Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal This story first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.The Trump administration has vowed to go after anyone who got lower mortgage rates by claiming more than one primary residence on their loan papers.President Donald Trump has used it as a justification to target political foes, including a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, a Democratic U.S. senator and a state attorney general.Real estate experts say claiming primary residences on different mortgages at the same time is often legal and rarely prosecuted.But if administration officials continue the…

Sky York Journal The Texas Senate passed new bounty hunter-style abortion legislation Wednesday night to quash mailed abortion pills, targeting a method that has slipped through the cracks of abortion bans and contributed to the slight rise in the total number of abortions since the Supreme Court decided Dobbs. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), staunchly anti-abortion, is expected to sign it.  The bill would allow people to sue the manufacturers, deliverers and providers of mailed abortion pills for damages. It sets up a long-predicted abortion showdown: red state abortion bans versus blue state shield laws. Many blue states passed such…

Sky York Journal Trump administration attorneys asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday night to overturn Friday’s appeals court decision finding that most of Trump’s tariffs are unconstitutional. The filing came after Trump at a Tuesday press conference — ostensibly about moving Space Command from Colorado to Alabama — said his administration would swiftly seek a SCOTUS ruling. The Justice Department also asked for a motion to expedite briefing on the merits and oral arguments. Solicitor General D. John Sauer cast the stakes in apocalyptic terms.  “The President and his Cabinet officials have determined that the tariffs are promoting peace and…

Sky York Journal Texas’ top law enforcement official is set to appear alongside a man known as the “Lectern Guy” who served prison time for being among the crowds that broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 to protest President Donald Trump’s election loss. Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate against his fellow Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, is one of the “special guests” headlining a shooting event hosted by the group Texas Gun Rights (TXGR) on September 13. Another one of the “special guests” is Adam Johnson, who became one of…

Sky York Journal Connor Clegg, a former Fox News producer who was ousted from his school’s student government over accusations of racism, is working in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s communications department, according to a current and a former EEOC employee with knowledge and a screenshot of the agency’s personnel directory viewed by Talking Points Memo. Details about Clegg’s precise role at EEOC are unclear. The former EEOC employee told TPM that while she was at the EEOC, Clegg was overseeing some press and social media duties, which meant he was reviewing the work of career staff. He also compiled…

Sky York Journal As secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem has become one of the most visible leaders of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and detention push. According to officials, the role has caused Noem and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who operate under her authority to face threats that have led them to adopt masks and necessitated an unusual living arrangement for the secretary. However, on Facebook, Noem appears to be far less secure.  TPM has identified a page that seems to belong to Noem and was updated publicly through 2023. It is hidden in…

Sky York Journal This article was first published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Officials in a large North Texas county decided this week to cut more than 100 Election Day polling sites and reduce the number of early voting locations, amid growing concern about GOP efforts to limit voting access ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The 3-2 vote on Tuesday by commissioners in Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, came one day after President Donald Trump vowed to end the use of mail-in ballots. The president lacks the unilateral power to decide how individual states run elections,…

Sky York Journal Just one minute before the White House distributed via email a new executive order further dismantling collective bargaining protections for U.S. federal workers, President Donald Trump’s Department of Labor made another, somewhat surprising announcement. The DOL in a Thursday press release sent at 4:01 p.m. announced it would be investigating whether workers at a slaughterhouse and meat distribution plant in Mexico “are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining” under a trade agreement labor provision. By 4:02 p.m., another administration email came: The White House was sharing Trump’s just-signed executive order adding six…

SKY YORK Journal | On the morning of May 22, 2025, Sudan’s military leadership woke up to more than the sound of distant artillery and airstrikes. In Washington, the U.S. government announced a new wave of targeted sanctions, a calculated, high-pressure move aimed directly at Sudan’s fragile economic arteries and the power structure led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The measures include frozen credit lines, blocked financial assistance, and restricted access to international markets. The message from Washington was unambiguous: the use of chemical weapons against civilians will not be tolerated. Strategic Pressure, Not Collapse Yet For now, the sanctions…

SKY YORK Journal — On May 22, 2025, the United States government escalated its response to the ongoing war in Sudan, imposing comprehensive financial and trade sanctions directly on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sovereignty Council led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The sanctions are built on verified evidence of the army’s deployment of chemical and biological weapons against civilians, deepening global outrage over a war that has already displaced millions and pushed Sudan into its worst humanitarian crisis in decades. A Sharp Policy Shift This move represents a calculated change in U.S. strategy. Under the Biden administration, Washington…