In a stunning decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Idaho can ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The ruling prioritizes cisgender students’ “privacy concerns” over the harm faced by transgender students, effectively stripping them of Title IX protections in school facilities. It also contradicts recent...
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to start dismantling her agency, although it cannot be formally shut down without congressional approval. Since returning to office in January, Trump has already slashed the Education Department’s workforce in half and cut $600 million in grants. Education journalist Jennifer Berkshire...
This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. A little past 4 a.m. on June 21, 2019, workers at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, noticed a leak from a corroded pipe, and were immediately on high alert. The leak had originated in Unit 433, known...
Israel’s beeper explosions in Lebanon last year killed dozens of people, including children, and injured thousands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gifted U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) a “silver-plated beeper” — a reference to Israel’s horrific attack on Lebanon and parts of Syria last year in which Israel rigged pagers reportedly used by alleged...
Experts and former employees say the Trump administration’s moves to fire key scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and dismantle clean air and water protections will make the United States a “sicker and poorer” place to live while demoralizing the next generation of environmental investigators and public health researchers. The rollbacks could lead to...
This article was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. With its...
An FBI inquiry was briefly opened, then dropped, after which the scientist was deported to France. United States border officials refused to allow a French scientist to enter the country after searching his electronic devices and discovering messages to his colleagues that were critical of President Donald Trump. The scientist — whose name is currently...
On the morning of February 9, the al-Ashqar family sat in terrified silence as news spread of the Israeli military’s advance into their neighborhood in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem. Unbeknownst to them, Israeli forces had planted a bomb at their front door — an explosive device that would soon take the life of...
Human rights advocates say the researcher, Badar Khan Suri, is being punished for criticizing US foreign policy. A postdoctoral student at Georgetown University has become the latest person living legally in the United States to face the threat of deportation from the Trump administration over his opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Badar Khan Suri,...
Members of Columbia University’s History Department have sent a letter to the university president and Board of Trustees, urging resistance against the Trump administration’s attempts to influence university policy. Their letter follows reports that Columbia is nearing a deal to acquiesce to the Trump administration’s demands — which include a major crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters...
On March 19, 2025, a jury in Morton County, North Dakota, issued a catastrophic verdict against Greenpeace in a high-stakes lawsuit over Greenpeace’s actions during the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, forcing Greenpeace to pay over $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer Partners, the corporation that constructed the Dakota Access Pipeline. Over the three...
Warning: This post includes graphic images that some may find disturbing. Nearly 200 children are among those killed by Israel in Gaza over the last three days since the powerful U.S. ally broke a cease-fire agreement and began a massive bombing campaign with the blessing of the Trump administration. According to figures released Thursday by...
The new book Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful by The New York Times business investigations editor David Enrich chronicles an ongoing campaign by the wealthy and powerful to overturn the landmark Supreme Court decision New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which in 1964 established bedrock...
The move could send the US back to “the dark days of the ‘80s, when people died from HIV every day,” one advocate said. The Trump administration is reportedly considering ending a division within the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that is focused on funding HIV/AIDs prevention and treatment. Even if Trump simply...
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the destructive impact of predatory lenders on the well-being of individual borrowers and the health of the broader economy became increasingly clear. In response, a growing number of political figures, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, pushed for the creation of an agency that would represent consumer interests...