Independent journalist writing about the economy. Contributing writer at @thenation.com. Send tips to brycecovert@protonmail.com or on Signal: brycecovert.25 she/her
"“I am panicking. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” said Marlene [a TPS holder]. “My kid is wondering if he goes to school, will I be there when he comes home?”
Lauren Kaori GurleyThis week: Nursing homes terminated hundreds of Haitian workers with TPS. Major airports fired Haitian janitors, cabin cleaners and wheelchair attendants. Schools let go of drivers and landscapers. My reporting on the fallout of Haiti TPS termination. t.co/vCyqrl7hK3
Project 2025 calls for eliminating Head Start. A leaked draft of Trump's first budget zeroed it out before he backtracked. Now the administration has found a way to essentially gut Head Start through regulation. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A New Trump Rule Would Lower Standards at Head Start and Exclude Immigrants From the ProgramThe Trump administration is on the verge of releasing a proposed rule that would eliminate crucial quality standards at the nation’s preschool program for low-income children.www.thenation.comA scoop from me: The Trump administration is about to release a proposed rule that would gut most of the quality standards that define Head Start while blocking undocumented immigrants from enrolling their kids www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A New Trump Rule Would Lower Standards at Head Start and Exclude Immigrants From the ProgramThe Trump administration is on the verge of releasing a proposed rule that would eliminate crucial quality standards at the nation’s preschool program for low-income children.www.thenation.comCongress appropriated $345 million for HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality this year. The Trump administration hasn't allowed any money to go out and fired all of the grant managers. kffhealthnews.org/news/ahrq-fu...
Trump Has Quietly Throttled an Agency Devoted to the Safety of American Healthcare - KFF Health NewsCongress appropriated $345 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for the 2026 fiscal year, but the agency has spent less than $15 million on grants. AHRQ hasn’t issued a new one i...kffhealthnews.orgTrans Kansans are still dealing with the financial and emotional fallout of one of the country's most draconian anti-trans bills newrepublic.com/article/2124...
The Costly Cruelty of the Kansas Anti-Trans Driver’s License LawA state legislature mired in animus against transgender Kansans has succeeded in its inhumane goals, leaving those affected in a state of confusion and anxiety.newrepublic.comIn February, the Kansas legislature invalidated all licenses with gender markers that differ from a person's sex assigned at birth. Trans residents have had to shell out money to drive to DMVs and secure new licenses, take days off of work, and even move out of state. newrepublic.com/article/2124...
The Costly Cruelty of the Kansas Anti-Trans Driver’s License LawA state legislature mired in animus against transgender Kansans has succeeded in its inhumane goals, leaving those affected in a state of confusion and anxiety.newrepublic.comNixon Giovanni Pérez Paz was deported to Guatemala after an ICE traffic stop last year, and his wife Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz later followed him. They were just found bound, gagged, and shot with their 14-month-old daughter crying beside them. www.stlpr.org/law-order/20...
Overland couple shot dead in Guatemala after local ICE stop led to deportationsThe couple’s 14-month-old daughter was found crying beside her mother’s body in a sugarcane field last week, according to Guatemalan authorities and media.www.stlpr.org19 million kids have been cut out of Republicans' Child Tax Credit expansion because their parents don't earn enough. What a perverse "work requirement." www.cbpp.org/research/fed...
To Strengthen Economic Security, Policymakers Should Expand the Child Tax Credit to the 19 Million Children Who Receive Less Than the Full Credit AmountThe Child Tax Credit helps make raising children more affordable, and its full value should be available to families with lower incomes.www.cbpp.orgThis paper finds that Quebec's universal childcare either nearly paid for itself or more than paid for itself by allowing more mothers to work and earn more
Kevin MilliganNew paper: Investing in Mothers? The Long-Run Impact of a Universal Child Care Program on Maternal Work and Income Joint with Michael Baker and Jon Gruber. We look at long-run (up to age 54) labour impact on mothers of kids eligible for the Quebec childcare program. www.nber.org/papers/w35514
Yet another example of the Trump administration refusing to dole out money that Congress appropriated, which is against the law www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/u...
Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It.“It’s hard to look at the last year and see anything other than a deliberate slowdown of these grants.”www.nytimes.com"Of the 2,173 Arkansas women who qualified for Medicaid to cover their pregnancies and births but did not qualify for regular Medicaid, only 145 had another insurance option lined up and waiting for them on day 61."
Joan AlkerPostpartum women go without care as Arkansas holds out as lone state to deny them Medicaid arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
As some states pull back on childcare spending, red state Kentucky managed to pull off bipartisan legislation investing in the sector www.the74million.org/zero2eight/h...
How Kentucky Achieved Bipartisan Childcare ReformRecent legislation boosts provider benefits, raises subsidy reimbursement rates and removes obstacles for childcare providers in Kentucky.www.the74million.orgThe government is supposed to make sure the food we eat doesn’t make us sick www.bonappetit.com/story/cyclos...
You Can Blame the Government for the Diarrhea LettuceGutting federal food-safety tracking leaves millions of consumers entirely exposed.www.bonappetit.comThe administration wants to cover up the huge reductions in food stamp enrollment by claiming fraud. But it's got nothing. www.politico.com/news/2026/07...
Congress appropriated $65 million to provide legal representation for children in immigration court. The Trump administration is refusing to release it. www.newsfromthestates.com/article/thou...
Thousands of immigrant kids risk losing legal aid after Trump administration delays fundsWASHINGTON — As many as 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children are at risk of losing their federally funded legal representation due to the Trump administration withholding appropriated funds, immigr...www.newsfromthestates.comBright Horizons is a public company trying to make money in childcare, an industry notorious for incredibly thin profit margins, if providers make money at all. To do that, they have to enroll more kids, jack up tuition, and offer less. www.thecut.com/article/brig...
‘We Started Calling It Baby Prison’A string of health and safety violations, including alleged abuse, has flattened Bright Horizons’ reputation. Why are parents still signing up?www.thecut.comWithin two weeks the ICE raids in LA last year created $3.16 million in business losses, and a year later 95% of Latino business owners are still dealing with financial distress latino.ucla.edu/research/imm...
The Cost of Fear: The Impacts of Immigration Enforcement on Small Businesses and Latino Entrepreneurs in LA CountyThis report examines the immediate economic costs to businesses near enforcement sites during the June 2025 surge, and the mounting toll on Latino entrepreneurs across Los Angeles County.latino.ucla.eduA Manhattan Bright Horizons childcare center was charged with horrific child abuse last year. I spent months figuring out how this could have happened at an expensive, ubiquitous, corporate brand and uncovered many other deeply troubling problems at the chain: www.thecut.com/article/brig...
‘We Started Calling It Baby Prison’A string of health and safety violations, including alleged abuse, has flattened Bright Horizons’ reputation. Why are parents still signing up?www.thecut.com