Popular Information, Washington D.C., DC (2025)

07/03/2025

The Federal Communications Commission will no longer enforce a rule capping the price of prison phone calls, according to an announcement made Monday by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

The move suspends a 2024 FCC decision that capped the price of in-state phone calls at $0.06 per minute for prisons and large jails and $0.07 per minute for medium-sized jails. Before the decision, a 15-minute phone call could cost as much as $11.35 at large jails in some states. Under the 2024 rules, those same phone calls would cost $0.90.

Incarcerated people have said that the high cost forces them to choose between spending money on phone calls or purchasing personal hygiene items, or even shoes.

So why is the FCC suddenly suspending the lowered price caps for prison phone calls? Follow the money.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will no longer enforce a rule capping the price of prison phone calls, according to an announcement made Monday by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

07/02/2025

On June 23, 18-year-old Jabari Peoples was fatally shot by the police at a city park in Homewood, Alabama. A witness says Peoples was unarmed & compliant. The police say Peoples resisted arrest & grabbed a handgun.

The Homewood police say that their version of events is "clearly captured on the officer’s body-worn camera." That footage was turned over to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which is investigating the shooting. But on Tuesday, ALEA released a statement saying it was denying the family's request to release the body camera footage.

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Alabama law enforcement is refusing to release the body cam footage.

07/01/2025

The legislative filibuster, which creates a 60-vote threshold, only exists when it is convenient for Senate Republicans. Whenever the filibuster threatens to impede a Republican priority, it is ignored.

Permanently extending Trump's 2017 individual tax cuts should be subject to the filibuster. But Republicans want to permanently extend Trump's 2017 individual tax cuts, and do not have the votes to overcome a filibuster. So, Republicans are ignoring the filibuster.

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The legislative filibuster, which creates a 60-vote threshold, only exists when it is convenient for Senate Republicans.

06/30/2025

The Republican reconciliation legislation, which Trump calls his "big, beautiful bill," is massive.

For the wealthiest 10% of Americans, the megabill would make them even richer. But it will also inflict pain on millions of vulnerable Americans, dramatically increase the deficit, finance an unprecedented crackdown on immigrants, and send tens of billions to military contractors for dubious new projects.

Senate Republicans are barreling toward a final vote on Monday in an effort to get the bill to Trump's desk by his self-imposed deadline of July 4.

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The Republican reconciliation legislation, which Trump calls his "big, beautiful bill," is massive.

06/27/2025

In August 2024, three authors filed a class action lawsuit against Anthropic, which created the AI chatbot Claude. When it came time to train Claude, Anthropic did not start by buying books. Instead, it "downloaded for free millions of copyrighted books in digital form from pirate sites on the internet.”

This week, a federal judge, William Alsup, rejected Anthropic's effort to dismiss the case and found that stealing books from the internet is likely a copyright violation.

But Alsup ruled in favor of Anthropic on a related issue that ultimately may prove more important. Alsup found that as long as the original copy is purchased legally, books can be copied and memorized by AI models without the author's permission.

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In television ads, AI tools appear to work like magic, generating useful information or smooth prose in response to a wide variety of prompts.

06/26/2025

President Trump nominated Emil Bove, his former personal attorney, to be a federal judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most powerful judicial roles in the country.

But an explosive new whistleblower disclosure released Tuesday alleges that, in his current position as a senior official in the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bove is willing to ignore federal law to give Trump what he wants.

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President Trump nominated Emil Bove, his former personal attorney, to be a federal judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most powerful judicial roles in the country.

06/24/2025

On March 20, 2002, President George W. Bush began the bombing campaign in Iraq, justifying the attack with manipulated and bogus intelligence. Twenty-three years later, history is repeating itself.

The clear judgment of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the nation's top intelligence official, said so publicly on March 25, 2025.

But now, to justify the bombing of several sites in Iran, top members of the Trump administration claim Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.

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More than two decades after the Iraq War commenced, history is repeating itself.

06/19/2025

Amazon, Verizon, and other major corporations have ended or reduced their support for Juneteenth celebrations this year, forcing events in major cities to be significantly scaled back, a Popular Information investigation reveals.

The corporate retreat appears to be related to the Trump administration's demand that corporations end their support for programs related to "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI). This pressure campaign has extended to any activity that recognizes the reality of racism in American history.

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Amazon, Verizon, and other major corporations have ended or reduced their support for Juneteenth celebrations this year, forcing events in major cities to be significantly scaled back, a Popular Information investigation reveals.

06/18/2025

In May, Trump aide Stephen Miller directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase arrests to 3,000 per day. The directive prompted ICE to begin targeting workplaces in industries known to employ a large number of undocumented workers, including agriculture, construction, hospitality, and textiles.

Then, Trump abruptly changed his policy. In a Truth Social post last week, Trump said his "very aggressive policy on immigration" was taking "very good, long time workers" away from the agricultural and hospitality industries.

The remarkable reversal directly benefits some of the largest donors to Trump's political operation.

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During the 2024 campaign, President Trump excoriated all "illegals," calling them "animals" and claiming they were "poisoning the blood of our country." Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said his goal was to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country

06/13/2025

In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education last week, a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution.

The members of the State Board were incensed that Van Ayres, the Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools, had not unilaterally and permanently removed a list of 55 books from school libraries.

Many of the books targeted by the State Board are award-winning literature that have been read by students for years — including two finalists for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

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In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education last week, a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution.

06/11/2025

Congressman Mark Green (R-TN) announced that he has accepted a job with a private firm and will retire from Congress. But not right now.

Despite his new job with an undisclosed employer, Green said that he will remain in Congress until "the House votes once again on the reconciliation package."

Legal ethics experts told Popular Information that the situation is "unprecedented" and presents a minefield of ethical issues.

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Congressman Mark Green (R-TN) announced that he has accepted a job with a private firm and will retire from Congress.

06/11/2025

A central promise of President Trump’s 2024 campaign was that, if elected, he would “restore free speech.” In his inaugural address, Trump promised to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”

But none of this has come to pass. Trump has been more than willing to use the power of the federal government to curb speech he disfavors.

A Popular Information investigation identified 22 actions taken by the Trump administration that undermine the principle of freedom of speech.

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A central promise of President Trump’s 2024 campaign was that, if elected, he would “restore free speech.” In September 2024, at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, Trump said, “I will bring back free speech in America because it’s been taken away.”

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