Today's Liberal News

#OccupyCityHall: Mayor’s “Tone Deaf” Pledge to Move $1B from NYPD Budget Fails to Satisfy Protesters

New York police have closed in on peaceful protesters camped outside City Hall who are demanding $1 billion be cut from the police department’s $6 billion budget, as the city approaches its July 1 budget deadline. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a budget deal that would move $1 billion in NYPD funding in an apparent nod to protesters’ demands, but organizers say they’re not satisfied.

NJ Latinx Parents & Students Fight Robert Wood Johnson Plan to Demolish Public School

In a story Democracy Now! has followed closely, Juan González shares an update on efforts to prevent the demolition of the Lincoln Annex public school in New Brunswick, New Jersey. City officials are trying to proceed with demolishing the public school this summer, in a move that would force 760 students to be bused to other schools for years, and parents and local activists are holding a rally in front of the Lincoln Annex School.

Study says March through April U.S. COVID-19 death toll may be ‘underestimated’ by as much as 30,000

Whether or not the final tallies of how deadly the 2019 novel coronavirus is will be higher, lower, or the same as the seasonal flu is something we will not know for a long time. We do know that there are well over 10 million confirmed cases around the world (more than a quarter of those cases in the United States) and over 500,000 deaths attributed worldwide to COVID-19.

Supreme Court affirms constitutionality of consumer bureau, but opens executive power can of worms

In addition to announcing what is basically a “stay” on abortion rights on Monday, the Supreme Court also released a mixed opinion on the constitutionality of one of the key post-Great Recession reforms included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. The constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was at issue, and the court decided to split the difference in a decision that is both good and bad for the agency. In short, it still exists.

‘Permit Karen’ calls cops on Black law professor and family for building patio on their own property

On June 30, Montclair, New Jersey, resident Fareed Nassor Hayat, a law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, took to his Facebook page to post a video of a woman in his neighborhood reportedly harassing him and his family. Hayat wrote that a woman named Susan had called the police and filed a “false report of assault against me when told to leave our property.

Senate passes COVID-19 loan program extension, gives House leverage on housing, unemployment

In an extremely rare and impromptu deal, the Senate passed an extension of the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses Tuesday night, just hours before its expiration at midnight. There’s $130 billion left in the program that’s been unspent, and this agreement would allow the Small Business Administration to keep paying it out through Aug. 8. (Disclosure: Kos Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan.

‘Denigrating this luxury Avenue’: Trump calls proposed Black Lives Matter sign ‘symbol of hate’

President Donald Trump makes very clear his allegiance to the almighty dollar, so it should hardly be shocking that he’s willing to throw Black people under the bus when it comes to his beloved Trump Tower. The president made his position even clearer Wednesday when he vehemently opposed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to have a Black Lives Matter sign painted on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower.

The Atlantic Daily: Election Day Will Be a Complicated One

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.SHUTTERSTOCK / THE ATLANTICIn the face of a deadly pandemic, conversation about the presidential election has felt comparatively muted. But there’s still much to be sorted before Election Day rolls around.

Photos: The Locust Swarms of 2020

Throughout the year, parts of East Africa have been suffering record-setting waves of locust swarms. In the past few months, even more swarms have dramatically struck parts of Yemen, Pakistan, and India. Farmers and communities are fearful of the damage to crops and rangeland, harming income and food supplies, all while dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Stars Aren’t Supposed to Go Out Like This

A star has gone missing.Not in our own Milky Way, but in a galaxy about 75 million light-years away. The star in question is so hot that it glows crystal blue, and it shines a couple million times brighter than the star we know best, our sun. Even as stars go, it’s massive. Astronomers have studied it for nearly two decades, so it was pretty disconcerting when, one day last year, they looked at the latest observations and realized they couldn’t find it anymore.

Paging Dr. Hamblin: Are Kids Really Spared From the Coronavirus?

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, James Hamblin takes questions from readers about health-related curiosities, concerns, and obsessions. Have one? Email him at paging.dr.hamblin@theatlantic.com.Dear Dr. Hamblin,I’m a college professor, but homeschooling my 6-year-old is proving to be one of the most challenging things I have ever done. I’m currently failing. Naturally, I have a lot of questions as schools are discussing reopening in the fall.

Hong Kong Is a Colony Once More

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, stood in front of reporters yesterday for the most consequential press conference of her time leading the city. Prior to Lam stepping behind the podium, news had begun to stream in that officials in Beijing had passed a national-security law to be imposed on Hong Kong, the most significant altering of the ostensibly autonomous territory’s status since it was handed back to China from Britain in 1997.

Ed Yong on the “Disgraceful” U.S. Pandemic Response & How Medicare for All Could Have Saved Lives

As the United States experiences the world’s worst outbreak of COVID-19, we speak with Ed Yong, science writer for The Atlantic, who warned of the country’s unpreparedness for a viral outbreak in 2018. Now he says “it’s truly shocking and disgraceful” how badly the pandemic has been handled in the United States, and blames a lack of federal leadership for most of the damage.

Jamaal Bowman on NY Primary Upset, Rent Strikes, Police Brutality & Opposing West Bank Annexation

As a surge of a progressive candidates of color see victories in Democratic primaries across the country, we speak with former Bronx middle school principal Jamaal Bowman about his upset victory over New York Congressmember Eliot Engel, the 16-term Foreign Affairs Committee chair. Bowman ran on a Green New Deal, Medicare for All platform and recently joined protests demanding an end to racism and police brutality.