NC GOP Power Transfers Reshape Utilities, Environmental Regulation, and More

North Carolina voters have chosen Democrats in three straight elections for governor; the state’s Republican-led legislature has countered by siphoning off some of the powers that traditionally came with the job. These power grabs have had a profound effect on both democracy in the state and on the everyday lives of North Carolina residents, Democrats argue. The changes are “weakening…
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Will Mamdani’s Inauguration Open a New Chapter for New York City’s Muslims?

On January 1, New York City’s first ever Muslim and South Asian mayor will take office, inheriting the largest police force in the United States while assuming responsibility for a city that’s seen a rise in immigration raids and deportations ever since Donald Trump became president over the last year. Zohran Mamdani’s victory in November came on the heels of a campaign focused on making the city…
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Official Says 11 States Open to Stopping Residents From Voting at DOJ’s Request

The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a confidential draft agreement to more than a dozen states that would require election officials to remove any alleged ineligible voters identified during a federal review of their voter rolls. The agreement — called a memorandum of understanding, or MOU — would hand the federal government a major role in election administration…
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GOP Could Gain Nearly 200 Statehouse Seats If SCOTUS Guts Voting Rights Act

Republicans could gain nearly 200 state legislative seats across the South if the U.S. Supreme Court guts a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, a new analysis finds. The bulk of the gains would be concentrated in 10 GOP-controlled state legislatures in Southern states, according to the analysis, produced by Fair Fight Action, a Georgia-based progressive voting rights group…
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68 Cities, Counties, and States Will Increase Their Minimum Wage on January 1

The Trump administration is one of the most anti-labor administrations in modern U.S. history — it has attempted to decertify the union representation of more than 1 million federal employees. Trump has also fired key members of the National Labor Relations Board, thus rendering it largely non-functional. Moreover his administration has come out against rules requiring disabled workers all be paid…
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Democratic Leaders’ Cowardice Help Pave Way for Trump. Can the Party Change?

The most important resistance to the Trump regime this year has come from grassroots activism. While millions have rallied and continually demanded strong opposition to fascistic policies, congressional Democrats have lagged far behind. Nowhere has the gap been more evident than in the Senate, where Chuck Schumer remains the minority leader despite his obvious failures to meet the historic moment.
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