A $127 million win for Black farmers, Planned Parenthood's funding survives, and Mexico takes ICE to court. (1) (2) (1)

Missouri restored voting rights to about 40,000 people on probation or parole. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed HB 1871, which makes restoration automatic going forward, with carve-outs for certain offenses. Virginia moved to restore rights to thousands more, reversing its status as the only state that permanently disenfranchised everyone with a felony conviction for life.

• Check whether a past conviction affects your vote. The Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote tool walks through the rules state by state and how to get back on the rolls. Restore Your Vote >

• Find your August ballot. More than 100 local elections this month decide prosecutors, sheriffs, judges, and school boards. Bolts maps them. Bolts >

• Save the MigraWatch hotline. United We Dream's hotline (1-844-363-1423) documents ICE activity and connects callers to local rapid-response networks. United We Dream >

• Carry a red card. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center's Know Your Rights cards state your rights during an ICE encounter, in multiple languages, free to download. ILRC >

• Give to a bond fund. The National Bail Fund Network directory lists community bond and immigration bond funds by state. Community Justice Exchange >

Michigan Supreme Court overturns the Line 5 tunnel permit. The state's highest court invalidated the permit for Enbridge's proposed pipeline tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac, finding regulators violated environmental law and public-trust duties. Native News Online >

Appeals court keeps Trump's mail-in voting order blocked in 23 states. The First Circuit upheld an injunction stopping the executive order that sought to build a federal voter list and restrict mail-ballot delivery. CBS News >

Judge blocks the stripping of work permits from asylum seekers and TPS holders. A federal judge temporarily barred the administration from revoking work authorization for tens of thousands of immigrants. Al Jazeera >

Virginia restores voting rights for thousands with past felony convictions. The governor moved to restore rights to thousands of Virginians, reversing a more restrictive rights-restoration posture. Bolts >

NYC delivery workers collect $104 million in extra tips under a new city law. App-based delivery workers, most of them immigrants, earned an additional $104 million after a minimum-pay and tipping law took effect, following years of deliverista organizing. Documented >

Federal officials back off a rushed autism plan after an uproar. Health officials postponed a key autism panel meeting and reopened the comment period after advocates objected to a four-day window to review a 336-page plan. Disability Scoop >

Pennsylvania strikes down mandatory life without parole for second-degree murder. The state's mandatory life-without-parole sentence for felony murder was overturned, opening questions about resentencing for people already serving those terms. The Marshall Project >

Immigration

ICE flouted a federal judge's order to stop arresting immigrants at New York courthouses. There have been continued arrests of immigrants moving through the legal system at the courthouse, despite a court order barring them. The Intercept >

Mahmoud Khalil sued the administration and pro-Israel groups over a conspiracy to suppress his speech. The Palestinian organizer filed suit alleging a coordinated effort to punish his First Amendment–protected activity. Democracy Now >

California lawmakers moved to curb price gouging inside ICE detention. State legislators advanced measures targeting the phone and commissary costs charged to people held in ICE facilities. Capital & Main >

Hunger strikes are spreading across ICE detention centers. Advocates report a growing wave of hunger strikes over alleged due-process violations and conditions. Prism > 

Criminal Legal System

Attorneys say Oklahoma County's rapid bail hearings fail constitutional standards. Lawyers argue that hearings lasting under a minute deny due process to people awaiting trial. The Appeal >

A man jailed over unpaid court fees in Pennsylvania died within 48 hours. The death in York County renewed scrutiny of incarceration over fines and fees. The Appeal >

A year after promising reform, Chicago police's unreported traffic stops rose. An investigation found undocumented stops increased under the current superintendent despite pledges to fix the practice. Bolts >

Health

A new Medicaid work rule threatens coverage for over a million farmworkers. The 80-hour work requirement is difficult to document for citizen and legal-resident agricultural workers whose seasonal, cash-paid labor is irregular. KFF Health News >

A federal judge declined to stop Medicaid work requirements. The judge refused an injunction sought by 26 states, allowing the requirements to move toward a January 1 implementation. STAT >

A pregnant woman's roadside death is fueling a push to reopen a Mississippi Delta hospital. After she died en route to distant care in a hospital desert, community organizing is pressing to restore local emergency services. KFF Health News >

Reproductive Rights

The ACLU sued Penn State Health over a canceled gender-affirming care procedure. The suit followed the health system's cancellation of a patient's scheduled care. Rewire News Group >

California is building support for transgender service members pushed out of the military. The state is developing programs to help transgender troops leaving under the federal ban start new careers. Rewire News Group >

Public opinion on abortion has shifted four years after Dobbs. Political scientists analyze measurable movement in national attitudes since the 2022 decision. Rewire News Group >

Democracy and Media

Twelve states sued to block the $111 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. merger. The attorneys general argue the deal would concentrate control of news and media outlets including CNN, CBS, and HBO Max. Democracy Now >

A House committee subpoenaed the outlet BreakThrough News. The Intercept reports the subpoena threatens constitutionally protected speech. The Intercept >

Federal judges rebuked the Justice Department across dozens of cases. ProPublica documented more than 40 cases in which judges appointed by both parties questioned DOJ's credibility, citing withheld information and filings with AI-generated citations to cases that do not exist. ProPublica >

Climate and Land

Offshore wind helped New England ride out an early-July heat wave. The newly operational Vineyard Wind and Revolution Wind farms cut the region's reliance on oil-burning peaker plants, easing grid strain and costs during record heat. Grist >

A federal appeals court affirmed that Line 5 is trespassing on Bad River land. The court held that Enbridge's pipeline unlawfully crosses 12 miles of the Bad River Band's sovereign land and must eventually leave, though it removed the earlier removal deadline and gave the company time to reroute. ICT >

Chemical companies blocked air monitoring as Black families breathed toxic air. Louisiana's chemical industry weakened community air-monitoring rules, leaving majority-Black "Cancer Alley" neighborhoods without adequate emissions data. Capital B News >

Labor

New York's app delivery workers earned $104 million in added tips under a new city law. A city report found the January 2026 tip-transparency law raised the average tip per delivery from $1.18 to $2.29 for roughly 70,000 workers. Documented >

The United Auto Workers voted to divest from Israeli bonds. Delegates at the union's convention in Detroit voted to divest $400,000, a first for a major U.S. labor union, after a rank-and-file push. In These Times >

An investigation traced the labor behind supermarket sushi. Great reporting by Victor Maung highlights conditions for the largely immigrant workforce, including Myanmar refugees, who produce pre-packaged grocery-store sushi. Prism >

Here’s a list of books to inspire you to get rooted – literally or figuratively.

• Farming While Black by Leah Penniman. Soul Fire Farm's practical guide to farming and finding liberation in the land.

• We Are Each Other's Harvest by Natalie Baszile. A reflection on African American farmers, land, and legacy.

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. A beautiful dedication to the practice of interdependence and reciprocity in the natural world.

• Harlem Grown by Tony Hillery. A children’s book (for the child or inner child) celebrating a city garden that fed a neighborhood.

• Belonging: A Culture of Place by bell hooks. A thoughtful reflection of finding a place for ourselves in this wild world.

Uplifting stories to close out the issue.

The Yurok Tribe applied for a salmon grant so the Klamath Tribes could share it. Because salmon had been absent from Klamath territory for more than a century, the Klamath Tribes were ineligible for restoration funding, so the Yurok applied for a $5.9 million grant and brought them on as co-recipients, advancing recovery after dam removal on the Klamath River. High Country News >

The Little Shell Tribe won approval for a 115-unit housing development in Montana. Great Falls officials approved "Good Medicine," an affordable-housing project on 18.4 acres of tribal land at the site historically known as Hill 57. ICT >

A Black-led nonprofit bought a vacant East Oakland lot for $10. The Black Cultural Zone CDC acquired a long-empty lot carrying $1.7 million in back taxes through a rarely used Chapter 8 tax sale, to build affordable housing. Next City >

Cleveland is moving unsheltered people into housing in an average of 11 days. The city's "A Home for Every Neighbor" initiative has housed more than 200 people by streamlining landlord engagement, surpassing its goal, though long-term funding remains uncertain. Next City >

Chinese immigrants are building an independent community on Staten Island. High rates of homeownership and small businesses anchor the community while the Chinese Society, Chinese School, and Chinese Christian Church expand programming for newcomers. Documented >

World Cup watch parties became cultural hubs across immigrant Chicago. A Haitian restaurant in West Ridge, a Pilsen brewery, and North African spots hosted gatherings with traditional dress, music, and dancing. Borderless Magazine >

Durham's Black Trans Short Film Festival gathered filmmakers and community. The second annual festival, hosted by Comfrey Films, paired screenings with memorials to trans pioneers and a celebration of Black trans artistry. Scalawag >

Capital B launched a newsroom in Augusta, Georgia. The Black-led nonprofit opened its third local operation, joining Atlanta and Gary, Indiana, with a focus on housing, health equity, and government accountability. Capital B News >

Benjamin Alire Sáenz died in El Paso at 71. The borderland writer and poet, author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, died July 28; his work centered queer Chicano lives on the border. El Paso Matters >