Here are today's featured stories, posted by DU members and curated by the Administrators. More news items can be found in our Latest Breaking News forum, and for all the most up-to-the-minute stories that are being talked about by DU members, visit the Latest Discussions page.
March 31, 2026
Bondi's DOJ dropped 23,000 criminal investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, and drugs
(ProPublica) In the first days after Pam Bondi was appointed attorney general last year, the Department of Justice began shutting down pending criminal cases at a record pace. The DOJ routinely declines to prosecute cases for any number of reasons, including insufficient evidence or because a case is not a priority for enforcement. But the number of declinations under Bondi marks a striking departure not only from the Biden administration but also the first Trump term. In February 2025 alone, which included the first weeks of Bondis tenure, nearly 11,000 cases were declined, the most in a month since at least 2004.
Go to discussionTrump's Tax Cut Delivers $65 Billion Windfall to America's Richest Corporations
(Bloomberg) Some of the countrys wealthiest corporations are calculating they owe far less to the Internal Revenue Service as a result of President Donald Trumps overhauled tax code, underscoring how a law billed as a middle‑class cut also turned out to be a big win for Corporate America. Nearly a dozen of the 50 biggest US-listed companies attributed a drop in federal cash income taxes last year as a direct result of Trumps $3.4 trillion sweeping tax law, according to a Bloomberg analysis of regulatory filings. In all, annual corporate tax revenues dropped by $65 billion following the laws passage.
Go to discussionThe Bottomless Stupidity of House Republicans
(Alternet) "The House has met a prospective resolution of the DHS shutdown with the very same brand of legislative wishcasting that provoked the funding impasse in the first place," [The Nation's editor Chris] Lehmann wrote. "Then, naturally, Johnson gaveled his own chamber into a two-week recess of its own. Its hard to imagine how one could draw up a more farcical parody of legislative governance."
Go to discussionRep. Eric Swalwell sends cease-and-desist letter to FBI director
(Washington Post) Attorneys for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) demanded Monday in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel that the bureau refrain from releasing decade-old investigative files involving the congressmans purported ties to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. Swalwell was not accused of any wrongdoing when the FBI investigated him and the suspected spy, Christine Fang, a decade ago. Swalwells congressional office said it had immediately cut ties with Fang when federal agents informed him in 2015 that they were concerned she might be an intelligence operative. Swalwells attorneys said in their letter that there was no justification for releasing the files, especially since the congressman had assisted the FBI in its investigation.
Go to discussionICE agents will be stationed outside Marine Corps graduation events in South Carolina
(NBC News) ICE agents will be stationed outside graduation events for the nations newest Marines to identify whether any of their family members are undocumented, according to the Marine Corps. Undocumented immigrants are generally ineligible for federal REAL IDs and dont have U.S. passports or birth certificates. So people without identifying documents who arrive at the gate of Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in Beaufort, South Carolina, for recruit family days and graduation events this week may now have to answer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Marine Corps said.
Eric Trump reveals renderings of Donald Trump's presidential library
(USA Today) Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump, released a video on social media showing the first renderings of his father's presidential library and museum. "Over the past six months, I have poured my heart and soul into this project with my incredible team at Trump," Eric Trump said on X on Monday, March 30.
Go to discussionAnonymous Artists Mock Trump With Giant Gold Toilet By Lincoln Memorial
(Huff Post) Anyone visiting the Lincoln Memorial this week will get to see a brand-new monument right next to it: a gold toilet mounted on a 10-foot-tall marble throne, hailing President Donald Trump for making a bathroom renovation his top priority. Anonymous artists installed the faux marble structure early Monday morning to mock Trump for spending his time remodeling the Lincoln Bathroom at the White House instead of addressing pressing matters facing the country.
Go to discussionRepublicans want to remove undocumented children from public schools
(The Hill) Republicans are ramping up talks of overturning Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court decision that gave children of people living in the country illegally rights to a free public education. The talks have stretched from Republican states such as Tennessee to the White House, accelerating an immigration crackdown in education under President Trump that began at U.S. universities with foreign students who struggled to get visas or were arrested for their political activism.
Go to discussionTrump urging Congress to come back from recess to fund DHS as shutdown drags on, White House says
(ABC News) President Donald Trump is encouraging Congress to cut short its two-week recess and return to Washington to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid its ongoing partial shutdown, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. Lawmakers left the Capitol last week with no deal to fund the department, extending what is already the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.
Go to discussionTSA Agents Have Allegedly Been Asked to Return $1,000 Gift Cards From Tyler Perry
(Mediaite) TSA agents have allegedly been asked to return $1,000 gift cards donated by media mogul Tyler Perry. As a result of the ongoing partial government shutdown that has left the Department of Homeland Securitys funding up in the air, TSA agents had been working without pay for six weeks. Callout rates skyrocketed to 10 percent and more than 500 TSA workers quit.
Go to discussion