The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis is finally coming to an end after two fatal shootings and thousands of arrests. Border czar Tom Homan said coordination with local law enforcement and the success of immigration enforcement have contributed to the end of Operation Metro Surge. “I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues, Voting
Sapelo Island’s Gullah Geechee Community Fights Back and Wins
In a win for Gullah Geechee residents on Georgia’s sea islands, voters this week rejected an ordinance that doubled the allowed square footage for homes in Sapelo Island’s Hog Hammock district. Many Black residents feared the change would lead to higher property taxes, gentrification, and displacement. Unofficial results on Tuesday showed 19% of 10,000 registered […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Lisa Cook Case Tests Presidential Power and Black Women’s Resolve
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in Trump v. Cook — a case some say crystallizes President Donald Trump’s ongoing tension with Black women leaders. Fueling the case is Trump’s effort to break with more than a century of law and fire Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to sit on the Federal […]
Posted inCourts, Politics & Policy
Federal Court Declines to Rehear Marilyn Mosby’s Perjury and Mortgage Fraud Case
Marilyn Mosby won’t get a do-over in her perjury and mortgage fraud case. A federal appeals court has denied a request to rehear the former Baltimore state’s attorney’s appeal. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Mosby’s attorneys had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to take up the case. Yet, no judges […]
Posted inEducation, Politics & Policy, Student Loans
Student Loan Wage Garnishment Is Put on Hold. What Borrowers Need to Know.
The U.S. Department of Education has announced that it will delay wage garnishment for defaulted student loans. The move, revealed Friday, reverses the department’s earlier plan to gradually restart wage garnishment for groups of borrowers, and will allow the agency more time to finalize new repayment plans. Garnishing wages could have affect millions who are […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Trump Rollbacks Put Children’s Health at Risk as Pollution Increases
On the morning of Jan. 10, when the federal government said it would stop prioritizing how many lives are saved by cutting air pollution, Sonya Sanders flashed back seven years to when a fossil fuel facility near her South Philadelphia home exploded. The 2019 blast rattled windows across the city and could have killed thousands […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Ghana Helped U.S. Deport Migrants, and Now Its Own Citizens Are Shut Out
“America is a bully that is never satisfied,” Oliver Barker-Vormawor said from Ghana. The Trump administration’s new freeze on immigrant visas from 75 nations is the latest example, he added. African nations make up a striking share of the 75 countries swept into the Trump administration’s new freeze on immigrant visas, a move officials say […]
Posted inPolicing, Politics & Policy
ICE Shooting After Takeover of Minneapolis Renews Debate on Qualified Immunity
Minneapolis entered January with unusually mild weather and a sense of calm, but that was shattered two days later when a federal immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. Less than 24 hours later, a man and woman in Portland, Oregon, were shot and wounded by Customs and Border Protection agents. As immigration crackdowns […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Stevie Wonder’s Battle for MLK Day and the New Challenges to King’s Legacy
Stevie Wonder’s new album, Hotter Than July, had been burning up the charts for months by Jan. 15, 1981. But something bigger than music was on the artist’s mind that day. Along with other Black cultural giants, the 30-year-old was leading a rally of approximately 100,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Years […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Why Afro-Venezuelans Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela
Interviews in Spanish were conducted and transcribed by Annika Hom. The first blast rattled Christian Pich Ortiz’s bedroom before sunrise, sending his mother and siblings into tears as detonations boomed over their community in Miranda, a state along Venezuela’s central coast. To protect themselves, they dragged their mattresses off the beds and hid beneath them. […]