The 19th News

09/23/2026

The gender pay gap shrunk for every group of women — except one.

In 2025, women working full time were paid 84 cents for every dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men, up from 81 cents the year prior. That’s the narrowest gap in history, tied with 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this month.

This seems like a win for gender equity, until you look at the data for Black women.

Black women were paid just 64 cents for every dollar paid to men, down from 65 cents in 2024, 66 cents in 2023 and 69 cents in 2022. So while the gap narrowed for the other groups for whom data is available — White women and Latinas — Black women have only watched their gap widen over the past four years.

The figure reflects a difficult economy over the past year for Black women, whose unemployment rate skyrocketed after federal workforce job cuts particularly focused on sectors they dominated, such as education. The elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion positions across companies also hit Black women hard. Their unemployment rate hit 7.5 percent in November 2025 — equivalent to White women’s rate during the bleakest moments of the Great Recession.

President Donald Trump has celebrated recent gains for women overall in the workforce. “No wonder they like me!!!” he posted this month on Truth Social after the most recent jobs data.

But it’s all more complicated than just one statistic. The gender pay gap, which captures the average pay for all women compared with the average pay for all men, changes very little year to year. The month-to-month jobs data can be very volatile because it relies on survey responses from workers.

What is clear about Black women across all research is that they’re being left behind in this economy no matter which way you slice the data.

✍️: Chabeli Carrazana, economy and child care reporter
🎨: Yutthana Gaetgeaw/Getty Images

09/23/2026

Through tears, Stella Carlson sat in front of lawmakers and described watching as federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, in Minneapolis in January.

“I watched Alex be taken to the ground with a swarm of masked agents on top of him,” she said. “In that moment, I believe Alex made a choice to be righteous, kind, and brave, to stand up for his neighbors being assaulted in the street, and then they shot him, again, and again, and again.”

Carlson, a nurse, testified at an emotional hearing Tuesday alongside family members of people killed during immigration enforcement operations.

Donna Ganger, the mother of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by federal immigration agents in January, also testified. “It is difficult to balance our gratitude for what a lovely soul Renee was, with the anger and confusion at the violent way she died, and the total insanity of it all. She should still be alive.”

Ganger said she was a Trump supporter who believed she was voting for a president who would protect Americans against terrorists. “Certainly not to accuse those of us here of being terrorists and take precious lives,” she said.

Then there was Rachel Reyes, whose 23-year-old son Ruben Ray Martinez was killed by federal officers in March 2025 while driving back to San Antonio from South Padre Island. Reyes testified it was her son’s first trip away from home without his family.

“His death came nearly a year before the names of other victims who would go on to become national headlines. Yet far fewer people know his name,” she said.

His mother testified that footage of the encounter shows her son getting conflicting instructions from police and federal agents when he was attempting to navigate around a car accident blocking the road before he was killed. The agents later claimed Martinez was trying to weaponize his car.

“What happened to my son is personal, but it should be a concern for us all,” Reyes said. “His death reflects a pattern of callousness and power imbalance that allows rights to be violated without consequence.”

No one has been charged in any of the three deaths.

✍️: Jessica Kutz, climate reporter
📸: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

09/23/2026

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years on Wednesday in a New York City retrial on one charge of committing a criminal s*xual act.

The former Hollywood studio head, who has also been convicted of r**e in a California court, was acquitted in June 2025 on a second charge. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on a third charge and have been told to continue their deliberations.

The one guilty conviction came in relation to accusations made by Miriam Haley, a former production assistant on the reality television show, “Project Runway,” who alleged that Weinstein forcibly performed oral s*x on her in his home in downtown New York City in 2006. She also accused Weinstein of ra**ng her in a hotel room in New York City weeks later.

Haley’s testimony during the retrial garnered media attention as a result of an exchange she had with Weinstein’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, during cross-examination. Bonjean repeatedly asked Haley about what she was wearing when she was assaulted by Weinstein and whether she had been the one to remove her clothing when with him.

It was the second time Haley had to recount these details in a courtroom. https://bit.ly/4ydW5nh

09/23/2026

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years on Wednesday in a New York City retrial on one charge of committing a criminal s*xual act.

Last year, the former Hollywood studio head has been found guilty of one of three charges he faced in New York.

09/23/2026

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar says President Trump’s immigration agenda has betrayed Latino voters in South Florida, as she pushes to get an immigration reform bill passed — and to keep her seat.

Trump won the Florida district held by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar by 15 points less than two years ago by talking about chaos and immigration. Now she's confronting him over the chaos of immigration enforcement.

09/23/2026

The state representative was arrested in May for refusing to leave the building while attempting to meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis about a redistricting plan that favored Republicans.

Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon was arrested in May for refusing to leave the Capitol while attempting to meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis about a redistricting plan that favored Republicans.

09/22/2026

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's potential run for president isn't just a question of timing. In some of her most detailed remarks yet on her plans for higher office, the New York Democrat said she's acutely aware that perceptions around her gender, ethnicity and age must factor into her decision.

“This country has never elected a female president. Why are we pretending that this is not a factor?” she told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday. “That doesn’t make it impossible, but to act as though it’s not a factor in anything ever is really a form of, like, denialism.”

The interview comes amid growing speculation that she is planning a run for president in 2028. The Times also said that the 36-year-old congresswoman “did not rule out” campaigning for a Senate seat currently held by Chuck Schumer, 75.

She said she’s felt hesitant to address how her identity might factor into a run because doing so can be viewed as unpopular even within her own party, which has put up two women in the last decade for the nomination only to lose to Donald Trump.

“What is very odd about our political culture is that for some reason when you raise it, people just freak out,” she said. “They get so defensive at the mere suggestion that gender could play a role.”

She continued, saying, “I experience it tremendously — from the right and from the left.”

The United States has never had a woman president, and only 28 percent of congressional seats are held by women.

While the majority of Americans say they would vote for a woman for president, recent polling also suggests the U.S. electorate has grown more skeptical that a woman could win the presidency. A survey published this month by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think tank, found that the share of Americans who say it’s not too likely, or not at all likely, that the U.S. will elect a woman president in their lifetimes grew from 26 percent in 2023 to 37 percent this year.

✍️: Jessica Kutz, reporter
📸: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

09/22/2026

In the mega-consumption era of parenthood, the internet tells new moms that products can solve the hardest parts of having a newborn. All they have to do is add to cart. https://bit.ly/4xBo3Ic

09/21/2026

The teen girls who flocked to Broadway last year to experience the angst of “John Proctor Is the Villain” seem to have started a movement: The show tops the list of most-produced plays in America this year, according to a new survey from American Theater magazine.

The play burst onto the Broadway stage last year after regional productions in Boston and Washington, D.C. It follows a group of high school girls in rural Georgia as they challenge their teachers, and each other, on how to interpret Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” It brings in contemporary debates on s*xual abuse, the movement and feminism — culminating in a cathartic final dance set to Lorde’s “Green Light.”

American Theater’s yearly survey found that there were 20 productions of “John Proctor,” written by Kimberly Belflower, slated for the 2026-27 season in theaters across the United States. The next most popular play, “Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, will have 14 productions. The survey scanned over 1,600 productions in regional theaters, nonprofits and other professional venues. It has always excluded certain recurring playwrights or productions including William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

Rob Weinert-Kendt, the editor-in-chief of American Theater, said the number of productions of “John Proctor” would likely be much higher if the count included high school or community theaters. Weinert-Kendt noted that “dramatic literature that people are often doing, the ‘classics,’” often skew toward male roles, and plays like “John Proctor” that center young women are rare.

“This play in particular, I think, is going to be embraced by high schools,” he said.

“The buzz in the audience … was just palpable,” he said of the Broadway show. “You can just feel the eagerness for this story, which you can get on the page. But seeing it in the theater, it really just released a lot of energy.”

✍️: Isabela Espadas Barros Leal, editor
🎨: Julieta Cervantes

09/21/2026

About 40% of children under 6 are in care during nontraditional hours. A patchwork system, primarily of home-based providers, meets families’ needs.

About 40% of children under 6 are in care during nontraditional hours. A patchwork system, primarily of home-based providers, meets families' needs.