Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal Minnesota state prosecutors charged a second ICE agent on Monday with assault over incidents that took place during the Trump administration’s winter occupation of the city. Prosecutors brought four counts of second degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime against Christian Castro, who allegedly shot a man of Venezuelan origin. The man, who had legal status to be in the United States, told law enforcement that he had helped a housemate escape an ICE officer and was inside his home at the time that Castro allegedly shot him. The charges set up what’s likely…

Sky York Journal The Republican primary race for Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) Senate seat is headed to a runoff next month. But Cassidy won’t be a part of it. The two-term senator went down in defeat Saturday to two MAGA challengers, Rep. Julie Letlow (R-LA) and Louisiana state treasurer and former congressman John Fleming. None of the candidates in the competitive three-way race received the majority of the votes needed to avoid a runoff. At the time the AP called the race, just before 11 p.m. ET, Letlow had 44.9 percent of the vote, leading the pack, while Fleming received…

Sky York Journal Amid mounting pressure from President Trump, Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence of Tina Peters on Friday. Peters is the former elections administrator of Mesa County, Colorado who went rogue and was convicted for breaching her office’s own voting equipment in her quest to find non-existent evidence of election fraud in the 2020 election. Back in 2021, Peters, who has become a close ally of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, granted an unauthorized individual access to the county’s voting equipment as a way to somehow prove that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. The data…

Sky York Journal The Supreme Court will keep mifepristone available as usual, it ruled in a Thursday order, blocking a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that would reimpose in-person dispensing requirements and prevent the drug from being mailed. The majority was unsigned. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote separate dissents. Thomas staked his dissent on the Comstock Act, a 19th century anti-obscenity law the anti-abortion movement has seized upon as it attempts to ban the mailing of mifepristone nationwide.  “Applicants are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal…

Sky York Journal Black people in America did worse economically in 2025 than at any time since the Federal Reserve began its financial wellbeing survey in 2013, according to some measures published Wednesday. More notable than the depressed financial situation of Black respondents is the gap between Black people and, in some cases, every other racial and ethnic group recorded. The Federal Reserve’s report, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, is the latest data set revealing the ways and extent Black Americans suffered tangible economic harm under the first year of President Donald Trump’s second presidential term, wherein the…

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…