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Mother Jones

This Experiment Could Help Restore Eroding Coastlines

This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. David Cottrell stood on what used to be a 14-foot-high cliff at the crumbled end of Blue Pacific Drive. Just a few years ago, this was the fastest-eroding shoreline on the US Pacific Coast; locals here in North Cove, […]

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The Under-the-Radar Legal Battle Protecting Health Care for Trans People

Shauntae Anderson lived for the weekends. Growing up Black and transgender in a small West Virginia city in the 1990s, she spent a lot of time alone, hiding her self-knowledge from her mom and coping with ridicule from classmates. Yet on Friday and Saturday nights, she could lock herself in her room, put on Whitney […]

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The Word That Makes Brutal Budgets Sound “Truly Evil”

The cuts have come even for the word itself. “Austerity” is a cornerstone of conservatism—a catch-all term for limiting government spending to promote capitalist growth—and yet the expression seems to have disappeared from deficit hawks’ speeches. “I call it balancing the budget,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2013. “Everyone else is using this term […]

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Trump’s Latest Legal Nightmare: A Grand Jury Is Reportedly Investigating the Stormy Daniels Payoff

Fresh off securing convictions against the Trump Organization in a tax fraud case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly once again investigating Donald Trump over an alleged hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. The New York Times reported on Monday that Bragg’s prosecutors are preparing to present […]

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Tyre Nichols’ Parents Set to Attend Biden’s State of the Union Address

The parents of Tyre Nichols, the Black man who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers, have accepted an invitation from the Congressional Black Caucus to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on February 7. The invitation came days after the Memphis Police Department released bodycam footage that, as warned, showed an abuse […]

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Tyre Nichols’ Family Attorney Calls on Congress to Pass George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

On Sunday, Ben Crump, an attorney representing the family of Tyre Nichols, called on Congress to pass police reform legislation in the wake of Nichols’ death at the hands of Memphis police earlier this month. “Shame on us if we don’t use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act […]

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Minnesota Becomes First State to Pass Bill Enshrining Abortion Rights Post-Dobbs

After more than 14 hours of debate, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill on Saturday that would establish a “fundamental right” to abortion in the state. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has said he will sign the Protect Reproductive Options Act, known as the PRO Act, into law. The move makes Minnesota the first state to […]

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Memphis Police Department Disbands Unit Whose Members Brutally Killed Tyre Nichols

The Memphis Police Department has disbanded the so-called Scorpion Unit whose members abused and fatally beat Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, earlier this month. Those five officers have now been fired and charged with murder. Community leaders and Nichols’ family had called on Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis to eliminate the unit, which worked […]

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Mother Jones

Why Starbucks Is Inviting Social Workers Into Its Stores

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On a chilly recent morning, customers inside a Starbucks in New York City’s midtown were doing what you’d expect: buying coffee, warming up, chatting. But one person was moving through the store with a different purpose: she first approached a woman standing […]

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Utah Just Became the First State of 2023 to Ban Gender-Affirming Care

On Saturday, Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation banning gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth and placing an indefinite moratorium on hormone treatment for minors who haven’t yet been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. While Utah is the first state of 2023 to limit gender-affirming care, it is not likely the last: A barrage of state bills […]

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At Least Three Killed, Four Injured in Another California Shooting

At least three people have been killed and four injured after a shooting early Saturday morning in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Benedict Canyon. Two of those wounded are in critical condition, reports the Los Angeles Times. No suspect has been publicly identified. The shooting took place outside a “gathering” at a short-term rental […]

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Memphis Police’ First Press Release About Tyre Nichols Was Full of Glaring Omissions

On January 8, the Memphis Police Department released a statement about a “confrontation” between police officers and a 29-year-old Black man, Tyre Nichols, that had taken place the previous evening. Body-cam footage released on Friday night shows glaring differences between the police’s version of events and reality: Five officers brutally beat Nichols to his death. The […]

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Mother Jones

Fossil-Fuel Power Plants May Be on Their Last Legs

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The global energy transition has reached a pivot point, in which fossil fuels have likely peaked in their use for producing electricity and are about to enter a period of decline. This is the idea at the heart of a […]

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What to Know About the Risks of Gas Stoves and Appliances

This story was originally published by ProPublica. As a climate reporter, I was well aware of the growing concern about the gas stoves in people’s homes leaking dangerous pollutants, like methane, a potent greenhouse gas and explosive hazard; nitrogen dioxide, which worsens asthma; and benzene, which causes cancer. But I was a renter who had no […]

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Being Gay Shouldn’t Be a Crime, Pope Says

In an interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis has become the first Roman Catholic pontiff to denounce laws that criminalize homosexuality. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” the 86-year-old pontiff told the AP on Tuesday. Laws that criminalize homosexuality, Francis said, are “unjust,” and the Catholic Church “must” seek to end them. Let’s not get too excited. […]

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Video Shows Police Brutally Beating Tyre Nichols—Then Laughing About It

This article contains descriptions of graphic violence. Nearly three weeks after Memphis police fatally beat Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop, the city has released body-cam footage to the public, warning that it would show an abuse of power that was “heinous, reckless, and inhumane.” Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was stopped by multiple officers […]

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We Tried to Call the Top Donors To George Santos’ 2020 Campaign. Many Don’t Seem To Exist.

In September 2020, George Santos’ congressional campaign reported that Victoria and Jonathan Regor had each contributed $2,800—the maximum amount—to his first bid for a House seat. Their listed address was 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson Township, New Jersey. A search of various databases reveals no one in the United States named Victoria or Jonathan […]

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The FDA Just Made It Easier for Gay Men to Donate Blood

For years, gay and bisexual men have fought back against what they consider to be outdated restrictions on who can give blood. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration finally issued a new guideline allowing men who are in monogamous relationships with men to give blood. Men who have sex with men have long faced restrictions […]

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A Month in America

Tyre Nichols was a “good boy” who spent Sundays doing laundry and preparing for the week, his mother told CNN. “Does that sound like somebody that the police said did all these bad things?” RowVaugh Wells asked. “Nobody’s perfect, okay, but he was damn near.” Among the most gutwrenching details to emerge from the murder […]

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Mother Jones

How Just a Fraction of EV Owners Could Stop the US Grid From Failing

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. At first glance, electric vehicles seem like rolling disasters for the power grid. Surely the ancient, creaky network in the United States can’t handle the demand for charging those massive batteries. But a new analysis suggests that just a fraction of EV owners could […]

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“Lies Have Short Legs”: Inside the Brazilian WhatsApp Group Exposing George Santos

When Adriana Parizzi sees freshman Congressman George Santos (R-N.Y.) on television these days she barely recognizes the man with whom she once shared an apartment in New York City. Parizzi first met Santos in Brazil years earlier. She remembers Anthony, as he is generally known by his Brazilian acquaintances, as the “playful and smiley one, […]

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All Five Officers Charged With Second-Degree Murder in Tyre Nichols’ Death

In a stunning development, five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop earlier this month. All five officers were fired last week, the police department announced yesterday. “These officers were found to be directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. […]

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It Shouldn’t Just Be Elaine Chao

In a rare public statement, Elaine Chao, the former transportation secretary and wife of Mitch McConnell, hit back at Donald Trump’s anti-Asian attacks on Wednesday, claiming that the overtly racist insult “Coco Chow” revealed more about her one-time boss than it did about Asian Americans. “When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced […]

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Remembering Victor Navasky, the Unflappable Ringmaster of “The Nation”

It was a usual day in the offices of the Nation, a collection of cluttered warrens overflowing with stuffed filing cabinets, piles of books, and file folders containing who-knows-what in an undistinguished building below 14th Street on Fifth Avenue. This was four decades ago, and I was an editorial assistant for the liberal political and […]

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Mother Jones

My Vegetarian Dilemma: Tasting Lab-Grown Meat From Live Animals

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It was a confronting moment for a vegetarian. First, a pork meatball and then slices of bacon, balanced in a sort of mini BLT, were served to eat by beaming, expectant hosts. The meat even came from a named pig, an […]

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Newport News School Board Votes to Fire Superintendent After School Shooting Involving 6-Year-Old

In the wake of three school shootings in less than two years, the latest involving a 6-year-old boy, the Newport News School Board on Wednesday voted to fire superintendent George Parker III, citing a loss of trust among the city’s staff and parents. Effective February 1, Parker will no longer lead the district’s public school […]

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Kevin McCarthy Booted Adam Schiff for “Lying.” But What About His Lies?

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) lashed out at reporters who questioned his decision to remove Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee, of which Schiff was the ranking Democrat. McCarthy, who has been repeating these talking points for nearly a year, sounds convincing when he says that Schiff and Rep. […]

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Mother Jones

Trump Is Allowed to Return to Facebook and Instagram

Donald Trump will regain control of his Facebook and Instagram accounts with tens of millions of followers after his suspension following the January 6, 2021, attack, Facebook parent company Meta announced Wednesday. Trump had been banned from these social media accounts after he helped to incite the violent attack on the US Capitol. Meta said […]

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George Santos’ New Treasurer Wants You to Know He’s Not George Santos’ Treasurer

On Wednesday afternoon, more than a half-dozen campaign committees affiliated with George Santos filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission stating that Thomas Datwyler, a campaign finance consultant, had taken over as the committees’ treasurer. It meant that Datwyler was replacing Nancy Marks, the Santos campaign treasurer who may be key to unraveling the source […]

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Mother Jones

Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants to Be Trump’s VP

“Marjorie Taylor Greene is having a moment,” a recent headline declared, one of a host of news reports wondering why the Georgia congresswoman—whose endorsement of the execution of prominent Democrats got her kicked off two congressional committees—is suddenly, sort of, cleaning up her act. But as with everything in politics, it seems that unadulterated, DC-brain ambition is […]

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