Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Estelle, who’s long held permanent resident status in the U.S., is a veteran at navigating the reentry process when she returns from visiting relatives in her native France. But on her most recent trip through customs in mid-March, officers detained the 57-year-old Lawrence, Kansas, resident for 30 hours, forced her to spend the night in a holding cell on a concrete slab and threatened her with deportation. Why? Because she acknowledged under questioning by customs officers that…

Sky York Journal This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra and Barbara Rodriguez of The 19th. Meet Shefali and Barbara and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary’s resignation creates a new opening for anti-abortion activists to push for national restrictions on the procedure — and in particular, limit the availability of a key abortion drug. The move comes as anti-abortion groups became angry over what they viewed as his agency’s failure to curb access to the drug.  Makary’s resignation, which multiple outlets reported Tuesday, followed reports of Trump’s growing dissatisfaction…

Sky York Journal The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a stay on an old Alabama map that had been found to intentionally dilute Black voters, likely setting the state up to eliminate at least one Democratic district.  In the ruling, handed down on the shadow docket, the unnamed majority did not bother to explain its reasoning. This is all the more stark given that Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais — the decision that killed the remnants of the Voting Rights Act in late April — took pains to insist that his ruling did not overturn Allen v. Milligan, the…

Sky York Journal In a major loss for Democrats on Friday, the Virginia state Supreme Court rejected, in a 4-3 decision, the state’s recently approved redistricting proposal, which could have given Democrats four additional congressional seats, improving their chances of taking control of the U.S. House this year.  The proposal, which was introduced as a way to offset the impact of the Trump administration’s mid-cycle gerrymandering blitz, was narrowly approved by voters in a special election earlier this month.  The Supreme Court ruled that the process by which lawmakers moved forward the redistricting proposal violated the state’s constitution.   “In this…

Sky York Journal President Donald Trump’s signature economic policy hit another brick wall Thursday evening when the Court of International Trade overturned new tariffs Trump enacted to replace the tariffs blocked by the Supreme Court. The Court of International Trade Chief Judge Mark A. Barnett and Judge Claire R. Kelly ruled Trump’s Section 122 tariffs were unlawful. They ordered a permanent injunction to begin within five days and directed the government to refund the small businesses that sued the Trump administration for any tariffs they’ve already paid, plus interest. Senior Judge Timothy C. Stanceu dissented. On a press call Thursday…

Sky York Journal Louisiana asked the Supreme Court Thursday to speed-run oral arguments in its case — if the Court maintains its stay on a lower court ruling that would reimpose in-person dispensing requirements on abortion pill mifepristone, barring the drug from being sent by mail. The state primarily asked the Court to let the 5th Circuit’s order take effect while the case plays out. But if it doesn’t, the attorneys wrote, the Court should take up the case before the summer recess because “approximately 1,000 abortions are taking place in Louisiana every month, undermining its ‘prerogative of protecting unborn…

Sky York Journal The widening rift between the haves and the have-nots continues to be borne out in federal data, as a Thursday Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed U.S. workers are doing more and reaping less. Workers are earning record low wages and other compensation compared to their labor output, according to the BLS productivity and costs report published Thursday. Called the “labor share,” this indicator essentially measures how much of the nation’s economic earnings is used to pay wages and other worker benefits.  At 54.1%, workers are netting the lowest earnings compared to the income they’re producing since…

Sky York Journal Sebastian Gorka released a new counterterrorism strategy on Wednesday, singling out “violent left-wing extremists,” “extreme transgender ideologies,” and “violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” As with much that comes out of the Trump administration, the messenger needs to be taken into account with the message. At a press briefing on Wednesday, Gorka replied to a question about what impact the Iran war might have on terrorist threats by calling critics of the war “testicularly challenged,” describing it as a “low-T approach to threats to the United States.” Low-T refers to low…

Sky York Journal In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s redistricting failure in Indiana, he vowed political retribution against Republican state senators who refused to cave to his pressure to gerrymander maps in their state. The results of Tuesday’s primaries in Indiana show Indiana voters may still be influenced by Trump’s rhetoric and his broader campaign to gerrymander maps ahead of the midterms.  Trump endorsed primary challengers against seven different incumbent Republican candidates in Indiana’s state Senate primary races on Tuesday night. The Trump-backed challengers won in at least five of those races, as of this publishing Tuesday evening. Following…

Sky York Journal In the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling this week that struck down Louisiana’s second Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana v. Callais and dealt a devastating blow to the Voting Rights Act, limiting the use of consideration of race in future maps, Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has suspended this month’s already-active congressional primary election to give lawmakers time to pass new gerrymandered maps ahead of the midterms.  Over 100,000 mail-in ballots have already been sent out and absentee ballots have already been cast for the state’s primary congressional election, which was set to take place on…