Landry plans to reopen a Louisiana youth prison closed a decade ago

 

In just a matter of months, Gov. Jeff Landry plans to reopen a Baton Rouge-area youth prison shuttered a little over a decade ago with support at the time from Democrats and Republicans. 

Landry and state legislators have reshuffled at least $42.4 million over the past week and directed it toward reopening the Jetson Center for Youth in Baker. The governor is also pushing for an additional $12.7 million to add staff to Jetson in his latest budget proposal, though lawmakers haven’t signed off on that money yet. 

Louisiana K-12 superintendent urges schools to embrace Trump DEI guidance

 By Piper Hutchinson

Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley is urging Louisiana K-12 schools to comply with guidance from President Donald Trump’s administration as it threatens to revoke federal funding from campuses that use race-conscious practices in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life. 

Fires of desperation at Red Onion are a call for dignity and justice

 By Steven Mangual

At Red Onion State Prison, one of two supermax prisons in Virginia, at least 12 Black menlast year set their own bodies on fire in horrifying and desperate acts of protest against inhumane conditions, including prolonged solitary confinement.

US Education Department threatens yanking funds for schools that use race in decisions

 By Shauneen Miranda

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education is threatening to rescind federal funds for schools that use race-conscious practices in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life, according to a Dear Colleague letter sent to schools.

Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years

 By Sam Stockard

Tennessee’s Department of Correction is requesting a $6.8 million contract increase for its private prison operator despite penalizing the company $44.78 million since 2022 for contractual shortfalls, $15 million in the last five months alone.

Prosecutors Resign Over Trump Ordering DOJ to Drop Case Against NYC Mayor

By Chris Walker

The DOJ had ordered the case against Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped following weeks of his cozying up to Trump. 

UPDATE: As of Friday afternoon, the number of federal prosecutors who have resigned over the Department of Justice’s demands to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (amid claims that that action was part of a quid pro quo with the Trump administration) has increased to seven.

Californians rejected an anti-slavery ballot measure. Lawmakers want to try again

IN SUMMARY

Californians rejected the anti-slavery ballot measure Proposition 6, which would have forbid forced prison labor. Reparations advocates want to try again in 2026.

.

California’s Legislative Black Caucus and the Reparations Task Force continue their fight to scrape away at the last vestiges of legalized slavery remaining within the state constitution.  

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City, this month introduced a new constitutional amendment aimed at abolishing the everyday de facto slavery practices that persist inside California prisons.

State, Baltimore sue Glock for rise in modified guns that function like ‘illegal machine guns’

 By Danielle Brown

The state and the city of Baltimore sued gun maker Glock on Wednesday for its failure to stop the rising trend of its handguns being modified into machine-gun-like weapons used in violent crimes.

The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, asks the court to stop the sale and distribution of Glocks in Maryland until the company changes the design of its handguns to be more resistant to modifications that let them “fire fully automatically — that is, to operate like a machine gun.”

Altadena Communities Unite to Rebuild as Developers Eye the Ashes

By 

Michelle Zacarias  

TRUTHOUT 

Bernardo Osprio, a 60-year-old day laborer from Pasadena, couldn’t believe his eyes as he surveyed the devastation caused by the recent wildfires in Altadena, California. Having lived in southern California for more than 36 years, Osprio was no stranger to the region’s fire season. But the scale of destruction wrought by the Eaton Fire left him in shock.

Dems Reportedly Angry That Progressives Are Pushing Them to Act Like an Opposition Party

 By Jake Johnson 

“Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are architects of the crisis that allowed Trump's fascism to arise and succeed," argued one progressive organizer. "They have zero credibility to be leading the fights we face today."

House Democratic lawmakers reportedly used a closed-door meeting earlier this week to vent their frustrations with progressive advocacy groups that have been driving constituent calls and pressuring the party to act like a genuine opposition force in the face of the Trump administration's authoritarian assault on federal agencies and key programs.