Tick… Tick… Tick…

New: An immigration judge has rejected the Trump administration's efforts to deport Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was arrested last year as part of its targeting of pro-Palestinian campus activists, her lawyers said. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

NC lawmaker investigated reports of campus antisemitism. Now she’s being sued. Student activist Khymani James sues US Rep. Virginia Foxx, alleging she abused power to obtain his de facto expulsion from Columbia University. (Via Jane Sartwell) www.newsobserver.com/news/local/e... #ncpol #nced

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

In 16 weeks, the South Carolina measles outbreak has surpassed the total number of cases reached in the West Texas outbreak over the course of seven months.

Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday. 📷️: Aaron Lavinsky

1/ NEW: @propublica.org has obtained a search warrant that the FBI is executing for records related to the contested 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., which has not yet been widely shared. It’s an extraordinary document. Link: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

The White House posted an edited photo of the activist involved in the Minneapolis church protest, made to look like she was crying.

Trump, who turns 80 this year, repeatedly mixes up Greenland and Iceland in Davos speech even as he argues that one of them should be part of the United States. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/u...

".. when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms,” Trump said. He boasted that he had accomplished so much that “when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election.” @reuters.com www.reuters.com/world/us/fiv...

Many journalists said they saw the FBI raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home as a jarring new step aimed at limiting news organizations’ ability to gather information that the government does not want to be made public.

As thousands of immigration agents arrive in Minnesota, neighbors are working together to track, distract and protest ICE. The cat-and-mouse game between activists and agents is escalating as tactics change daily.

Amid protests, NC elections board rejects campus voting sites and Sunday voting in several counties ncnewsline.com/2026/01/13/a...

Authorities have reported the death of a Nicaraguan immigrant in ICE custody in a hospital in Natchez, Mississippi, the seventh reported death of an immigrant in ICE custody this month. buff.ly/NntUdNz

NEW: A Texas district in which Black students were allegedly taunted with monkey noises. An Arizona school where students admitted saying “slavery is good.” These are some of the incidents Trump’s Education Department has ignored:

Jim Hunt, NC governor who won four terms and shaped legacy on education, dies ncnewsline.com/2025/12/18/j...

FEMA planned changes for disaster aid. NC local leaders say they’re ‘unhelpful’ and ‘tone deaf’ ncnewsline.com/2025/12/16/f...

Republicans could gain nearly 200 state legislative seats in voting rights case, report finds ncnewsline.com/2025/12/15/r...

When ProPublica’s @gingerthompson.bsky.social began talking to people in Albany, GA, she didn’t expect that they would be so fearful to criticize the town’s sole hospital on the record — or how powerless they were to hold that hospital to account. Read our 5-part "Sick in a Hospital Town" series:

The forever chemical TFA could cause irreversible harm. In Eastern North Carolina, it’s everywhere. ncnewsline.com/2025/12/12/t...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Senate Republicans reject new congressional maps in defiance of Trump’s redistricting push.

Republicans in Congress eye more power for states to remove voters ncnewsline.com/2025/12/11/r...

Trump endorses Phil Berger, as Sam Page continues primary challenge despite president’s request ncnewsline.com/2025/12/11/t...

Democrat Nida Allam brings major progressive backers to challenge incumbent US Rep. Foushee ncnewsline.com/2025/12/11/d...

Via Jennifer Shutt: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson committed Wednesday to hold a vote next week on a package of health care bills, but didn't say which bills would be included or whether they had the GOP votes to pass. https://ow.ly/Uggb50XH84c

Two successful lawsuits restoring full Medicaid payments to health providers and more lawsuits in the legal pipeline led to his decision to reverse rate cuts imposed this fall, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein announced Wednesday. ncnewsline.com/2025/12/10/n... Story by @lbonner.bsky.social #ncpol

Gov. Stein endorses House Democrat, wading into Democratic primary before filing ends ncnewsline.com/briefs/gov-s...

CONSERVATIVE JUSTICES LOOK FAVORABLY ON EXPANDING TRUMP POWERS: US Supreme Court seems ready to back Trump in case of fired FTC commissioner -- from our @ashleymurray.bsky.social in the courthouse for @statesnewsroom.com DC www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-s...

NC Democrat seeking return to the state House appeals to Republicans for primary votes ncnewsline.com/briefs/nc-de...

Trump administration makes Trump's birthday a free-admission day for national parks while canceling free admission for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, according to park service web site. www.usatoday.com/story/travel...

NEW: North Carolina prison officials, this summer, raised the price of items that incarcerated people can buy. The prices are already way marked-up; & incarcerated people make a tiny fraction of minimum wage if they work. An incarcerated reporter explains what's happening, & why it matters:

Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina is using Trump’s Mississippi nominees as leverage in a gambit to compel Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi to help the Lumbee Tribe finally achieve federal recognition—and all the rights and benefits it entails. buff.ly/J0pjl4f

SCOOP: Paul Ingrassia, a lawyer who previously represented the Tate brothers before joining the White House, chided authorities for seizing the brothers’ devices, saying it was not a good use of time or resources. He told DHS officials to give them back.

U.S. Border Patrol coming to Raleigh on Tuesday, mayor says, as NC crackdown continues ncnewsline.com/2025/11/17/u...

NEW: DHS launched a $200mln+ ad campaign, featuring, Kristi Noem, aimed at stemming illegal immigration. We found the firm secretly hired for the work has ties to Noem. @justinelliott.bsky.social, @josh-kaplan.bsky.social & @amierjeski.bsky.social: www.propublica.org/article/kris...

North Carolina’s U.S. Rep. Don Davis among them. #ncpol

A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor. via @kansasreflector.com

“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration,” the North Carolina Republican Party's communications director wrote in an email response to us. “I would strongly suggest dropping this story.” We didn't. Read the story that he wanted dropped:

The state pension trustees could be in a position to recommend that the legislature grant state retiree cost-of-living increases in the next budget. It all depends on how pension fund returns perform through December. ncnewsline.com/briefs/nc-pe... By @lbonner.bsky.social #ncpol

BREAKING: The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. to 7,500 and they will be mostly white South Africans.

Rural NC legal aid offices close after General Assembly freezes public assistance fund over politics ncnewsline.com/2025/10/30/r...

NC attorney general joins states suing Trump administration to continue SNAP food aid ncnewsline.com/2025/10/28/n... by @galenb.bsky.social

Racial health disparities could widen as states grapple with Trump cuts, experts warn ncnewsline.com/2025/10/28/r...

From @lbonner.bsky.social: NC officials warn federal food aid programs will be suspended within days ncnewsline.com/2025/10/27/n...