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An Indianapolis gas pump shows prices over $4 a gallon on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Photo by Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle) WASHINGTON — Spikes in energy prices caused by the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran drove up inflation for Americans in March, according to the latest consumer price index figures released Friday. Costs  jumped 0.9% in March compared to the previous month — that’s up from the 0.3% increase in February.  Prices for all items together, including food, energy, shelter and other commodities like vehicles, rose by 3.3% from a year ago. That’s the highest annual jump since May 2024, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics historical  data .  Fuel costs drove the spike, with gasoline and fuel oil together rising 10.9% in March compared to the previous month. Singled out, gas prices jumped 21.2% in March. The cost for airfare, largely driven by jet fuel prices, rose 2.7% in March, up from the 1.4% jump in February. President Donald Trump launche...

First lady Melania Trump makes a brief statement to deny any connection with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on April 9, 2026. (Image via White House livestream) WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump said Thursday she was “never involved in any capacity” with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and that “baseless lies” about her are being circulated. In a rare solo statement livestreamed on the White House website, Melania Trump also called for a congressional hearing featuring the women who have  shared stories of abuse by Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges. “I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors, to give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress,” the first lady said in her nearly six-minute remarks.  “With the power of sworn testimony, each and every woman should have her d...

The number of births in the United States has continued to slowly decline or remain flat since 2015, and the fertility and birth rates among teenagers continues to fall by much larger margins. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent) New data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows fertility and birth rates continue to fall across the U.S., while cesarean section procedures increased and preterm birth rates remained flat. The 2025 provisional number of births fell 1% from the previous year to about 3.6 million births, and the general fertility rate also dropped 1% for women between the ages of 15 and 44. The decrease was a difference of 22,534 births. The national fertility rate is calculated as the total number of live births per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Conservatives want to increase birth rates. These moms are terrified to have more kids. The number of births has continued to slowly decline or remain flat since 2015, according to t...

Alabama state Sen. Kirk Hatcher, a Democrat, speaks outside the Alabama State House in March against a Republican-sponsored bill that could allow the state to take control over Montgomery's police department. In recent years, Republican lawmakers in GOP-led states have pushed for state takeovers of police departments and other municipal agencies. (Photo by Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) In late March, a handful of Black faith leaders gathered on the steps of the Alabama State House to protest a bill that could allow the state to seize control of the police force in the capital of Montgomery. Supporters of the Republican-sponsored proposal cast it as a response to Montgomery’s police officer shortage and public concern over unchecked crime. Opponents called it a power grab aimed at a Democratic-led, majority-Black city, pushed by Montgomery’s white Republican state senator over the objections of the city’s mayor, police chief and its other state senator, a Black Democrat wh...

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, speaking to senators at the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee meeting on April 1, 2026, about the fiscal year 2027 Education Trust Fund budget in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives Wednesday passed a bill that would prohibit Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients from purchasing certain sugary products with their benefits. SB 57 , sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would prohibit SNAP beneficiaries from buying candy, sodas and energy drinks with their benefits. The bill does not change the amount of money allotted to the recipients and requires the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) to request a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exclude the products from the list of eligible items. “If they’re gonna spend their money, their $500 or whatever their money may be, and they can’t buy soft drinks, maybe...

Then-Brig. Gen. Jerome Gary Cooper is seen with his daughter Shawn at her graduation from USMC Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Va. in 1985. Gary Cooper, who rose to the rank of major general and died in 2024, fought to create an inclusive military. (Photo courtesy of the Cooper family) Jerome Gary Cooper, a tall, congenial Black man honored for path-setting combat service in Vietnam in 1966, told the story of his and his Mobile family’s fight against Jim Crow in the book Ten Stars, which I wrote in collaboration with him more than a decade ago. His story resonates today in ways he and I never imagined when we began the project. The book, part oral history covering a seismic period in American life, was first published in hardback by NewSouth Books of Montgomery in 2016. Cooper, who rose to become a two-star Marine general, died in 2024 at age 87. Earlier this year, a paperback edition of Ten Stars was published by the NewSouth Books imprint of the University of Georgia Pr...