This feed aggregates stories from across all Causes feeds.

News Feed

A French energy firm agreed to invest the money in oil and gas projects instead.

Environment

<a href="https://stateline.org/author/abrown/">Alex Brown</a> | <a href="https://stateline.org">Stateline</a> Mar. 24, 2026 The U.S. government will pay a French energy firm nearly $1 billion to cancel its plans to build a pair of wind farms off the East Coast, the Trump administration announced Monday in its latest move to stymie offshore wind. The French firm TotalEnergies will forfeit its leases for projects off the coasts of New York and North Carolina, with the United States paying $928 million to reimburse what the company initially spent on the leases.Under <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-and-totalenergies-agree-end-offshore-wind-projects-lowering-costs-american">the deal</a>, TotalEnergies will reinvest that money into oil and gas projects, including a liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas. President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to block the development of offshore wind projects, which many East Coast states have been counting on to meet their energy needs in the coming years. The projects canceled under the deal announced Monday would have provided power to more than 1 million homes. Late last year, the Trump administration invoked classified national security threats to stop work on five wind farms that were under construction, but courts have ruled that the projects can proceed. But for dozens of other projects still in the planning and permitting stages, industry experts expect little progress while Trump remains in office. The administration claimed in a statement that the projects were “unreliable and costly.” But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, condemned the agreement.“Using a pay-not-to-play scheme to pressure a company to not build offshore wind is an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Hochul said in a statement to The New York Times.Environmental groups also blasted the deal, with some noting that it comes as Trump’s war with Iran has caused chaos for global oil markets.“This deal is an outrageous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable power exactly when they need it most,” Ted Kelly, director and lead counsel for U.S. clean energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at <a href="mailto:abrown@stateline.org">abrown@stateline.org</a>.<style> figure, .tipContainer, .socContainer, .subscribeShortcodeContainer, .donateContainer {display:none !important;} .youtubeContainer { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom:12px; } .youtubeContainer iframe, .video-container object, .video-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100% !important; height: 100%; margin: 12px 0px !important; } .newsroomSidebar {width:35%;max-width:35%;padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;float:right;margin-left:50px;} .snrsInfoboxSubContainer {padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;} .halfwidth {float:right;width:50%;max-width:50%;} .indent2Container {margin-left: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; border-left: solid 1px black;padding-left: 2em;} @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {.newsroomSidebar {max-width:95%;width:95%;margin-left:4%} .halfwidth {float:none;width:100%;max-width:100%;} }</style> <a href="https://stateline.org">Stateline</a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: <a href="mailto:info@stateline.org">info@stateline.org</a>.

Trump Administration Will Pay $1B to Block 2 Offshore Wind Farms

As fuel costs climb, the long-term math shifts toward EVs — but consumer hesitation and infrastructure gaps could slow the transition.

Making Clean Transportation More Affordable and Accessible

Why $4 Gasoline Is the Tipping Point for EVs

The state will be updating its history and social studies curriculum. Students typically learn about Chávez in fourth, ninth and eleventh grade.

Teaching Complex Historical Figures

Education & Youth

<style>
 a { color: blue; }
</style>

<a href="https://calmatters.org/author/carolyn-jones/" title="Posts by Carolyn Jones" class="author url fn" rel="author">Carolyn Jones</a> | <a href="https://calmatters.org">CalMatters</a> Mar. 19, 2026
			
			This story was originally published by <a href="https://calmatters.org/">CalMatters</a>. <a href="https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.
César Chávez is woven throughout California’s social studies curriculum — as a labor leader, civil rights hero and practitioner of nonviolent protest.

That’s about to change.

State education officials on Wednesday urged teachers to minimize the role of Chávez when teaching about the farm labor movement. The labor rights icon and namesake of at least 43 schools in California, Chávez <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html">was accused</a> Wednesday of a long pattern of sexually abusing women and girls.

“The civil rights struggle of farm workers and immigrant communities is larger than one person and continues to be highly relevant today,” said Elizabeth Sanders, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education. “We stand with survivors of violence, including and especially gender-based violence, which has no place in our society.”

The state will also be updating its history and social studies <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/cf/documents/hssframeworkwhole.pdf">curriculum</a>, an 800-page document that details lesson topics for all K-12 public school students. Students typically learn about Chávez in fourth, ninth and eleventh grade, according to state guidelines, often as a role model and important figure in history. He’s also covered in ethnic studies courses.

School districts have latitude as to how to teach particular topics, and districts across California on Wednesday were mulling how to approach the new information about Chávez, who died in 1993. With César Chávez Day approaching March 31, countless teachers are now rewriting their lesson plans.

Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest district, said it was going to review its curriculum related to Chávez. Latino students make up nearly 75% of the district enrollment.

“(The district wants) to ensure the emphasis remains on the important work of the farmworker movement, not on any one individual,” said district spokesman Britt Vaughan. “It is important to recognize the collective work of thousands who have advanced social justice, labor rights, and community empowerment.”

<h2>‘We need to pause’</h2>

James Aguilar, a social studies teacher at San Lorenzo High in Alameda County, said he discussed the news with his students on Wednesday. Like him, they were shocked. The students had a lot of questions, but mostly they just wanted to talk about their emotions. Most had grown up revering Chávez.&nbsp;

Aguilar was straightforward with them.

“I feel very personally about this issue,” Aguilar said. “I believe survivors, and that’s where I lean.” 

This is not the first time he’s had to rethink curriculum based on new allegations about historical figures. Social studies happens in real time, and the historical record constantly evolves, he said.

“I’ve known César Chávez as nothing but a hero, an essential leader in the union movement,” said Aguilar, who’s active in his local teachers union. “We don’t want to invalidate his work, but we need to pause. There are people who’ve done good things for our country but have not-so-great records in other aspects of their lives. We just need to acknowledge that.”

<h2>A complicated legacy</h2>

Finding that balance will be tough — but essential — for social studies teachers, especially as they prepare to commemorate César Chávez Day, said Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California.

Teachers should also consider the age of their students, and what’s an appropriate topic for classroom discussions, he said. Guidance from the state and districts should help teachers know how to approach the topic in a way that acknowledges the allegations but doesn’t detract from the farm workers’ movement generally.

“There are a lot of historical figures who are deeply problematic,” Polikoff said. “The real challenge is to find a way to teach about them that doesn’t ignore the allegations but reflects the complexities of their legacy.”&nbsp;
This article was <a href="https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2026/03/cesar-chavez-curriculum/">originally published on CalMatters</a> and was republished under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives</a> license.

CA Schools Move to Minimize César Chávez’s Role in Civil Rights Movement: ‘We Stand With Survivors of Violence’

A Maryland father who was wrongly deported could now be sent to Liberia despite a court order blocking his removal.

Protecting Due Process in Deportation Cases

Government, Politics and Policy

<div class="postTextPostPage">

<style>
/* Causes.com Embed Baseline */
.postTextPostPage {
 font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
 line-height: 1.6;
 font-size: 18px;
 color: #111;
}

.postTextPostPage a {
 color: blue;
 text-decoration: none;
}

.postTextPostPage p {
 margin: 1rem 0;
}

.postTextPostPage h2 {
 font-size: 1.5rem;
 margin: 1.5rem 0 1rem 0;
}

</style>

<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/author/ariana-figueroa">Ariana Figueroa</a> | <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com">News From The States</a> Mar. 23, 2026

The Trump administration is again trying to send the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the west African nation of Liberia and urging a federal judge to dismiss a bar on his removal, according to legal documents filed over the weekend.

Abrego Garcia, of Maryland, has agreed to be deported to Costa Rica, which will accept him as a refugee, and is fighting his removal to another third country. The Trump administration cannot remove him to his home country of El Salvador, after he was mistakenly deported there in 2025 and kept in a brutal Salvadoran prison.

His erroneous deportation cast a national spotlight on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.

Acting U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, in a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.589189/gov.uscourts.mdd.589189.143.1_1.pdf">Friday court declaration</a>, said he was disregarding Abrego Garcia’s proposal to accept removal to Costa Rica for two reasons.

Lyons said Abrego Garcia did not designate Costa Rica as a third country of removal in 2019, when he was granted a withholding from removal to El Salvador. Lyons argues that Abrego Garcia therefore “forfeited his right to designate an additional country of removal when he failed to designate any other country prior to the completion of his removal proceedings.”

Lyons said the second reason is the Trump administration has already invested in “high-stakes political negotiations” with Liberia's government to accept Abrego Garcia and if the administration were to abandon “agreements negotiated at the highest levels of government (it) could cast doubt on the diplomatic reliability of the United States in relation not only to the Republic of Liberia but also other nations with whom it negotiates on these and other matters.”

Lyons said for those reasons, federal Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland should dissolve her injunction that prevents the Trump administration from removing Abrego Garcia.

Third-country removals were somewhat rare until the second Trump administration, which is relying more on them as the president aims to carry out mass deportations.

Kilmar Abrego’s situation dates back years. In 2019, when Abrego Garcia was granted the withholding of removal because a judge found he would face violence from gangs if removed to El Salvador, he had an agreement with ICE to check in yearly.

In 2025, ICE agents stopped Abrego Garcia while he was picking his son up from day care and he was informed there was a change in his immigration status. He was placed on a deportation flight with hundreds of other men to the brutal Salvadoran mega-prison known as CECOT.

Later in 2025, the courts ordered Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.

The Trump administration is asking for Xinis to make her decision by April 17. Xinis was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-administration-pushes-deport-kilmar-abrego-garcia-liberia">This article</a> was originally published by <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com">News From The States</a>. Fair. Fearless. Free.
</div>

Trump Administration Pushes to Deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

Human Services

<div class="theconversation-article-body">


<style>
 /* Causes.com Embed Baseline */
 a { color: blue; }

 figure {
 max-width: 100%;
 margin: 1.5rem auto;
 text-align: center;
 }

 figure img {
 width: 100%;
 height: auto;
 display: block;
 }

 figure figcaption {
 font-size: 0.9rem;
 color: #555;
 margin-top: 0.5rem;
 line-height: 1.3;
 }
</style>


 <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/benjamin-f-henwood-2543583">Benjamin F. Henwood</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-california-1265">University of Southern California</a>

 When homeless shelters allow people to stay with their dogs and other pets, more unhoused people become more willing to stay in a shelter. 

That’s what my team at the University of Southern California’s <a href="https://hpri.usc.edu/">Homelessness Policy Research Institute learned</a> when we evaluated <a href="https://hpri.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/PAS-final-edits__HPRI-2_17.pdf">California’s Pet Assistance and Support Program</a>.

California’s Department of Housing and Community Development established this pilot program in 2019. Its goals were straightforward: to make homeless shelters more accommodating to people with pets – mostly dogs – so that people living on the streets don’t have to choose between staying in shelters or abandoning their pets. 

The program disbursed US$15.75 million between 2020 and 2024 to 37 organizations across the state. The funding allowed shelters to build kennels or other pet-friendly spaces, provide pet food and supplies, and offer basic veterinary care. It also covered the costs of staffing and maintaining insurance required to operate pet-friendly shelters.



<h2>Evaluating the program</h2>

We did this evaluation in collaboration with <a href="https://www.mydogismyhome.org/">My Dog Is My Home</a>, a nonprofit that supports pet-inclusive housing and services for the homeless, and the <a href="https://www.aspca.org/">American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals</a>. 

By all accounts, the program was a success.

We found that the program helped 4,407 people experiencing homelessness keep their pets while getting support. Many were able to enter shelters, and their animals received needed veterinary care. A total of 886 people ultimately moved into permanent housing with their pets – a higher success rate than the <a href="https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2024-109/">statewide average for homeless people in California</a>. 

Theoretically, this funding should have reduced the number of pet owners living on the streets. Yet since 2019, the year the program began, the number of homeless people in Los Angeles with dogs and other pets has increased. 

<figure class="align-center zoomable">
 <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="A homeless man walks a dog toward a group of tents lining a sidewalk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723069/original/file-20260310-57-r9a96y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
 <figcaption>
 A homeless man walks a dog toward a group of tents lining a Los Angeles sidewalk in 2026.
 <a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/homeless-man-leads-a-dog-towards-his-own-tent-on-a-sidewalk-news-photo/2254574191?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a>
 </figcaption>
 </figure>

I’ve seen this change firsthand.

Since 2017, I’ve led the USC research team that produces the annual homeless count estimates for Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires this exercise for any city <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/#2025-pit-count-and-hic-guidance">seeking federal funding for homelessness services</a>.

One of the questions my team asks when <a href="https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Final%202024%20USC%20Homeless%20Count%20Methodology%20Report_20240716.pdf">interviewing thousands of homeless people each year</a> is whether they have any pets. 

Before the pandemic, we generally found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10530789.2020.1795791">roughly 1 in 8 people did</a>. We also found that nearly half of homeless pet owners had been turned away from a homeless shelter because it couldn’t accommodate their animal.

Despite programs like California’s Pet Assistance and Support program, my research team has found that the share of people living on the streets of Los Angeles who say they have a pet increased to roughly 1 in 5 by 2025.

<iframe id="0VA9X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0VA9X/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: 0;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe>

<h2>Need for more pet-friendly programs</h2>

We still don’t know why the share of homeless people with pets has gotten so much larger.

It could be that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220981864">rising housing costs</a>, which is the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Homelessness_Is_a_Housing_Problem/fwRWEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0">main driver of homelessness</a>, is pushing more pet owners into homelessness. Or, perhaps more homeless are adopting pets to deal with their social isolation and loneliness, two <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08109-6">common conditions for people with nowhere to go</a>. 

<figure class="align-center zoomable">
 <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="An apartment building with a rectangular green space is shown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/723065/original/file-20260310-57-p9p26h.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
 <figcaption>
 The Weingart Tower, where some of Los Angeles’ formerly homeless people reside and receive social services, has a small dog park.
 <a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-dog-park-during-the-opening-of-the-weingart-news-photo/2157805198?adppopup=true">Grace Hie Yoon/Anadolu via Getty Images</a>
 </figcaption>
 </figure>

Either way, <a href="https://endhomelessness.org/blog/after-the-shutdown-what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-the-upcoming-nofo/">proposed cuts by the federal government to affordable housing</a> and homeless services will only make matters worse.

The number of homeless people in Los Angeles has <a href="https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=1044-declining-homelessness-is-now-a-trend-in-los-angeles-county">fallen by more than 4% since 2023 to just over 72,000 people</a> in 2025. But based on my research findings, I would expect the number of people living on the city’s streets – with and without pets – to rise over time unless more affordable housing becomes available.

And growth in the homeless population may be hard to avoid without more efforts like California’s Pet Assistance and Support Program – on a larger scale than the pilot we studied.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/276255/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" />

 <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/benjamin-f-henwood-2543583">Benjamin F. Henwood</a>, Professor of Social Policy and Health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-california-1265">University of Southern California</a>

 This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-pet-friendly-homeless-shelter-pilot-reduced-the-rate-of-homelessness-among-the-people-it-helped-in-california-276255">original article</a>.
</div>