the Web Editors

Are voting restrictions about voter fraud, or are they just a ruse to suppress likely Democratic voters?

Since 2010, conservatives have instituted voting restrictions in 21 states, the most well-known of which are laws that require photo IDs at the polls.

A controversial plan for an oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois is being met with opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux, reports the Des Moines Register. Members of the tribe expect to meet with a federal employee to express their concerns. 

Invoking the call of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, more than 50 faith leaders from across the political spectrum joined together today to speak out on the current state and alarming rhetoric of the 2016 election cycle, which they say, “threaten[s] the fundamental integrity of Christian faith and the well-being of society itself.”

The statement, “Called to Resist Bigotry — A Statement of Faithful Obedience,” names the racial and religious bigotry of Donald Trump and his disrespect of women as gospel issues, and not merely political matters, saying: “… while Donald Trump certainly did not start these long-standing American racial sins, he is bringing our nation’s worst instincts to the political surface, making overt what is often covert, explicit what is often implicit."

An airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, has killed at least fourteen patients and staff at a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders. Among the dead is one of the last pediatricians in the city.

Neither the Syrian air force nor Russian military are currently taking responsibility for the attack. The United States and Russia agreed to support a truce between warring parties earlier this year, but those talks have largely broken down in recent months, according to The Washington Post. 

After an eight-year-old girl from Flint, Mich. wrote to President Obama requesting a meeting, a White House official confirmed April 27 that Obama will visit the city on May 4, reports Mlive.

The city has faced a devastating water crisis after it was discovered that the city’s water supply was contaminated by lead. While in Flint, Obama will hear first-hand from residents, be briefed on efforts to address the crisis, and give a speech to residents.

State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh (37 percent) edged out former Mayor Sheila Dixon (34 percent) in the Democratic primary. They were the top two finishers in a large field of contenders, which included nationally-prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who finished with two percent of the vote, just behind City Councilman Carl Stokes’ three percent.

U.S. Embassy worker Xulhaz Mannan was murdered April 21 in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, according to the U.S. State Department.

Local reports say Mannan and another man were hacked to death. There is some suspicion this violence was provoked by Mannan's LGBT activism.

Five Syrian civil defense workers — known as the “White Helmets” — were killed in air strikes on April 26, according to Al Jazeera. A series of violent attacks swept Aleppo and the city’s outskirts, killing at least 35 people, including eight children.

Sikhs in America face a common misperception that often surfaces at the airport, among other places: people think they’re Muslim. This is often due to the turban that Sikh men wear as a symbol of commitment.

So Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show tried to help Sikhs out, with a dose of education mixed with humor. Together with Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh-American actor, Minhaj brainstormed ways to counter the doubly misguided Islamophobia directed against Sikhs.