Preliminary injunction prevents federal agents from retaliating against demonstrators, using tear gas on peaceable assemblies. A federal judge gave a significant victory to Minnesota protesters and observers of federal officers Friday, granting a preliminary injunction preventing the officers from retaliating against demonstrators. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez prevents the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting or detaining people who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest including observing Operation Metro Surge, which is the feds’ name for the incursion of 3,000…
Posts published in “U.S.”
The U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall Collection contains 100 sculptures: two luminaries from each state. They include many familiar figures, such as Helen Keller, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan and Amelia Earhart. There are a few from the Colonial era, including founders such as Samuel Adams and George Washington. Some will also be represented in the Garden of American Heroes that the Trump administration plans to build. The monument will eventually have 250 statues, and the administration has proposed a list of names. Among the figures in the Capitol who did not…
The outcome of two trials in the coming weeks could shape what it will look like when voters overturn state abortion bans through future ballot initiatives. Arizona and Missouri voters in November 2024 struck down their respective near-total abortion bans. Both states added abortion access up to fetal viability as a right in their constitutions, although Arizonans approved the amendment by a much wider margin than Missouri voters. That was just the beginning of protracted legal battles. Amy Myrick, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said ballot measures…
Grazing permits granted to the conservation nonprofit as part of its prairie-rewilding initiative have been subject to years of criticism by cattle ranchers and Montana politicians. The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that it is revoking seven grazing permits in Phillips County that American Prairie had been using to sustain its herd of bison. The decision comes after a three-and-a-half-year battle between the Montana livestock industry, backed by Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Justice, and American Prairie, a conservation nonprofit working to restore the…
For months, Karian had tried to make it on her own in New York. After the birth of her second daughter, she was diagnosed with postpartum depression, major depressive disorder and anxiety. A single mother who had moved from Boston to New York about 13 years ago, she often spent days at a time on the couch, unable to do more than handle the basics for her daughters. “I wasn’t taking care of myself,” she said softly on a recent afternoon. “I was not really present.” The Hechinger Report is…
President Donald Trump threatened Friday to place tariffs on Greenland and any country that opposes his efforts to take over the Arctic island, as members of Congress from both political parties were in Europe to assure allied nations that lawmakers won’t go along with his plans. “I may do that for Greenland too. I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security,” Trump said. “So I may do that.” Trump has been increasingly focused on acquiring Greenland during…
Latest proposal would create new 3% sales tax, sponsors say When the legislative session begins next week, Democratic lawmakers intend to revive a long-running effort to raise alcohol taxes as a means of reducing excessive drinking, which killed 1,755 New Mexicans in 2024, according to new Health Department estimates. The latest proposal would create a new 3% sales tax on alcoholic beverages, according to one of the bill’s architects, Rep. Cristina Parajón, D-Albuquerque, while preserving the existing excise taxes that alcohol distributors are assessed based on the volume of alcohol…
Wisconsin is now expected to have $1.5 billion more in surplus after its current budget cycle ends on June 30, 2027, after new estimates were announced by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That would mean the state would have $2.3 billion in surplus, lower than the $4 billion heading into this budget but well above the $800 million surplus that was previously projected. The group said that the surplus would be the result of nearly $1.4 billion in increased tax collections and $104 million in additional departmental non-tax revenues. Both…
Colorado Democrats plan to file legislation this session that would ask voters for permission to raise the state spending cap by billions while also increasing funding for education. The idea, brought to lawmakers by the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, is the most recent proposal to retool the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights. TABOR, as it’s known, limits the state’s revenue growth, making it hard to spend more money on schools and other priorities. CEA President Kevin Vick said the measure would be placed on the 2026…
Democrats shoot for the stars Defense is the main goal for congressional Democrats in Ohio this year. But they’re trying to make the case that they’re also going on offense. This week, two Democrats formally launched their campaigns in Republican-held territory: Kristina Knickerbocker in Ohio’s 10th Congressional District and Brian Poindexter in the 7th District. The campaign behind Knickerbocker, a first-time candidate, stands out as a potential measure of how far Democrats can stretch the political battlefield this year. The district is on the outer bounds of what’s really competitive,…