Latest Stories By Bill McCarthy

The NBA’s bubble may keep the coronavirus at bay, but it hasn’t put a lid on false information. In between all the dunks, 3-pointers and overtime finishes from the first week of the league’s summer restart in Orlando, Fla., a pair of young players drew controversy off the court when they spread falsehoods and conspiracies […]

A digital ad targeting former Vice President Joe Biden used edited video to suggest, wrongly, that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would defund the police. The 15-second ad, from conservative super PAC America First Action, selectively edits a clip from Biden’s interview with liberal activist Ady Barkan. While the text on the screen reads, “Defund […]

Videos captured at recent protests in Portland, Ore., show protesters swept off the street and whisked away by camouflage-clad federal agents driving unmarked vehicles. They show a man hit in the head with a less-than-lethal munition while holding a loudspeaker. They show a Navy veteran beaten with a baton and pepper sprayed, a line of local […]

When President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone, he spared Stone a 40-month prison term for convictions stemming from the Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced the move in a Friday evening statement attacking the prosecutors, jury and […]

Editor’s note: Have you ever wondered if the movie you just saw — that claimed to be based on a real story or historical events — was really accurate? So have we. We want to help you sort out the facts from the dramatic liberties. (We’ve also fact-checked BlacKkKlansman, The Post, Darkest Hour and Dunkirk.)  […]

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign says 1 million people have registered for tickets to his June 20 campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., the first since the outbreak of the coronavirus put a halt to large-scale gatherings months ago.  But some social media users say they bought tickets with no intention of going.  “It would be […]

In the minutes before President Donald Trump made his way from the White House to a neighboring church that had been burned the night before, federal police fired spray canisters and rubber bullets to disperse non-violent protesters in the area. In a Rose Garden speech, Trump pressed the need for decisive force to quell looting […]

Protests have flared up in Minneapolis and across the country as demonstrators decry the May 25 death of George Floyd. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in police custody after a white officer pinned Floyd’s neck under his knee while Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. Protesters, fed up with the latest in a long […]

With the U.S. consumed by the coronavirus, President Donald Trump has taken steps to purge his administration of several independent government watchdogs. The push has Democrats and government ethics experts saying he’s undermining a vital oversight apparatus. On May 15, Trump announced his intent to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick and replaced acting […]

More than other towns along North Carolina’s shore, Carolina Beach relies on the hotel and bed and breakfast trade. In summer, its population swells from about 7,000 to nearly 30,000. So it was no small matter in late March when town leaders closed the beach and shut down short-term rentals to stop the spread of […]

The novel coronavirus has sent more than 120,000 Americans to hospitals for treatment. But President Donald Trump says nobody in need of a ventilator has been denied one. “I said from the beginning that no American who needs a ventilator would be denied a ventilator and we have kept that promise all over the United […]

In recent days, a number of state capitals have faced protests against continued stay-at-home orders and business closures. These have put a spotlight on the dilemmas faced by the nation’s governors over whether, and how, to open their economies again. So how do Americans actually feel? Americans, many of whom have been stuck at home […]