Government & Civil Rights

Washington Township, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, is facing questions over how it used money from national opioid settlements. Media reports alleged the municipality spent funds on police surveillance cameras and expensive police vehicles instead of drug prevention programs. The controversy matters because opioid settlement money is meant to help communities address addiction, overdoses, treatment…

On October 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the City and County of Denver over an ordinance that bars federal law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings during detentions and arrests and requires them to display identification. The case is United States v. City and County of Denver, Colorado, et al., No….

A Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) officer in Johnson City, Tennessee, was fired within 24 hours after the department learned that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) was investigating theft allegations against the officer. Police Chief Eric Dougherty addressed the termination in a public statement reported on October 8, 2026. The officer has not been…

On October 5, 2026, attorneys for the family of Saveion McConnell, a 19-year-old from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, released two excerpts of body-camera video from his fatal shooting by a Lafayette County sheriff’s deputy on May 1, 2026. The release came about three weeks after the Johnson County Prosecuting Attorney decided not to file criminal charges…

A federal court in Little Rock has set a bench trial for the week of August 3, 2027, in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the widow of Bryan Malinowski, the former executive director of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. He was fatally shot during an ATF search of his home on March 19, 2024….

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is the most prominent Senate opponent of the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, the bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. President Donald Trump has pushed publicly for the bill and, on October 3, 2026, criticized Cotton by name and posted what appeared to be the senator’s personal phone number….