Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Milwaukee Public Schools district still expels Black students in higher numbers than any other group. The findings come after the U.S. Department of Education announced last month it will investigate whether Milwaukee Public Schools uses race as a factor in expulsions. MPS expelled 38 students in 2025-26, according to newly released district expulsion data. Of those students, 30 were Black. Black students made up 48% of the district and 79% of expulsions last school year. (function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})(); No white students, who represent 8.5% of the district’s student population,…

On Sept. 8, the Houthis launched a major offensive against Saudi-backed forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, seizing key points across the country’s west coast and suddenly establishing a commanding position on the Bab el-Mandeb. That same week, Algeria declared that it was severing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and subsequently closed its airspace to Emirati planes. These two events, in countries almost as geographically distant as possible within the bounds of the Middle East and with dramatically different geopolitical stakes, may seem to have little in common. But developments in Yemen and Algeria are bound together…

Claim: Actor Christian Bale helped build 12 homes in a $22 million village in Palmdale, California, that aims to keep siblings in the foster-care system together. Rating: In September 2026, a heartwarming claim (archived) circulated online that “Batman” actor Christian Bale helped build 12 homes in a $22 million village in Palmdale, California, that aimed to keep siblings in the foster care system together. For example, one Threads post about the alleged project was captioned: I absolutely LOVE this. Christian Bale spent roughly 17 years fighting to make this happen. This week, his foster-care village opened in Palmdale, California: 12…

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a Democrat, opposed the sale on Thursday.He warned “it could put the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party”.Other Democratic lawmakers and some American defence officials have raised similar concerns about giving F-35s to Saudi Arabia.They said Riyadh might share the sensitive technology with China under a security partnership between the two countries.The state department said in announcing the deal on Thursday that it would support US “foreign policy and national security objectives”.It said the deal would improve “the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force…

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defence industry sites in the face of this threat.He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left “without a response”.A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders…

FunnyPlaying, a Chinese company known for its Game Boy and GBA upgrade kits, has announced a new handheld that plays original Nintendo cartridges and ROMs. The FPGB Mini’s cartridge support is limited to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color so it isn’t as capable as the Analogue Pocket that’s also compatible with the GBA and Sega Game Gear. What still makes the FPGB Mini a tempting alternative is its extremely pocketable design resulting in a handheld only slightly wider than a Game Boy cartridge, and its cheaper price.Following recent price hikes the Analogue Pocket is now $239.99 while the…

Gartner reports that warehouse automation now spans four operational AI tiers as logistics operators transition from software trials to live facility deployments.In an analysis released this month, the research firm concludes that logistics infrastructure has reached a clear adoption threshold. Three pressures are driving this change across the sector.Persistent worker deficits make automated systems mandatory for logistics facilities. Concurrently, software commercial models now feature lower initial capital requirements. Underlying algorithms and autonomous machinery have simultaneously reached production-grade reliability.Gartner evaluates these systems across two primary performance axes: intelligence sophistication and operational action orientation.Federica Stufano, Senior Principal Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain…

Collaboration suites like M365 offer unparalleled convenience. Millions of teams rely on them to quickly share documents with coworkers, clients and business partners. Yet when sharing is this easy, data security becomes a lot harder. Cloud sharing is so integral to the modern workplace that it’s difficult to imagine how offices ever got by without it. Dropping files in one-on-one chats. Spreadsheets that live in Teams channels so everyone can see the latest figures. Throwing project folders on SharePoint and sending out invite links. Yet for all the ways that cloud sharing has revolutionized office life, remote work and long-distance…

Predictive-policing is wrong, but it stems from the long-time surveillance of the American people. It is these various surveillance mechanisms that have empowered the state to target anyone for anything, even before they commit a crime — if they were going to commit a crime at all. Thus, DHS should end PITT’s use of financial information and other data for predictive-policing. Congress should direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to independently audit the DHS’s data sources, targeting criteria, retention practices, false-positive rates, and information-sharing, and assess the program’s compliance with the Fourth Amendment and other applicable laws. The GAO should…

Though the spiral galaxy in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope seems serene, it hides a chaotic secret. This galaxy is NGC 4698, and it lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It’s one of over a thousand galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, the nearest large cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity. As a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy, NGC 4698 has spiral arms that curl around within a thin disk of stars, gas, and dust. These arms are marked by opaque clumps of brown dust and dotted with small collections of bright blue…