• Street-Level Violence Prevention Programs Have Been Decimated by Trump Just Ahead of Summer

    Community-based violence intervention programs nationwide have long worked alongside law enforcement officers to deescalate conflict, prevent retaliatory shootings and, in some cases, arrive at crime scenes before police do. And a growing body of research has found a correlation between temperature spikes and violent crime.

  • Surge of ICE Agreements with Local Police Aim to Increase Deportations, but Many Police Forces Have Found They Undermine Public Safety

    The federal 287(g) program allows ICE to train state and local authorities to function as federal immigration officers. The use of 287(g) has surged since January, and as a criminal justice scholar, I believe this surge sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. The expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.

  • The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

    The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

  • Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’

    Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”

  • A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science

    Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.

  • Financial Surveillance Is Expanding—but So Is the Resistance

    The last few months were hectic, but not all bad. Amidst the government surveilling cash, prosecuting people in bad faith, and creating new surveillance mechanisms, there were significant wins: Courts pushed back on overreach and Congress began to offer reforms to correct past mistakes.

  • Regulating X Isn’t Censorship. It’s Self-Defense

    The European Union’s landmark new content law, the Digital Services Act (DSA) reflects hard-earned European wisdom. It comes from historical memory of democracies undone by propaganda, foreign interference, and the normalization of lies. Vice President J. D. Vance and X owner Elon Musk harshly criticize DSA, framing their agenda as “free speech,” but in Europe, it increasingly looks like a coordinated push to weaken democratic institutions and empower their far-right allies.

  • Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity

    Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.

  • In Latest Attack on Jewish Community, Suspect in Museum Shooting Posted Manifesto Calling to 'Bring the War Home'

    On the evening of 21 May 2025, shortly after 9:00 pm, Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, Illinois, allegedly shot and killed two Israeli embassy staff members as they were leaving an AJC (American Jewish Committee) Young Diplomats event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC. As he was taken into custody, Rodriguez shouted, “Free, free Palestine.” An online manifesto posted on X lays out the reasons for the attack.

  • Safety and Security at Institutions of Higher Education

    Ensuring the safety of students, faculty, and staff is a multifaceted challenge that requires institutions of higher education to navigate myriad threats, hazards, and risks.

  • It’s Not Just Software. Physical Critical Equipment Can’t Be Trusted, Either

    Just auditing the software in critical equipment isn’t enough. We must assume that adversaries, especially China, will also exploit the hardware if they can.

  • Supreme Court allows Trump Administration to Terminate Venezuelan's Protected Status

    The protected status was granted to roughly 600,000 Venezuelans, with one group’s status ending in April of this year and another in March of next year. The court’s decision applies to roughly 300,000 Venezuelans released into the country by the Biden administration.

  • USGS to Fund States’ Efforts to Find Critical Minerals in Mine Waste

    The U.S. Geological Survey invited states to compete for $5 million in cooperative agreements to find critical minerals needed to drive the U.S. economy in the materials left over from mining at active and legacy sites.

  • U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday extended a previous ruling blocking the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in northern Texas. The Court pointedly criticized the administration’s grudging approach to due process: “Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”

  • Romania at the Crossroads as Europe Watches On

    George Simion and Nicușor Dan will contest the second round of Romania’s presidential election on 18 May. The election could have profound implications for both Romania and Europe.