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Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

It’s now the 73rd day that Rümeysa Öztürk is facing deportation by the United States government for writing an op-ed it didn’t like. Read on for more press freedom news and and don’t forget to join us on June 9 at 2 p.m. for a conversation about the Trump administration’s attacks on broadcast licensees and nonprofits. RSVP here.

Snowden revelations take on added urgency 12 years later

Twelve years ago today, Edward Snowden — now a longtime Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) board member — blew the whistle to journalists on global mass surveillance programs, changing the way we think about the relationship between privacy and national security.

His revelations and the dialog they initiated are more relevant today than ever. We wrote about 12 of the reasons why. Read more here.

Texas might ban college kids from reporting news at night — or even talking

Texas lawmakers trying to muzzle campus protests have just passed one of the most ridiculous anti-speech laws in the country. If signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Senate Bill 2972 would ban speech at night — from study groups to newspaper reporting — at public universities in the state.

We’re not exaggerating. In their zeal to stop college kids from protesting the Israel-Gaza war, lawmakers in the Lone Star State passed a prohibition on “engaging in expressive activities on campus between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.” Expressive activity includes “any speech or expressive conduct” protected by the First Amendment or Texas Constitution — in other words, all speech and expressive conduct. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Senior Advisor Caitlin Vogus has more in the Houston Chronicle. Read the op-ed here.

Virginia gag policy is outrageously unconstitutional

An unconstitutional policy in Greene County, Virginia, prohibits government employees from talking to the media and requires them to label anything they share with the press as “opinion,” even if it’s verifiable fact.

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and the Society of Professional Journalists led a letter from a coalition of press freedom and transparency organizations urging Steve Catalano, chair of the Greene County board of supervisors, to rethink the unconstitutional and downright absurd policy. Read more here.

Press freedom coalition warns of dangers of Dobbs leak investigation

The FBI’s investigation into the 2022 publication of the Dobbs draft decision could “instill a wide-reaching chilling effect on First Amendment-protected newsgathering.”

We joined Defending Rights & Dissent and other press freedom groups to warn that the FBI’s investigation into a draft Supreme Court opinion leak could instill a widespread chilling effect on newsgathering everywhere. Read more here.

What we’re reading

Reporters aren’t exempt from ordinance forbidding presence in city park from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (Reason). Reporters can’t control what time news happens. Under this court’s reasoning, journalists who pass a closed city park at night and observe police beating or shooting someone couldn’t enter the park to cover it. That can’t be the law.

Trump caught trashing US history to hide his secrets (MeidasTouch). FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy, Lauren Harper, warns, “The Trump administration’s goal is to become the sole source of information — even if it’s false.”

The ICE agents disappearing your neighbors would like a little privacy, please (The San Francisco Standard). This is exactly how newspapers should react when the government asks them to carry its water.

Fountain Hills officials punished a paper for coverage they don’t like (Phoenix New Times). “It’s very much unconstitutional for the government to in any way punish the press over its editorial or content decisions,” we said after officials punished reporters they don’t like by removing a press desk.

Trump asks Congress to repeal $9 billion from NPR, PBS and global aid (Washington Post). Taking money away from NPR and PBS hurts Americans who rely on them for news. Doing so because the president and other politicians disagree with their coverage violates the Constitution.

Press freedoms and civil rights under attack; and practicing civic self respect (Project Censored). Harper and FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern joined Project Censored to discuss press freedom, government secrecy, and the Freedom of Information Act.

Boeing’s air and space museum, the James S. McDonnell Prologue Room, will be open to the public this summer! From biplanes to space capsules, the Prologue Room displays artifacts and […]

The post Visit the James S. McDonnell Prologue Room appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Join a 5th-generation St. Louisan, foodie + storyteller on this leisurely two-mile walk through St. Louis' rollercoaster history while enjoying some of the most delicious nibbles the city has to offer […]

The post Food + History Walking Tours of the Central West End appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Source

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune

This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues.

Texas state legislators dropped efforts to spend millions of dollars to buy what experts call ineffective child identification kits weeks after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported that lawmakers were again trying to fund the program.

This is the second consecutive budget cycle in which the Legislature considered purchasing the products, which promise to help find missing children, only to reverse course after the news organizations documented the lack of evidence that the kits work.

ProPublica and the Tribune originally published their findings in a 2023 investigation that revealed the state had spent millions of dollars on child identification kits made by a Waco-based company called the National Child Identification Program, run by former NFL player Kenny Hansmire. He had a history of legal and business troubles, according to public records, and although less expensive alternatives were available to lawmakers, Hansmire used outdated and exaggerated statistics about missing children to help boost sales.

He also managed to develop connections with powerful Texas legislators who supported his initiatives. In 2021, Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell authored a bill that created a Texas child safety program. The measure all but guaranteed any state funding would go to Hansmire’s business whenever lawmakers allotted money for child identification kits. That year, the state awarded his company about $5.7 million for the kits.

Two years later, both the House and the Senate proposed spending millions more on the program. But when the final budget was published, about a month after the newsrooms’ investigation, legislators had pulled the funding. They declined to answer questions about why.

Funding for the program appeared again in this year’s House budget. State Rep. Armando Martinez, a Democratic member of the lower chamber’s budget committee, suggested allotting $2 million to buy the kits for students in kindergarten through the second grade. The Senate, however, didn’t include that funding in its version of the budget.

The newsrooms published a story in early May about the proposed spending plan. The final version of the budget that lawmakers passed this week again had no designated funding for the identification kits.

Campbell, Martinez and the leaders of the House and Senate budget committees did not respond to the newsrooms’ interview requests for this story or written questions about why the funding didn’t make the final cut.

Hansmire did not reply to an interview request this week. In a prior response, he told the newsrooms he’d resolved his financial troubles and said that his company’s kits have helped identify missing children, though he did not provide any concrete examples. Hansmire told reporters to reach out to “any policeman,” naming several departments specifically. The newsrooms contacted a number of them. Of the dozen Texas law enforcement agencies that responded to the queries, none could identify one case where the kits helped find a runaway or kidnapped child.

Stacey Pearson, a child safety consultant who previously oversaw the Louisiana Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children, said legislators made the correct decision to eliminate the identification kits from the budget because there is no data proving they actually help improve kids’ safety. She remains disappointed that Texas lawmakers continue to give the program any attention and hopes they won’t contemplate the funding in the future.

“Every dollar and every minute, every hour that you spend on a program like this, is a dollar and a minute and an hour that you can’t spend on something that is more promising or more sound,” said Pearson.