Coronavirus rates in Wisconsin are at an all-time high, but a group that calls themselves “pro-life” is attempting to block the governor’s “safer at home” order so they can continue holding fundraisers. Pro-Life Wisconsin, an anti-abortion group known for its bold stands on issues like buying Girl Scout cookies, joined with a local bar and grill owner Tuesday to appeal a court decision allowing Gov. Tony […]
Emily Shugerman
33 posts
The last few months of reproductive rights in America have looked like a cheap Handmaid’s Tale rip-off: a rushed nomination of a conservative judge to the Supreme Court; the president spreading lies about “late-term” abortions; and, in a cinematic flourish, the spread of a deadly pandemic that shuttered abortion clinics in multiple states. But amid this reproductive dystopia, abortion-access organizations have quietly introduced modern solutions to […]
In the best of times, the bar exam is stressful—a two-day marathon that determines whether law school graduates will be able to practice the career they spent three years and a mountain of cash pursuing. But this year, test-takers say, it was nothing short of inhumane. Nearly a dozen graduates who spoke to The Daily Beast described the exam—which many places administered online this year, for […]
Late last month, Arizona State University placed dozens of students and four Greek chapters on interim suspension, pending an investigation of their alleged violations of COVID-19 safety protocols. The photos displayed in a local news broadcast that night—dozens of students packed together, maskless, on a boat; sorority sisters packing together for rush week—were shocking. But even more surprising was the revelation that they hadn’t been unearthed […]
Just two weeks after going remote because of a COVID-19 spike, the University of Wisconsin Madison is resuming in-person activities, despite what Gov. Tony Evers described as a “near-exponential” increase in coronavirus cases in the state. UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced Wednesday that the 45,000-student school would return to classroom instruction and reopen some dining, recreation and library functions. The next day, Wisconsin reported the highest […]
Co-workers say Shyla Pennington, a longtime Florida teacher’s aide, was a natural with her students—patient, kind, and committed to each child as if they were her own. Pennington, who worked for almost 20 years in the Volusia County School District, lived with her brother, Gerald Jones, a paramedic whom community members described as “selfless” and “devoted” to protecting other people. This weekend, both died of COVID-19. […]
Faced with a U.S. Treasury Department report linking him to a Russian agent, Rudy Giuliani defended himself Saturday by claiming he had no idea that Ukrainian lawmaker and conspiracy-peddler Andriy Derkach was a foreign operative. In an interview Saturday on AM Joy, the president’s personal attorney refused to directly answer questions from interviewer Jonathan Capehart about how he could have been in the dark about Derkach’s […]
The college town of Pullman, Washington, is in the midst of a COVID-19 crisis. It has one of the highest per capita infection rates in the country; the National Guard was called in to help with testing; and Washington State University asked students to stay on campus last weekend to avoid spreading the virus. And yet, last Friday, more than two dozen people gathered in the […]
The mayor of Tuscaloosa is letting bars near the University of Alabama reopen on Tuesday, even though the school just reported more than 800 new cases. In a press release, Mayor Walt Maddox citied a “positive trend” in results, saying an overall decline in community positivity rates “provides an opportunity for a limited reopening of bars which have sacrificed a great deal to protect our healthcare […]
Across the country, as college students return to campus with masks and hand sanitizer, fraternities and sororities are doing what they’ve always done: drinking and partying. At the University of Washington this summer, 137 students living in frat houses tested positive for the coronavirus after hosting raucous parties that violated their own internal guidelines. At the University of Alabama, students completed an entirely virtual rush process […]
A longtime employee of the Iowa Department of Public Health claims she was forced to resign after responding to routine public records requests about the coronavirus pandemic. In a press conference Thursday after she filed a wrongful discharge lawsuit, former IDPH spokesperson Polly Carver-Kimm claimed the governor’s office chose to use information from her department “in the way that would best serve the governor’s agenda and […]
Almost as quickly as she was installed as the FDA’s spokeswoman, Emily Miller is now out. The controversial PR maven, a former reporter for right-wing cable network One America News and vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, was removed Friday by FDA commissioner Stephen M. Hahn after less than two weeks on the job, according to the The New York Times. The FDA did not respond […]
The University of Alabama made headlines this week with the shocking announcement that more than 500 students, faculty and staff had tested positive for the coronavirus in the first five days of classes. But professors at the university say they were just as disturbed by emails from the administration telling them not to speak up about outbreaks. In an email to the politics department, professors were […]
The email from the principal had a lighthearted, friendly tone, but the news she delivered was alarming: Three more students at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia, had tested positive for the coronavirus—the fourth such letter sent to parents that week. That out of the way, she then moved on to what she called a “distraction,” noting that the high school volleyball team would be playing […]
Citing health concerns, the president of the National Organization for Women stepped down Sunday, amid a flurry of allegations of racism at the nation’s oldest and largest feminist organization. In an email to the NOW board, state presidents, and staff on Sunday night, President Toni Van Pelt announced she would be stepping down with two weeks’ notice effective Aug. 28. Vice President Christian Nunes will take […]
Shots rang out in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday as hundreds of members of dueling militia groups faced off during a planned protest against police brutality. The march was initially planned by the Not Fucking Around Coalition—an all-Black armed militia founded by Atlanta-based rapper and DJ John “Jay” Johnson—to protest the death of 26-year-old Black woman Breonna Taylor at the hands of Louisville cops. The “Three Percenter” […]
As the nation locked down for the coronavirus pandemic and some states used the virus as an excuse to further restrict abortion access, women around the country became concerned they might not be able to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. A new study suggests many of them may have turned to at-home options. The study, released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, analyzed […]
Furious that the National Organization for Women has yet to remove President Toni Van Pelt over allegations of racism, a group of state chapter leaders have started a social media campaign to push her out of office. Over the month of July, the California NOW chapter is hosting Facebook live streams with 20 other state chapter leaders who will demand Van Pelt’s resignation and discuss their […]
Gene Taylor thought he was playing it safe when he allowed preseason football practices at Kansas State University to start on June 15. It was two weeks later than some other teams had started practicing—a significant setback in the hyper-competitive Big 12 conference. Every athlete was quarantined for at least a week after they arrived, then tested for the virus. Those who tested negative underwent daily […]
When Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced she would sign a mask-wearing mandate Wednesday, she wasn’t just protecting her citizens—she was adding fire to a growing revolt over Gov. Brian Kemp’s refusal to require face coverings in Georgia. “Atlanta is going to do it today because the fact of the matter is that COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on our city, specifically black and brown communities with […]
Natalia Marques was supposed to be touring apartments with her friend this week, in preparation for her final year at Sonoma State University. Instead—thanks to a new order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement—the 25-year-old economics major spent most of Monday contemplating how to pack up four years of her life and move back to Brazil in the middle of a global pandemic. “I am so close […]
Arizona set a record Wednesday for new coronavirus cases, and 90 percent of the state’s ICU beds are filled. But that’s not stopping some gym owners from ignoring new lockdown rules and opening for business—prompting Gov. Doug Ducey to launch a crackdown on rogue fitness fanatics. Ducey released an executive order Monday shutting down all bars, gyms, theaters, water parks, and inner tubing locations until at […]
The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana abortion law that opponents say would have closed all but one abortion clinic in the state and had lasting repercussions for reproductive rights across the country. The Louisiana law, known as Act 620, would have required abortion providers to have the ability to admit patients at local hospitals. Supporters said the legislation promoted safety and continuity of care; […]
Two National Organization for Women board members say the group is retaliating against them and seven others for speaking up about racism within the iconic organization. The nine board members—including all four women of color on the board—previously called for President Toni Van Pelt’s resignation after a Daily Beast investigation revealed widespread allegations of racism in the group’s chapters and national headquarters. Now, according to board […]
Nine national board members of the National Organization for Women are calling on the president, Toni Van Pelt, to resign after a Daily Beast investigation revealed a pattern of racism at the storied women rights group. The revolt comes as the organization’s black vice president says she has also been the subject of discrimination and tokenism—and was not even personally consulted before NOW sent out a […]
Monica Weeks knew she was taking a risk when she ran for vice president of the National Organization for Women. She was young—29 years old—and campaigning on the first all-women-of-color ticket in the organization’s 50-year history. Her friends thought the group was old-fashioned, and her mother, an immigrant from Cuba, was anxious about her taking on such a high-profile role. But recent family events, coupled with […]
An appeals court ruled against a Michigan barber who’s become a totem for the anti-lockdown movement—but he’s still fighting against safety precautions meant to stem the coronavirus that has killed more than 100,000 Americans. Karl Manke, an Owosso barber who has brazenly defied coronavirus shutdown orders from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was too busy with customers Friday morning to answer questions about the Michigan Court of Appeals’ […]
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she and her husband regret what she described as his “failed attempt at humor” when he invoked her position while allegedly asking a dock manager to get the family boat ready before Memorial Day. The conversation—which came to light when the dock manager posted about it on Facebook—was seized on by Whitmer’s opponents as an example of hypocrisy by a Democrat […]
Nearly three months into the coronavirus pandemic, and despite the deaths of more than 100 nurses from COVID-19, the majority of U.S. nurses say they are still not getting adequate protective equipment. A survey of nearly 23,000 nurses, conducted by National Nurses United between April 15 and May 10, found a whopping 87 percent were still having to reuse single-use respirator masks with COVID-19 patients. More […]
A lawsuit filed Monday describes a prominent international hedge fund as a Mad Men-esque workplace, where male traders described women as “bitches” and “cunts” and publicly rated their appearance on the trading room floor. The complaint against Advent Capital Management by former employee Courtney Robb claims the company’s top brass allowed the behavior to continue and retaliated against her when she complained. “This case demonstrates that […]
A British father-of-two and a 27-year-old woman have been charged after a woman’s body was found “sawed in half” and shoved into suitcases in a forest outside Birmingham, England, according to local reports. The remains of an unidentified woman were found near a quarry in the Forest of Dean on Tuesday night, after a member of the public reported a vehicle driving erratically in the area, […]
Authorities said they’ve found a personal item belonging to a missing Colorado woman—the first break in a fruitless five-day search for the mom-of-two that has so far stumped investigators. Suzanne Morphew, 49, disappeared last Sunday while on a bike ride outside Maysville, Colorado. She was first reported missing by a neighbor that evening. Search crews of more than 100 investigators, eight tracking dogs and four drones, […]
President Donald Trump’s Saturday morning started like so many of his mornings do: with a very early Twitter tirade. The president praised lockdown protesters harassing a local TV reporter, retweeted a cartoon depicting Rep. Adam Schiff as the Joker, and lauded a video of a right-wing columnist who was shunned by conservatives for supporting a Holocaust denier. In a spree of at least 28 tweets starting […]