By Nadra Nittle Originally published by The 19th Activists in Temecula, California, say they have amassed the signatures needed for a recall race against Joseph Komrosky, one of three school board members whose hard-right agenda drew national scrutiny to the school district over the past year. “I’m extremely proud that we got signatures for one of … Read more

By Siri Chilukuri for Economic Hardship Reporting Project When hurricanes hit, it’s easy to show the damage: downed power lines, uprooted trees and destroyed houses. But when those things are removed or cleaned up, there is a more insidious damage that still lurks and is hard to portray: a lack of affordable housing. And that hits renters … Read more

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Finally, nearly four months after Tcherry arrived at the house, one of the men in charge of the smuggling operation woke him and the two girls early in the morning. “He told … Read more

With the ouster of George Santos and the abrupt resignation of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, congressional Republicans have begun dropping like flies off Mike Pence’s head. In fact, Mike Pence himself recently dropped like a fly off Mike Pence’s head, precipitating an infinite, M.C. Escher-like regression of flies and Pence heads that goes on as far … Read more

by Taylor Vance  Mississippi Today A coalition of civic and legal organizations on Thursday called for the Hinds County Election Commission to provide clear answers to voters on why numerous voting precincts in the state’s most populous county ran out of ballots during the Nov. 7 election. The group, which includes organizations like Mississippi Votes … Read more

There’s really no such thing as a self-made man. It’s a pernicious myth that conservatives use to shame anyone who’s not financially successful. Elon Musk isn’t self-made. The Koch Brothers certainly weren’t, either. And while Donald Trump appears to apply his makeup each morning with a caulk gun and mortar trowel, he’s not self-made either—not even close. … Read more

By Zach Despart  The Texas Tribune   Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. A Travis County state district judge has ordered the Department of Public safety to release law enforcement records related to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, … Read more

Some Missouri lawmakers are renewing a call for the state to take an anti-abortion step that goes further than prominent anti-abortion groups want to go and that has not gained much traction in any state so far: a law that would allow homicide charges against women who obtain abortions. Republicans in both the state House … Read more

Certain songs outlive the singer or the songwriter, and continue to be covered by artists who may not have even been born when the song was birthed. For this installment of “Black Music Sunday,” I’m talking about “The Things That I Used to Do,” which was recorded on Oct. 26, 1953, for Specialty Records at … Read more

We begin today with Nicole Narea of Vox writing about the Israeli assault on the free press as its war with Hamas continues. Since the October 7 attack by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group designated as a terrorist organization by many countries, Israel has said that it cannot guarantee journalists’ safety in Gaza and has denied them … Read more