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

Black farmers win a court case that restores $127 million in federal grants. A legal victory reinstates grant funding that had been stripped, a concrete win after years of fighting discrimination in federal farm programs. Capital B News >

A movement organizer's case for making the hard strategic choices. Yotam Marom argues most organizations dodge real strategy, using CAAAV's transformation and its role in winning a historic New York City rent freeze as a model for building lasting power. Convergence >

A framework for imagining a more just democracy at America's 250th. Six questions to help organizations sit with the contradictions of the American project and build toward a more democratic, joyful future. Convergence >

DEMOCRACY

The NAACP launches a $20 million plan to mobilize 6.5 million Black voters. The organization's largest-ever midterm investment comes after recent voting-rights setbacks, aimed at turning out Black voters ahead of November. Capital B News >

Black organizers prepare for a new era of voting rights battles. After the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, advocates are turning to state-level protections, youth-led activism, and grassroots election monitoring ahead of the midterms. Capital B News >

IMMIGRATION

Video and eyewitnesses contradict ICE's account of a Houston construction worker's killing. Surveillance footage and testimony from three immigrant witnesses refute DHS claims about the death of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, which the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled a homicide. Democracy Now >

Mexico moves to file criminal charges over deaths in ICE custody. The Mexican government says it will bring criminal complaints in U.S. federal courts over the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals in ICE operations. Democracy Now >

A NYC Council employee walks free after five months in ICE detention. Rafael Rubio, a Venezuelan with TPS, was detained at a routine asylum interview and held 158 days before being granted asylum and released, following intervention by the Council Speaker and Bronx Defenders. Democracy Now >

A HUD plan would strip housing support from mixed-status immigrant families. Prism centers the families and organizers who stand to lose their homes if the policy takes effect. Prism >

POLICING & SURVEILLANCE

The FBI is deputizing local police as federal agents. Communities are organizing against it. A look at how the expansion of federal policing power is meeting resistance in the neighborhoods it targets. Truthout >

The FBI raided a Texas activist's home, then offered her $200,000 to inform on antifascist organizers. She refused. A first-person account of resisting state pressure to become a government informant. The Intercept >

LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

The Black Trans Short Film Festival was about more than the films. Sherronda J. Brown reports from Durham on a gathering that made space for Black transgender filmmakers, and for community, joy, and dignity. Scalawag >

The fight over trans girls in school sports moves to the November ballot. After the Supreme Court let states ban trans athletes, the question heads directly to voters in Colorado, Washington, Arizona, and other states. The 19th >

A map of the federal agencies working to restrict gender-affirming care. The 19th tracks how the DOJ, HHS, FTC, and FDA are being coordinated to curtail access nationwide. The 19th >

A World Cup–timed LGBTQ rights action exposed fault lines in San Francisco's queer movement. The stunt becomes a lens for examining strategy debates inside the city's organizing. Truthout >

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Planned Parenthood survives Medicaid "defunding" — just in time for the elections. After nearly a year without reimbursement, the provision targeting the provider expired and funding resumed, handing reproductive-rights advocates a win heading into November. The 19th >

The administration rewrites the country's main birth control program around a pronatalist agenda. HHS under RFK Jr. has reworked Title X — long focused on affordable contraception for low-income people — to emphasize fertility promotion, a shift critics say repurposes a contraceptive-access program. The Intercept >

DISABILITY JUSTICE

The administration escalates its attacks on disabled people's right to live in community. A DOJ memo challenges decades of legal interpretation protecting community-based living, threatening the ADA and the landmark Olmstead decision. Truthout >

EDUCATION

Southern students issue a manifesto for academic freedom. A coalition of UT Austin students, faculty, and staff protests the elimination of ethnic studies and women's and gender studies departments, demanding shared governance and the reinstatement of the programs. Scalawag >

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Detained by armed settlers in the West Bank, Rep. Ro Khanna calls for demolishing illegal outposts. After settlers blocked his vehicle and brandished rifles, holding his group for over an hour, Khanna called for tearing down illegal outposts and reconsidering U.S. military aid to Israel. The Intercept >

ENVIRONMENT & LABOR

World Cup stadium workers face dangerous heat while players get protections. FIFA added heat safeguards for players at the 2026 tournament, but the workers keeping stadiums running have no guaranteed water, shade, or breaks. Grist >

How to build homes that can survive extreme heat. Passive-cooling design — reflective roofing, insulation, landscaping — can keep homes safe without air conditioning for only 2 to 3 percent more in construction cost, cutting heat deaths and utility bills. Grist >

HOUSING & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

New York hasn't raised housing allowances for its poorest residents in decades. A lawsuit calls that unconstitutional. The suit challenges shelter allowances frozen for a generation as low-income tenants face eviction. ProPublica >

New York moves to crack down on junk fees and subscription traps. A new rule targets deceptive fees and subscriptions that are hard to cancel. Truthout >

HEALTH

Lawmakers press the CDC to track newborn Vitamin K shot refusals. Citing ProPublica's reporting, members of Congress want federal data on refusals of a shot that prevents deadly bleeding in infants. ProPublica >