News

Reflecting Pool Case Dismissed: What “With Prejudice” Means

A D.C. judge has permanently dismissed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn, ending a monthslong legal fight that drew in the Justice Department, the White House, and President Donald Trump. D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case...

Can the IRS Require Citizenship Status on Tax Returns?

When most Americans picture the IRS, they picture math. Forms. W-2s. A government agency that asks about income, not identity. That is why a new proposal from the Trump administration lands as more than routine paperwork. The IRS has posted a draft 1040 form for 2026 that would ask filers to...

Did IRS Cuts Reduce Audit Revenue? What the Numbers Mean

When people hear “IRS cuts,” they usually picture fewer audits and a looser enforcement posture. The newer question is more pointed: did workforce reductions actually cost the government money? Here is one striking data point. Revenue collected from IRS examinations fell 35% , from about $10...

What Lawmakers Want in a Planned Parenthood Funding Review

In Washington, the phrase “taxpayer funding” has a way of turning a policy dispute into a fight about rules, compliance, and oversight. Who gets federal money. What strings come with it. And what happens when lawmakers believe those standards are not being met. That question is now at the center of...

Ghost Students and Federal Aid Fraud

You do not have to be a hacker to steal from a federal program. Sometimes you just have to become a student on paper. That is the logic behind the "ghost student" scam, a scheme that exploits how federal student aid is awarded. On its face, it looks like ordinary enrollment. Names appear in class...

Trump Administration Sends $500 ObamaCare Refund Checks to Nearly 1 Million People

The Trump administration says it is sending one-time $500 refund checks to people who bought health insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace and were overcharged through costs tied to operating HealthCare.gov . The checks are being issued by the U.S. Treasury to more than...

Trump’s USPS Voter ID Idea Was Bigger Than an Executive Order

Strip away the slogans about “election integrity,” and a basic question is left: who sets the operating rules for American elections, the states and their local officials, or the president through federal machinery? That question was put under real stress by a 2026 push from the Trump White House...

Why the FAA Was Chronically Understaffed and What Record Hiring Means

Air traffic control is one of those federal jobs you almost never think about until it falters. When it works, it is invisible. When it does not, you notice the strain, especially in a system that has spent years short of its own staffing goals. That is the context for a striking milestone: the...

What a DOJ Criminal Referral Means for a Former Federal Prosecutor

A “criminal referral” sounds like a verdict. It isn’t. It is closer to a knock on the government’s door that says: you should look at this. That distinction matters, especially when the person named is a former federal prosecutor. Prosecutors are representatives of the United States, and the...

What the Election-Crime Cases and SAVE Act Fight Are Really About

Two arguments have been talking past each other for years, and this week’s headlines just made the cross-talk louder. On one side: a run of federal cases accusing noncitizens of registering and voting. On the other: elected officials insisting the problem is either “extremely rare” or flatly...

The Comstock Act and Mail-Order Abortion Pills

When people hear “Comstock Act,” they often assume it is a relic: a Victorian-era morality statute, technically still on the books but with little practical relevance today. But the law is back in the spotlight after the Restoration of America Foundation urged Attorney General Todd Blanche to use...

Which States Lead on Today’s Biggest Education Policy Fights

[content] Public education is where America’s biggest cultural arguments keep finding a stage, from transparency demands to disputes over identity and curriculum. A first-of-its-kind, 50-state ranking is now putting numbers to those fights by grading every state and Washington, D.C., across the...

Why the Senate Stock-Trading Vote Got Stuck

When Americans say they want Congress to “clean up Washington,” they often mean something very specific: stop letting lawmakers write the rules and trade on the information those rules create. That is why proposals to limit members of Congress from trading individual stocks tend to draw attention....

Should BB Guns Be Treated Like Firearms?

Most Americans learn the word firearm the same way they learn the word speech . We assume we know what it means until the law forces us to define it. That definitional pressure is back, this time aimed at a category many people file under “kid stuff” or “backyard plinking”: BB guns and pellet guns....

Flydubai Pilot Allegedly Stabbed Co-Pilot in Hijacking Attempt on Tel Aviv Flight

A Flydubai passenger flight headed from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted and landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after Israeli officials said one of the pilots attempted to hijack the aircraft, setting off a violent confrontation in the cockpit. Flydubai later confirmed there had been an "altercation" on...

Maine’s 72-Hour Waiting Period Heads to the Supreme Court

A multistate coalition led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Beckwith v. Frey , a challenge to Maine’s 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases . The coalition filed an amicus brief urging the justices to grant certiorari. The filing comes...

Attempted Hijacking on a Tel Aviv Flight: What Happens Next

An attempted in-flight hijacking is aviation’s nightmare scenario because it compresses decisions into minutes. On September 30, 2026, that fear became very real on a Flydubai passenger flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, when Israeli officials said one of the pilots stabbed his co-pilot and attempted...

Why Alito’s Recusal Matters in the Supreme Court Climate Case

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from a closely watched case over climate change liability less than a week before oral arguments were scheduled to begin. That is what happened in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County , a dispute over whether Boulder,...

Florida Audit Fuels Moskowitz-Singer Clash Over COVID Relief Oversight

Federal relief money is designed to move fast in an emergency. But once the checks clear, the question shifts to oversight: who tracked where the dollars went, and what safeguards were actually in place? That debate has become a campaign flashpoint in one of the country’s most competitive...

Can DEI Policies Be Challenged in Court? What the Seattle Case Means

A unanimous federal appeals court ruled Monday that a jury should decide whether Seattle’s DEI initiatives created a racially hostile work environment for a White employee, while emphasizing that federal anti-discrimination law protects workers regardless of race. The three-judge panel did not rule...