Political Wire: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday that prohibits people under 14 years old from having social-media accounts, regardless of parental consent, one of the most restrictive laws aimed at curbing social-media access for minors,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Under the new law, social-media companies are required to close accounts believed to be used…

Political Wire: “Lawmakers in mostly conservative states are pushing a coordinated effort to bring chaplains into public schools, aided by a new, legislation-crafting network that aims to address policy issues ‘from a biblical world view’ and by a consortium whose promotional materials say chaplains are a way to convert millions to Christianity,” the Washington Post reports. “The…

Democracy Now!: “In a surprise ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked Texas from enforcing a harsh new anti-immigrant law that gives local police sweeping powers to arrest and deport anyone they suspected has entered the United States without authorization. The appeals court ruling came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled…

KVUE: “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud case likely will not be going to trial in April after prosecutors and Paxton’s attorneys have reached a tentative pre-trial diversion agreement, three sources tell KVUE Senior Reporter Tony Plohetski and the Austin American-Statesman. That agreement could end a nine-year legal saga that would have gone to trial on…

CNN: “Joshua Hartfield, the last of six White former Mississippi law enforcement officers sentenced in the torture of two Black men in January 2023, received a 10-year prison term in federal court Thursday afternoon. The hearing capped an emotional three days during which vivid accounts of the horrifying brutality of a self-styled “Goon Squad” of deputies gripped a…

WaPo: “Two former law enforcement officers in Mississippi will spend years in federal prison after being sentenced Tuesday for their roles in a racist attack last year by six White officers on two Black men who were tortured and subjected to a mock execution. Former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies Hunter Elward, 31, who shot one…

KY Lantern: “New Orleans in the 1970s was awash with racism, but it mostly targeted African Americans. Once someone fell on the “white” side of the black-white divide, neither nationality nor religion mattered much to those who reared me. To the extent Jewish people appeared in our lore, the narratives were favorable. A Jewish politician represented…

Rolling Stone: “WHEN A BUNCH of all-stars get together to record a song for a cause, the result can often be cringey. But “Tennessee Rise,” featuring the pulpit-ready voices of Brittany Howard, Allison Russell, Katie Pruitt, Amanda Shires, Fancy Hagood, Emmylou Harris, and more, hits all the marks. The heavenly choir anthem was recorded to encourage Tennesseans to register…

News & Observer: “A North Carolina man who spent half his life in prison was freed Wednesday after being wrongfully convicted of a murder he didn’t commit — and that new evidence showed may not have happened. Quincy Marquies Amerson spent 23 years in the Harnett Correctional Institution after being convicted of fatally striking a…

Political Wire: “Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler and her husband, Christian Ziegler, “are suing Sarasota police and prosecutors to stop the release of records related to his rape probe,” the Daily Beast reports.”