When I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day. When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.

“Grace periods” for late-arriving mail ballots were not controversial until very recently. (Kansas lawmakers voted *163-1* for a grace period in 2017!) But Trump wants them banned, so red states have lately rushed to help him. Ohio just joined the list: boltsmag.org/ohio-ends-gr...

Serious allegations against the (soon to be former) sheriff of Chesapeake, VA, who we’ve covered closely at @boltsmag.org: Washington Post reports Dave Rosado is accused of using his position to boost his campaign, including by coercing his staff. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The ruling allows Florida to continue with the lowest standard for the death penalty in the nation, requiring just 8 out of 12 jurors to agree on death.

As it faces the rising costs of mass incarceration, North Carolina’s prison system is squeezing more revenue from incarcerated people and their loved ones by increasing its markup on canteen products.

The Massey Commission was established after Sonya Massey was killed by a sheriff's deputy in her own home. I followed along for 9 months as its members tried to enact real policing & mental health reforms – & grappled w/ the limits of these commissions to effect change: boltsmag.org/sonya-massey...

This story shows the lengths to which a private-equity landlord will go to quash its tenants’ union efforts, organizers allege, using aggressive tactics honed by employers in the days before the National Labor Relations Act. www.denverpost.com/2025/12/11/c...

Can't say I ever expected to see a "That Font was No Angel" headline. But here we are.

Democrats flipped 25 state legislative seats this year—more than a 1/5 of all GOP-held seats that were up for election. Republicans flipped *zero* seats. @taniel.bsky.social’s year-end statehouse analyses are always must-reads: boltsmag.org/legislative-...

To ward off a primary of John Hickenlooper by progressive Julie Gonzales, a power player in the Colorado Democratic Party allegedly offered a "guarantee" of future consulting contracts if the Gonzales team backed off. Great reporting by @sethklamann.bsky.social: www.denverpost.com/2025/12/09/c...

absolutely harrowing description of adx supermax in colorado boltsmag.org/death-row-cl...

Thrilled to share that Chris Duncan, whose conviction was vacated in April, was just granted bail today, after spending over 25 years on Louisiana's death row. It's so rare to get good news when you're covering capital punishment, but this is one very real light in the darkness

More elections are already around the corner, mere days. And Democrats have opportunities to build on their November gains by flipping more offices: in Tennessee, in Georgia, in Florida. And that's just the tip of a busy election month. My new guide, just out:

After Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row last year, the Trump administration is retaliating by sending them to the supermax. Prisoners are locked in cells smaller than a parking space 22-24 hours a day. One prisoner told me he fears he won't make it out alive. My latest:

Essential reporting from @laurengill.bsky.social on federal death row under Trump. It’s a topic often buried way down in the news cycle but it urgently deserves attention: boltsmag.org/death-row-cl...

I wrote for @theintercept.com about how prosecuting transportation of these pamphlets is a danger to all writers, journalists, and Americans. Possession of words is not a crime, even with intent to distribute.

If SCOTUS conservatives gut VRA protections from election discrimination, it won't just threaten POC seats in Congress. It is more often used to protect local elections — like in Fayette, TN, where officials used racist voting maps to ensure an all-white county board: boltsmag.org/voting-right...

Yes, and I’ll add: I think non-journalists would be shocked by how hard it can be to contact government media folks. The people who are paid by tax $ to provide info to the public often make themselves almost invisible. (To say nothing of the stonewall you may run into when you *do* reach them.)

NEW: ICE has finally released post-shutdown detention data. The latest data reveals that a full 40%(!) of people arrested in the interior and held in ICE detention have no criminal record; no criminal charges or prior convictions. That is up from just 4% when Trump took office.

Fayette County, Tennessee, is more than 1/4 Black, but all 19 of its county commissioners are white. Important @pascalsabino.bsky.social piece here about representation and fair maps: boltsmag.org/voting-right...

Extremely good long read on how prisons shape local economies and politics. So many moments of clarity where the absurdity of the prison-as-industry proposition just slaps you in the face

My last freelance piece of the year published yesterday in @boltsmag.org, taking a look at how Illinois' name change law still disproportionately impacts trans people with criminal histories. boltsmag.org/illinois-nam...

A notable election result you might have missed: Somerville, Mass., became the first in the country to pass a ballot measure divesting locally from Israel. Via @prismreports.org: prismreports.org/2025/11/18/s...

This is so cool. I interviewed Calvin Duncan - exoneree, and now Orleans Parish Clerk of Court - back in 2023 about his work as a jailhouse lawyer for the folks on death row in Louisiana. I remember being really struck by his words:

Punished for... having a period? Yes, you read that right – behind bars, menstruation is treated like misconduct. Here's how prisons punish people for a bodily function they have no control over 🧵

Confirmed: Katie Wilson will be mayor of Seattle, ousting the incumbent from his left. And Erika Evans will be the new city attorney, ousting the GOP city attorney after promising to take the office in a more progressive direction. What do progressives' win mean for law enforcement? NEW IN BOLTS:

After the Bucks County sheriff election, one immigrant rights organizer told me: “I know ICE will still be here, but at least in our community we get some sense of peace. People haven’t wanted to go church, to concerts, to public events, because everybody is thinking they’re going to be taken.”

A Republican sheriff in a swing county that Trump won by 0.1% signed a contract to help ICE, then lost last week by 11. New by me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/sheriff-of-b...

In addition to military/overseas voters, young people and non-white people tend to vote later, and thus are more vulnerable to bans on counting late-arriving ballots. That is why Trump wants this change, and why plenty of red states have lately rushed to do his bidding: boltsmag.org/restrictions...

Absolutely incredible reporting by @boltsmag.org "Even just $30 in my pocket felt like a lot...It made the difference between me staying out here and me going back to prison. I could buy me something to eat, catch a bus, catch a cab...It makes a difference, and I’m telling you from experience.*

Gerrymandering Virginia will be “one of the 1st orders of business” for the legislature in January, the state’s senate majority leader tells @boltsmag.org. That was only made possible by Tuesday’s results. This + other democracy-related election effects explained here: boltsmag.org/five-ways-20...

I wrote about how this election affected voting and democracy, new in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/five-ways-20...

Jeanine Pirro tried to make an example of Sean Dunn. She ended up delivering a hero to Washington, D.C. www.huffpost.com/entry/dc-san...

Incoming NJ governor Mikie Sherrill hasn't said whether she'll uphold a state policy limiting law enforcement cooperation w/ ICE. Advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation to preserve & expand protections for NJ's 2.2 million immigrants before she takes office. boltsmag.org/immigration-...

A reminder that we are currently running our end-of-year fundraising campaign! If you appreciate reading election coverage from Bolts, consider donating. Right now, your gift will be matched!

A prominent MAGA politician in Colorado, who helped make the “Venezuelan gang takeover” story a major election issue last fall, is trailing behind two progressive challengers in her re-election bid, despite dramatically outspending them. www.9news.com/article/news...

Last night’s overwhelming Democratic sweep in Pennsylvania preserves liberal control of the state supreme courts across the Midwest’s Blue Wall—MI, PA, WI. These courts are really important for election law and voting rights. boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

It’s worth thinking today of all the elections you *aren’t* hearing about because they were unopposed. In so many sheriff and prosecutor offices in particular, including in blue-ish or even solidly blue areas, “tough-on-crime” folks often reign for many years without ever being challenged.

JUST IN: Soren Stevenson, who lost an eye due to a projectile fired by the police during the BLM protests of 2020 in Minneapolis, has won a seat on city council. @pascalsabino.bsky.social reported on his candidacy last month in a must-read: boltsmag.org/minneapolis-...

The passage of CA Prop 50 wraps a big night on the democracy/voting rights front. In addition to Prop 50, most notably: ME rejected voting restrictions, PA preserved its liberal supreme court majority, and VA cleared a path to end its Jim Crow-era system of lifetime felony disenfranchisement.

Pennsylvania Justice David Wecht to @boltsmag.org: “The projected victory for the three of us speaks well of our democracy. We all campaigned on the basis of vindicating the Pennsylvania constitution’s free and equal elections clause, and we’re all committed to continuing to vindicate that right.”

A massive result: Maine voters have rejected Question 1, a ballot measure that would have restricted mail voting and put into place strict new voter ID requirements. This outcome was no sure thing heading into tonight. The measure’s failure preserves current voter access in Maine, as 2026 looms.

Democrats have successfully defended three seats on the all-important Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This means the court will be controlled by Ds through the midterms, and almost definitely through 2028 as well. My story on the result: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

As the face of the “progressive prosecutor” movement steamrolls to a 3rd term, let me be the millionth person to note that when that movement loses elections it’s billed in national media as a crisis for the left, while the movement’s high points, of which there have been many, are largely ignored.

I suppose not surprising if you know America, but, wow, there are 2 million Muslim women in the U.S. and only just now, tonight, has even one single part of the country elected a Muslim woman to any statewide office.

Still early, but the three Democrats seeking new terms on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are all performing very, very well. This is one of the contests we’ve been watching most closely at @boltsmag.org. Background: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...

We're starting to fill our election guide! Come join the Bolts party as results pop up: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Some very early results show Maine’s Question 1, a Republican measure to restrict mail voting and require voter ID, running well behind Trump in 2024, when he lost Maine by 7. For example… Newry was Harris +11, but opposed Q1 +30. Dixmont was Trump +28, but supported Q1 only +7.

Among many other takeaways: Spanberger will now inherit the power to decide whether Virginians returning from prison should have their voting rights restored. Youngkin has bucked his predecessors by using this power to deny voting rights to many thousands of people.

The officer Sandwich Guy is charged with assaulting testifies that he could feel the impact of the sandwich through his ballistic vest, and it “exploded all over my uniform.” He says he could “smell the onions and the mustard.”