- Cost of Living
Cost of Living
Tariffs added $1,745 per family. The bottom 90% lost 7% of income. 3.5 million lost SNAP. Gas hit $5.87. Social Security recipients lost $20-$30/month after inflation ate the COLA. The Supreme Court struck down the tariffs and prices still didn't come down. Each brief traces a specific cost from the policy to your kitchen table.
Cost of Living Series
- Election 2026
Election 2026
435 House seats, 35 Senate seats, 36 governor races, and your rights on the ballot. 26 states are rewriting voting rules. Every abortion ballot measure has passed since Dobbs. This is the guide to what matters in November.
36 governor seats on the ballot. 17 are open. These races determine redistricting, Medicaid, abortion policy, and election rules for the next decade.Election 2026 Series
- Series
LGBTQ Rights
Tracking the laws, court fights, and policies reshaping LGBTQ lives.
382,800 transgender youth live in the 27 states that banned access to gender-affirming care.LGBTQ Rights Series
- Series
Follow the Money
$6.3 billion in presidential profits. $1.9 billion in dark money. 47 lobbyists regulating the industries that paid them. $9 billion to a border wall contractor whose wall collapsed. These briefs trace where the money goes and who it protects.
Follow the Money Series
- Series
Medicaid
The One Big Beautiful Bill cut $911 billion from Medicaid. Work requirements failed in Arkansas and are being imposed nationwide anyway. At least 15 states have trigger laws that drop coverage when federal funding falls. Each brief covers a different piece — the federal cuts, the state-level fallout, and who loses coverage.
Medicaid Series
Latest Briefs
What changed, who did it, what you can do about it.
14 Illinois Laws Active
Illinois activates 14 new laws on July 1, 2026, including a new Department of Early Childhood starting full operations and a permanent cocktails-to-go program.
July 3, 2026Forest Service Reorganized
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz is dissolving the regional office structure Gifford Pinchot created in 1905, replacing it with 15 state director offices
July 3, 2026Unions Sue DoD Over CBAs
AFGE and NFFE filed suit July 3, 2026, alleging the Defense Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it canceled collective bargaining
July 3, 2026Pentagon Staffing Crisis
A new GAO report finds that 48,000 Pentagon civilian departures under the Deferred Resignation Program have left 37 major weapons acquisition programs
July 3, 2026Understand the System
The money, the rules, and the structures that determine who has power. Evidence-backed series and explainers on the issues shaping the 2026 election.
Series Multi-part series with data and charts
Explainers Deep dives with data and action items
Vote. And Bring Someone With You.
48 million people stayed home last midterm. State races are decided by who shows up. Your right to vote is not guaranteed. Check your registration, research your ballot, and bring three people.