FIRE

ALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J., Oct. 13, 2026 — A New Jersey agency that investigated a grandmother serving on her township’s school board for asking her constituents questions on social media has backed down after legal pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

October 6, 2026 Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger ran afoul of the LA City Council's word ban. LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6, 2026 — A pair of free speech groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Los Angeles resident against the city of Los Angeles after its city council banned certain words during public meetings, a violation of the First Amendment.

UK minister promises more ‘policing and regulating’ of internet October 2, 2026 “We shouldn’t accept that this is the end,” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said this week of the UK’s looming under-16 social media ban.

The university banished the teacher for 15 months September 30, 2026 Christ the Redeemer overlooks Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pepperdine University professor Christina Littlefield won’t be teaching this fall. Not because Pepperdine says she is unqualified to teach. Instead, the university put Littlefield on paid leave and banished her from campus for 15 months for “unprofessional” speech and making students “uncomfortable.” Her crime?

After courts struck down the Biden administration’s 2024 regulation, the Education Department formally restored the 2020 framework. September 29, 2026 Yesterday, the Department of Education formally repealed the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations and restored the 2020 rule promulgated during the first Trump administration.

September 23, 2026 DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 23, 2026 — An Iowa state court on Wednesday dismissed President Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit against veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register newspaper. The decision handed down by Judge Scott J. Beattie is the latest in a string of setbacks in multiple legal actions brought by Trump and his allies claiming “fake news” in a groundless pursuit of Selzer.

September 23, 2026 Phillips Academy draft card burning One morning in the spring of 1966, David O’Brien burned his Selective Service registration card on the steps of a South Boston courthouse. An angry crowd watched. Several FBI agents walked him into the courthouse and arrested him. O’Brien never denied burning the card. In fact, he said he did it to protest the draft and the Vietnam War, and to persuade others to do the same. On the facts, the government’s case was airtight.

September 23, 2026 Whitman College, nestled near Washington’s Blue Mountains in Walla Walla, promises prospective students, “You’ll find your own path and passions — going further than you ever thought possible.” Unless, it seems, your path runs against the grain. Discouraged by the student senate’s flagrant viewpoint discrimination earlier this year, members of the Whitman Republican Club have decided not to resubmit for official recognition.

Plus: The EU’s Kids Act is here September 22, 2026 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the UN General Assembly at the United Nations in New York City on Sept. 26, 2025. Free Speech Dispatch covers censorship trends and challenges around the world. If you want to know where free expression is under attack and why it matters, subscribe now to get each edition delivered to your inbox.

Police in Kingsport, Tennessee, staged the raid to arrest Joshua Gibbons after he filmed and criticized a speeding officer nine days earlier The arrest was conducted in a pre-dawn raid at his elderly mother’s home because of Gibbons’ online videos Kingsport put Gibbons through two criminal trials, but an appellate court found “no evidence” supported a disorderly conduct charge, clearing the way for a civil lawsuit against the city, its police chief, and its officers KINGSPORT, Tenn., Sept.