Category: trends

The largest single-day protest in U.S. history — the Women’s March on Washington — took place the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. The mass mobilization of demonstrators exceeded the expectations of organizers at the main march in the U.S. capital. The estimated 1 million attendees…

A new PRRI poll on a range of reproductive rights and women’s health issues shows stark generational divisions. On questions of personal beliefs about abortion, access to abortion and availability of abortion services, young and older Americans are deeply divided. A look at the PRRI “Widening Generational Divides on Abortion and Reproductive Rights” survey: About…

In late May — 46 years after Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — Illinois lawmakers voted yes. The state was the only northern state to fail to ratify the ERA before a 1982 congressional deadline. “After 36 years, the Illinois House has finally moved to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment,…

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued its ruling in the partisan gerrymander case out of Wisconsin. The high court June 18 said the plaintiffs failed to show they had standing to challenge the Republican-drawn statewide legislative map. First reports from the press at the Supreme Court described the much-anticipated decision as making a “punt” and…

Eight Democratic attorneys general recently filed litigation seeking to block the Trump administration from eliminating long-standing protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The lawsuit, led by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, will be considered in the Southern District of New York alongside National Audubon Society v. Department of Interior, a case filed in…

A resistance is rising to challenge the flat-Earth mentality governing Washington, D.C., and some state capitols. Efforts by the Trump administration to silence scientists and stifle their research are driving a global protest that will come together on Earth Day as the first-ever March for Science. Scientists will march on Washington April 22 and in…

Protesters launched a six-week season of nonviolent, direct action May 14, marching in Madison and rallying at the state Capitol. They will return, on Mondays, as part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. It’s an effort in at least 35 states inspired by the civil rights movement of the 1960s…

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 struck down anti-choice legislation in Texas with a decisive 5-3 ruling, imperiling similar measures in other states. By June 28, the high court had ruled against Wisconsin and Mississippi, where Republican leaders sought to appeal lower court rulings on their anti-choice provisions. Also, the Alabama attorney general announced…

Karla Cano faces uncertainty. She had expected to qualify for deferred action under the Obama administration’s executive orders on immigration. But a tied decision by the U.S. Supreme Court creates uncertainty for Cano and her family. “All that is unjust about my situation will continue,” said Cano, 21, a senior at Mount Mary University and the…

A StingRay or cell-site simulator is a surveillance device about the size of a suitcase that acts like a cellphone tower, sending out signals and tricking cellphones in the area into transmitting their locations and other identifying information. The device can round up data, collecting information from a suspect’s cellphone and also phones of others…

As many as a million kids and kids-at-heart had their wishes take flight when they unwrapped a drone during the holidays. Consumer technology took a turn in 2015 and propelled domestic drones to new heights in popularity in late 2015 and early 2016. But policymakers and privacy advocates see gray areas as more and more…