Washington’s IL26-638 would require girls in covered school sports to obtain medical proof of biological sex. The AAP says sex verification is not part of sports clearance; APA opposes exclusionary bans.
Pete Hegseth used a slur for transgender people while promising a merit-based military. Court records show decorated transgender troops already met the standards. So what, exactly, is being tested?
Texas held ICE officer Christian Castro while Minnesota sought his extradition on five criminal charges. Abbott didn't decide before the detention clock expired. Now Castro is free.
Update — August 29, 2026 A federal fight over how mail ballots can be sent to voters is moving quickly toward another appeals-court showdown. For now, the most important fact is simple: The new U.S. Postal Service ballot-mail requirements are blocked. Voters have not been told to change
2026 Is America Better Yet? national voters' guide.
Federal grants, voter-roll demands, USPS rules and a planned 1,000-person DOJ monitoring effort are reshaping election administration as Trump allies press for emergency powers.
Donald Trump returned to the White House with one of the simplest promises in politics: life would become more affordable. On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, Trump ordered federal agencies to pursue what the White House called “emergency price relief” for American families. The order named
I’d like to welcome Jon as the newest member of the volunteer team helping Is America Better Yet? keep moving forward. Jon recently lent his IT expertise to help us track down the technical problem affecting the connection between our Ghost site and GoDaddy domain — exactly the kind of
The difference between being and living One small word carries enormous weight in Ahmed's reading. Be. Not flourish. Not live freely. Not live with dignity. Just be.
The Justice Department has sued states for voter rolls, asserted authority to share voter data with DHS, warned election officials about criminal liability and joined a wider federal push into election administration. Courts are still deciding where the limits are.
What you need to vote, when you need it, and what to do if something goes wrong across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
New evidence says neither Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero nor the roommate ICE was apparently pursuing had a final removal order. Maine’s attorney general says the deadly-force investigation remains active.
ICE inspectors found 49 deficiencies at Camp East Montana. The facility still passed. Behind those numbers are people depending on medical care, suicide safeguards, force reviews and a government system meant to protect them.
America’s debt has passed $40 trillion. You will not get a bill for your share, but rising interest costs can still shape what you pay and what Washington can afford.
Affordability, Medicaid, SNAP, Federal Budget, Pentagon, Department of Defense, Immigration, Congress, Trump Administration, Government Spending, Accountability
The question is not whether government can spend. It is what America chooses to pay for.
Donald Trump, Affordability, Cost of Living, Inflation, Grocery Prices, Healthcare, Tariffs, Gas Prices, AI Data Centers, Congress, 2026 Midterms, U.S. Economy
Nineteen months after Trump promised emergency price relief, IABY checks groceries, energy, healthcare, tariffs and household costs against the record.
A passing encounter with an older disabled man reveals the human life inside America’s food-insecurity statistics. His account is brief, anonymous, and unverified. The national failure is documented. By Roberto Zapatero Independent Forensic Investigative Journalist, Is America Better Yet? August 20, 2026 | Living Record | Verified through 2:38
Marc Elias, Democracy Docket, Elias Law Group, 2026 election, election law, voting rights, redistricting, Supreme Court, Trump, election integrity
Marc Elias is a Democratic election lawyer with a long record in recounts, voting-rights cases and Supreme Court litigation. His record includes major wins, losses and controversy. Here is why his warnings deserve scrutiny rather than automatic belief or dismissal.
The election lawyer says the danger is not one dramatic act. It is a series of changes involving voting rules, voter registration records and what could happen after ballots are cast. Some of what he warns about is prediction. But important parts of the machinery he describes already exist in
By Roberto Zapatero Independent Forensic Investigative Journalist Is America Better Yet? Living Record — August 18, 2026 A government does not always have to ban speech to make it disappear. Sometimes it only has to reach the company that controls whether people can see it, download it, publish it or distribute
Gaza, Israel, U. S
Gaza: The Unspoken Truth About What America Enables — Is America Better Yet? By Roberto Zapatero Independent Forensic Investigative Journalist Is America Better Yet? 9/11 cannot be erased. Neither can October 7. Some dates become more than dates. 9/11 is one of them. Americans do not need the year
By Roberto Zapatero Is America Better Yet? Updated August 16, 2026 You can stop eating out. You can cancel a streaming service. You can put off buying clothes. Electricity is different. Most of us need it every day. It keeps food cold, lights rooms, charges phones, runs appliances, powers computers,
Thousands of workers left FEMA. Its strategic plan was canceled. Staffing cuts were made without first determining how many people the agency needs. Now federal auditors warn that a major disaster could expose what has been lost. By Roberto Zapatero Is America Better Yet? Updated August 16, 2026 When a
By Roberto Zapatero Is America Better Yet? To our fellow journalists, reporters, editors, producers, photographers, photojournalists, correspondents, commentators, documentary makers, and other media professionals: Many people who spent years reporting the news are no longer working where the public first came to know them. Some were laid off. Some left