Some of the most important moves by the Supreme Court in the past few years haven’t followed the traditional process of briefs, oral arguments, and private discussions among the justices to produce lengthy, heavily footnoted opinions. Some procedural actions by the justices have come to be known collectively as the “shadow docket” — and as […]
Grocery shoppers are paying more for their favorite foods. Assembly plants are waiting for parts. Trucking companies are scrambling to recruit new drivers. And Americans are worried about gifts arriving in time for the holidays. Businesses and consumers are feeling the squeeze of a global supply chain under duress as the world economy navigates the […]
Nearly one year after Joe Biden won the presidential election, some Republicans still stand by the falsehood that the election was stolen. One of their arguments is that state officials improperly changed election policies due to the pandemic. That’s what Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., repeated in an Oct. 10 interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox […]
The COVID-19 misinformation emanating from a Texas hospital this week was coming from one of its high-profile patients: Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West. West announced Oct. 9 that his wife Angela West tested positive for COVID-19 and that he was experiencing symptoms. West said chest X-rays showed COVID pneumonia and he was later admitted to […]
A viral image shares a statistic that suggests that the United States has reached a point where it can manage the COVID-19 pandemic with less reliance on vaccines. “Nearly ½ of the United States population has Natural Immunity to Covid,” the image stated. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false […]
In August, as West Virginia University administrators were facing pressure from faculty and students to mandate the coronavirus vaccine, President Gordon Gee was asked by WVU’s student newspaper about his approach to protecting the campus from the coronavirus. During the Aug. 24 interview, reporters from the Daily Athenaeum asked Gee why the university was requiring […]
Conjecture that former President Donald Trump is seeking back the White House job he held for four years continued to generate news— and fact checks — in Iowa on Saturday night, Oct. 9. Trump’s latest visit was a Save America Rally that drew thousands of people to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa, and was […]
In an unexpected twist, a controversy involving pop superstar Taylor Swift has become a new angle of attack in the Virginia governor’s race. On Oct. 5, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe launched a series of internet ads accusing Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin of playing a role in the controversial 2019 purchase of Swift’s master recordings. “Did […]
Senate Democrats have proposed legislation that aims to restore the civil rights-era Voting Rights Act that has been weakened by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is named for the Georgia congressman, civil rights leader and voting-rights champion who died in 2020. The legislation is more narrow in scope […]
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a University of California-Irvine psychiatry professor, felt he didn’t need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because he’d fallen ill with the disease in July 2020. So, in August, he sued to stop the university system’s vaccination mandate, saying “natural” immunity had given him and millions of others better protection than any vaccine could. […]
A month after a restrictive Texas abortion ban went into effect, a Pennsylvania state representative circulated a sarcastic memo saying he intended to propose a startling bill: all men over 40 or who have more than three kids would be required to get vasectomies. A Republican colleague and social media users seized on the memo, […]
The last weeks of summer brought closure to major political story lines in the United States: The military pulled out of Afghanistan, and a GOP-led review of ballots in Arizona’s largest county affirmed President Joe Biden’s win. The events brought out a lot of claims to fact-check — with thoughtful reader critiques and compliments along […]