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The USDA has reversed its funding freeze at the University of Maine www.bangordailynews.com/2025/03/12/p...

submitted 6 hours ago • 16 comments

When students have concerns about discrimination in schools, where will they turn? More than half of the Education Department’s civil rights locations are being shuttered, @propublica.org has learned. Chicago. Boston. Cleveland. Dallas. NY. Phila. San Fran. www.propublica.org/article/educ...

submitted 19 hours ago • 2 comments

Department of Education laying off half its employees www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

submitted 1 day ago • 22 comments

There are two transgender girls in the state of Maine competing in girls’ sports. There are now SIX federal agencies investigating the state. Here is our latest @propublica.org story with @bangordailynews.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/main...

submitted 1 day ago • 117 comments

BREAKING: Starting at 6 pm today and through tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Education offices and regional offices will be closed “for security reasons.” Multiple sources shared the email to employees — which doesn’t explain more. Do you have info? Let me + @jsmithrichards.bsky.social know.

submitted 1 day ago • 70 comments

Georgia dismissed all 32 members of its maternal mortality committee last year in response to ProPublica obtaining internal reports in which the committee detailed the “preventable” deaths of two women. Now the state has relaunched the committee, but officials won’t say who the current members are.

submitted 4 days ago • 42 comments

NEW UPDATE: The pause on investigations at the Office for Civil Rights has been lifted. Work can begin on cases again, per an email to staff today from Education Secretary Linda McMahon. @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I reported a few weeks ago that only disability cases had resumed.

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

New Illinois law would add more oversight of homeschool families www.propublica.org/article/illi...

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

All employees of the U.S. Dept. of Education have gotten two emails today offering $25k buyouts ahead of a "very significant reduction in force." The first was sent early today and then disappeared from inboxes minutes later. Another just came through. They have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to decide.

submitted 12 days ago • 113 comments

For the third year, ProPublica will invite up to 10 news editors from media companies across the country to participate in a yearlong investigative editing training program, led by our newsroom’s award-winning staff. ➡️ Interested? Apply by March 24: propub.li/41htXAf

submitted 14 days ago • 4 comments

Spotted today at the US Department of Education as workers were required to come into the office: Long security lines, office furniture deliveries, colleagues greeting one another in uncertain times, faced with defending their jobs via email. (And one ProPublica reporter hanging around 🙋‍♀️ )

submitted 16 days ago • 5 comments

SCOOP: The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, arguably the nation's most powerful scientific organization, is bending to political pressure and removing terms like "health equity" from pending reports. Members are not happy. Story by me: www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/n...

submitted 20 days ago • 36 comments

A memo to the Education department’s Office for Civil Rights reveals that the agency will allow “only disability-based discrimination” cases to proceed. Thousands of outstanding race, gender complaints will continue to sit idle. @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

submitted 20 days ago • 13 comments

NEW: The Education Department is “lifting the pause” on investigating civil rights complaints in schools — but only for disability cases. Race and gender investigations largely are still sitting idle. (Exceptions are the few priority cases such as one re: an all-gender bathroom in Denver)

submitted 20 days ago • 3 comments

Department of Education scoop: The civil rights office is “lifting the pause” on disability related investigations — but not those related to race or gender discrimination. www.propublica.org/article/depa...

submitted 20 days ago • 9 comments

The Education Dept. has given colleges and schools with race-related programs -- including Black and Latino graduation ceremonies -- until the end of the month to abolish them or risk losing federal funding: www.latimes.com/california/s...

submitted 23 days ago • 3 comments

This is what higher ed administrators are reading this weekend. Basically, anything that could be perceived as involving race could result in the loss of federal funding. It's an expansive Dear Colleague letter from ED, to be sure. www.ed.gov/media/docume...

submitted 25 days ago • 9 comments

Several DOE staffers told @propublica.org that they've been told not to communicate with students, families & schools involved in civil rights cases launched in previous administrations. “We’ve been essentially muzzled,” one attorney said. New @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

submitted 27 days ago • 12 comments

NEW: Under the Trump administration, the Office for Civil Rights has shifted its focus to removing gender-neutral bathrooms, banning transgender athletes from women’s sports and prioritizing complaints alleging discrimination against white students.

submitted 27 days ago • 60 comments

Department of Education news breaking tonight: The agency’s civil rights arm has opened just 20 investigations in the past three weeks. By comparison, about 250 civil rights investigations were opened during the same period last year. www.propublica.org/article/depa...

submitted 27 days ago • 13 comments

We @propublica.org have now confirmed more than 30 Musk-affiliated staffers who are helping the world’s richest man downsize federal agencies one by one. And we're still tracking DOGE – reach out and help us 🔎 www.propublica.org/tips/federal... www.propublica.org/article/elon...

submitted 29 days ago • 29 comments

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

“These investments inform the entire education system at all levels about the condition of education and the distribution of students, teachers, and resources in school districts across America.” DOGE Decimates Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance

submitted 29 days ago • 45 comments

DOGE came for the research and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education today, declared "fraud" and "waste" and abruptly terminated about $900M in contracts. A lot of what we know about America's schools comes from the data this agency collects. New reporting with @jodiscohen.bsky.social

submitted 30 days ago • 50 comments

NEW: DOGE is behind the abrupt cancellation of $900 million in contracts overseen by the Institute of Education Sciences, a Department of Education division responsible for much of what we know about the state of U.S. schools. By @jodiscohen.bsky.social & @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

submitted 30 days ago • 159 comments

Elon Musk’s team said it slashed $900 million in Education Department contracts today. Spokesperson tells @propublica that the dept cut “waste, fraud and abuse.” Declines to give details about the contracts cut and says to check DOGE’s X account instead www.propublica.org/article/depa...

submitted 30 days ago • 26 comments

Unquestionably, major policy changes, edicts and directives handed down by the new Trump administration will upend lives. But I've also been struck by the widespread efforts to erase/whitewash history. Stick with me for a pretty shocking series of events from just the past few weeks.

submitted 32 days ago • 78 comments

Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and one of the authors of Project 2025, just ordered the agency's staff to effectively cease all operations in an org wide email. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/u...

submitted 32 days ago • 150 comments

BREAKING: Department of Education employees got a late Friday email telling them the department will end all programs “that fail to affirm the reality of biology sex,” targeting efforts that support transgender students. www.propublica.org/article/depa...

submitted 32 days ago • 64 comments

How to securely contact ProPublica reporters and what beats they cover www.propublica.org/article/seco...

submitted 32 days ago • 7 comments

Illinois lawmakers want to stop police from ticketing students in school. Fines can be as high as $750. They say there’s new urgency for police data as Trump signals he will dismantle the Department of Education. Latest story with @jsmithrichards.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/illi...

submitted 36 days ago • 2 comments

Citing an urgency to protect students’ civil rights in a second Trump administration, Illinois lawmakers filed a new bill Monday that would explicitly prevent school police from ticketing and fining students for misbehavior. @jodiscohen.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Everything is insane right now but one little ray of sunlight is that I just got a new gig trying to use public policy to create as many local journalism jobs as humanly possible. mattdpearce.substack.com/p/ive-got-a-...

submitted 37 days ago • 98 comments

usaid.gov redirects to the whitehouse website now.

submitted 39 days ago • 3 comments

News: Feds find “substantial misrepresentation” by Baker College. This follows an investigation into the nonprofit school by @propublica.org and @detroitfreepress.bsky.social, with further reporting along with @chronicle.com www.propublica.org/article/bake...

submitted 64 days ago • 3 comments

ProPublica reporters are dedicated to investigating government agencies and federal policy. Concerned public servants are some of our most important sources. We appreciate the difficult situations people weigh as they decide whether to reach out. Here's how to securely get in touch.

submitted 51 days ago • 72 comments

The “BadAss Grandmas” pushed for ethics reform six years ago. But this is what has happened since…. @northdakotamonitor.com / @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/nort...

submitted 65 days ago • 3 comments

#Onepride!!!

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

Breaking News: Nikki Giovanni, the poet who wrote, irresistibly and sensuously, about race, politics, gender, sex and love, has died at 81.

submitted 93 days ago • 22 comments

Chicago police have pulled over the president of a police accountability commission FIVE times this year, reports @heathercherone.bsky.social

submitted 93 days ago • 10 comments

A Tribal Lender Charging 800% APR Has Agreed to Stop Operating in Minnesota The Lac du Flambeau tribe settled a civil suit filed by Minnesota’s AG that alleged its triple-digit interest rates violated state caps. The state's actions follow ProPublica's extensive reporting on LDF’s loan operations.

submitted 96 days ago • 19 comments

The Illinois Attorney General has declared it illegal for schools to ask police to ticket students for minor misbehavior. Yet, the practice continues across the state. New @propublica.org story with @jsmithrichards.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/illi...

submitted 107 days ago • 8 comments