A Black Community In West Virginia Sues The EPA To Spur Action On Toxic Air Pollution

This article was originally published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. It was co-published with Mountain State Spotlight.

A citizens’ group in West Virginia is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that federal regulators have failed to protect a majority-Black community in the state and residents of parts of Louisiana and Texas from cancer-causing chemicals.

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The Many Times Ken Paxton Refused To Defend Texas Agencies In Court

This article was originally published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.

Soon after his acquittal in an impeachment trial last weekend, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement that lambasted the proceedings but also spelled out his plan to continue challenging Biden administration policies now that he was being reinstated in office.

“Now that this shameful process is over, my work to defend our constitutional rights will resume,” the statement read.

“Now it is back to work!”

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Schumer Signals Menendez Will Stay As New Jersey Dems Call For Him To Resign

New Jersey Democrats are demanding that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) resign after his second federal corruption indictment in ten years.

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Supreme Court Extends Stay In Biden Administration Social Media Case

The Supreme Court further extended its administrative stay of a lower court ruling banning Biden administration officials from flagging misinformation to social media companies on Friday. 

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Kacsmaryk Cites ‘Gays Against Groomers’ In Decision Calling Drag Show Unfit For Children

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, quickly becoming one of the most well-known Donald Trump appointees, cited an anti-LGBTQ group in a new ruling concluding that drag shows are too “sexualized” for children and likely not entitled to First Amendment protection.

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Back to One of My Hobbyhorses

While English-language AI is gobbling up much of the online English language almost always without permission, there’s a problem for Danish AI, reports Bloomberg. Apparently, most of the Danish web is under pretty stringent copyright protections. And Danish law makes the kind of recourse-less stealing that Silicon Valley AI companies are getting away with way too hard. Government records and legislation are in the public domain. But that formal Danish is too distant from how people really speak and write to serve the purpose. The solution turns out to be horses.

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GOPer Praises Pelosi’s Leadership As McCarthy Lets Himself Be Held Hostage By Far Right

As the chaos and dysfunction within the House Republican caucus brings the country closer and closer to a now almost inevitable government shutdown, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) praised former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her leadership and ability to keep her caucus together when she held the gavel.

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Kilos of Gold Bars, A Benz, and a Halal Meat Monopoly: The Bribery Case Against Bob Menendez

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) spent years after his unrelated last prosecution brazenly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes while doling out favors to a foreign government and criminal defendants in exchange, Manhattan federal prosecutors alleged in a Friday indictment.

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Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated In Koch Network Donor Events

This article was originally published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court.

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