Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

The Latest Breaking News from Brickbat

Brickbat: Baby, You Can't Drive Your Car

German Transport Minister Volker Wissing has warned lawmakers he will ban driving on weekends if they cannot agree to a planned amendment to the nation's Climate Protection Act. Wissing said that is the only way to meet the emissions goals called for in the law. Negotiations over the amendment have…

Reason

Brickbat: Keeping Drugs Off the Street

Tressa Beltran, former police chief of Hartford, Michigan, has been charged with multiple felonies, including delivery of narcotics, larceny, extortion, using a computer to commit a crime, embezzlement over $50 by a public official, and three counts of drug possession. Beltran reportedly admitted stealing from the drug disposal box at…

Reason

Brickbat: Missed It by That Much

In May 2023, the St. Louis County SWAT team used a battering ram to knock down the door to Brittany Shamily's home in Ferguson, Missouri. Cops detained her and her family while they ransacked the place, searching for evidence related to a carjacking that had happened earlier that day. One…

Reason

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Brickbat: Fighting Fire

Sherri Chance's son called 911 when he noticed flames shooting out of the clothes dryer at their home in DeKalb County, Georgia. He expected a quick response since there was a fire station just two miles away, but he was put on hold—for 41 minutes. Family members and neighbors tried…

Reason

Brickbat: Paint It Black

Victor Silva Sr. says he used to paint over graffiti on the fence of his home in Oakland, California. But the 102-year-old adds that since he has been confined to a wheelchair that has been difficult. City officials don't seem to have any sympathy for Silva's plight: They sent him…

Reason

Brickbat: Science Doesn't Lie, but Scientists Do

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says it has found that former CBI forensic scientist Yvonne "Missy" Woods manipulated data in the DNA testing process or posted incomplete test results in hundreds of cases. The CBI says it has found 652 cases affected by Woods' work between 2008 and 2023,…

Reason

Brickbat: Unsafe at Home

Mayor Earl Johnson of Andalusia, Alabama, has apologized to Twyla Stallworth after an officer entered her home and arrested her for not showing her identification. Under Alabama law, police officers can only demand ID from someone who is in a public place and has committed a crime or whom they…

Reason

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Brickbat: Pint-Sized Prison

A girl in the United Kingdom's Wetherby Young Offender Institution twice had her clothes removed while being restrained by an all-male team of prison officers, according to a report by the Inspectorate of Prisons. The girl was reportedly trying to use her clothes to harm herself. Wetherby is a correctional…

Reason

Brickbat: Swift Justice

King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said she won't file felony charges against Officer Kevin Dave of the Seattle Police Department, who fatally struck Jaahnavi Kandula with his patrol car in January 2023. "Our legal analysis reveals that the PAO (Prosecuting Attorney's Office) lacks sufficient evidence to prove beyond a…

Reason

Brickbat: Taking the Piss

A man says he was threatened with arrest after his dog urinated on a public street in Bournemouth, England. Steve Schuurman said an "aggressive" female Dorset police officer shouted at him to "clear your fucking dog piss." Schuurman said he would have cleaned up if his dog had defecated but…

Reason

Brickbat: Watch What You Say

In Canada, Charlie Angus, a New Democratic Party member of Parliament, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal "to promote a fossil fuel, a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel." Regular citizens who violate the act would face a fine of up to…

Reason

Brickbat: Royal Trouble

An appeals court in Thailand has sentenced democracy activist Mongkol Thirakot to 50 years in prison for Facebook posts he made that were critical of the country's monarchy. A trial court had sentenced him to 28 years, but the appellate court found him guilty on 11 more counts during his…

Reason

Brickbat: Taking Their Word for It

Canadian officials said that, on second thought, they aren't going to block Maria Kartasheva from becoming a citizen. Just before she was due to take her oath of citizenship, an official informed her she'd been tried in absentia in Russia, her home country, and found guilty of "public dissemination of…

Reason

Brickbat: Filed Away and Forgotten

Officials in Jackson County, Indiana, have agreed to pay $7.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a mentally ill man who starved to death over 20 days while being held in solitary confinement at a local jail. Joshua McLemore was found lying naked and confused on…

Reason

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

Reason

Brickbat: Making It Up As We Go Along

A report by the New Brunswick, Canada, auditor general's office found that the provincial Department of Public Health could not provide documentation to support any of a sample of 33 policy recommendations it made during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The department was unable to provide requested documentation, acknowledging that they 'did…

Reason

Brickbat: Sorry, I'm Late for an Appointment

In Putnam County, West Virginia, a former U.S. Postal Service carrier faces up to one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine after pleading guilty to desertion of mail. Michael Burdette reportedly tossed a total of more than 200 pieces of mail into a service station dumpster on two…

Reason

Brickbat: The (Artificial) Grass Is Greener

In 2015, in the midst of a drought, California lawmakers banned cities and counties from prohibiting synthetic grass. The logic behind the law was that artificial turf was better for the environment because it saved water. But state lawmakers now argue artificial turf is bad for the environment because it…

Reason

Brickbat: Tiny Homes, Big Problems

In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would spend $30 million to build 1,200 prefabricated tiny houses across the state, including 350 in Sacramento, in an effort to ease the state's housing shortage. He promised the houses would be ready this fall. But local media in Sacramento report…

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

Reason

Brickbat: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

An employee of Michigan's Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital, which is run by the state Department of Health and Human Services, alerted a local TV station that children being treated there had not been allowed outside in three months and that the windows to their classrooms had been covered up. The…

Reason

Brickbat: Be Careful Where You Point That

Jarrod Belcher was stunned when he found out Alabama's Jefferson County School system had suspended his 6-year-old son for pointing his finger like a gun while playing cops and robbers with another student. The school system gave his son a class 3 violation, the most serious and the same one…

Reason

Brickbat: Born Behind Bars

An inmate in the Montgomery County, Tennessee, jail gave birth alone in her cell despite having called for help. The woman, who wasn't named by the media, called for help at 11:31 a.m., and a deputy notified medical staff. A licensed practical nurse examined her and left to consult with…

Reason

Brickbat: On Record

When U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Morris, a Special Forces soldier, applied for a concealed carry permit, his local sheriff's office contacted him about several arrests on his record. Morris was confused: He's never been arrested. But his record showed he'd been arrested on several charges, most seriously aggravated…

Reason

Brickbat: Lockdowns Down Under

The government of Victoria, Australia, has agreed to pay about $5 million (about $3.2 million U.S.) to settle a lawsuit brought by residents of Melbourne public housing who were forced into a hard 14-day COVID-19 lockdown with no warning in July 2020. Some 3,000 people may be eligible for compensation.…

Reason

Brickbat: Sorry, I Was Aiming at Your Dog

Tina Hight has sued the Columbia County, Arkansas, sheriff's office, Sheriff Mike Loe and Deputy Brian Williams after Williams shot her while trying to hit her Pomeranian dog. Hight called 911 for help in August 2022 for what she described as a domestic violence situation. But bodycam video shows when…

Reason

Brickbat: You Pay for Our Mistake

First, the city of Atlanta demolished a house owned by Everett Tripodis without properly informing him. Now, city officials are suing him to recoup the $68,000 they claim to have spent tearing down the house. The city wants to force the sale of the lot to pay for the demolition.…

1 2 3 4

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

Department of Health and Human Services

51 stories

Department of Public Health

32 stories

New Democratic Party

15 stories

The Seattle Police Department

15 stories

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Topics

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.