Category Archives: News you should know

By Claire B. Wofford and Jordan Ragusa The outrage was swift and severe when the U.S. Supreme Court, by an ideologically divided 6-3 vote, recently struck down Louisiana’s majority Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Critics lambasted the court for gutting the Voting Rights Act, the federal law that had until recently garneredContinue reading “Racial gerrymandering may be here to stay”

The Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District has narrowed to a two-way contest that presents voters with a stark choice between war and peace. On one side stands Brian Varela, a first-generation American and progressive organizer backed by the antiwar group Peace Action. On the other is Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopterContinue reading “Rebecca Bennett and Brian Varela present a stark choice between war and peace”

The numbers are not dramatic at first glance. They do not march across the page with the urgency of a crisis or the clarity of a scandal. They sit, almost politely, in the middle. Roughly half of Americans, according to a 2026 study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame published in Nature HumanContinue reading “Roughly half of Americans hold a ‘neutral’ stance toward democracy”

When immigration agents pulled U.S. citizen Leonardo Garcia Venegas from his car this month and shackled him, he wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t scared.  He was tired. As ProPublica detailed last fall, he had already been detained twice before. A year ago, Garcia Venegas was filming his brother’s arrest during a raid on their coastal AlabamaContinue reading “Immigration agents without warrants detained one American citizen three times”

NYC Bar Association details Trump’s ‘gross abuses of power’—but Congress, including top Democrats, shamelessly refuses to act In a bombshell 33-page document that legal scholars are calling the most damning indictment of a sitting president since Watergate, the New York City Bar Association (City Bar) has delivered a blistering audit of President Donald J. Trump’sContinue reading “A CRIMINAL IN THE WHITE HOUSE”

On the first trip by a US president to China in nearly a decade, President Donald Trump arrived on Wednesday afternoon with some of America’s most powerful corporate chieftains in its passenger cabin and a quiet understanding hanging over the visit: The defense of democracy, the security of a strategic island, and the future ofContinue reading “Trading Allies for Access: Trump’s China deal may put Taiwan, U.S. jobs at risk”

A group of election experts and scholars, represented by the States United Democracy Center and Wolfe Law, filed an amicus brief in Pitts v. United States, a case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Fulton County officials, including Chairman Robb Pitts, are suing to reclaim 2020 election records seized by the FBI, alleging the searchContinue reading “Election experts rebut false DOJ claims about Georgia’s 2020 election”

The contest for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District has produced a flashpoint that reveals nearly everything about the state of American politics in the spring of 2026, and little of it is reassuring. Robin Nowicki of Englishtown, the owner of Robin’s Nest Home & Patio in Bradley Beach, has described a former U.S. Army lieutenantContinue reading “New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District Democratic primary fight turns ugly”

The city that receives Donald Trump this week has been waiting for him with the patience of a civilization that measures strategic time in dynasties rather than news cycles, and the welcome it has prepared is one part ceremony, one part negotiation, and one part trap — though which part is which depends entirely onContinue reading “The bargaining table is at the Edge of the World, but the chip on it is Taiwan”

Tonight, while the working-class voters of Michigan struggle with medical debt and the corrosive effects of a healthcare system that bleeds them dry, a cabal of New Jersey Democratic power brokers will gather along the Atlantic coast to raise money for a candidate who promises to change as little as possible. The host committee readsContinue reading “New Jersey Democratic power brokers fundraising for Michigan moderate”

For years, Americans were told that the courts would hold. That whatever happened in Congress, whatever fever swept through cable television, whatever demagogue clawed his way to power, there remained one institution insulated from the mob: the judiciary. The courts, we were assured, would be the last adults in the room. That illusion is nowContinue reading “MAGA campaigns against the idea that power should be determined by voters”

The first thaw used to mean one thing in New Jersey: a reprieve. A chance for the frozen ground to breathe before winter clamped down again. Not anymore. Today, that same warm spell sends blacklegged ticks crawling up from the leaf litter, hungry and hunting. Rather than watching for groundhogs in February, Americans must guardContinue reading “The Unseen Invasion: A warming world is unleashing ticks across America”

by Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor The Trump administration has agreed to delay its plan to convert a Roxbury warehouse into an immigration detention center, a partial win for state and local officials who are seeking to block the proposal entirely. Under a joint stipulation filed shortly before the matter was expected to go beforeContinue reading “Feds agree to delay opening of planned Roxbury ICE concentration camp”

From the bustling streets of Tokyo to the quiet villages of Peru, from the vast landscapes of Australia to the heart of Africa, over 40 countries pause to honor mothers on the second Sunday of May, this year falling on May 10, which is a date circled on millions of calendars across the globe. ThisContinue reading “Happy Mother’s Day, but sorry about its commercialization”

by Lilo H. Stainton, New Jersey Monitor New Jersey health officials said Friday they are monitoring two residents who may have been infected with hantavirus after being on a plane with someone who was a passenger on the Dutch cruise ship now experiencing a deadly outbreak.  The state Department of Health said the risk toContinue reading “Health officials monitoring two NJ residents possibly exposed to hantavirus”

It is a peculiar thing to watch a man in a white coat climb onto a soapbox and discover it wobbles just as much under a stethoscope as it does under a cheap pair of wingtips. Across this great republic, dozens of Democratic physicians are now throwing their tongue depressors into the ring, running forContinue reading “The white coats are rising in response to fake health news, and so are the fevers”

t has now been almost a week since the health risks surrounding the hantavirus – the virus identified onboard the MV Hondius that has claimed three lives among the passengers – have become the focus of intense attention. On Friday, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classified the hantavirus outbreak as aContinue reading “CDC classifies the hantavirus outbreak as the lowest level event”

Unfortunately, trust in our elections, which is key to keeping our government running smoothly and ensuring a peaceful transfer of power, has taken a hit due to intense pressures and other unprecedented political challenges facing our voting systems. The Ford Foundation announced $60 million in grants to nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations protecting and advancing democracy andContinue reading “Ford Foundation invests $60 million to protect democracy as United States slips into tyranny”

by Lilo H. Stainton, New Jersey Monitor New Jersey lawmakers will consider legislation to protect healthcare for transgender people and those who provide it, a measure first proposed nearly two years ago that supporters rallied to support earlier this year in Trenton.   The Senate health committee is scheduled to take testimony and vote Monday on theContinue reading “Long-stalled transgender healthcare bill set for vote in Trenton”