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U.S. news coverage runs hot and often partisan. Understanding what actually happened in Washington, in the courts, or in a federal agency usually requires reading past the headline and well into the second day of reporting.

Owl Post pulls from outlets across the political spectrum and reads the primary sources directly: the legislative text, the court opinion, the regulatory filing, the agency guidance. What a bill actually does is often different from what its supporters and opponents claim it does. What a court ruling actually holds is often narrower than either side wants to acknowledge. Owl Post reads for what happened, presents context from multiple angles, and trusts you to draw your own conclusions.

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A daily U.S. news digest. Policy, institutions, and the national stories worth understanding, not just knowing about. The goal is to read the news in a way that leaves you with a clearer picture of what is happening rather than just a higher level of anxiety about it.

Ann Widdecombe killing: police investigating possible leftwing motivation

Detectives examining whether hatred of Widdecombe’s strong views or of Reform party were factors in killing described as a ‘targeted attack’ The police investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe is examining whether a leftwing or single-issue cause may lie behind her killing, the Guardian has learned. Among issues detectives are investigating are whether a hatred of Widdecombe’s strong views, such as on homosexuality, was a factor. They are also examining whether extreme hostility to the Reform UK party played a role.

theguardian.comLeft

Supreme court justices testify to House on budget request to increase security

Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett appear before House lawmakers to request more security for the judiciary Supreme court justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett are testifying Tuesday in front of House lawmakers to discuss the court’s budget request, particularly the need for increased security for the judiciary. The justices appearing before lawmakers confirmed that each justice was assigned “between four and eight members of the security detail”.

theguardian.comLeft

ICE identifies man agents fatally shot in Maine as Joan Sebastian Guerrero

Witnesses and officials have offered differing accounts of the shooting as questions remain The man killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maine on Monday has been identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, according to local news outlets. An immigration agent shot and killed the 26-year-old Colombian man on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine, after reportedly ramming into his car.

theguardian.comLeft

Tuberculosis outbreak at Colorado ICE jail sickens at least 12 detainees

The reported infections are the latest in a series of health concerns at the federal immigration jail in Aurora At least 12 people detained at a federal immigration jail in Colorado have contracted tuberculosis in recent days, according to testimony from inside the facility where dozens of others have reportedly been placed in quarantine. Those affected by the outbreak are also being made to endure their isolation without air conditioning, one detainee who has been at the facility in Aurora since December told the Guardian, through his partner, in a telephone call on Monday afternoon.

theguardian.comLeft

The Guardian view on Covid and Hillsborough: families forced the state to face the truth | Editorial

Lady Hallett exposed waste and secrecy. Hillsborough campaigners showed why public bodies must be honest before and after catastrophe strikes The Covid-19 inquiry’s procurement report and the Hillsborough law are not accidental companions. The same movement of bereaved families, many of the same lawyers and the same ideas connect them. In both cases the movement for justice was driven by ordinary people who refused to let institutions control the account of their own failures. That they both arrived within hours of each other meant that it was a good day for justice. The inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, found that Britain entered Covid dangerously unprepared, leaving health and care workers without adequate protection and that £10bn of PPE spending was then wasted because of the flawed purchasing arrangements. The result of those failures were avoidable infections and deaths: families such as Naomi Fulop’s believe that inadequate protective equipment allowed the deadly virus to take the lives of vulnerable loved ones. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

theguardian.comLeft

‘Dagger in heart’: Rebecca Slaughter on how her supreme court case validated Trump’s purge to civil service

Slaughter, fired by Trump from the FTC in 2025, worries agencies will fear defying the US president Federal officials fired by the Trump administration are calling the recent supreme court decision a “dagger in the heart” of the civil service that will open independent federal government agencies to corruption and manipulation at the whim of the president. Since Donald Trump took office again in January 2025, he has fired more than 50 officials from federal agencies as the Trump administration openly sought to have the supreme court overturn a landmark 1935 ruling that limited the president’s power over independent agencies, known as Humphrey’s Executor.

theguardian.comLeft

RFK Jr’s advisory panel overhaul stalled update on helping kids quit tobacco

US preventive services taskforce’s members have not issued binding recommendations since March 2025 The health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s overhaul of an influential federal advisory group has stalled an update that would have highlighted “encouraging” new evidence on helping children quit tobacco, according to a recently departed member of the group. The Trump administration has postponed or canceled all meetings of the US preventive services taskforce since March 2025, effectively preventing taskforce members from issuing binding recommendations for more than a year. As a result, 14 topics under consideration have been stalled – including on cervical cancer screening, perinatal depression and autism screening.

theguardian.comLeft

Johnson government wasted £10bn on PPE, Covid inquiry finds

Chair criticises use of ‘VIP lane’ to prioritise PPE contracts for companies with Tory connections in damning report ‘Catastrophic failure’: UK Covid families welcome inquiry findings on PPE Boris Johnson’s government wasted £10bn of public money because of the flawed way it went about buying personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic, an official inquiry has concluded. The Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, also criticised the then Conservative government’s controversial “VIP lane”, which gave high priority for PPE contracts to companies with political connections to the Tories.

theguardian.comLeft

With New York Times subpoenas, Trump is brazenly escalating his attacks on the press | Margaret Sullivan

Federal agents showed up at reporters’ homes, targeting journalists for doing exactly what the first amendment protects To non-journalists, receiving a government subpoena is a serious thing but probably not a violation of basic rights. To journalists, it’s quite a different matter – an attack on a foundational right to gather information in the public interest and to provide confidentiality to sources.

theguardian.comLeft

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