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Students at Tennessee State University, a public HBCU, greet Oprah Winfrey at a 2023 commencement ceremony. In recent months, university officials have warned that they could run out of cash by May. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images) The nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs, are wondering how to survive in an uncertain and contentious educational climate as the Trump administration downsizes the scope and purpose of the U.S. Department of Education — while cutting away at federal funding for higher education. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing federal grants and loans, alarming HBCUs, where most students rely on Pell Grants or federal aid. The order was later rescinded , but ongoing cuts leave key support systems in political limbo, said Denise Smith, deputy director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank. Leaders worry about Trump’s rollback of the Justice40 In...

Protestors gather at the steps of the Alabama Capitol on Saturday, April 5, 2025 for a "Hands Off" protest against the actions of policies of President Donald Trump. The gathering drew more than 500 people. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) More than 500 people descended on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Saturday to protest the actions and policies of President Donald. The “Hands Off” protest Saturday in Montgomery was one of six others planned in the state and more than 500 throughout the country in opposition to the administration’s wide-ranging attacks on federal agencies and departments, attempts to deport immigrants and efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, particularly for transgender Americans. “Freedom is at stake, our constitution and our rights, the right to just exist,” said Annie Pearl Avery, a civil rights activist, in an interview following the event. “And we have a criminal and a crooked man in the White House. And his intention is to turn us back 15...

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office on on March 21, 2025. In an SEC filing, the Trump administration said it removed Michelle Moore, a clean energy advocate, from the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Source: White House livestream) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News , a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here . In an August meeting of the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power company, board member Michelle Moore reminded her colleagues of what’s written above the door of its headquarters. “‘For the people’ … is written over TVA’s front door,” she said. “And in that spirit, I just encourage TVA to find right ways to share any proposed future rate adjustment proposals broadly, so that everyone has the opportunity to get informed, get engaged and bring their perspectives forward.” In that meeting, Moore dissented on a vo...

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Thursday, March 14, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released an analysis Friday showing the budget resolution Republicans plan to adopt later this month would allow Congress to add up to $5.8 trillion to the deficit during the next decade. The organization wrote the reconciliation instructions included in the budget would allow GOP lawmakers to draft a bill later this year that could outpace the deficit impact of many big-name laws enacted during the last two administrations. “A $5.8 trillion deficit-increasing bill would be unprecedented,” the analysis states. “It would add 14 times as much to the deficit than the bipartisan infrastructure law ($400 billion), more than three times as much as American Rescue Plan ($1.8 trillion), three times the 2020 CARES Act ($1.7 trillion), and nearly four times the original score of the 2017 Tax Cuts and J...

Protestors outside the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Greenbelt rally in support of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was deported to El Salvador in an "administrative error,” calling for him to be returned to the U.S. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom) GREENBELT, MARYLAND — A federal judge in Maryland Friday ordered the Trump administration to return a national from El Salvador by April 7 who was erroneously deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite an order blocking such removal. The ruling from U.S. District Court of Maryland Judge Paula Xinis sets up a fight with the Trump administration. Officials have admitted the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia of Beltsville, Maryland, was a mistake, but have stood by their actions. The case could also mean that the more than 250 Venezuelan men in a separate case who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 without due process can be returned to the U.S.  Chee...

Children engaged in sensory exercises, often used in special education classrooms. (Photo by Getty Images) WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump takes drastic steps to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, disability advocates are worried about whether the agency can carry out its responsibilities to serve students with disabilities. Representatives of several disability advocacy groups cited “chaos,” “fear” and “uncertainty” in describing the situation to States Newsroom. They said there’s a lack of clarity about both proposed changes within the realm of special education services and the impact overall of sweeping shifts at the agency, calling into question whether the department can deliver on its congressionally mandated guarantees for students with disabilities. “It’s only been a few weeks since these things started happening, so I don’t think we’re seeing any of the effects trickle down right now, but we do have parents reaching out to us, calling and feeling really sc...

New Nissan cars are driven onto a rail car to be transported from an automobile processing terminal located at the Port of Los Angeles on April 3, 2025 in Wilmington, California. The Japanese automotive maker is being impacted by President Trump’s new 25 percent imported automobile tariffs. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Markets and business owners in the United States and around the world reeled Thursday following President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping and steep tariffs that are not “reciprocal” but rather punish many countries that U.S. importers heavily rely on, experts say. U.S. stocks  plummeted , posting the worst one-day drop since June 2020, financial media reported at the closing bell Thursday. Business groups issued criticisms, experts predicted increases in household spending and even a conservative Republican senator pushed legislation that would increase congressional power over tariffs. Trump unveiled the tariffs Wednesday during a Whit...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General announced Thursday it has opened an investigation into Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly criticized use of the Signal messaging app to communicate about plans to bomb Yemen. The evaluation stems from a letter the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, sent last week,  asking the watchdog agency to look into the matter.  Acting Defense Department Inspector General Steven A. Stebbins  wrote in a memo announcing the investigation that the Inspector General Act of 1978 “authorizes us to have access to personnel and materials as we determine necessary to perform our oversight in a timely manner.” Th...

Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, reading legislation in the House Education Policy Committee on April 2, 2025, in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. HB 342, sponsored by DuBose, which would require local school boards to adopt a policy for religious instruction, failed the committee on a 4-9 vote. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A bill that would require local school boards to adopt policies on extending academic credit for “religious instruction” outside the classroom failed an Alabama House committee on Wednesday. The House Education Policy Committee rejected HB 342 , sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, on a 4-9 vote despite significant amendments to the bill that gave local school boards more flexibility with the policy.  Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the committee, said she supported the amendments but said the pushback from both sides was stronger than she expected. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “I had every superintendent a...

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs Wednesday on trading partners and allies across the globe. The president unveiled a baseline 10% levy on all international imports, plus what he described as additional “kind” and “discounted” tariff rates that will increase but not match the rates other countries apply to American imports. The levies, effective at midnight, will hit U.S. industries from agriculture to manufacturing to fashion. According to a  table distributed at Trump’s speech, U.S. tariffs will reach 34% on imports from China, 46% on products from Vietnam and 20% on European Union imports, among other increases.   Business owners who purchase goods from outside the U.S. will have...

Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, listens to debate in the Alabama Senate on Feb. 13, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Allen indicated he would add an amendment to expand the requirement to Pre-K. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) ​​ An Alabama Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require K-12 public schools to broadcast or perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” at least once a week during school hours. SB 13 , sponsored by. Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, is a constitutional amendment that, if passed by the Legislature, would need approval from state voters. “We need to have an amendment that can come from the floor, maybe, but the pre-K needs to be added to the piece of legislation. Currently, it says K through 12,” Allen told the Senate Education Policy committee Wednesday morning. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The bill only requires the first stanza of the song to be broadcast. But Democrats on the committee said that it would re...

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, broke former Sen. Strom Thurmond's record for longest filibuster on Tuesday after speaking for over 24 hours and 18 minutes. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) This story originally appeared on New Jersey Monitor . U.S. Sen. Cory Booker broke the record for longest floor speech in the history of the Senate on Tuesday, surpassing the 24-hour and 18-minute record set in 1957 when South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond attempted to prevent passage of the Civil Rights Act. Booker, a Democrat who began his remarks Monday at 7 p.m. saying he wanted to highlight President Donald Trump’s “complete disregard for the rule of law,” by Tuesday at 7:20 p.m. was raspy-voiced, occasionally teary-eyed, and wearing what he called a “ripe” shirt. It was Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, the Senate’s minority leader, who interrupted Booker to say he had broken Thurmond’s record. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “Do you know how proud this caucus is of yo...

French wine on display in a District of Columbia shop on March 13, 2025, the day President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on European wine and French Champagne. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — American business owners and consumers are bracing as President Donald Trump teases, with few details, the announcement of sweeping tariffs expected Wednesday afternoon. Trump has dubbed April 2 “Liberation Day,” his self-imposed deadline to fulfill his campaign promise of taxing imported products from around the globe. The White House confirmed Tuesday that Trump had made a decision on tariff levels but would not provide further details. “He’s with his trade and tariff team right now perfecting it to make sure this is a perfect deal for the American people and the American worker, and you will all find out in about 24 hours from now,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday afternoon at the daily briefing. The new tariffs come as Trump already imposed...