Author: Reporter

The origin of the Juneteenth celebrations marking the end of slavery in the U.S. goes back to an order issued as Union troops arrived in Texas at the end of the Civil War. It declared that all enslaved people in the state were free and had “absolute equality.” Word quickly spread of General Order No. 3 — issued on June 19, 1865, when U.S. Major General Gordon Granger landed in the South Texas port city of Galveston — as troops posted handbills and newspapers published them. The Dallas Historical Society will put one of those original handbills on display...

The Trump family said it is licensing its name to a new mobile phone service, the latest in a string of questionable financial ventures that have been announced while Donald Trump is in the White House, despite ethical concerns that the U.S. president could mold public policy for personal gain. Eric Trump, one of Donald Trump’s sons running The Trump Organization, said the new venture called, Trump Mobile, will sell phones that will be built in the U.S., and the phone service will maintain a call center in the country as well. However, despite claims that its T1 phone...

The man accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another went to the homes of two other lawmakers to carry out more carnage on the night of the shootings, a federal prosecutor said. But one of the other lawmakers was not home, and the suspect left the other house after police arrived, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a press conference on June 16. The suspect, Vance Boelter, surrendered to police on June 15 after they found him in the woods near his home following a massive manhunt that began early on June 14 near Minneapolis. He...

The number of White Nationalist, hate, and anti-government groups around the U.S. dropped slightly in 2024, not because of any shrinking influence but rather the opposite. Many feel their beliefs, which include racist narratives and so-called Christian persecution, have become more normalized in government and mainstream discourse. In its annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, released Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it counted 1,371 hate and extremist groups, a 5% decline. The nonprofit group attributes this to a lesser sense of urgency to organize because their beliefs have infiltrated politics, education and society in general. Some...

Community celebrations being planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year are at risk of being significantly scaled back or canceled because of federal funding cuts under Donald Trump’s administration, according to multiple state humanities councils across the country. The councils have been working on programming for America250, an initiative marking the milestone anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the Republican administration’s deep cost-cutting effort across the federal government has led the National Endowment for the Humanities to cancel its grants for state humanities councils. That has left them with less money...