Massachusetts Expands Late-Term Abortion Access

Massachusetts has expanded late-term abortion access, loosening restrictions in cases of severe or lethal fetal abnormalities or if the pregnant person’s life is at risk. The law will allow providers to perform abortions after the previous cutoff of 24 weeks when it is necessary to save the pregnant person’s life. Most abortions still happen within the first trimester. During Monday’s bill signing, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, said, “We believe that health care decisions should be made between women and families and their doctors, not politicians. … Mothers and fathers and families who experience these devastating diagnoses — and they are devastating, heartbreaking — now they’ll be able to make their own choices.” Massachusetts becomes the 10th state, along with Washington, D.C., to allow an abortion at any point in pregnancy. www.democracynow.org

Judge Orders Emergency Pause on NYC Mayor Mamdani’s Pied-à-Terre Tax

Here in New York, a Staten Island judge ordered an emergency pause on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new pied-à-terre tax. The court ruled on a Friday lawsuit filed by three homeowners seeking to delay the rollout of the tax. The pied-à-terre tax targets homes valued at $5 million or higher, and co-ops and condos worth $1 million or more, when the owner doesn’t live there as their primary residence. A spokesperson for Mayor Mamdani said, “We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively. This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from.” www.democracynow.org

U.S. Appeals Court Allows Thousands of Lawsuits Against Social Media Companies

A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco allowed thousands of lawsuits to proceed Monday against Meta, Google, TikTok and Snapchat for designing products that are addictive to young users. Attorneys representing thousands of school districts and individuals suing Meta and other companies said in a statement, “A trial is how the public finds out what Meta knew about its products’ impact on children, when it knew it, and what it chose to do with that knowledge. Meta has fought to keep that evidence from the public.” www.democracynow.org

State Department Revokes More Than 175,000 Visas from Foreign Nationals

Trump’s State Department has revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals as part of its sweeping immigration crackdown. This comes as congressional Democrats say they plan to investigate the Trump administration’s efforts to deport U.S. military service members and their families. The probe was announced in response to an Associated Press investigation that found the Trump administration has detained more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. military personnel. The investigation by U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, also found that ICE has attempted to deport 282 veterans and their immediate family members. In April 2025, ICE rescinded its long-standing policy that protected immigrant veterans, and replaced it with a new measure that allows for the detention and deportation of noncitizen U.S. service members. In more related news, attorneys and local advocates are reporting Haitian immigrants in Ohio are being forced to report to ICE appointments and wear ankle monitors after the Trump administration officially ended temporary protected status, TPS, stripping deportation relief from hundreds of thousands of Haitians. A video circulating on social media and news outlets shows a Haitian man in Blue Ash, Ohio, collapsing to the ground in tears after leaving an ICE check-in and receiving an ankle monitor. He’s been identified by CNN as Monsanto Maler. Maler said he’s lived in the United States since 2023 and that he fled Haiti fearing for his life. www.democracynow.org

Trump-Linked Oil Company Preparing to Drill in Greenland

A U.S. oil company linked to President Trump called Greenland Energy is preparing to drill in Greenland without local approval. The firm recently landed drilling equipment on Greenland’s eastern coast as President Trump renews threats to seize the Arctic territory. Greenland’s government issued a “strong warning” that no permission was granted. The island’s Mineral Resources Authority must approve all future logistical operations before they proceed, officials said. www.democracynow.org

Trump Demands Compensation from Iran Threatening Ceasefire Negotiations

President Trump on Monday claimed that Iran has killed thousands of people through its wars in the region, and during protests inside the country, and demanded compensation. Trump’s new proposal countered Tehran’s existing demands for reparations and the removal of sanctions, which largely matched a preliminary peace agreement signed in June but has since collapsed. This is President Trump. President Donald Trump: “Well, we’re going to ask for money for that damage they’ve done over a 50-year period, whether you go SS Cole or whether you go all of the people that were so badly hurt, so badly wounded or killed, many thousands of people, and maybe damages for the 52,000 protesters over the last four months that were killed in Iran.” Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reported that he spent seven to eight hours with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and confirmed Khamenei was in good health. The two men met in late July around the start of Pezeshkian’s third year as president, according to state media. President Masoud Pezeshkian: “It was a good meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. We talked about all sorts of issues. We raised all the problems and set out our concerns. In terms of his health, he was completely well, because someone who can sit there and hold discussions with us for seven or eight hours cannot be in poor health.” This comes amid new reports that President Trump secretly left the presidential jet before Air Force One took off from Turkey at the end of last month’s NATO summit because of a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at his aircraft. www.democracynow.org

Trump Issues Executive Order Reducing Childhood Vaccinations

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday reducing the number of childhood vaccinations from 18 to just 11. The directive also proposes separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three individual shots administered at different times. Back in January, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reduced the U.S. immunization schedule by eliminating vaccines for six of the 17 covered diseases, but a federal court blocked the change. The new executive order reinstates Kennedy’s overhaul despite the legal case still pending. Republican Senator ​Bill Cassidy of Louisiana criticized the order, saying, “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The president does not have the expertise to make these changes.” The American Academy of Pediatrics said, “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance. Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families.” This is President Trump on Monday. President Donald Trump: “Well, they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body. And bad things happen in many cases — in too many cases, because this is an explosion. This is an epidemic. www.democracynow.org