Contributing Writers

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and we look at how Black and Brown survivors of domestic abuse are further criminalized by police and prisons — and how activists have been organizing to win their freedom. In her first broadcast interview, we speak with Tracy McCarter, a nurse and grandmother who was jailed after her abusive husband, a white man, died of a stab wound when she defended herself during an altercation.

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman to ever serve in the Senate, has died at the age of 90. Feinstein had previously announced plans to retire at the end of this term, sparking an ongoing race to replace her open seat that’s been led by California Congressmembers Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff.

Congress passed an 11th-hour short-term funding bill this weekend, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown for the next 45 days, but the House is in a state of turmoil as far-right lawmakers threaten to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for working on the bipartisan bill.

Cuba has released footage showing an individual throwing two Molotov cocktails inside the Cuban Embassy compound in Washington, D.C., last Sunday, condemning it as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made. Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío says the country is demanding a speedy investigation, adding that it is the latest in a series of attacks against Cuban diplomatic missions in recent years.

Poland says it’s preparing to seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi after he received a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons last week following a speech by visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka was invited by the speaker of the House, who has since resigned his post, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the episode on Wednesday.

The government of Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolving itself after decades of struggle for autonomy from Azerbaijan, just days after Azerbaijani forces carried out a military blitz to seize the breakaway region, which has a majority of ethnic Armenians. More than half the territory’s 120,000 people have reportedly fled to Armenia, while thousands more remain without food, shelter and clean drinking water.

Senator Bob Menendez appeared in court Wednesday to face corruption charges yet refused to resign. A growing number of politicians have called for Menendez to step down, after federal agents discovered large amounts of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in the Democrat’s New Jersey home.

Cuba has released footage showing an individual throwing two Molotov cocktails inside the Cuban Embassy compound in Washington, D.C., last Sunday, condemning it as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made. Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío says the country is demanding a speedy investigation, adding that it is the latest in a series of attacks against Cuban diplomatic missions in recent years.

Poland says it’s preparing to seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi after he received a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons last week following a speech by visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka was invited by the speaker of the House, who has since resigned his post, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the episode on Wednesday.

The government of Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolving itself after decades of struggle for autonomy from Azerbaijan, just days after Azerbaijani forces carried out a military blitz to seize the breakaway region, which has a majority of ethnic Armenians. More than half the territory’s 120,000 people have reportedly fled to Armenia, while thousands more remain without food, shelter and clean drinking water.

Senator Bob Menendez appeared in court Wednesday to face corruption charges yet refused to resign. A growing number of politicians have called for Menendez to step down, after federal agents discovered large amounts of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in the Democrat’s New Jersey home.