Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

Newswire : Fulton County files lawsuit seeking return of seized election materials

FBI agents enter Fulton County Georgia voting offices

By Joe Jurado, NewsOne

President Donald Trump has spent the last seven years obsessed with Georgia following his loss in the 2020 election. The FBI turned heads last week when it seized voting information related to the 2020 election from a warehouse in Fulton County. On Wednesday, attorneys for Fulton County filed a motion in federal court demanding that the federal government return the seized election materials.
According to the New York Times, Robb Pitts, the chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, explained why the lawsuit was filed at a news conference on Wednesday.
“We will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections. Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight.” Pitts said.
Georgia has continually remained a sticking point for Trump, likely due to the fact that state officials refused his request to “find the votes” in a phone call made shortly after his loss in the 2020 election. “The president himself and his allies, they refuse to accept the fact that they lost,” Pitts said during the news conference. “And even if he had won Georgia, he would still have lost the presidency.”
While on the surface, the Fulton County raid looks like a move to placate Trump’s ego, Democrats and election officials have highlighted the chilling, underlying implications of the raid. “This case is not only about Fulton County. This is about elections across Georgia and across the nation,” Pitts said during the news conference.
It was widely expected that the Democrats would retake the House in the midterms, as Republicans hold only a narrow majority and midterm elections are usually favorable to the opposition party. So Trump made the big brain move of convincing several Red states to undergo rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts.
As his redistricting effort hit roadblocks in Indiana and Missouri, and Blue states like California successfully implemented their own redistricting efforts, Trump has taken a far more authoritarian tone regarding the midterms. Last month, he publicly floated outright canceling the midterms. Shortly after the raid, he appeared on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast and called for elections to be “nationalized.”
“Look at some of the places — that horrible corruption on elections — and the federal government should not allow that,” Trump said. “The federal government should get involved.”
What makes all of this particularly crazy is that only a month ago, Trump justified the U.S. kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by saying he wasn’t legitimately elected. Which, to be fair, according to an independent voting firm, Maduro overwhelmingly lost the last election but declared himself the winner. It appears that this is yet another episode of “rules for thee, not for me,” as Trump is clearly willing to manipulate the midterms by any 1. possible to maintain the GOP’s control of Congress. There are even concerns that his willingness to deploy the National Guard to cities with Democratic leadership is a test run for how he might deploy the Guard to polling sites.
The Fulton County raid, combined with the Department of Justice’s repeated, failed attempts to seize voter rolls from several Blue states, paints the picture of an administration that is actively trying to interfere with a free and fair midterm election. It would be such a delight if the Republicans who keep yapping about “voter fraud” would realize that the corruption is coming from inside the house.

February 11, 2026
Newswire : Meet Roxanne Brown, the first African American and the first woman President of the United Steelworkers

Roxanne Brown

By Black Press USA

In a significant moment for the labor movement, Roxanne Brown, set to become the first African American woman elected as President of the United Steelworkers (USW), North America’s largest industrial union, joins Make It Plain with Rev. Mark Thompson. With the official transition happening in March, Brown’s ascent is more than just a personal achievement; it represents a shift in the labor movement’s leadership reflecting the demographics of today’s workforce.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she moved to New York at the age of two and was raised by what she affectionately refers to as “the Amazons”—a family of strong, single women who were deeply involved in healthcare and unions. Her first exposure to the labor movement came through the nurses union and AFSCME’s CSEA in New York. This early influence clearly set the stage for what would be a lifelong commitment to labor rights and leadership.

Reflecting on her path to this esteemed position, Brown shared, “I cut my teeth in our policy shop, and I had to learn about our core issues and our core values. I literally spent my entire career fighting on behalf of our members across so many sectors.”

The USW under Brown’s leadership will be setting the tone with what she believes is a much-needed representation change. Brown emphasized, “We are the most diverse union in North America…we’re cradle to grave and have everything in between.”

With a membership boasting varied backgrounds, Brown’s leadership is a reflection of this diversity, as the board she is set to lead will be its most diverse in the union’s history.

Leading a predominantly male union presents its unique set of challenges. Brown noted, “When people think about our union, there’s an image that comes to mind that does not look like me. But…we are the most diverse union in North America, in terms of our sectors and membership.”
She recognizes the importance of transcending stereotypes and advocated for a more inclusive image representing the diversity within the union.

Amidst the intricate challenges of tariffs and economic pressures, uncertainty remains a theme. Brown explains, “This current environment of tariffs is not strategic and creates uncertainty…not just for sectors but for our ability to use the tools we’ve relied on for survival.”

Brown is poised to take on these challenges head-on with strategies rooted in education, engagement, and advocacy at all governmental levels. She affirmed the union’s commitment by saying, “Engage, engage, engage—because we are charged to do that on behalf of our membership.”
In discussing the broader significance of her leadership and that of fellow African American union leaders, Brown reflects, “Leadership should always reflect who is being led…I’m opening the door so that others know what is possible.”

“It is not about us alone; it is about what we represent and showing what is possible to our members who look like us,” she said.
Brown listed some of the products USW members produce:
• Goodyear, Bridgestone Firestone, and Michelin tires
• Libby glassware
• Starbucks cups
• Paper towels
• Amazon boxes
• Wine bottles and beer cans
• Bourbon bottles
• Car components, including glass and steel
• Glass on iPhones and Android devices
• Fiber optic cables used for 5G systems
• Oil for powering vehicles
• Cement used in construction
• Various pharmaceutical products, including some COVID-19 drugs
• School buses and taxi services in certain areas
• Baskerville coffins and caskets

February 11, 2026
Newswire : Bad Bunny dances his way through Super Bowl halftime show with vibes, symbolism and unity

Bad Bunny entertains at halftime show

Bad Bunny turned the Super Bowl halftime show into a Puerto Rican–inspired cultural spectacle, and a deeper message that social media loved

By William Goodwin II, NewsOne
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny promised that you didn’t need to understand Spanish to enjoy his halftime show because it’d still be a vibe. And he was right.
As football fans finally got a break from the snooze-fest 9-0 game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, Bad Bunny took to the field, which had been transformed into a farm, as he started performing his hit song “Tití Me Preguntó.”
He walked through the maze as people began chopping down the crops, passing other hard workers: a jeweler, a coconut cart, old men playing dominoes, a nail tech, bricklayers, a Piraguas (shaved ice) stand, tacos, and boxers sparring, all of which showed the cultural relevance of Puerto Rico.
From there, the camera panned to a bunch of people partying on a porch, and eagle-eyed fans noticed Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, Karol G, Young Miko, David Grutman, Cardi B, and Alix Earle were just some of the people dancing.
Bad Bunny was on top of the house performing “YO PERREO SOLA,” as a dozen women twerked in unison on the field in front of him as the song flowed right into the Rauw Alejandro– assisted track “Party.”
After falling through the roof of the house and performing on top of a pickup truck, watching a wedding, Lady Gaga emerged on stage with a full band backing her as she sang a new version of her Bruno Mars collab, “Die With A Smile.”
After more dancing in front of elaborately designed bodegas and barbershop, it was time for Ricky Martin to show out, who was also wearing a crisp all-white ‘fit.
For his last stunt, Bad Bunny climbed a light pole before ending his set by marching down the field, but he traded the Puerto Rican flag firmly in his hand for a football that read “Together, We Are America,” as he said, “God bless America.”
He followed that by naming dozens of other countries, including Panama, Canada, Paraguay, Chile, and Bolivia, as fireworks went off in the background and the jumbotron read, “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love.”

February 11, 2026
Newswire : Alabama Prison Documentary ‘The Alabama Solution’ earns Oscar Nomination

By Lisa Crane | WVTM | The Birmingham Times

A documentary that puts Alabama prisons in the spotlight is now in the running for one of the most well-known, prestigious awards in Hollywood — an Oscar. Nominees for the 98th Academy Awards were announced Thursday. “The Alabama Solution” is one of five films nominated in the documentary feature film category.
It’s a sobering look at life behind bars in Alabama prisons. Most of the video in the documentary, “The Alabama Solution,” is shot by inmates themselves, on contraband cellphones. It’s graphic and, at times, difficult to watch. Former corrections officer Stacy George is a part of the documentary. He called it an accurate depiction of what an Alabama prison inmate faces.
“These things are real. I mean, there’s a lot of abuse, and there’s a lot of neglect. I saw boxes that said ‘not for human consumption’ on the boxes; they feed them,” George said.
Some say part of the problem is the secrecy. Not many people from the outside ever get to see inside Alabama prisons. Even journalists aren’t allowed to get close. We’re kept about a mile away from St. Clair Correctional Facility. That’s as close as we’re allowed to be.
George claims the culture is the real problem. He said, sadly, many of the corrections officers are simply bullies.
“If they come down here to Birmingham and they want to be a police officer, the first thing they probably do will take a mental evaluation test. Well, if that officer wants to be an officer, if he fails that test, guess where the next place he goes to get a job. It’s with the Alabama Department of Corrections,” George said.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s press secretary released a statement saying, “We already knew the Oscars had a low bar, but as far as corrections goes, there has never been an Alabama governor more dedicated to solving the longstanding challenges facing the system than Governor Ivey. From recruiting a record number of corrections officers to doing sentencing reforms to constructing needed, new facilities, Governor Ivey is getting the job done and making it safer for inmates, officers and the public alike.”
Now that the documentary is a favorite to win an Academy Award, George hopes even more people will watch it and be inspired to push for change. The Oscars ceremony is set for 6 p.m. March 15.

February 5, 2026
Newswire : Why Black History Month matters at 100 more than ever

By Shannon Dawson, NewsOn
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. As we reflect on our stories, this centennial is not only a moment of celebration but a call to urgency, a reminder that protecting, preserving, and uplifting Black history matters now more than ever.
Let’s take a look back at how we got here and why this year carries such deep significance.
Black History Month traces its roots back to 1926, when historian Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of Negro Life and History launched Negro History Week. Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved parents, understood something radical for his time: that the absence of Black history in American education wasn’t accidental; it was structural.
Woodson witnessed firsthand that racial discrimination was not simply a social reality; it was enforced by law. Segregation was codified across nearly every aspect of public life, with states mandating separate transportation, schools, and public spaces for Black and white Americans. From buses and trains to classrooms, water fountains, hospitals, and even courtrooms, these laws institutionalized inequality and shaped daily life, reinforcing a system designed to exclude and marginalize Black communities.
In response to this reality, Woodson created Negro History Week, driven by a sense of urgency and the belief that change had to begin with education. He was determined to ensure that Black children, and the nation as a whole, were exposed to Black history. Woodson chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, figures long honored within Black communities.
Negro History Week was not born in a vacuum. The 1920s marked a flourishing of African American cultural expression through the Harlem Renaissance, as noted by the National Museum of African American History & Culture. Writers such as Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Claude McKay explored the joys and struggles of Black life, while musicians like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Lunceford captured the rhythms of a changing urban America shaped by the Great Migration. Visual artists, including Aaron Douglas, Richmond Barthé, and Lois Mailou Jones, created powerful images that celebrated Black identity and offered affirming representations of the African American experience.
Woodson hoped to build on this momentum, using Negro History Week to further spark curiosity, pride, and sustained engagement with Black history and to challenge a national narrative that erased Black contributions, giving Black communities a way to tell our own stories in classrooms, churches, and civic spaces.
Teaching Black history was an act of resistance against a society invested in forgetting.
What began as a week quickly grew beyond Woodson’s original vision, not because the work was finished, but because it became clear that a week was never enough. By the 1960s and ’70s, amid the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, educators and students pushed for broader recognition. In 1976, the U.S. officially designated February as Black History Month, with President Gerald Ford recognizing the month, according to AP News.
The expansion reflected both progress and tension. On one hand, Black history gained national visibility. On the other hand, it risked being contained, treated as an add-on rather than as foundational to American history. The month became a compromise: acknowledgment without full integration.
Still, communities used the space creatively, building archives, hosting lectures, preserving oral histories, and insisting that Black history was not a niche subject, but central to understanding the nation itself.
This February, we mark the 100-year anniversary of this incredible commemoration, and the work of preserving, protecting, and honoring Black leaders and communities is far from finished. Reaching this milestone is not just symbolic; it’s urgent. We are living in a moment where Black history is actively being censored in schools and other educational institutions, where DEI initiatives are under attack, and where deliberate historical erasure is becoming policy, not coincidence.
In 2025, President Donald Trump signed “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K–12 Schooling” (Executive Order 14190), an executive order aimed at removing what it labels “specific ideologies” from public education and reorienting schools toward so-called “patriotic education.” In practice, the order significantly restricts how Black history, and particularly the history of slavery and systemic racism, can be discussed in classrooms. By redefining discussions of equity and racism as “discriminatory,” it creates a chilling effect on honest teaching. That we are living in a time when truth itself is treated as a threat should alarm us all.
Across the country, school districts are banning books, limiting how race can be discussed, and reframing accurate history as “divisive.” The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson are just a few of the many works that have been targeted. These aren’t isolated decisions; they are part of a broader effort to control the narrative of America’s past, and we can’t let it happen.
While Black history should be taught and celebrated year-round, Black History Month remains a powerful and necessary space to ensure our stories are told truthfully and to push back against policies designed to erase the contributions and sacrifices Black Americans have made.
The centennial forces an essential question: What happens if we stop telling these stories? The answer is already visible. When Black history is minimized, inequality becomes easier to justify. When contributions are erased, power appears natural rather than constructed.
Remembering Black history, publicly, loudly, and accurately, is not nostalgia. It is a defense against revisionism. It is a refusal to allow the past to be rewritten to serve the present.
And finally, Black history must move beyond February. The goal has always been year-round integration, where Black experiences are woven into how we teach literature, science, politics, labor, and culture, rather than reduced to a single month.
If the first 100 years were about fighting to be seen, the next 100 must be about refusing to be confined. Black history isn’t a supplement. It’s a foundation, and the future depends on how well we protect it.

February 5, 2026
Newswire : New Postal Service rule could quietly void ballots and delay healthcare

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

A quiet clarification by the United States Postal Service is drawing renewed scrutiny after health care advocates and voting rights observers warned that the change could carry serious consequences for millions of Americans who rely on postmarks to meet legal deadlines.
Under new USPS guidance that took effect late last month, the date printed on a postmark no longer reflects when a letter or ballot is dropped into a mailbox. Instead, the postmark now reflects the date the mail is first processed at an automated sorting facility, which can occur days after the item is mailed. The Postal Service says the change is intended to clarify how postmarks are applied, particularly as transportation schedules and regional processing systems evolve.
For voters in states that count mail-in ballots based on postmark deadlines, and for patients navigating appeals, authorizations, and Medicare paperwork, the distinction is anything but academic.
“In recognition of the importance that the election laws in some states place on postmarks, it has been the longstanding policy of the Postal Service to try to ensure that every return ballot mailed by voters receives a postmark, whether the return ballot is mailed with postage pre-paid by election officials or with a stamp affixed by the voter,” officials wrote in a release. “A voter can ensure that a postmark is applied to his or her return ballot by visiting a Postal Service retail office and requesting a postmark from a retail associate when dropping off the ballot.”
The issue gained wider attention after a detailed explanation circulated to millions of viewers on social media from the account @cjnlegalnurse, a health care advocate who outlined how the rule shift moves risk away from institutions and onto individuals.
“The postmark rule changed quietly, and it affects voting and health care. Let me explain what just happened at USPS because this is not minor and it’s not theoretical,” the user said. “So as of this week, the United States Postal Service clarified that a postmark date is no longer tied to when you drop your mail off. It’s tied to when that mail is first processed by an automated facility.”
As the user explained, a letter placed in a mailbox on Monday may not reach a sorting center until Wednesday, making Wednesday the official postmark. For ballots and legal filings governed by strict deadlines, that delay can mean rejection despite timely mailing.
“Many states say a mail-in ballot counts if it’s postmarked by election day,” the user said. “Under this rule, you can mail your ballot before election day and still have it postmarked after. So that’s not voter fraud, that’s logistics quietly overruling intent.”
USPS guidance confirms that most postmarks are now applied at large processing plants rather than local post offices and that mail may sit before receiving a postmark due to updated transportation schedules. The agency recommends that customers with deadline-sensitive mail bring items directly to a post office counter and request a manual local postmark.
Health care advocates say the implications extend far beyond elections.
“Health care runs on mail deadlines, appeals, prior authorizations, Medicare notices, and prescription paperwork,” the user said. “If an appeal has to be postmarked by a certain date and USPS processes days later, it looks late. So late appeals get denied. Denied appeals delay care.”
The user said the shift places the burden squarely on individuals navigating already complex systems.
“In nursing and health care advocacy, timing is everything,” the user said. “And this rule shifts the risk from the institution back to the patient. The system didn’t get faster, the rules just got tighter.”
“So if you’re mailing anything time-sensitive now, ballots or health care documents, dropping it in a box is not enough,” the user said. “Go inside the post office for deadline mail. Ask for a manual postmark or receipt. Use certified mail for appeals and legal documents, and do not rely on blue mailboxes for last week’s deadlines. So, this isn’t panic; it’s adjustment.”

February 5, 2026
Newswire : Don Lemon made the headlines, but Georgia Fort’s arrest shows no journalist Is safe

Georgia Fort and Don Lemon

By Stacy M. Brown  NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Famed journalist Don Lemon may draw the headlines, but Emmy-winning independent reporter Georgia Fort and Trahem Jenn Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy were also taken into custody as federal agents moved against four Black journalists whose only apparent offense was documenting protests critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Lemon, a veteran broadcaster and longtime critic of President Donald Trump, was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles after livestreaming an anti-ICE demonstration connected to a January protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church. A short time later, Fort, a respected Minnesota-based journalist, was arrested by federal agents in her home state for reporting on the same protest, according to public statements and court records.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the arrests signal a dangerous escalation by the Trump administration rather than any attempt to ease tensions following the fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents in Minnesot. She said Lemon was simply doing his job when agents arrested him and stressed that Fort’s detention made clear this was not an isolated incident but a broader assault on press freedoma.
Federal authorities revived charges tied to a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul after a magistrate judge had already declined to approve arrest warrants against Lemon and others, citing insufficient evidence. Prosecutors then pursued indictments through a grand jury, a move civil liberties advocates say appears designed to sidestep judicial scrutiny and chill coverage of protests against ICE operations.
Fort documented her own arrest in a brief livestream as agents arrived at her door, telling viewers she was being taken into custody for filming the protest as a member of the press. Her arrest, announced publicly by Attorney General Pam Bondi, placed an Emmy-winning journalist alongside protesters in a case the administration has described as a coordinated attack.
Civil rights leaders said the symbolism was unmistakable. Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, said Lemon’s arrest marked a direct blow against the First Amendment and warned that journalists critical of the president were being singled out.
Press freedom advocates echoed those concerns. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said the arrests represent a constitutional crisis for journalism in the United States, adding that reporters have the right to document and share information with the public without fear of retaliation.
Mayor Bass said she contacted the U.S. attorney to demand information about Lemon’s status and warned that arresting journalists for entering a church while reporting crosses a line the Constitution was written to prevent. “It’s an egregious assault on constitutionally protected First Amendment rights,” Bass said.

February 5, 2026
Newswire : Philadelphia sues after slavery exhibits were taken down from President’s House site

Staff dismantling slavery exhibit in Philadelphia

The lawsuit says the National Park Service removed the displays referring to slavery “presumably pursuant to the mandate” of an executive order from President Donald Trump.

By Joe Kottke and Phil Helsel NBC News

The city of Philadelphia sued the Department of the Interior and the acting director of the National Park Service on Thursday over reports that slavery exhibits were being dismantled in the city’s historic district.
The suit, filed in federal court, seeks a preliminary injunction to restore the exhibits at the President’s House Site, part of Independence National Historical Park.
The lawsuit says that “the National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays at the President’s House site referencing slavery, presumably pursuant to the mandate” of Executive Order No. 14253, which President Donald Trump signed in March. 2025.
The city said in the suit that it learned Thursday that the educational panels that referred to slavery had been removed.
“Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history,” Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement Thursday. “History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record.”
NBC Philadelphia aired video Thursday that shows people with crowbars taking down panels, one of which reads “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”
The suit says the city was given no notice about the change to the President’s House.
It calls the removal of the displays “arbitrary and capricious.”
“Defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one,” the lawsuit says.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump “continues to fulfill his promise to restore truth and common sense to the United States and its institutions.”
“President Trump is ensuring that we are honoring the fullness of the American story instead of distorting it in the name of left-wing ideology,” Ingle said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said “all federal agencies are to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values” while it implements Trump’s executive order.
“Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking appropriate action in accordance with the Order,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The National Park Service did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment late Thursday.
Trump’s executive order directs the Department of the Interior in its materials not to include “descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).”
It instructs the department to “instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” has been criticized.
The American Historical Association said it “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution,” which the executive order criticized by name.
“Historians explore the past to understand how our nation has evolved. We draw on a wide range of sources, which helps us to understand history from different angles of vision,” the group said March 31.
“Our goal is neither criticism nor celebration,” it said. “It is to understand — to increase our knowledge of — the past in ways that can help Americans to shape the future.”
The President’s House is a site where President George Washington resided in Philadelphia, and he brought slaves who were in the home, according to the lawsuit and the National Park Service’s webpage about the site. President John Adams also lived there.
A spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association said the dismantling of the exhibit is “an insult to the memory of the enslaved people who lived there and to their descendants.” and “sets a dangerous precedent of prioritizing nostalgia over the truth.”
The House of Representatives urged the National Park Service in 2003 to recognize the slaves there. The agency and the city entered into a cooperative agreement in 2006 to establish an exhibit about the site, the suit says.
A memorial and panels about slavery at the President’s House have been up since it opened in 2010, according to the suit.
The Black Journey, a group that conducts walking tours in Philadelphia about Black history, said removing the panels can’t erase the past.
“The Black Journey is outraged and deeply disappointed by the removal of this important and irreplaceable piece of American history,” Raina Yancey, president and CEO of The Black Journey, said in a statement.
Yancey said the group will continue to lead weekly tours and pursue its mission “to tell the full and truthful history of our ancestors,” saying “no political action will silence this history.”
She added that since the removal occurred, she has heard from fellow tour guides and individuals who have taken tours.
“Their messages make it clear: the public will not accept the erasure of history, and neither will we,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., whose district includes part of Philadelphia and the President’s House, also condemned the removal.
“Philadelphia and the entire country deserve an honest accounting of our history, and this effort to hide it is wrong,” he said in a statement.
CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director Ahmet Tekelioglu said the civil rights organization “stands in solidarity with the City of Philadelphia, advocacy groups, civil rights leaders, and historians.”
Tekelioglu said the exhibit’s removal “has drawn widespread condemnation from community leaders, historians, and elected officials who argue that understanding the full scope of American history — including the brutal reality of slavery — is critical to our collective progress.”
During the Trump administration, the National Park Service has made other changes that have backtracked on previous information.
In February, before the executive order, the National Park Service website for Stonewall National Monument’s web page was changed to erase references to transgender and queer people.
The Stonewall Inn is the site of a milestone in the fight for gay rights, recognition and the fight to end persecution by authorities.

January 28, 2026
Newswire : New Trump Tax Law locks in gains for the rich, leaves Black households behind

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

President Donald Trump’s new tax law is now in force, and as the 2026 filing season begins, economists say the damage is not theoretical. It is already written into the tax code. The legislation locks in and expands Trump’s 2017 overhaul while layering on new provisions that funnel wealth upward, raise taxes on millions of low-income Americans, and deepen racial inequities that have defined the U.S. economy for generations.

“This massive tax-and-spending package does more to transfer wealth upward than any other single piece of legislation in decades while penalizing lower-income Americans and cutting public benefits,” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said in its analysis of the law.

According to ITEP, the poorest 40 percent of Americans will pay more in taxes under the new law, while the middle fifth receives only marginal relief. The richest 1 percent, however, will take home more benefits than the bottom 80 percent combined in 2026. The racial divide is stark. High-income households are disproportionately white, while Black and Latino families are far more likely to be concentrated in income groups that lose ground.

At the center of the imbalance is the expanded pass-through business deduction, increased from 20 percent to 23 percent. Treasury Department data show that nearly all of the $1 trillion in tax cuts generated by this provision over the next decade will flow to the top 1 percent. Hispanic taxpayers, who account for 15 percent of the population, receive about 5 percent of the benefit. Black taxpayers, 11 percent of the population, receive roughly 2 percent.

The law also sharply weakens the estate tax by permanently raising the exemption to $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples, indexed to inflation. Economists say the change all but eliminates the tax for ultra-wealthy families while locking in racial disparities tied to inherited wealth. White families are about three times as likely as Black families to receive an inheritance, and the median inheritance for White families is roughly 25 percent higher.

Supporters of the law point to larger tax refunds expected this year as proof that working Americans are benefiting. The Tax Foundation estimates individual income taxes were reduced by $129 billion for 2025, with as much as $100 billion likely to be paid out through higher refunds during the 2026 filing season. Average refunds could rise by several hundred dollars, and in some cases close to $1,000.

But analysts say those refunds are largely the result of delayed withholding adjustments, not sustained gains in wages or financial security. Many low-income filers, particularly those with little or no tax liability, receive little to nothing. ITEP said provisions marketed as help for working families continue to bypass the poorest households, many of them Black.

The child tax credit was raised to $2,200 per child, yet it remains only partially refundable and far below its 2021 level. Millions of very low-income families are still excluded. Census data show that nearly one in five Black and American Indian people lived below the poverty line in 2024, placing them among those least likely to see any benefit.

The law offsets tax cuts at the top by reducing funding for health care, food assistance, and other programs relied upon by working families. Economists warn that the long-term costs will fall heaviest on younger Americans. Millennials and Gen Z, the most racially diverse generations in U.S. history, will inherit higher deficits and fewer public resources.
The Internal Revenue Service began accepting 2025 returns on Jan. 26 and expects to process roughly 164 million filings this year.

New deductions for overtime, tips, auto loan interest, and seniors are now available, though many phase out well before reaching higher income levels. Analysts note that administrative readiness does not change who ultimately wins and loses under the law.

ITEP said Congress had options that would have protected working families without deepening inequality, including limiting tax extensions to households earning under $400,000 and restoring the expanded child tax credit. That approach would have delivered larger tax cuts to the bottom 60 percent of Americans at a fraction of the cost.

“This law harms the economic well-being of poor and working families of all races, especially people of color,” ITEP said. “The new tax and spending law doesn’t meet the basic test of fairness, and it falls tremendously short.”

January 28, 2026
Newswire : Trump Administration scrambles to blame Alex Pretti for his own death; Undermining 2nd Amendment in the process

Makeshift memorial to Alex Pretti, at the site of his death in Minneapolis, Minnesota

By Zack Linly, NewsOneInsert

It’s quite possible that the Trump administration has finally flown too close to the sun, regarding its latest narrative of observably false propaganda against the latest victim of a killing by immigration cops in Minnesota.
When 37-year-old Alex Pretti was gunned down by ICE agents while trying to protect a woman an agent had pushed to the ground and started pepper-spraying for no discernible reason, the Trump administration began its usual routine of trying its best to get ahead of the media by smearing the victim and claiming the agents were in imminent danger and in fear of their lives.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has falsely claimed that immigration agents have“immunity” from prosecution, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents” in a tweet that was re-tweeted by Vice President JD Vance, according to CNN.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Saturday that Pretti “impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them,” and that he “had a weapon on him, and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition; wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like that.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara refuted Noem’s claim about Pretti “brandishing” his gun — which he carried legally, and which video clearly shows that he never even touched, let alone brandished — saying, “I don’t have any evidence that I’ve seen that suggests that the weapon was brandished.” Noem also said in a Fox News interview Sunday that Pretti was “laying hands on law enforcement,” which video footage also shows is simply untrue.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino — who has been at the center of clashes between immigration cops and protesters almost everywhere agents have been deployed, and has been ripped to shreds multiple times by federal judges for violating their orders restricting certain uses of force and for lying about protest violence to justify it — claimed it “looks like” Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” He also claimed Pretti “assaulted federal officers” during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, but when asked where in the viral video footage that happened, Bovino had no answers.
Make no mistake, they lied on Renee Nicole Good the same way, expecting us to ignore video footage that showed her attempting to drive away from ICE agents before she was shot and killed by one, in favor of nonsense about her attempting to weaponize her vehicle against ICE, which is the same lie DHS told after agents shot Marimar Martinez as she sat in her vehicle, and after agents shot Richard LA, the TikTok influencer who documents ICE activities, in Los Angeles. In both cases, criminal charges against the victims were dropped because evidence proved the government was lying.
This time, the Trump administration has gotten so desperate to smear Pretti the same way that it’s even going against conservative America’s sacred pro-Second Amendment doctrine by essentially claiming Pretti had no right to be armed.
Perhaps this is why even Republican senators are calling for a fuller investigation into Pretti’s death.
Meanwhile, Democratic senators are now vowing to oppose funding for homeland security over federal violence in Minnesota, threatening to cause yet another government shutdown on President Donald Trump’s watch.
Has any administration ever been the cause of all of its own issues the way this one has? It just keeps shooting itself in the foot and blaming everyone else.

January 28, 2026

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