How Trump’s Treasury is shifting sanctions to punish his critics and reward friends

“When deployed effectively, these tools can disrupt weapons of mass destruction procurement rings, suffocate narcotics and criminal cartels, degrade the capabilities of terrorist groups, and alter the decision making of threatening regimes,” Treasury Department documents reviewed by NPR state.

NPR

A Snapshot of the Possible

Since the financial crisis and Great Recession of the early Obama era, a core group of community and union organizers in Minnesota had been building what they called “alignment.” January 23 was one fruit bore from that labor.

In These Times

As Trump Demands Voter Data, This Fiercely Independent Red State Says No

Wary of federal intrusion, Idaho passed a law three decades ago allowing it to sidestep so-called motor-voter laws. The exemption and the sentiment behind it are fueling resistance to President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

ProPublica

Coast Salish wool weaving, once nearly lost, enjoys a renaissance

Wool weaving nearly went the way of the woolly dog, a breed that once thrived in the Coast Salish communities but went extinct in the wake of colonialism. Today, an exhibition at Seattle’s Burke Museum showcases both ancestral and contemporary works, thanks in part to a local instructor who is helping its revival and teaching the next generation of weavers.

OPB

The Biggest Change to Voting in Republican Election Bill Could Become a Burden for Many US Voters

The SAVE Act requires a certified birth certificate issued by a state, local government or tribal government. What does not appear to qualify is the certificate signed by the doctor that many new parents are given in the hospital when their child is born. It provides information similar to a certified birth certificate, but would not meet the letter of the federal legislation.

Mississippi Free Price

Trump Announces Plan for ICE to Assist TSA While DHS Shutdown Drags On

Border czar Tom Homan confirmed that officials were in active discussions for how to reassign agents, just hours before they were set to arrive at airports across the country.

Notus

Man v. Nature

Trump appointees to federal appellate courts are ripping environmental protections to shreds—especially in the ultraconservative 5th Circuit, new analysis shows.

Texas Observer

A cholesterol test you’ve never heard of is now recommended to prevent heart disease

Among the new recommendations is a one-time lipoprotein(a) test for all adults. This is a simple blood test that’s widely available, and increasingly many primary care physicians offer it as part of preventive care.

NPR

‘I was trying to follow the rules:’ WA asylum seekers detained over questionable violations

Recent court rulings show how ICE is citing missed immigration check-ins — often without evidence — to detain asylum seekers

InvestigateWest

Op-ed: The Persian Gulf Oil Crisis Is a Food Crisis 

The fertilizer shock hasn’t even hit yet, but the fossil fuel industry is still betting its future on our dependency.

Civil Eats

John Roberts Is Hanging District Court Judges Out to Dry

The chief justice says that hostility directed at lower court judges is “dangerous” and has “got to stop.” But the Supreme Court’s recent shadow docket decisions have not been helping.

Balls and Strikes

Native Americans Could Be Among the Hardest Hit by SAVE America Act

The legislation, poised to get a vote in the Senate this week, is President Donald Trump’s top priority.

Notus

Unpopular abortion-homicide bills won’t fade, concerning reproductive rights advocates

“Whether or not one of the laws, should it be enacted, makes it in front of the court, what it does is create an environment in which the court can seem as if it’s not being so extreme or stepping so far out of the mainstream,” said Madeline Gomez, managing senior policy counsel at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “The court often likes to look to how many states have laws like this.”

Michigan Advance

Slavery and Birthright Citizenship

The administration’s position in the birthright citizenship case contradicts the central purpose of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.

Lawfare

Med student by day, Quran reciter by night: Young ‘huffaz’ carry Ramadan’s most demanding tradition

Across the country, young men are balancing school and work as they step into quasi-imam roles, leading Taraweeh prayers deep into the night.

Religion News Service

Iran’s cultural heritage sites are being damaged by American and Israeli strikes

UNESCO, the United Nations body that protects scientific and cultural sites, says it has documented at least four historic sites damaged by shockwaves from a March 10 strike.

NPR

What Happens To Zimbabwe’s Teenagers When They Can’t Afford Menstrual Care and Clean Water

Millions of Zimbabweans share T.K.’s plight. Period poverty, a situation where women cannot afford menstrual hygiene products, affects the health, education, and dignity of countless women and girls in the country. It often leads to missed school days, use of unhygienic alternatives and deepening gender inequality.

The Xylom

Iran launches barrage of missiles after Israel kills 2 of its top officials

Iran confirmed the killings of both men, who were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule.

Religion News Service

More Than 1 Million People in Lebanon Have Been Displaced. These Are Their Stories.

Israel’s wave of attacks on Lebanon are the deadliest conflict in the country since the 1975–1990 civil war. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,000 people, 118 of them children, and displaced 1 million others. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but has consistently struck residential buildings in the south and east of the country, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and, recently, parts of central Beirut as well. 

The Intercept

A new study questions when people first reached South America

Chile’s Monte Verde site may be thousands of years younger than previously thought, data suggest

Science News

Cuba begins to restore power after third nationwide collapse in a month

Cuba began restoring its energy system on Sunday, a day after a nationwide collapse of the entire grid left millions of people in the dark for the third time this month.

NPR

With Gaza’s Libraries in Ruins, Palestinians Fight to Preserve Historical Memory

More than 87 public libraries and archives in Gaza have been partially or completely destroyed by Israel’s genocide.

Truthout

Chavismo faces split among evangelical Christian political allies in Venezuela

Some evangelicals’ cooling relationship with Chavismo stems from a 2024 meeting where Maduro favored the pastors of the largest megachurches.

Religion News Service

Op-Ed: Latvia Shows Path to Break Car Dependence

“Instead of competing with the West in finding engineering or city-planning answers to urban traffic problems, Soviet authorities appear to be placing major weight on the drive to suppress the desire for individually-owned passenger automobiles.” Hunter wrote. Compared to the U.S., where there was one car for every three residents, Hunter estimated that in 1965 private car ownership in the USSR was closer to one car per 500 residents.

The Urbanist

Exploring Historic Palestine’s Buried Landmarks

How Raja Shehadeh’s and Penny Johnson’s travels through Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories revealed many forgotten histories of the region.

L.A. Taco

This lab that’s determined to discover new drugs isn’t where you might expect

The discovery of new medicines often takes place in North America, Europe and Asia. So that’s where the agenda tends to be set for which diseases to treat and who benefits. But Chibale says H3D is a rare facility in Africa with everything needed to discover drugs for some of humanity’s most intractable ailments.

NPR