Author: Mandy Matthews

Campaign records show Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground, has given more than $10,000 to at least a dozen Democratic lawmakers since 2020, and most recipients have stayed silent after the donations were exposed. Campaign finance records, cross-referenced by reporting, indicate Bill Ayers has funneled over $10,000 to multiple Democratic members of Congress since 2020. After the disclosure, only one senator publicly moved to offset those contributions by donating the same amount to charity. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s office responded directly and a spokeswoman said, “Bill Ayers is a domestic terrorist. The Senator wants nothing to do with him…

Connecticut moved this week to outlaw tianeptine, kratom, and five other unregulated drugs, signaling a tougher stance on what critics call “gas station heroin” and targeting distributors as the ban takes effect on Wednesday. Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection and Attorney General William Tong announced the ban and added 7-hydroxymitragynine, Bromazolam, Flubromazolam, Nitazenes, and Phenibut to the list alongside tianeptine and kratom. Fourteen states now list tianeptine as a controlled substance, and kratom is banned in at least seven states. The move is part of a broader pattern of states acting where federal action has lagged. Attorney General Tong made…

Washington state Democrats are now proposing reparations for people in the country illegally, arguing immigration enforcement and ICE have caused fear and harm that should be paid for. Reparations for slavery have been debated for years, but the idea has now widened to include people who entered the country without authorization. A Washington State Democrat wants to expand reparations to cover alleged harms from immigration policy and actions by ICE. That shift changes the conversation from historical injustice to modern enforcement practices. From a conservative perspective, this proposal raises basic questions about fairness and accountability. Paying people who broke immigration…

The SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) has sparked a heated national fight over election rules, with Republicans arguing it restores trust in voting and Democrats warning it would restrict access. The debate over the SAVE America Act centers on who gets to decide how elections are run and who is allowed to vote. Republicans say the bill targets clear vulnerabilities and aims to stop illegal voting, while Democrats call it partisan and suppressive. President Donald Trump’s willingness to go to the mat for election integrity has pushed the issue into the spotlight. The bill’s supporters frame it as…

President Trump praised U.S. partners in the Middle East as “very helpful” in pushing back against Iran, and he drew a sharp contrast with NATO, arguing the transatlantic alliance has not matched that level of commitment or results. Trump’s comments put the spotlight back on the pragmatic side of American foreign policy: work with partners who deliver concrete support rather than rely on old assurances. He framed the Middle East coalition as operational and results-oriented, which fits a Republican preference for clear returns on security investments. The “very helpful” label underscored a simple metric voters understand: allies who act matter…

House Republicans rejected the Senate’s late-night DHS funding deal after the Senate passed a full-year bill by unanimous voice vote that would have ended the 42-day shutdown and restored pay for TSA and other unpaid Department of Homeland Security staff. The Senate moved in the small hours to pass a full-year funding bill by unanimous voice vote, a procedural push meant to reopen DHS operations and put paychecks back into the pockets of TSA agents and other unpaid workers. That motion was intended to end the 42-day lapse in funding that left critical personnel in limbo. But when the package…

The Trump administration moved to block the government from using the AI system Claude and barred contractors from dealing with its maker, Anthropic, a step legal observers say likely crossed legal lines and raised questions about executive reach into technology markets. The decision to forbid government use of Claude and to bar contracts with Anthropic landed in the middle of an intense debate over how the federal government should handle advanced artificial intelligence. On its face the move looks like a blunt tool aimed at a single company, not a policy crafted with clear legal authority and consistent standards. That…

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day, a move tied to renewed scrutiny of allegations against Chavez that has reopened debates about who we honor and why. The change has prompted immediate political and cultural pushback, with lawmakers, activists and voters arguing over history, accountability and how best to respect the people who pick America’s food. Governor Newsom’s signature closes one chapter and opens another in a long-running conversation about public memory. For decades Cesar Chavez has been a central figure in labor history, admired for organizing farmworkers and building…

The United Nations’ acting top envoy told the Security Council that fighting in mineral-rich eastern Congo is growing worse and spreading, with combatants increasingly using heavy weapons and other means that deepen the crisis. The fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is intensifying and moving into new areas, officials report. Armed groups are clashing more frequently, and the violence now reaches communities that had been relatively stable until recently. Civilians caught in the middle face mounting danger from both targeted attacks and indiscriminate violence. Eastern Congo’s vast mineral wealth has long been a factor in the violence, drawing armed…

Noelia Castillo, a Spanish woman who sought euthanasia and fought a protracted legal battle with her family over her right to do so, received life-ending medicine on Thursday in Barcelona. She was 25.