Jennifer Richards

6 days ago | businessandamerica.com | Asia Fields |Ashley Clarke |Jodi S. Cohen |Jennifer Richards

Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration laid off nearly half of the Department of Education division that handles civil rights investigations and shifted its focus. The administration halted work on thousands of pending discrimination cases while ordering investigations aligned with its priorities. Some people have spoken out about their cases being in limbo or about not receiving updates. We know there are thousands of other people who are affected.

1 week ago | truthdig.com | Jennifer Richards |Jodi S. Cohen

This story was originally published by ProPublica. In California, the federal government was deep into an investigation of alleged racial discrimination at a school district where, a parent said, students called a Black peer racial slurs and played whipping sounds from their cellphones during a lesson about slavery. Then the U.S. Department of Education in March suddenly closed the California regional outpost of its Office for Civil Rights and fired all its employees there.

2 weeks ago | truthout.org | Jennifer Richards |Jodi S. Cohen

This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox In California, the federal government was deep into an investigation of alleged racial discrimination at a school district where, a parent said, students called a Black peer racial slurs and played whipping sounds from their cellphones during a lesson about slavery.

2 months ago | bostonglobe.com | Callie Ferguson |Erin Rhoda |Jennifer Richards |Jodi S. Cohen

The US Department of Justice sent a letter that “Maine should be on notice” that the agency was poised to sue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration even pulled $4.5 million for marine research, but it didn’t touch the 33 other grantees who get similar funding. Then last week, the Social Security Administration briefly became the sixth federal agency to target Maine, canceling contracts that allowed hospitals to automatically report births and funeral homes to report deaths.

2 months ago | portside.org | Jodi S. Cohen |Jennifer Richards

Massive Layoffs at the Department of Education Erode Its Civil Rights Division Published March 12, 2025 With a mass email sharing what it called “difficult news,” the U.S. Department of Education has eroded one of its own key duties, abolishing more than half of the offices that investigate civil rights complaints from students and their families. Civil rights complaints in schools and colleges largely have been investigated through a dozen regional outposts across the country.