Thursday, November 5, 2026
The Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge. A new Louisiana law lets courts fine parents up to $5,000 when a child aged 14 or older is convicted of making a school threat. Photo by Richard Rutter / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Parents are being held responsible for their kid’s crimes under new laws

When young children and teenagers get into trouble, the question often comes quickly: Where were their parents? That question is again shaping public policy in communities across the country, as state and local lawmakers and prosecutors increasingly look for ways to respond to concerns about youth crime and public disorder.
The Bears Ears National Monument landscape in southeastern Utah. Photo by Mike McGlew - Mcglewm / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mining executives bought stock in their own firm days before Trump shrank Bears Ears

House Democrats have opened an investigation for insider trading.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Photo by Vysotsky / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

US government is pushing to gain unprecedented access to your medical records – as...

Large datasets can be useful research tools, but current government efforts to gather medical records depend on policy and technology that falls short of protecting people’s privacy.
The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, where the legislature funds the state's private school voucher programs. Photo by Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At “Quasi-Public” Private Schools, 100% of Students Get Tuition Vouchers. There’s Almost No Accountability.

Private schools — even those that are heavily dependent on taxpayer funding — often operate without the scrutiny public schools are subject to. Following the money at one Milwaukee private school reveals an opaque world with little oversight.
The west front of the U.S. Capitol. The Protected Time Off Act, pending in Congress, would guarantee full-time workers two weeks of paid annual leave. Photo: Architect of the Capitol (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

US workers average 10 paid vacation days a year, and 33 million get none

Twenty-five OECD countries require employers to provide at least 20 days. The US legal minimum is zero, and 57 percent of the lowest-paid tenth of workers get no vacation at all.
The E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, home of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Judge Amit Mehta issued the order. Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Judge dismisses the last January 6 case, writing that absolving the Oath Keepers is...

The Justice Department told the court a retrial would harass eight men whose sentences Trump had already commuted. Two Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty and cooperated keep their convictions.
Electronic Benefit Transfer cards issued by several states for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Photo: United States Department of Agriculture (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

How new SNAP restrictions could hit Greater Pittsburgh’s food access and economy

Nearly 14,000 people in one Pittsburgh-area county could lose a benefit that’s long been considered one of the country’s most effective anti-poverty tools.
The entrance to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where Elvis Brooks was imprisoned for 42 years. Photo: kccornell from Lafayette, LA / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

He’s Eligible for Up to $480,000 After Being Wrongly Imprisoned for 42 Years. The...

Elvis Brooks’ case was an egregious example of a wrongful conviction, civil rights attorneys said. But Louisiana’s attorney general maintains that Brooks and other exonerees are guilty — and therefore don’t qualify for any money from the state.
An ICE Special Response Team performs crowd control outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on June 10, 2026. Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

“An ICE Murder”: Gabriela Soto Says She Miscarried While Husband Was Detained in Solitary

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities. “At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.” This comes as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran immigrant, died Saturday after being held for six weeks at Delaney Hall. He is the third immigrant to die at the ICE jail, which has been open since May 2025. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, says her son took medicine to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Conejo experienced a “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark, but Maria Cornejo says her son died at Delaney Hall. More than 70 people inside the ICE jail have filed lawsuits alleging medical neglect. That neglect was one of the factors that led to the hunger strike. “Individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers,” says Analilia Mejía, Democratic congressmember from New Jersey. “Being undocumented should not be a death sentence.”
Todd Blanche, sworn in as deputy attorney general in 2025, has led the Justice Department in an acting capacity since April. Photo: Ryan M. Biller, U.S. Department of Justice (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Senate panel to vote on Blanche for attorney general after he shuts down $1.776...

Two Republican senators who had blocked the nomination demanded the fund be killed in writing. A second order narrows the tax settlement that created it.