Politics Features

In April, when a white woman called the police on two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks, the video of the event went viral. The men were accused of not making a purchase and therefore trespassing. They did not damage property or assault anyone, but their lingering was enough to …

As the countdown to November commences, with Democrats desperate for a moonshot, Nancy Pelosi sits atop a three-stage rocket, full of possibility and danger. If all goes according plan, the first stage, fueled by America’s revulsion to Trump, will lift Democrats to control of the House. The second stage, powered …

Nancy Pelosi sits in a black-leather booth at Americana, a burger bistro in downtown Des Moines, radiating optimism. “We’re in a very good place,” she says of Democrats‘ odds in November. Special-election results suggest more than 100 seats in the House of Representatives are in play, and Democrats need less …

Over the past decade, marijuana legalization has happened at break-neck speed at the state and local level. And yet, pot-related reforms have moved glacially at the federal level, especially since prohibitionist Jeff Sessions was confirmed as attorney general. But his staunch opposition and attempt to roll back Obama-era protections for …

Don’t let all the chaos and scandals of the Trump administration distract you from one of their most stunning successes: They’ve utterly changed the conversation in Washington when it comes to drug crimes. While a few prominent voices on Capitol Hill continue to call for doing away with mandatory minimum …

Vermont made history today, becoming the ninth state to legalize marijuana and the first to do so through the legislative process. Last week, both houses of the state legislature passed H. 511, a bill that made it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of …

Like a hurricane or a trip to the frontlines of a war, seeing an oil spill up close is something you never forget. In 2010, a few days after the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that sent 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, I boarded …

Should a society that values tolerance tolerate intolerance? In a world committed to non-discrimination, can a state discriminate against those who discriminate? Those mind-bending questions are behind thecase of the same-sex couple and the religious baker that the Supreme Court heard Tuesday. The facts are quite simple: A gay couple …

Lawmakers, law enforcement officials and the nation’s health care community are cheering President Trump’s move Thursday to officially designate the nation’s opioid crisis a public health emergency, even as many of them openly wonder if he has gone far enough. The action – a 90-day declaration that Trump could then …