US

The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Saturday that it was deeply troubled by Friday’s police raid on a local U.S. newspaper office. Media organizations reported that police officers in Marion County, Kansas, took computers and phones — including personal cell phones — from the Marion County Record newspaper and the homes of its personnel. Reports said that a […]

Helena, MT—In an historic first, Judge Kathy Seeley in the First Judicial District Court of Montana ruled wholly in favor of the 16 youth plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana, declaring that the state of Montana violated the youth’s constitutional rights, including their rights to equal protection, dignity, liberty, health and safety, and public […]

LOS ANGELES, August 10, 2023 – This summer, like every summer since COVID-19 arrived on the scene, the U.S. is experiencing a spike in infections and hospitalizations. Only this time, there’s good news: The number of infections hasn’t increased as much as in past summers. Plus, most people with COVID-19 are reporting mild symptoms, and […]

August 7, 2023 – In 2021, an estimated 2.5 million people aged 18 years or older in the U.S. had opioid use disorder in the past year, yet only 1 in 5 of them (22%) received medications to treat it, according to a new study. Some groups were substantially less likely to receive medication for opioid […]

ANCHORAGE (AK)— A U.S. District Court dismissed all claims made by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority and the State of Alaska in a lawsuit attempting to force the Department of the Interior to move forward an illegal drilling program on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trustees for Alaska intervened […]

August 4, 2023 – Every year, Kendra Taira Field teaches a class called Family Histories in American Culture. For their final paper, students research and write about their ancestors—stories that have over the years included those of enslaved family members and slave-holding kin. For Field, an associate professor of history and director of the Center for […]

Boise, Idaho – The USDA Forest Service is activating two Department of Defense C-130 aircraft equipped with MAFFS to assist with increased fire activity in several western states. The aircraft, from the 153rd Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard, from Cheyenne, Wyoming and the 302nd Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve Command, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, will join […]

NEW YORK — PEN America organized an open letter today to an Iowa school district calling on district leaders to reverse an order to remove nearly 400 book titles if they are found in district classrooms. The list includes classic novels like J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, along with new prize-winning books. Urbandale Community […]

Good evening. Today an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct official proceedings. The indictment was issued by a Grand Rury of citizens here in the District of Columbia that sets forth the crimes charged in detail. I […]

July 26, 2023 – A new report analyzing the “Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act” (“EATS Act”) and its potential widespread consequences was released today (July 26, 2023) by the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. Harvard’s 48-page report reveals that the likely negative impacts of the EATS Act could range far more widely […]

The Justice Department filed a civil complaint against the State of Texas because the state has built a floating barrier, consisting of buoys strung together, in the Rio Grande River without the federal authorization that is legally required under the Rivers and Harbors Act.  The complaint seeks to enjoin the building of the barrier and […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. July 25, 2023 — Yesterday, amidst record-breaking temperatures across the country, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), along with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representatives Greg Casar (TX-35), Judy Chu (CA-28), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), led one-hundred and twelve members of Congress in […]

Jackson, MS, July 21, 2023  – Along with two days of testimony before a federal court last week, several Jackson-based community groups and residents submitted a Community Statement to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the city’s water crisis. They also shared the statement with the judge during last week’s hearing in United States v. City of Jackson. Judge […]

BERKELEY, CA, JULY 18, 2023—A new analysis from As You Sow has found that the largest U.S. mutual fund managers, responsible for funds found across thousands of corporate 401(k) plans, have significant investments in nuclear and other controversial weapons like white phosphorus and cluster bombs. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated that the world […]

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2023) – The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) applauds the reintroduction of the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act in the U.S. House of Representatives with a bipartisan set of cosponsors. The bill, which CDT has endorsed and which is listed to be marked up on Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee, […]

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2023 – Today, legal organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice and American Immigration Council, filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s new anti-immigrant law, Senate Bill 1718. The lawsuit focuses on the provisions outlined in Section 10 of the law, which criminalizes the […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.July 14, 2023 – Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, today issued the following statement after passage of H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), passed in the House of Representatives on a vote of 219-210. “For over 60 years, the NDAA […]

BOSTON – As millions of Americans return to the beach this summer, a new report warns that more work is needed to ensure that all waters are safe for swimming. In 2022, 363 beaches were potentially unsafe for swimming on at least one quarter of days tested, according to the latest Safe for Swimming? report […]

What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism? Donald Trump, left, and Harry Truman: Two former presidents who had different ideas about nationalism and patriotism. The Conversation, with images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC Joshua Holzer, Westminster College During his presidency, Donald Trump said, “We’re putting America first … we’re taking care of ourselves for a […]

NEW YORK, June 29, 2023 – Millions of social media users face harmful harassment, intimidation, and threats to their free expression online but encounter a “deeply flawed” reporting system that fails at every level to safeguard them and hold abusers to account, according to a new report by global nonprofits PEN America and Meedan. In exposing these […]