their journey to seek asylum in the United States. “Pockets of the original, so-called ‘migrant caravan,’ which press reports indicate […]
On Tuesday afternoon, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule limiting the kinds of science that the agency can use in its rulemaking, a step that he described as bringing transparency and trust back to the agency’s scientific process. If the event was billed as being about transparency in science, however, […]
During a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, President Trump advised his hand-picked choice to be secretary of veterans affairs, Ronny Jackson, to not take the job. Jackson’s confirmation process is currently on indefinite hold because the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is investigating allegations he oversaw a hostile work environment as the […]
Residents have not been clamoring for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to weaken the nation’s coal ash waste rules. No local communities have stood up and said they want less protection from coal ash. And yet Pruitt — at the behest of coal-fired power plant owners — proposed changes in early March to […]
Abbott v. Perez is a case of mind-numbing procedural complexity. It involves Texas’ successful efforts to draw gerrymandered maps in 2011 — maps that were eventually found to be an illegal racial gerrymander by a federal court — and then maintain as much of these illegal maps as possible for as long as possible after the […]
More than a year after graduate students at Columbia University voted to unionize with the United Automobile Workers, hundreds of students participated in a walkout Tuesday to protest the university’s refusal to bargain with them. The students plan to stage a week-long strike during what is the university’s most hectic time, when students and professors are […]
More than a year after graduate students at Columbia University voted to unionize with the United Automobile Workers, hundreds of students participated in a walkout Tuesday to protest the university’s refusal to bargain with them. The students plan to stage a week-long strike during what is the university’s most hectic time, when students and professors are […]
The international media is noting the response of Canadian authorities after a Canadian man driving a van struck and killed several people on a sidewalk in Toronto on Monday. In a scene similar to what we’ve seen unfold in several countries — France, Germany, and the United States, to name a few — Alek Minassian, […]
Solar and wind power was responsible for a remarkable 98 percent of all new U.S. power generation capacity that came online in the first two months of 2018. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) latest “Energy Infrastructure Update,” the overwhelming majority of new power plants set up in January and February were renewable energy […]
The suspect charged with killing ten people and injuring dozens more in a van attack in downtown Toronto on Monday praised mass shooter Elliot Rodger and was a self-described incel — a virulently misogynistic online community which occupies many of the same online spaces as the far-right. Alek Minassian, 25, was charged with 10 counts […]
During President Trump’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump said that the Paris climate deal would be a topic of discussion during the foreign leader’s state visit. “We will be discussing the Iran deal, I know the president wants to speak to me about that. We’ll be discussing, […]
SURPRISE, ARIZONA — The last time a woman represented Arizona’s 8th district in Congress, her term was cut short when a constituent opened fire in a grocery store parking lot, killing six people and injuring a dozen others. On Monday night, the eve of a special election in the Phoenix-area district, former Rep. Gabby Giffords […]
Today, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt is expected to announce a proposed rule that would severely limit the kinds of science that could be used in the agency’s rulemaking process. The changes — which would ban the use of any underlying data that isn’t available publicly — have been previously proposed by conservative […]
Microscopic particles of plastics are being trapped in Arctic sea ice at record levels according to scientists. And they can trace these tiny pieces of plastic back from where they came — fishing nets, cigarettes, and the massive Pacific Ocean garbage patch. According to a new study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, […]
As details about the man behind yesterday’s deadly attack in Toronto begin to emerge, white supremacists and members of the extreme right are having a difficult time figuring out if they should praise or condemn the incident. Much of that difficulty stems from the fact that the suspect, 25-year-old Alek Minassian, has what USA Today […]
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Eleven-year-old Siyar was staring out the glass windows of his family’s bodega Sunday when he saw his cousin, Rashid, passing by on his way home. The two cousins briefly waved to each other as they each went back to their respective tasks. Siyar had only turned his back for a few seconds […]
Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer joined the cabal of cabinet-level officials from the Trump White House who have to defend themselves against charges of misusing taxpayer dollars for his own benefit. The New York Post discovered that Lighthizer had authorized nearly $1,000,000 in spending to renovate two of his Washington, DC offices on […]
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — As residents of Arizona’s eighth congressional district cast ballots in a special election to replace former Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) in Congress, roughly 140,000 of them may be unaware they are eligible to vote because they did not receive the ID card the county is required to send them after they register. According to […]
Imagine, for a moment, a world very much like our own. In this world, Donald Trump still campaigned for office on a promise to ban foreign nationals of a particular faith from entering the country. Trump still called for “a total and complete shutdown” of people from this faith “entering the United States until our […]
Students of color and students with disabilities face serious inequities in their school systems. Black students with disabilities in particular face many obstacles to getting access to a quality education, due to racial stereotypes, zero tolerance policies, and disproportionate discipline. Now, a new study is introducing meaningful research about how school staff treat Black students […]
MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA — Last winter, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) announced suddenly that he would be resigning from the House of Representatives. Within hours, the reason why became clear: Franks had asked a staffer to be his surrogate and carry his child. His female staffers were reportedly concerned that Franks wanted to have sex with […]
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Republican incumbent Rep. Doug Lamborn cannot appear on the fifth congressional district’s primary ballot. According to Politico, the court found that a Lamborn campaign worker tasked with gathering signatures required in order to qualify for the ballot did not live in Colorado at the time, and as […]
Late Monday afternoon, a white van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians on a sidewalk in north Toronto. According to authorities, there are 9 dead and 16 injured. “I saw one old man go flying in the air,” a witness told the Toronto Star. “People were screaming, ‘Oh my god.’ ” “The driver was swerving back and […]
