Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Floridians voted to enfranchise felons, but GOP plans new restrictions

Florida legislators are moving to minimize the impact of last fall's decision by the voters to restore voting rights to felons in the nation's third largest state.

The Republicans who dominate the state House began advancing legislation Tuesday that would require felons to pay all outstanding court fees and fines before they may go to the polls.

Critics say the move could block more than 80 percent of the 1.4 million Floridians who were supposed to be eligible to register starting this year.


Reporting by WLRN in Miami found that, in the last five years, over $1 billion in felony fines were issued but only 19 percent were paid, while the state association for court clerks deemed 83 percent of those fines to have "minimal collections expectations."

Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York took to Twitter to label the legislation "a poll tax by any other name." Its Republican authors disputed that characterization and said their effort was to live – albeit strictly – with the terms the voters set.

But the constitutional amendment, approved in November by 65 percent of voters, makes no mention of restitutions. It says voting rights are to be restored after former felons "complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation." Excepted are those convicted of "murder or sexual offenses."

The bill would classify every felony with any kind of sexual component as a disqualifying "sexual offense," including operating an adult entertainment store too close to a school.

It was approved by committee Tuesday and now goes to the full House, where the GOP holds a 71-46 edge. Republicans hold a solid majority in the state Senate as well, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has signaled his support for the legislation.

"What the barriers proposed in this bill do is nearly guarantee that people will miss election after election ... because they cannot afford to pay financial obligations," Julie Ebenstein, a voting rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, told NBC News. "It's an affront to the Florida voters."

Read More

Xavier Becerra Steps Back Into California Politics

Xavier Becerra

Xavier Becerra Steps Back Into California Politics

Xavier Becerra is once again stepping onto familiar ground. After serving in Congress, leading California’s Department of Justice, and joining President Joe Biden’s Cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he is now seeking the governorship of his home state. His campaign marks both a return to local politics and a renewed confrontation with Donald Trump, now back in the White House.

Becerra’s message combines pragmatism and resistance. “We’ll continue to be a leader, a fighter, and a vision of what can be in the United States,” he said in his recent interview with Latino News Network. He recalled his years as California’s attorney general, when he “had to take him on” to defend the state’s laws and families. Between 2017 and 2021, Becerra filed or joined more than 120 lawsuits against the Trump administration, covering immigration, environmental protection, civil rights, and healthcare. “We were able to defend California, its values and its people,” he said.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Voting booths in a high school.

During a recent visit to Indianapolis, VP JD Vance pressed Indiana Republicans to consider mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Getty Images, mphillips007

JD Vance Presses Indiana GOP To Redraw Congressional Map

On October 10, Vice President JD Vance visited Indianapolis to meet with Republican lawmakers, urging them to consider redrawing Indiana’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The visit marked Vance’s third trip to the state in recent months, underscoring the Trump administration’s aggressive push to expand Republican control in Congress.

Vance’s meetings are part of a broader national strategy led by President Donald Trump to encourage GOP-led states to revise district boundaries mid-decade. States like Missouri and Texas have already passed new maps, while Indiana remains hesitant. Governor Mike Braun has met with Vance and other Republican leaders. Still, he has yet to commit to calling a special legislative session. Braun emphasized that any decision must ensure “fair representation for every Hoosier."

Keep ReadingShow less
A child looks into an empty fridge-freezer in a domestic kitchen.

The Trump administration’s suspension of the USDA’s Household Food Security Report halts decades of hunger data tracking.

Getty Images, Catherine Falls Commercial

Trump Gives Up the Fight Against Hunger

A Vanishing Measure of Hunger

Consider a hunger policy director at a state Department of Social Services studying food insecurity data across the state. For years, she has relied on the USDA’s annual Household Food Security Report to identify where hunger is rising, how many families are skipping meals, and how many children go to bed hungry. Those numbers help her target resources and advocate for stronger programs.

Now there is no new data. The survey has been “suspended for review,” officially to allow for a “methodological reassessment” and cost analysis. Critics say the timing and language suggest political motives. It is one of many federal data programs quietly dropped under a Trump executive order on so-called “nonessential statistics,” a phrase that almost parodies itself. Labeling hunger data “nonessential” is like turning off a fire alarm because it makes too much noise; it implies that acknowledging food insecurity is optional and reveals more about the administration’s priorities than reality.

Keep ReadingShow less
Standing Up for Democracy Requires Giving the Other Side Credit When It Is Deserved

U.S. President Donald Trump poses with the signed agreement at a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war on October 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

(Photo by Suzanne Plunkett - Pool / Getty Images)

Standing Up for Democracy Requires Giving the Other Side Credit When It Is Deserved

American political leaders have forgotten how to be gracious to their opponents when people on the other side do something for which they deserve credit. Our antagonisms have become so deep and bitter that we are reluctant to give an inch to our political adversaries.

This is not good for democracy.

Keep ReadingShow less