House Democrats dispute characterization of $21 billion in unspent funds as ‘taxpayer savings.’

Federal rural health fund meets healthcare desert in eastern NC; Union group wants to bolster Kansas City's affordable housing by investing pension money; After Sarah T. Reed H.S. closure, NOLA teachers worry that school closures will become the new normal

_Fight for the Future, Access Now, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and other leading human rights organizations are demanding Meta immediately course correct and make good on promises to protect Instagram DMs with end-to-end encryption by default._

Led by Fight for the Future, 50 human rights groups are expressing outrage over Meta’s decision to…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2026
Email: press@fightforthefuture.org
Phone: 978-852-6457

_Fight for the Future, Access Now, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and other leading human rights organizations are demanding Meta immediately course correct and make good on promises to protect Instagram DMs with end-to-end encryption by…

The Trump administration wants to take $2 billion away from global health programs to pay to finish closing USAID.

CNN reports that the administration wants to use the money to pay for legal costs, invoices, and asset sales resulting from its closure of the aid agency last year. Congress originally appropriated $1.2 billion of the funds to go to international development, and the rest to go to…

In a letter sent to Apple's CEO Tim Cook and hardware engineering chief John Ternus this week, nine members of U.S. Congress from Maryland expressed "serious concern" regarding Apple's decision to close its unionized retail store in Towson, Maryland on June 20, without plans to open a replacement store within the Baltimore region.

_Apple Towson Town Center_

"We recognize that decisions of…

Lack of federal guidance halts more than $300 million in obligated state broadband funding.

The House Oversight Committee is demanding the Metropolitan Police Department hand over documents related to an internal investigation into reports that the department intentionally misreported crime statistics to paint the District in a better light.

House Oversight Chair wants info on MPD crime data

In a letter to Interim MPD Chief Jeffrey Carroll written Wednesday, Committee Chairman…

Filing comes amid broader debate over merger reviews tied to workplace policies.

Senator questions whether companies’ pledges to pay their own way are credible and enforceable. 

Last month, I considered whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used what he knew about the imminence of the Iran war to expand his stock portfolio with a little blood money (“Is Pete Hegseth Killing Iranians To Get Rich?”). That was the thrust of a shocking Financial Times report, based on three anonymous sources, that said Hegseth’s Morgan Stanley broker approached BlackRock in February about…

Eighty-six organizations that work on migrant rights, human rights, and humanitarian aid sent a letter to Congress today as the U.S. military threatens to detain Cubans in Guantánamo should they begin fleeing deteriorating conditions in their country — conditions caused by the United States’ sanctions and fuel blockade. The authors call on Congress to bring an end to the sanctions, the fuel…

The largest industrial users paying to avoid water limits as the 'Sparkling City by the Sea' expects to run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel supplies to Texas airports, trigger a surge in gas prices, and result in an 'economic disaster' without precedent, former officials said.

State records show she was overseeing $20 million of her clients’ assets and directing a sizable chunk of that money back into her own household.

Should we trust the science? Sure, in theory – but only when the science in question has earned our trust through transparency and rigor.

_Jacobin_ ’s top story on Noam Chomsky is from 2024: “Let’s Celebrate Noam Chomsky, the Intellectual and Moral Giant.” Following Chomsky’s star turn in the recently released files of child rapist Jeffrey Epstein, this headline in America’s leading socialist magazine hasn’t, as they say, aged well.

Elsewhere, the left is not so sanguine about Chomsky’s communications with Epstein. “I am…

LegInfo, the website officially charged with publicly posting California's laws and bills, made a change to make the site more publicly accessible after Inland Empire Law Weekly made multiple inquires about a site policy and told site administrators it would publish a story on the issue.

"The resulting impasse effectively terminated judicial authority in North Carolina and left the residents of the colony without a fully functioning court system for more than three years."

That’s how most states would prefer to disburse the company’s grant awards.

Withholding more than $20 billion in funds defies Congress’s mandate, lawmakers warn.

AT&T bought 3.45 GHz and 700 MHz licenses for about $1 billion.

The agency also voted to seek comment on local permitting rules it should consider preempting.

SkyFiber joins growing chorus as BEAD delays stretch into mid-2025