WaPo: “In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court has rejected a law requiring the placement of the Ten Commandments in public schools. “The pre-eminent purpose for posting the Ten Commandments on schoolroom walls is plainly religious in nature,” the court’s unsigned decision stated. “The Ten Commandments are undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian…

WaPo: “Even in a decade marked by hatred and violence, what happened here on a sultry June night 60 years ago shocked the nation for its brazenness. Amid Freedom Summer, a daring effort to register Black Mississippians to vote, three young civil rights workers came to town. It was a perilous time. Black churches were being…

TX Observer: “The Texas Medical Board on Friday adopted guidance for how doctors should interpret the state’s new abortion laws, reducing paperwork requirements some saw as overly burdensome but declining to provide a list of cases in which an abortion would be legal. The board unanimously approved the new guidelines after making revisions in response…

WaPo: “In 1903, a Black man walked into an office in a small town in Texas, seeking any news about whether slavery had ended. The earnest inquiry from the man, who had been forced to labor without pay, came more than 38 years after Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed on Galveston Island, Tex., with more…

Democracy Now!: “As part of our Juneteenth special broadcast, we feature our interview with pioneering musical artist Rhiannon Giddens, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her opera Omar, about Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar in Africa who was sold into slavery in the 1800s…. In 2023, Rhiannon Giddens won a Pulitzer Prize for her…

Political Wire: “Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday,” the AP reports. “The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in ‘large, easily readable font’ be required in…

NY Times: “I returned to my hometown, Memphis, to make a short film outside a building that once offered abortion services. In Tennessee abortion is banned, with no exception for rape and very limited medical exceptions that are being debated in state court…. These women offer distinct perspectives on this radical transformation in American society. Together…

WaPo: “Mark Robinson, the firebrand Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina, has for years made comments downplaying and making light of sexual assault and domestic violence. A review of Robinson’s social media posts over the past decade shows that he frequently questioned the credibility of women who aired allegations of sexual assault against prominent…

Political Wire: “In recent weeks, House Ethics Committee investigators have conducted a string of interviews behind closed doors with numerous women who were witnesses in the years-long Justice Department sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz,“ ABC News reports. “Investigators have interviewed at least half a dozen women who allegedly attended parties where the Florida Congressman was…

AL.com: “Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has some thoughts on voter fraud and election integrity, and, under the right circumstances, he’ll share them. Circumstances matter a lot to Marshall’s willingness to talk about voter issues. Take, for instance, the case of John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. After the Alabama secretary of state…