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James Comey speaks onstage at 92NY on May 30, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday obtained a second grand jury indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, long a target of President Donald Trump’s anger for overseeing an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. A grand jury indicted Comey related to a photo he posted on social media of seashells arranged to read “86 47.” The grand jury was located in the Eastern District of North Carolina, where Comey was vacationing when he took the photo last year. Trump supporters have interpreted the photo as a threat against the president, since “86” is a slang term for removing something and “47” could be seen as a reference to Trump as the 47th president. Comey has said the photo wasn’t intended as a call to violence and deleted the post. A federal grand jury in Virginia previously indicted Comey in September, accusing him of lying to Congress and...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Standing center is Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and at right is Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to make changes to a Senate-passed bill that would end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, a move that will further delay funding and prolong the stalemate that began in mid-February.  The holdup could again interrupt paychecks for workers at the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of which are part of DHS. Huge backups in airline security lines resulted in March when TSA officers  went without pay for weeks until the administration scrambled to reprogram funds. Johnson, R-La., has chosen not to negotiate potential tweaks in the funding bill with Senate Democrats...

An exhibit dedicated to Emmett Till, a child from Chicago lynched in Mississippi in 1955, seen on display Monday at the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama. The exhibit provides details on Till's life in Chicagoin Chicago and his trip to Mississippi where he was murdered after purchasing refreshments at a convenience store. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) The Southern Poverty Law Center will host an exhibit on Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 helped spur the modern Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit, designed and created by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, features five components and provides details about life for Blacks living in the Jim Crow era in the South, Till’s life in Chicago and his trip to Mississippi where he was murdered days after he bought refreshments at a convenience store. “I know from growing up for most, as we still talk about it in our schools, in our communitie...

In an aerial view, a immigrant family from Haiti walks towards a gap in the U.S. border wall from Mexico on Dec. 11, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday will hear oral arguments on the Trump administration’s efforts to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that could open them up to deportation. The case has the potential to have an impact on multiple lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to end protections for more than 1.3 million immigrants from all over the globe with Temporary Protected Status, granted because they hail from countries deemed too dangerous for return.  The effort to end TPS designation is part of President Donald Trump’s broader  efforts to curtail immigration and strip legal status for people , opening them up to his mass deportation drive.  “The decision will have the capacity to impact everyone with TPS,” José Pa...

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to allow law enforcement to continue seeking warrants for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes, even as the justices wrestled with how far the government must go to protect Americans’ privacy. Some of the justices appeared to be searching for a middle ground  during oral arguments in a case out of Virginia challenging what is known as a geofence warrant that was used to catch a bank robber. Several justices asked skeptical questions of both sides, though no one voiced explicit support for prohibiting such warrants altogether. As smartphones have become ubiquitous, along with apps that track users’ movements, the high court is once again wading into how the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, applies in the digital era. The justices’ decision, of tremendous interest to state a...

Families, friends and advocates walk to protest prison conditions at the front of the Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. The Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts will audit a prison facility in the state amid mounting frustration from lawmakers over the Alabama Department of Corrections' management of its facilities. (Beth Shelburne for the Alabama Reflector) Several Alabama legislators hope an upcoming audit of the Alabama Department of Corrections will pull back the curtain on an agency engulfed in violence and consuming an ever-larger share of the state budget. The audit from the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, an arm of the Legislature, is part of a pilot initiative to investigate the conditions in one facility that has yet to be named. The Examiners department regularly audits the books of state agencies, but this specific audit stems from legislation filed by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, because of susta...