National News

With the 2026 midterms approaching, the NAACP is bracing Black voters for unprecedented election monitoring, including federal observers, partisan poll watchers and citizen activists. The organization is launching a legal hub to combat potential voter intimidation, while suing the DOJ over its expanded monitoring plans amid historical concerns about surveillance targeting Black communities at the polls.

Nine years after MeToo, an alleged gang rape at a Cornell fraternity has reignited debate over rape culture and whether real change has occurred. Experts and activists like Tarana Burke examine the history of sexual violence awareness, Title IX's evolution, and how backlash and persistent harm reveal both progress and ongoing challenges in addressing sexual assault.

Michelle Obama headlined a Fort Worth celebration honoring Dr. Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," on her 100th birthday, raising funds for the National Juneteenth Museum.

ICE leadership has directed agents to increase daily immigration arrests to 3,000, up from roughly 2,000, aiming for 19,000 weekly arrests despite DHS denying quotas exist. The push comes amid growing Republican unease over targeting undocumented immigrants without criminal records, expanded detention infrastructure needs, and tightened vehicle stop protocols following controversial shootings during enforcement operations.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a First Amendment appeal from two middle school students who were ordered to remove sweatshirts emblazoned with the words “Let’s Go Brandon,” steering clear of a case that could have clarified the power schools have to police potentially offensive speech in the classroom.

Growing outrage over how Cornell University handled rape allegations from a student in 2024 has stretched across the country, from sexual abuse survivors to students on campus and now to the school’s president.

The FBI opened preliminary investigations targeting anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Southern California, a former FBI intelligence official alleged in a whistleblower complaint, adding that she believed the move violated the law and agency policy.

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., announced federal job guarantee legislation on Friday as panelists at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 55th Annual Legislative Conference discussed the financial pressures facing Black families.

At the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s conference, authors Victor Simmons, Phill Branch, Ada Taylor and Calvin Stovall discussed strengthening Black economic power, arguing responsibility extends beyond consumer spending to corporate supply chains, institutional accountability, collaboration among Black businesses, financial education, and stronger business practices needed to keep wealth circulating within Black communities.

The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments Monday in one of the most important climate change cases to reach its docket in years, a multibillion-dollar effort to hold major oil companies like ExxonMobil liable for the damages caused by planet-warming pollution.