President Donald Trump has signed an executive order classifying illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals as a “weapon of mass destruction” (WMD), a designation traditionally reserved for nuclear, chemical, or biological threats. The move marks a dramatic escalation in the federal government’s approach to the opioid crisis and has sparked immediate debate over its legality, […]
The delayed release of U.S. employment data for October and November presents a complicated picture of the American labor market as the economy moves toward the end of 2025. While November delivered modest job gains, those gains followed a sharp contraction in October and were accompanied by a rising unemployment rate, fueling debate among economists, […]
A high-profile case in Stillwater, Oklahoma has ignited nationwide debate about how the U.S. juvenile and criminal justice systems handle violent sex crimes when the defendant is a minor. Jesse Butler, an 18-year-old former high school student, pleaded no contest in 2025 to a series of serious sexual assault charges involving multiple victims, including two […]
In the last year, a series of stories about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have gone viral: a pregnant woman forced to labor under a non-removable tracking watch; a U.S. citizen of Somali origin tackled and choked on a Minneapolis sidewalk; an ICE supervisor jailed for alleged domestic violence; and a massive new deportation […]
The Stephentown Memorial Library budget vote—initially reported as a landslide defeat, only to be overturned by a full county recount—has become far more than a small-town election story. What unfolded in Rensselaer County, New York, represents a microcosm of a much larger and increasingly urgent question: How accurate are voting machines worldwide, and what happens […]
A major scientific report released Wednesday warns that four families of synthetic chemicals widely used in the global food system—phthalates, bisphenols, pesticides, and PFAS “forever chemicals”—are driving rising rates of cancer, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, and ecological degradation. The financial impact is staggering: researchers estimate the global health burden reaches up to $2.2 trillion per year, […]
Eileen Higgins, a Democrat and former Miami-Dade County commissioner, won the Miami mayoral runoff on Tuesday in what observers are calling one of the most significant political upsets in Florida in years. Her victory ends a decades-long Republican hold on the mayor’s office and signals renewed Democratic energy in a state where the GOP has […]
Jimmy Kimmel will continue hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! through at least 2027 after signing a new one-year contract extension with Disney’s ABC Network. The extension, first reported by Bloomberg and later confirmed by ABC, ensures that Kimmel — already one of the longest-running late-night hosts in U.S. television history — will remain on the air […]
A newly published Amnesty International report alleges severe and systemic mistreatment of migrants at Florida’s state-run Everglades detention facility—nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”—as well as at the privately operated Krome North immigration processing center in Miami. The findings, based on interviews with detainees, advocacy groups, and an onsite visit to Krome, describe conditions that Amnesty says amount […]
A federal judge in Manhattan has granted the U.S. Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts and related materials from Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking case, acting under a newly enacted federal law requiring greater public access to records related to Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer’s ruling marks a significant, though measured, step toward fulfilling […]