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kentucky
After 43 Days of Silence, Kentucky’s Dem Governor Calls on McConnell to Prove He Can Serve or Resign
"Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest," said Gov. Andy Beshear.
Jul 28, 2026
After weeks of sitting on his hands, Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear issued an ultimatum to the state's absentee Sen. Mitch McConnell on Tuesday: Prove you're alive and can do the job or step down.
Since he was hospitalized on June 14, McConnell’s 4.6 million constituents have been left with virtually no answers about the 84-year-old Republican’s condition, leading to rampant speculation of a cover-up.
Some even pondered whether the former Senate Republican leader may have shuffled off this mortal coil altogether, but that his staff was keeping mum until the presumptive August 3 deadline to avoid a special election that could lead to suboptimal results for the GOP.
Beshear, who has the power to call a special election to fill vacant Senate seats, had chastized McConnell and his staff for weeks for the lack of transparency about his condition. But he continued to balk about taking action, even as members of his party begged him to "do something."
That is, until Monday, when McConnell's office released an update from his physician, which stated that the senator was undergoing “a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation” but was “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.”
Beshear finally sent McConnell a letter demanding proof of life.
"It has now been 43 days since news of your hospitalization," Beshear wrote. "During that time you have cast zero votes, engaged in no official activities, and aside from two photos and corresponding statements, have made no effort to communicate with your Kentucky constituents or the nation."
The governor noted that the physician's statement still provided no details about the seven-term senator's actual condition, "including whether you can speak, reason, or carry out your duties as a senator."
"As governor of the state you serve," Beshear continued, "I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign."
Beshear said he'd sent the same letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who took over McConnell's longtime role in 2025 before he announced his plans not to run for reelection.
Beshear said if McConnell still proved "unwilling" to demonstrate his capacity to serve, he'd insist Thune—one of the few people who claim to have spoken to McConnell since he vanished from public view—fully investigate his condition.
"All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency," Beshear concluded. "Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest."
While most states allow governors to name an interim replacement when senators die or get expelled, Kentucky is one of just four exceptions, ironically thanks to some classic McConnell machinations.
In 2021, the then-Senate minority leader pressured Kentucky's GOP-controlled Legislature to restrict Beshear's power to unilaterally name a replacement, instead requiring him to pick from a list approved by the departing senator's party.
Three years later, Kentucky abolished temporary replacements entirely, meaning the most Beshear could do was call a special election.
That said, the law has not yet been tested by a vacancy, and Beshear has said he'd be willing to challenge its constitutionality in hopes of naming the replacement himself, adding a 48th member to the chamber's Democratic caucus, at least until January, when it would be filled by whoever wins McConnell's seat during November's midterms.
While Kentucky is a consistently red state and has not elected a Democratic senator since 1992, Beshear's multiple terms as governor show it is capable of electing Democrats in statewide races, and could be more likely to do so in what is projected to be a blue wave year.
But Kentucky's law also says special elections must be called at least 63 days before they occur. This gives Republicans ample incentive to keep McConnell as Schrödinger's senator until at least August 3, after which a replacement would not be able to take office until the new Senate term begins in January.
In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Beshear argued that McConnell's absence for the rest of the year "might not be a bad thing."
"McConnell hasn't been there to vote on the SAVE Act, which would tear voting rights away. He hasn't been there to vote to support this war on Iran that this president started and shouldn't be continuing," Beshear said. "Not having Mitch McConnell show up isn't necessarily a bad thing because he certainly doesn't show up to help the American people."
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Thomas Massie Wants to End Trump’s Iran War—So Pete Hegseth Wants to End Massie
"President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point," said the Defense Secretary. "Especially from his own party."
May 18, 2026
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is being accused of violating long-standing Pentagon policy by going scorched earth on the campaign trail in Kentucky against the leading Republican critic of President Donald Trump's war against Iran, Rep. Thomas Massie.
Massie (R-Ky.), who has denounced the war as unauthorized and unconstitutional and become a leading Trump antagonist on other issues like the Jeffrey Epstein files and his plans to renovate the White House ballroom, has been hit with an avalanche of spending from MAGA-aligned and pro-Israel donors seeking his ouster on Tuesday in a Republican primary that has become the most expensive in the history of the US House of Representatives.
Trump has thrown his full weight behind Massie's challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who polls show about even with or slightly ahead of Massie.
It may be another case of Trump using his bully pulpit to turn GOP voters against Republicans who dare defy him, with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) being the most recent casualty. The senator, who voted to convict Trump for his role in inciting the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, was defeated in his primary over the weekend after Trump deemed him a "disloyal disaster" and endorsed a challenger.
On stage at a campaign event for Gallrein on Monday, in what The New York Times described as a "highly unusual" display of partisanship from an active defense secretary, Hegseth fulminated against Massie for showing anything less than absolute fealty to the president.
"President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point, especially from his own party. He needs people willing to help him win, to vote with him when it matters the most," Hegseth said. "And too often, Thomas Massie has acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads instead of strengthening it."
"When President Trump needs backup, Massie wants to debate process," Hegseth said, referring perhaps to Massie's joining with Democrats to introduce war powers resolutions to require congressional approval of Trump's military actions in Iran and Venezuela.
"When the movement needs unity, especially at the biggest moment, Massie is willing to vote with Democrats," Hegseth continued. "When conservatives are fighting the most radical left in American history, too often Massie's instinct is to throw elbows at fellow Republicans instead of the people who are destroying our country or want to destroy our country, and there's one man standing in their way, and it’s Trump."
The watchdog group Democracy Forward sent a letter to the Defense Department's inspector general on Monday, arguing that Hegseth's speech violated the Pentagon's 2026 political activity rules under the Hatch Act, which says that Senate-confirmed presidential appointees are “expressly prohibit[ed]” from “taking an active part in... political campaigns," including making speeches for specific candidates.
The letter also notes that Hegseth was previously scheduled to "headline" a Top Gun-themed political fundraiser for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) in March before it was abruptly canceled due to the Iran War.
“While flagrant violations of ethics laws and policies seem to be commonplace for this administration, Secretary Hegseth appears to have doubled down, violating his own agency’s specific regulations against politicking,” said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Our national security and those charged to protect it must be above brash partisan politics."
For his part, Massie thinks the Trump administration's full-court press against him may play out in his favor. In response to a post on Truth Social by Trump, who called him the "worst Republican congressman in history," Massie said Sunday on ABC News, "I think it's going to help my fundraising," and said that "every time" the historically unpopular president "tweets about me, it's good for some money coming in because people don't like that."
"How did this race become the most expensive race in the history of Congress for a primary?" he continued.
"It's because three billionaires from outside of Kentucky have funneled millions of dollars in here," he said, referencing the $2 million donated to the MAGA KY PAC by a trio of top pro-Israel billionaires—hedge fund manager Paul Singer, investor John Paulson, and a group linked to casino mogul Miriam Adelson—which has been used to fund ads accusing Massie of disloyalty to Trump.
He said these donors, and other groups spending big money to oust him, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Republican Jewish Committee (RJC), were "all part of the Israeli lobby" backing his opponent. Massie has been the most vocal Republican critic of Israel, calling for US military aid to be cut off in response to the genocide in Gaza.
He said his race "will be a referendum on foreign policy and whether Israel gets to dictate that by bullying members of Congress," adding, "I'm the one they haven't been able to bully."
Massie claimed he was "ahead in the polls" and that the Trump camp was "desperate."
"That's why they're sending the secretary of war to my district... That's why the president's losing sleep and tweeting about this. That's why AIPAC has dumped another $3 million into my race this weekend," he said. "It's because they're panicked."
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Probe of Fetus at South Carolina Water Plant Highlights Criminalization of Pregnancy Loss
"No one should have to live with the fear that their miscarriage or stillbirth could result in cops showing up at their door," said one researcher.
Feb 17, 2026
The number of people who have faced criminal charges related to their pregnancies has soared since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and now, a sheriff's office in South Carolina is investigating a fetus found at a water treatment plant.
The Sumter County Sheriff's Office announced Friday that deputies were called to the plant on Edgehill Road after workers found the fetus, which was sent to the Medical University of South Carolina, according to The State. County Coroner Robbie Baker said that "it was a small fetus. Probably not more than 6 inches long. It was somewhat developed."
Baker shared the findings from the autopsy on Monday: The fetus was just 13-15 weeks, male, and showed no signs of trauma. ABC News 4 reported that he also said this was being ruled a stillborn death—even though a stillbirth is generally defined as a pregnancy loss after 20 weeks, and a loss before that is a miscarriage.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is "testing tissue samples to determine the race and locate the mother," according to WIS News 10. "The coroner said the race could not be immediately determined due to how long the fetus had been sitting in sewer chemicals."
As Kylie Cheung wrote Monday at Jessica Valenti's newsletter Abortion, Every Day: "Our immediate questions: Why are pregnancy remains being investigated by law enforcement at all? How can 14-week fetal remains be ruled a 'stillborn death'? And why are state authorities trying to determine the race of these pregnancy remains? This is particularly concerning given that women of color are overrepresented among criminal cases involving pregnancy."
Such probes have become "all too routine," Laura Huss, a senior researcher at If/When/How, told Cheung. "Pregnancy losses aren't crimes... No one should have to live with the fear that their miscarriage or stillbirth could result in cops showing up at their door, which is what investigations and media stories like this create."
The advocacy group Pregnancy Justice said last year that "from June 2022 to June 2024—the first two years after the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade—prosecutors initiated at least 412 cases across the country charging individuals with crimes related to their pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth."
"So what is the point of this investigation, beyond terrorizing women through control and surveillance of their bodies?"
Since Roe's reversal, far-right politicians and anti-choice organizations have ramped up their push for more state and federal restrictions on reproductive freedom. South Carolina groups that fight for such policies—from abortion bans based on gestational age to fetal personhood legislation—are now using the fetus found there to advocate for new state laws.
One proposal would "require the Department of Environmental Services to conduct testing for urinary metabolites in certain wastewater treatment facilities," Fox Carolina reported. Another would prohibit the "mailing, shipping, or prescribing of abortifacients, including from out-of-state sources," as well as "classify committing or attempting to commit an abortion using an abortifacient on a mother as a felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment or a fine of up to $100k."
Almost every action after pregnancy loss has come under scrutiny. Many of these laws, like the crime of “concealing a birth,” date back to the 1600s, used to criminalize unwed women who were thought to be more likely to hide & end their pregnancies, fearing intense societal shame and repercussions.
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— Pregnancy Justice (@pregnancyjust.bsky.social) January 29, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Last month, Pregnancy Justice released a report that "maps the matrix of laws and policies that can be used to criminalize postpartum people for how they respond to their own pregnancy loss in every state." Its section on South Carolina says:
Although South Carolina does not have a broad prenatal personhood law, criminal or otherwise, its state Supreme Court establishes broad criminal prenatal personhood with the harmful proposition that criminal statutes apply to "viable fetuses" unless the Legislature expressly says otherwise. A former attorney general also noted his position that prenatal personhood applies broadly to South Carolina's laws. By extension, an attempt to criminalize the "destruction or desecration" or transportation without a permit of viable fetal remains could be made.
Separately, people are also required to report "stillbirth[s] when unattended by a physician."
Pregnancy Justice legal director Karen Thompson told Cheung that criminal charges shouldn't be applicable in the case of the fetus found in South Carolina, whether it was a miscarriage or an abortion, because of the "viability" requirement in state law. She added, "So what is the point of this investigation, beyond terrorizing women through control and surveillance of their bodies?"
The South Carolina investigation follows last week's arrest of a Kentucky couple, Deann and Charles Bennett, after she was taken to a hospital following a reported miscarriage in November 2024. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, they were each charged with reckless homicide, and she also faces charges of abuse of a corpse, concealing the birth of an infant, and tampering with physical evidence.
Reporting on that case last week, Valenti and Cheung pointed out that "right now, all of the available information is coming from cops and law enforcement—so take it all with a grain of salt. Again and again, Abortion, Every Day has found police lying about these arrests, or misrepresenting what really happened. Too often, local media will parrot those facts' uncritically and destroy people's lives in the process."
"Already, Deann and Charles' mugshots have been splashed across Kentucky crime pages," the pair added. "Deann is seen sobbing in hers."
According to Pregnancy Justice's January report: "Although Kentucky's broad prenatal personhood law is enjoined, the state Supreme Court provides that a viable fetus is a human being within the meaning of the penal code. By extension, an attempt to criminalize the nonreporting and disposal of viable fetal remains could be made. Separately, Kentucky has a statute that prohibits 'concealing [a] birth' to 'prevent a determination of whether it was born dead or alive.'"
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'Are We Really Living in a Democracy?' Asks Sanders After Musk Drops $10 Million on US Senate Race
"Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections."
Jan 19, 2026
After flirting last year with forming his own political party, far-right billionaire Elon Musk is funding Republican political candidates once again.
Axios reported on Monday that Musk recently made a massive $10 million donation to bolster Nate Morris, a MAGA candidate who is vying to replace retiring US Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Axios described the massive donation, the largest Musk has ever given to a Senate candidate, as "the biggest sign yet that Musk plans to spend big in the 2026 midterms, giving Republicans a formidable weapon in the expensive battle to keep their congressional majorities."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reacted with disgust to the news, and said that Musk's enormous donation was indicative of a broken campaign finance system.
"Are we really living in a democracy when the richest man on earth can spend as much as he wants to elect his candidates?" Sanders asked in a social media post.
"The most important thing our nation can do is end Citizens United and move to public funding of elections," he added, referring to the 2010 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for unlimited spending on elections by corporations. "Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections."
Democratic Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap, currently running to represent Maine's second congressional district, also denounced Musk for throwing his weight around to buy politicians.
"Billionaires buy our elections, rig the tax code, and undermine our democracy," wrote Dunlap. "Working people deserve a government that works for them—not for billionaires like Elon Musk."
Musk is no stranger to spending big to help elect Republicans, having spent more than $250 million in 2024 to help secure President Donald Trump's victory.
However, his riches are no guarantee of a GOP win. Last year, for example, Musk spent millions to elect former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel to a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, only to wind up losing the race by 10 points.
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UPS Cargo Plane Crash at Louisville Airport Sparks Massive Fire
Police announced a shelter-in-place order for "all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River."
Nov 04, 2025
This is a developing story… Please check back for updates…
Aerial footage showed plumes of black smoke and flames around the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky after a UPS plane crashed during its departure on Tuesday evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration said on social media that UPS Flight 2976—a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 bound for Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii—crashed around 5:15 pm local time. The agency added that the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB providing all updates.
The Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed that the LMPD and multiple other agencies were responding to the scene, where there are "injuries reported."
LMPD initially announced a shelter-in-place order "for all locations within five miles of the airport," which was then expanded to "all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River."
The airport—which confirmed that "the airfield is closed" after the crash—is the UPS global hub. The shipping giant said in a statement that there were three crewmembers onboard and "at this time, we have not confirmed any injuries/casualties."
"UPS will release more facts as they become available, but the National Transportation Safety Board is in charge of the investigation and will be the primary source of information about the official investigation," the company added.
As CNN reported Tuesday:
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11F is a freight transport aircraft manufactured originally by McDonnell Douglas and later by Boeing. The aircraft is primarily flown by FedEx Express, Lufthansa Cargo, and UPS Airlines for cargo.
The plane also served as a popular wide-bodied passenger airplane after it was first flown in 1990. The aircraft involved in Tuesday's crash was built in 1991.
As fuel costs increased for the three engine jets many of them were converted to freighters. The plane can take off weighing in at a maximum 633,000 pounds and carrying more than 38,000 gallons of fuel, according to Boeing, which bought McDonnell Douglass.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said that it "is monitoring this developing tragic event on the ground," and "as this horrific scene is being investigated, prayers on behalf of our entire international union are with those killed, injured, and affected, including their families, co-workers, and loved ones."
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that he and his wife, Rachel, "are praying for victims of the UPS plane that crashed."
"We have every emergency agency responding to the scene," the Democrat added. "There are multiple injuries and the fire is still burning. There are many road closures in the area—please avoid the scene."
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is headed to Louisville for a briefing with the mayor, said, "Please pray for the pilots, crew, and everyone affected."
Republican President Donald Trump's transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, similarly said, "Please join me in prayer for the Louisville community and flight crew impacted by this horrific crash."
During a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Duffy had warned of "mass chaos" if the ongoing government shutdown continues, saying: "You will see mass flight delays. You'll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don't have the air traffic controllers."
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I’ve Seen States Collapse; Now I See It Happening Here
After years reporting from post-authoritarian states, I now see the same patterns in my own backyard—where justice has collapsed, truth is suppressed, and power no longer answers to the people.
Sep 07, 2025
I’ve seen the aftermath of collapsed nations—now I see it happening here.
As a journalist and analyst, I’ve spent the last several years living and reporting in regions that have undergone massive political transformations. I lived for years in the Czech Republic, where I met many people with direct ties to the Velvet Revolution. I walked the streets of Prague with those who once occupied them in protest. I studied the Russian language, traveled extensively through the former Eastern Bloc, and listened closely to the survivors of failed regimes—those who remember the slow unraveling of authority, trust, and truth.
I’ve also spent significant time in South America, where I witnessed a very different kind of collapse—and rebirth. In Bolivia, I spoke with officials and journalists who lived through the 2019 coup and saw their country fight its way back to democracy. I’ve walked with communities who understand, firsthand, how empires and juntas collapse—and how people organize in the rubble.
Now I believe this country is collapsing.
Not in the dramatic, Hollywood fashion we tend to imagine—there are no tanks in the streets, no blackout zones or food lines. But what I am witnessing now in Northern Kentucky, through my work with the Northern Kentucky Truth & Accountability Project (NKTAP), is unmistakable: a slow-motion institutional implosion. And it mirrors what I have seen in failed or failing states around the world.
In Northern Kentucky, I’ve uncovered a network of corruption that spans law enforcement, prosecutorial offices, courts, and local media. I’ve documented how whistleblowers are silenced, public records denied, and criminal cases manipulated to protect the powerful.
Police ignore credible murder leads. Prosecutors bury evidence. Courts issue orders without hearings. And journalists—some out of fear, others out of complicity—refuse to report the truth. In my own case, I’ve faced obstruction, threats, targeted harassment, and retaliatory smears simply for investigating what any decent system should have investigated itself.
Our institutions are no longer capable of self-correction. That means the burden of accountability, truth telling, and justice now falls on us.
The structures of governance still stand. The buildings are still open. But the rule of law has collapsed in all but name. What remains is theater—a simulation of justice that functions to preserve power, not serve the public.
This isn’t just about Northern Kentucky. It’s a microcosm. I’m in touch with colleagues around the country—investigators, reporters, former civil servants—and I hear the same story again and again:
- Entire state agencies captured by private interests;
- Local governments ignoring open records laws;
- Whistleblowers retaliated against without recourse;
- Judges ruling from sealed dockets with no oversight;
- Public health policy shaped by ideology, not science; and
- Independent journalism gutted, bought, or blacklisted.
We are in a moment of mass epistemic failure, where truth itself is destabilized and power no longer answers to reason, law, or fact.
It doesn’t come with a bang. It comes with:
- The quiet refusal to investigate credible crimes;
- The steady normalization of lawlessness;
- The dissolution of public trust; and
- The emergence of parallel systems of truth-telling and justice.
This is what I’ve seen before. In Prague. In La Paz. In the fractured republics of the former USSR. It begins when the official channels of accountability no longer function—and the people must build their own.
That’s what I’m doing with the Northern Kentucky Truth & Accountability Project. We’re documenting. Archiving. Speaking to victims. Exposing public records that local officials tried to bury. We’re creating a people’s archive—a living record of a regime in decline.
Because when institutions stop telling the truth, the only way forward is to tell it ourselves.
I used to believe that America was “different”—that our legal tradition, constitutional system, and civic institutions would inoculate us from the kinds of collapse I saw abroad. I no longer believe that.
The US is not collapsing because it is uniquely broken. It is collapsing because it is a state like any other, vulnerable to the same corruption, elite decay, and loss of legitimacy that have brought down countless systems before.
The question is not whether collapse is happening. It is. The question is what we do after we accept that reality.
We can pretend this is just “polarization.” We can tell ourselves that if we just wait for the next election, the pendulum will swing back. Or we can admit the truth: Our institutions are no longer capable of self-correction. That means the burden of accountability, truth telling, and justice now falls on us—on journalists, organizers, whistleblowers, and ordinary people with the courage to say: enough.
I’ve seen what happens when people organize. I’ve also seen what happens when they don’t.
And I’m telling you: Now is the time to choose.
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Trump’s Plan to Arrest Our Way Out of Homelessness Won’t Work; Just Ask Kentucky
In April 2024, the Kentucky legislature passed HB 5—the bill that paved the way for Kentucky to ticket and arrest people trying to survive outside. Then, homelessness rose 10%.
Aug 03, 2025
Punishing people for being poor doesn’t make them less poor. And jailing someone who’s homeless doesn’t make them housed. But that’s exactly what President Donald Trump’s new executive order does: It makes criminals out of people trying to survive our nation’s housing crisis.
Only affordable housing and accessible healthcare will get people off the streets so they can live a stable life. Instead, Trump’s order calls for local and state governments to ticket and arrest people for living on our streets.
These policies waste taxpayer dollars just to make our homelessness crisis worse. If you need a preview of how Trump’s disastrous order will play out, just look at my home state of Kentucky.
In April 2024, the Kentucky legislature passed HB 5—the bill that paved the way for Kentucky to ticket and arrest people trying to survive outside. These laws, labeled “camping bans,” are popping up across the country. They’re rooted in the myth that people choose to be homeless—and the only way to help is through jail or involuntary commitment.
Not only is this cruel and inhumane. It also doesn’t work.
Instead of distractions and dictatorial decrees rooted in stereotypes and stigma, we need real leadership on real solutions to homelessness, like higher wages, and rents people can afford.
In Louisville earlier this year, a pregnant woman in active labor was ticketed by police because she had no choice but to sleep outside. Law enforcement did not offer her help,
Fortunately, she was able to deliver a healthy baby. But she’s still housing insecure—and now burdened with a citation too. Her story proves that making criminals out of people who have nowhere to go doesn’t reduce suffering—it makes it worse.
So it’s not surprising that even with this new law in place, there was still an over 10% rise in homelessness in Kentucky just last year. Similarly, national rates continue to increase even as more cities and states pass “camping bans.”
I’m the director at VOCAL-KY, a movement of low-income people. I’ve gotten to know the folks living in Louisville’s shelters and on the streets. It’s not hard for me to relate. When I lost my housing, my family and I lived out of my car until we could get back on our feet.
We work day in and day out to support our neighbors who live outside by providing a safe space and connection to services. And the pregnant woman, Samantha, who was cited while in active labor, is now a part of our drop-in center community.
This is what compassion looks like—not citations that put struggling people further in debt or behind bars.
People living on our streets and in our shelters want services and housing, but there isn’t enough to go around. With this executive order, the Trump administration is diverting even more money toward arresting and jailing people—and away from the housing and care that urban, rural, and suburban America all need.
Instead of distractions and dictatorial decrees rooted in stereotypes and stigma, we need real leadership on real solutions to homelessness, like higher wages, and rents people can afford. The reality is most Americans are closer to becoming homeless than becoming billionaires.
But instead of investing in solutions, Trump and the GOP gave massive tax breaks to the ultra rich—including to some of the same people and companies who make billions off driving up rents—while cutting programs for low-income people. In all likelihood, next year we’ll see another record number of Americans in homelessness.
We need federal lawmakers to sign onto the Housing, Not Handcuffs Act and invest in communities by directing federal funds to support local solutions that address the root causes of homelessness, not just force people into jail or detention centers dressed up as treatment.
Trump’s plan to arrest our way out of homelessness won’t work, because it’s never worked. Only housing, care, and services will help people get back on their feet, and we need our policies and politicians to act on those solutions now more than ever.
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In 'Attack on Trans Students,' Federal Judge Strikes Down Biden's Title IX Protections
The Republican judge cited the Supreme Court's recent decision that stripped federal agencies of their regulatory power.
Jan 10, 2025
In a decision that was partially underpinned by the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of a 40-year-old legal precedent last year, a federal judge in Kentucky on Thursday struck down President Joe Biden's expanded protections for transgender youths and other vulnerable students, saying the administration overstepped in introducing the rules.
Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled that the Education Department did not have the authority to expand the protections provided by Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which since 1972 has prohibited sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.
The ruling applies to the new definition in Title IX that was proposed by the department last April, which prohibited "discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity."
Right-wing activists and politicians objected in particular to the protections for gender identity.
The rules stopped short of requiring schools to allow transgender students to play on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity—a key fixation of the far right—but required schools and staffers to accept students' identities on a daily basis, for example by calling them by their preferred pronouns rather than according to their sex assigned at birth.
The rules have been blocked in 26 states as Republican leaders in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and other states have filed legal challenges.
In his ruling, Reeves, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote that "the entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex."
"Throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless," he said.
Reeves wrote that "the final rule and its corresponding regulations exceed the department's authority," citing Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court case in which the court's right-wing majority overturned the so-called Chevron doctrine. The legal precedent held that judges should defer to federal agencies' reasonable interpretation of a law if Congress has not specifically addressed the issue at hand.
The judge also rejected the Education Department's position that protections for transgender people against workplace discrimination—which were established in 2020 in the Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia—should also apply in schools that receive federal funding.
At Law Dork, journalist Chris Geidner wrote that Reeves rejected "Bostock's application to Title IX and [cited] his newfound authority in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to determine 'the statute's single, best meaning' himself."
"As such, he took that authority to decide what Title IX means, the department's view notwithstanding, and set aside the rule," wrote Geidner.
Reeves also wrote that requiring teachers and schools to use students' preferred pronouns and names "offends the First Amendment" and violates the free speech rights of teachers.
That assertion, said Jennifer Berkshire, author of The Education Wars, "really shows you how fake the rhetoric of 'parents rights' is."
"The idea that using a student's preferred pronouns is in any way an imposition on teachers is patently absurd," added Jonathan Cohn of Progressive Massachusetts. "If you can handle using nicknames, you can handle correct pronouns."
Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, said the judge turned "longstanding legal precedent on its head in a direct, disproportionate attack on trans students," and noted that the harm caused by the ruling will extend beyond transgender students.
"Today's decision displays extraordinary disregard for students who are most vulnerable to discrimination and are in the most need for federal protections under the Title IX rule," said Goss Graves. "The Biden administration's Title IX rule is essential to ensure that all students—including survivors of sexual assault and harassment, pregnant and parenting students, and LGBTQI+ students—are able to learn in a safe and welcoming environment. With these protections already removed in some states, students who experience sexual assault have had their complaints dismissed, or worse, been punished by their schools after reporting; pregnant students have been unfairly penalized for taking time off to give birth to a child; and LGBTQI+ students have faced vicious bullying and harassment just for being who they are."
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, executive director of the LGBTQ rights group GLSEN, told The New York Times that the ruling "shows a stunning indifference to marginalized youth facing harassment and discrimination, as well as hardworking school administrators and principals who are working to build safer learning environments for their increasingly diverse student populations."
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Seeking 'Better Future,' Kentucky EV Battery Workers File for Election to Join UAW
"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said one worker.
Jan 08, 2025
Workers at a new electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday requesting an election to join the United Auto Workers, a union that's making a concerted effort to organize in the U.S. South.
The UAW said Wednesday that a supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK (BOSK)—a joint venture of the U.S. car manufacturer Ford and the Korean firm SK On—have backed the organizing effort, citing the need for improved safety protections as well as better pay and benefits. The plant in Glendale, Kentucky is set to begin production this year.
"We're forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions," said Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at BOSK. "The chemicals we're working with can be extremely dangerous. If something goes wrong, a massive explosion can occur. With our union, we can speak up if we see there's a problem and make sure we're keeping ourselves and the whole community safe."
According to the UAW, the Kentucky workers' NLRB petition marks "the first major filing in the South in 2025 and continues the movement of Southern autoworkers organizing with the UAW."
Andrew McLean, a logistics worker in formation at BOSK, said Wednesday that "with a union, we'll be on a level playing field with management."
"That's so important when you're getting a new plant off the ground," McLean added. "The union allows us to give honest feedback without fear of retaliation."
In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, one worker said she will be voting yes on unionization because she wants "a better future for not only myself, but future generations and everyone that works here with me."
The Washington Post noted that, "if successful, the effort could lead to the first unionized Ford-backed EV battery venture, at a time when EV sales in the United States are picking up."
BOSK has made clear that it will fight the organizing drive. A spokesperson for the joint venture said in a statement to the Post that the union election petition is "premature" and claimed that it "puts at risk the freedom and opportunities of our current and soon-to-be-hired Kentucky team members."
The UAW said Wednesday that BOSK "has responded to the campaign by hiring anti-union consultants who are trying to block the workers from organizing."
Angela Conto, a production operator in formation at BOSK, said that "instead of listening to our safety concerns, management has been ordering people to work without proper protective equipment."
"Now they're trying to stop us from forming our union to win a strong voice for safety," said Conto. "But the strong supermajority of workers who've signed union cards shows we're going to fix what's wrong at BOSK and make it the leading manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in America."
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'Shame': Homeless Woman Was in Labor and Needed Care, But Was Given Ticket Instead
One advocate called out "the politicians who paved the way for this tragedy."
Dec 19, 2024
"I've got to go to the hospital," a pregnant woman filmed by the Louisville Metro Police Department's body cameras in late September told officers, standing near a mattress beneath a busy overpass. "What am I doing wrong?"
The woman was in labor and had told the police as they approached her that she thought her water had broken, but that didn't stop the officers from giving her a ticket for violating a new Kentucky law that bans all street camping—one of dozens of laws criminalizing homelessness that were passed this year.
Lt. Caleb Stewart, who cited the woman in Louisville, told her that he would call an ambulance for her, but when she began moving toward the street to wait for the emergency workers, he yelled at her to stop.
"Am I being detained?" she asked.
"Yes, you're being detained," he replied. "You're being detained because you're unlawfully camping."
Stewart was later heard on the body camera's audio saying he didn't believe the woman was in labor; a public defender representing her told Kentucky Public Radio that she had in fact given birth later that day and the family was living in a shelter while waiting for a January trial date regarding her citation.
The upcoming trial and the video underscore "both the absurdity and cruelty of anti-camping laws in KY and those cropping up nationwide," said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center. "This is an extreme incident, but unfortunately, it is not an isolated one. Instead of addressing the cause of homelessness—the fact that more and more people struggle to afford rent—politicians are passing laws that kick people when they are down and make homelessness worse. The solution to homelessness is housing and help, not tickets or fines."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that officials can ban sleeping and camping in public places. Since then, said Rabinowitz, nearly 150 cities across the U.S. have passed anti-camping bills.
The video was also publicized days after Republican elected officials celebrated "the person who murdered Jordan Neely, a homeless New Yorker," said Rabinowitz. "And [President-elect] Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies want to round up homeless people and put them in detention camps. All of these things make homelessness worse."
Shameka Parrish-Wright, director of advocacy group VOCAL-KY, said that "the disregard and disrespect of these two lives is the direct result of the so-called 'Safer Kentucky Act' that was enacted this year."
"People experiencing homelessness are fighting for their lives across the country and right here in Louisville. Investing in immediate, affordable housing and healthcare is the only way to stop this from happening again—not by handing out more tickets that won't house a single person," said Parrish-Wright. "Shame on the politicians who paved the way for this tragedy.”
"If politicians actually cared about homeless Kentuckians," she added, "they would focus on getting them the housing and support they need."
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