Philadelphia has received $4 million in additional grant funding to continue lowering its jail population, and city officials said they will focus some of the funding on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in its criminal justice system. The John D. ...
Read More »‘Mockingbird’ chosen as America’s best-loved novel in vote
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” a coming-of-age story about racism and injustice, overpowered wizards and time travelers to be voted America’s best-loved novel by readers nationwide. The 1960 book by Harper Lee emerged as No. 1 in PBS’ “The Great American ...
Read More »Apple CEO backs privacy laws, warns data being ‘weaponized’
The head of Apple on Wednesday endorsed tough privacy laws for both Europe and the U.S. and renewed the technology giant’s commitment to protecting personal data, which he warned was being “weaponized” against users. Speaking at an international conference on ...
Read More »Poll finds young people back single-payer health care
Large majorities of young Americans want to see an expansion of government services, including a single-payer health care program, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV. According to the poll, 69 ...
Read More »New-home sales slump for 4th straight month
Sales of new U.S. homes plunged 5.5 percent in September, the fourth straight monthly drop as the housing market cools with mortgage rates rising. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that newly built homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate ...
Read More »In Oregon, a community responds to imprisonment of migrants
With the sun bearing down, Norm and Kathy Daviess stood in the shade of a prison wall topped with coiled razor wire, waiting for three immigrants to come out. It’s become an oddly familiar routine for the Air Force veteran ...
Read More »Restaurant nixes voting promotion after legality questioned
A Columbia restaurant that planned to offer young people a special on sandwiches if they voted canceled the promotion after questions were raised about its legality. Sycamore announced on its Facebook page Oct. 13 that people ages 18 to 30 ...
Read More »Man’s lethal-injection fight may lead him to electric chair
Attorneys for a Tennessee death row prisoner were trying to spare him from lethal injection and they succeeded — though not the way they hoped. Instead of getting the needle, Edmund Zagorski is scheduled to die in the electric chair ...
Read More »Sandra Day O’Connor announces likely Alzheimer’s diagnosis
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, announced Tuesday that she has the beginning stages of dementia, “probably Alzheimer’s disease.” The 88-year-old said in a public letter that her diagnosis was made some time ago and that ...
Read More »LGBT leaders react to possible gender-definition change
LGBT leaders across the U.S. reacted with fury to a report that the Trump administration is considering adoption of a new definition of gender that would effectively deny federal recognition and civil rights protections to transgender Americans. “I feel very ...
Read More »Judge upholds Monsanto verdict, cuts award to $78 million
A Northern California judge has upheld a jury’s verdict that found Monsanto’s weed killer caused a groundskeeper’s cancer, although she slashed the amount of money to be paid from $289 million to $78 million. In denying Monsanto’s request for a ...
Read More »