Molly Hennessy-Fiske

1 week ago | bostonglobe.com | Molly Hennessy-Fiske

These days, Winn Correctional Center’s 1,600 beds make it the largest ICE detention center in this deep-red state and one of the largest in the country. With President Trump’s hard deportation push, its beds are staying occupied. The economic benefits of detention, in a rural parish where about a quarter of residents live in poverty, have muted criticism of the president’s immigration policies.

1 week ago | spokesman.com | Molly Hennessy-Fiske

WINNFIELD, La. - The 21st century has been tough here in timber country, especially in the small town of Winnfield. Sawmills automated and jobs disappeared. An interstate extension bypassed the area. The population fell by nearly a third. Downtown storefronts emptied. One positive: the low-slung brick complex, with razor-wire-topped fencing and a white-steepled chapel, that sprawls southwest of town amid a forest of longleaf and loblolly pines.

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Molly Hennessy-Fiske

In ‘detention alley,’ a small town benefits from a big ICE facility (washingtonpost.com) In ‘detention alley,’ a small town benefits from a big ICE facility By Molly Hennessy-Fiske 2025052810000000 WINNFIELD, La. — The 21st century has been tough here in timber country, especially in the small town of Winnfield. Sawmills automated and jobs disappeared. An interstate extension bypassed the area. The population fell by nearly a third.

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Texas close to requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms (washingtonpost.com) Texas close to requiring Ten Commandments in public school classrooms By Molly Hennessy-Fiske 2025052720314500 Texas lawmakers are close to passing a bill to require public schools to exhibit the Ten Commandments in classrooms starting this fall, a victory for the religious right that critics say blurs the line between church and state.

1 week ago | postguam.com | Michelle Boorstein |Emily Wax-Thibodeaux |Molly Hennessy-Fiske |Rachel Hatzipanagos

For Rabbi Ruth Balinsky Friedman, who teaches Jewish texts at a D.C.-area high school, the killings of two Israeli Embassy workers this week have deepened the isolation she’s felt as an American Jew in recent years. Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent attacks on Gaza - followed by divisions around the world over what caused the conflict and who was at fault - left the 40-year-old mother of three feeling confused, with no clear solution to the war in sight.