White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats

The Trump administration sidestepped skeptical lawyers across national security agencies as it pursued a military campaign against alleged narcotraffickers, officials say.

The Washington Post

The latest Epstein emails reveal the powerful people who sought his counsel

Spread throughout the roughly 23,000 documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week, emails and texts show Epstein courted prominent politicos from both sides of the aisle, impressed academics and used his connections to push back on negative stories about his alleged crimes.

NPR

Federal Workers Ask Judge To Block Trump’s ‘Loyalty’ Question On Job Applications

One federal employee said in a court filing that they “cannot in good conscience pretend to agree with President Trump’s policies.”

Huffpost

First human death reported from rare H5N5 bird flu in Washington

Health officials say an older adult with underlying conditions contracted the virus from domestic poultry; public risk remains low.

TMJ4

How Trump’s Transportation Department Is Loosening Safety Rules Meant to Protect the Public

“You hear of the phrase ‘the fox guarding the henhouse,’” said Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, an advocacy group. “What we’re worrying about in this situation is the fox designing the henhouse.”

ProPublica

When federal agents shoot people in D.C., there are few details — and little accountability

“We have rules and regulations we operate by,” says Ronald Hampton, who was an MPD officer for 23 years and served as a member of the D.C. Police Reform Commission in 2020 and 2021. “It’s not perfect, but at least there’s accountability. The feds don’t have anything like that. And federal police don’t have the kind of training that local police do. Realistically they can do almost anything they want, and no one is there to check them.”

The 51st

In culture war backlash, Democrats sweep school boards

The party recruited and invested in school board races to oust Republicans. It worked.

Politico

The trustbuster advising Mamdani who could bring aggressive approach to affordability

Progressives began to imagine how her aggressive approach to regulation could play out at the local level. The city’s executives, meanwhile, wondered if Khan’s appointment signaled that Mamdani’s outreach to corporate leaders during the general election wasn’t genuine.

Gothamist

Bible sales keep growing, even as many Americans lose their religion

About 18 million Bibles have been sold this year, part of a five-year boom in Bible sales.

Religion News Service

How could Trump interfere in the midterms? Here’s what voting officials are watching

“We have to plan for the worst and hope we get the best,” Koppes said. “I think we’re all kind of conditioned at this point to expect anything and everything, and our bingo cards keep getting bigger and bigger with things that we would have never have had on them.”

NPR

Faculty panel: Texas A&M wrongly fired professor after gender lesson

Texas A&M did not have good cause to fire a professor after a video of a gender lesson created a political storm, and the school failed to follow due process, a faculty appeal committee found.

The Texas Tribune

Those Who Resist Trump’s Gerrymander Bid Face Threats, Intimidation

Officials are facing threats and intimidation for resisting Trump’s plan. The situation is particularly alarming in Indiana, where five Republican lawmakers have been targeted in so-called “swatting” incidents after voting against a partisan redistricting session. A sixth reported receiving a bomb threat at his business Thursday. 

Democracy Docket

The FEC Has Effectively Been Shut Down for More Than 200 Days

Ahead of the 2026 midterms, concerns are growing across the political spectrum about the agency’s inability to investigate complaints, answer legal questions or even schedule meetings.

Notus

Trump Refuses to Disavow White Nationalist Nick Fuentes, Praising Carlson

The president’s answer echoes his longstanding reluctance to disavow—and sometimes, his willingness to embrace—right-wing figures who have inched their way from the political fringe to the Republican mainstream.

Mississippi Free Press

At the Justice Department, Civil Rights Now Means Gun Rights

The Civil Rights Division was created to protect the disempowered. Under Trump, it’s working to dismantle gun restrictions.

The Trace

Trump’s D.C. National Guard Deployment Was Unlawful, Federal Court Finds

A federal court ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington D.C. was likely unlawful and inflicted serious harm on the District’s right to govern itself.

Democracy Docket

How the Trump Administration Abandoned Plans for a Major Cut in Disability Benefits for Older Workers

After reporting by ProPublica and other publications, the administration is dropping an effort that could have led 830,000 people, disproportionately blue-collar workers in red states, to lose eligibility for Social Security disability payments.

ProPublica

$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts

The pair met while studying malaria 25 years ago and grew close while working together on a lassa fever project in Sierra Leone. Then came late 2013, when people began falling ill in Guinea in West Africa. It would start with a fever and could end with death, but it still took months before health authorities were sufficiently concerned to investigate and take blood samples. Even once they did, the tests were ploddingly slow.

NPR

Vatican groups report progress, and tensions, on women and LGBTQ inclusion

The group charged with reflecting on women in the church consisted of members of the Vatican’s department for doctrine.They plan to publish their final report in the coming months, to be divided into three parts: the first an overview of the study group; the second presenting its findings; and finally information gathered about women in church history, current experiences of women in church leadership and the curia, theological reflections, tensions regarding “clericalism and chauvinism” and the contributions of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV regarding women’s roles in the church, according to the update.

Religion News Service

Brazil’s Bolsonaro arrested over alleged plot to escape, avoid 27-year prison term

Brazil’s federal police on Saturday arrested former president Jair Bolsonaro over suspicion he was plotting to escape and avoid starting a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt. The decision laid bare some of the country’s divisions, with many uncorking Champagne outside the far-right leader’s prison to celebrate as his supporters prepared a religious act in his favor.

Chicago Tribune

More than 300 schoolchildren abducted in attack on Catholic school in Nigeria, authorities say

A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.

PBS

Why illegal gold mining is overtaking cocaine as the drug of choice for traffickers in Latin America

It’s a toxic combination that is enriching criminal gangs and corrupt officials, as the price of gold touches new highs on world markets. And it’s taking root in other states – including Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela.

CNN

In Tanzania, faith leaders who speak out against post-election violence are targeted

Catholic Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi has called for justice for the victims, warning that there can be no peace without it.

Religion News Service

Von der Leyen says EU is not fighting fossil fuels, only emissions

The comment could undermine European countries’ push at COP30 to move away from coal, oil and gas.

Politico

U.N. climate talks end without agreement on phasing out fossil fuels

This year’s United Nations global climate conference in Brazil ended on Saturday with a formal agreement that failed to address phasing out fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming.

NPR

Trump’s Plan for Syria: Boots on the Ground

The U.S. thinks counterterrorism can hold Syria together, and is counting on a former Al Qaeda militant to help do the job

Rolling Stone

Iceland deems possible Atlantic current collapse a security risk 

A potential collapse of AMOC could trigger a modern-day ice age, with winter temperatures across Northern Europe plummeting to new cold extremes, bringing far more snow and ice. The AMOC has collapsed in the past – notably before the last Ice Age that ended about 12,000 years ago.

Reuters

European Leaders Condemn Trump’s Military Escalation Against Venezuela

War would deliver “not security but a torrent of bloodshed,” said a letter signed by dozens of political leaders.

Truthout

Palestinian Christians issue ‘Kairos II,’ a cry of hope in a time of darkness

Updating a document issued in 2009, Kairos Palestine II demands international protection, accountability and reparations.

Religion News Service