■ Local ABC television stations targeted by the Federal Communications Commission gained passionate defenders who champion free speech and press freedom, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.
■ A U.S. reporter is fighting back after border patrol agents seized his cellphones in what appeared to be the latest Trump administration move to crack down on members of the media whose reporting it disagrees with, The Guardian reported.
■ A new media ecosystem that bypasses legacy institutions to move further left is reshaping Democratic politics, according to the Associated Press’ Ali Swenson.
Fall from Earth. Fear of deepfakes prompted the removal of a Google Earth feature that allows users to create AI-generated satellite images just a day after its launch.
■ Elon Musk has sued the state of Minnesota over a law that bans “nudification” technology, a first test to see how far states might go in constitutionally regulating AI.
■ Meta has agreed to a deal to use Newsmax to train its AI products on far-right media, Popular Information reported.
■ Thousands of authors will get $3,000 each from Anthropic after a federal judge approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement. The AI company used pirated copies of the authors’ works to train its Claude chatbot.
■ A U.S. district judge has blocked a South Dakota law banning advertising about abortion pills. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit that argued a ban violated free-speech rights.
Justice serves. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch declared the country was not founded on “one race or one religion,” pushing back against comments made by Vice President J.D. Vance that Christianity is America’s creed.
■ President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission can proceed after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from an interfaith group that claimed the members selected lacked balanced viewpoints.
■ Arguing falsely that the First Amendment does not apply to state governments, a Tennessee candidate for governor has pledged to ban mosques and non-Christian religions if elected.
■ The federal government accumulated the highest-ever backlog of public records requests in 2025 despite rejecting a record number of them, raising concerns over Freedom of Information Act compliance, according to The New York Times.
Brandon’s back? Brothers who were banned from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts in their public-school classrooms want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that schools cannot censor political messages that are not “plainly profane or lewd.”
■ A Florida English professor, fired after assigning a story about a teacher who talks about sex with her students, has sued to get her job back.
■ An Oregon school counselor’s display of books reinforcing traditional gender roles -- He is He and She is She -- to students was not protected by the First Amendment because it was presented in his capacity as a government employee and not protected as personal speech, a federal appeals court has ruled.
■ U.S. college policies that restrict student expression continue to decline, according to the latest “Spotlight on Speech Codes” report by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Post hole. Without giving a reason, the opinion editor of The Washington Post abruptly resigned after only a year on the job.
■ A new slate of correspondents and contributors has joined “60 Minutes,” including former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Ross Douthat, a conservative opinion columnist at The New York Times.
■ The rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner saw President Trump serve up a rambling, insult-filled speech, heavy on crass, light on humor, according to the Associated Press.
■ The Justice Department, chastised by a federal judge for sloppy work, has withdrawn the subpoenas that would have compelled New York Times reporters to testify about sources.
■ A new DHS regulation that reduces the length of a foreign journalist’s visa needs congressional intervention to limit the damage, according to an opinion piece in The Hill.■ Elon Musk has sued the state of Minnesota over a law that bans “nudification” technology, a first test to see how far states might go in constitutionally regulating AI.
■ Meta has agreed to a deal to use Newsmax to train its AI products on far-right media, Popular Information reported.
■ Thousands of authors will get $3,000 each from Anthropic after a federal judge approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement. The AI company used pirated copies of the authors’ works to train its Claude chatbot.
■ A U.S. district judge has blocked a South Dakota law banning advertising about abortion pills. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit that argued a ban violated free-speech rights.
Justice serves. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch declared the country was not founded on “one race or one religion,” pushing back against comments made by Vice President J.D. Vance that Christianity is America’s creed.
■ President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission can proceed after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from an interfaith group that claimed the members selected lacked balanced viewpoints.
■ Arguing falsely that the First Amendment does not apply to state governments, a Tennessee candidate for governor has pledged to ban mosques and non-Christian religions if elected.
■ The federal government accumulated the highest-ever backlog of public records requests in 2025 despite rejecting a record number of them, raising concerns over Freedom of Information Act compliance, according to The New York Times.
Brandon’s back? Brothers who were banned from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts in their public-school classrooms want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that schools cannot censor political messages that are not “plainly profane or lewd.”
■ A Florida English professor, fired after assigning a story about a teacher who talks about sex with her students, has sued to get her job back.
■ An Oregon school counselor’s display of books reinforcing traditional gender roles -- He is He and She is She -- to students was not protected by the First Amendment because it was presented in his capacity as a government employee and not protected as personal speech, a federal appeals court has ruled.
■ U.S. college policies that restrict student expression continue to decline, according to the latest “Spotlight on Speech Codes” report by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Post hole. Without giving a reason, the opinion editor of The Washington Post abruptly resigned after only a year on the job.
■ A new slate of correspondents and contributors has joined “60 Minutes,” including former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Ross Douthat, a conservative opinion columnist at The New York Times.
■ The rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner saw President Trump serve up a rambling, insult-filled speech, heavy on crass, light on humor, according to the Associated Press.
■ The Justice Department, chastised by a federal judge for sloppy work, has withdrawn the subpoenas that would have compelled New York Times reporters to testify about sources.
