Author: Reporter

Target once distinguished itself as being boldly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Now that status is tarnished after it removed some products aimed at LGBTQ+ and relocated Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain Southern locations in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations that it says threatened employees’ well-being. Target faces a second backlash from customers upset by the discount retailer’s reaction to aggressive, anti-LGBTQ+ activism, which has also been sweeping through Republican state legislatures. Civil rights groups chided the company for caving to anti-LGBTQ+ customers who tipped over displays and expressed outrage over gender-fluid...

Aaron and Lacey Jennen’s roots in Arkansas run deep. They have spent their entire lives there, attended the flagship state university, and are raising a family. So they are heartbroken at the prospect of perhaps having to move to one of an ever-dwindling number of states where gender-affirming health care for their transgender teenage daughter, Sabrina, is not threatened. “We were like, ‘OK, if we can just get Sabrina to 18 … we can put all this horrible stuff behind us,'” Aaron Jennen said, “and unfortunately that’s not been the case, as you’ve seen a proliferation of anti-trans legislation...

Jonnifer Neal’s Kia was stolen twice in one day, first from in front of her Chicago home and later from outside the mechanic shop where she took it to get fixed. But Neal’s ordeal didn’t end there. After her car was recovered a month later, she was stopped by police twice coming home from work because a police error caused the Optima to remain listed as stolen. The same error resulted in officers waking her up at 3 a.m. another night. On yet another occasion, a swarm of officers pulled her over as she was traveling to Mississippi, handcuffing...

With new and used cars still painfully expensive, Ryan Holdsworth says he plans to keep his 9-year-old Chevy Cruze for at least four more years. Limiting his car payments and his overall debt is a bigger priority for him than having a new vehicle. A 35-year-old grocery store worker from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Holdsworth would probably be in the market for a vehicle within a few years — if not for the high cost. For now, it’s out of the question. “You’re not going to get one for a price you can afford,” he said. Holdsworth has plenty of...