Independent Journal Review

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing questions after urging residents to keep their air conditioners set to 78 degrees or higher during a serious heat wave, while reports found that parts of City Hall and other municipal buildings were much cooler than that. The mayor’s message was meant to reduce pressure on the city’s power grid during extreme summer weather. During a heat wave, millions of air conditioners running at the same time can put major stress on the electrical system.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned Monday that the Court’s decision on mail-in ballots could create new openings for voter fraud and deepen public mistrust in American elections. In a 5-4 ruling written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court held that federal law permits states to count non-military mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day.

Young, college-educated voters in dense urban neighborhoods have become a key source of support for candidates aligned with the socialist left, according to recent primary election data. Over the past several months, multiple self-described democratic socialists, along with candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, have defeated more centrist Democrats in major-city primaries on both coasts.

Radical leftist Bill Ayers and Princeton University professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor led an event Friday in Chicago titled “250 Years of Resistance,” held on the eve of America’s 250th birthday. The event took place at the National Public Housing Museum in Democrat-run Chicago.

The debate over communism has returned to the center of American politics, not as a distant history lesson, but as a warning about where some leaders believe the country could be headed. For many Americans, communism is not just an economic theory. It is tied to memories of the Cold War, Soviet spying, religious persecution, government control, and the loss of basic freedoms.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is putting election security back at the center of the national conversation, saying Republicans plan to make another push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, better known as the SAVE Act. Johnson said the bill remains a top priority for both him and President Donald Trump. The measure would require people to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.

Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan has dealt a significant blow to President Trump’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting. In a recent ruling, Sullivan blocked the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from implementing an executive order that aimed to limit mail-in ballots to states adhering to strict election integrity rules. This decision comes as a victory for those concerned about the timely and reliable delivery of mail-in ballots.

It was already shaping up to be one of the busiest news days of the Supreme Court’s term. The justices handed down major rulings on birthright citizenship, campaign finance, and transgender participation in school sports, sending legal reporters scrambling to digest a flurry of consequential opinions. Then NPR found itself at the center of a story that had nothing to do with the Court’s decisions and everything to do with a report that should never have been published.

A Dollar General employee has described her encounters with members of the 🇺🇸Ohio family at the center of a ⚠️Child neglect investigation, saying the conditions she observed before the children were rescued continue to haunt her. According to LAD Bible, authorities recently discovered 16 children living inside a home in Vinton County under what officials described as shocking conditions.

The Russian and Chinese navies kicked off a joint exercise in the Yellow Sea on Monday. The joint naval exercise includes submarines and surface vessels from both Russia and China, according to a Monday press release from the Chinese Ministry of National Defense. After the exercise, the Chinese and Russian naval assets will join together for a “joint maritime patrol,” according to a Sunday press release.