It's been a busy few months for Popular Information. Here are a few highlights from our reporting:

• Popular Information revealed that the investigation into the death of Mika Westwolf, a 22-year-old Indigenous woman allegedly run over by a white nationalist, was under-resourced, haphazard, and focused on pinning blame on the victim. The story was picked up by major national news organizations, including Democracy Now, Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, and New York Magazine. After our initial report, the Montana Highway Patrol told Popular Information that the FBI had begun assisting with the investigation.

• Popular Information's reporting on Florida book bans prompted a federal lawsuit. We reported that an English teacher in Escambia County, Florida, Vicki Baggett, is trying to ban 150 books from school libraries, including many that have LGBTQ characters or address racism. In a follow-up report, Baggett's current and former students said that Baggett openly promoted racist and homophobic beliefs in class. The Escambia County school board ultimately banned numerous books at Baggett's request. In May 2023, Popular Information's reporting became the basis for a federal lawsuit filed by Penguin Random House and parents of children affected by the bans, alleging that the school board's actions violate the United States Constitution.

• Popular Information broke the news that many of the largest donors to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign were Republicans who had never previously supported any Democratic candidate. Our detailed analysis of Kennedy's first FEC filing found that 38.5% of Kennedy’s largest donors had previously only donated to Republican candidates. (Less than 20% of Kennedy's largest donors have a history of donating to Democrats.) Popular Information's reporting was covered by the BBC, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic.

Today, however, I want to hear from you. What's on your mind? What topics should be on Popular Information's radar? You can leave your thoughts in the discussion thread linked below, starting now. I’ll be dropping by later today to answer any questions. 

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