The timing has a subtle unnerving quality. A coalition of five environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit contesting the Trump administration’s approval of BP’s newest and deepest drilling project on the exact sixteenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed eleven workers, spilled over three million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and permanently changed the lives of thousands of fishing families. It wasn’t a coincidental date. It seemed to make a statement. Kaskida is the name of the project in question. Drilling equipment will descend 6,000 feet into Gulf waters and then push further into the…
Author: Sierra Foster
Sierra Foster
Born in Kansas City, Sierra Foster writes about politics and serves as Senior Editor at kbsd6.com. She was raised paying attention to this city, not just living in it. Sierra has a strong, deep connection to Kansas City, from the neighborhoods east of Troost to the discussions that take place in the city hall halls. Sierra, who is presently enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in Political Science, applies the rigor of academic study to her journalism. She writes about politics in Missouri and Kansas as someone who genuinely cares about what happens to the people in these communities—the policies that impact them, the leaders who represent them, and the civic forces influencing their futures—rather than as an outsider watching from a distance. Her editorial coverage encompasses state-level policy, local government, and the national political currents that permeate bi-state regional life. Whether it's a city council vote or a Senate race, she has a special gift for turning complex policy language into writing that feels urgent, relatable, and worthwhile. Sierra seldom sits still off the page. She claims that playing soccer on a regular basis has sharpened her instincts for political reporting because of the sport's teamwork, strategy, and requirement to read a changing game in real time. She's probably somewhere in Kansas City with her friends when she's not writing or on the pitch, discovering new reasons to adore a city she already knows so well.
When a sitting FBI director tells a reporter, on camera, “I’ll see you in court – bring your checkbook,” a certain level of tension arises. That’s what most people say, but they never follow through. Kash Patel did as he was told. Patel sued reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick and The Atlantic for defamation on Monday in the US District Court in Washington, DC, requesting $250 million in damages. The lawsuit is the result of an article that was published last Friday and claimed that Patel’s excessive drinking and unexplained absences had alarmed coworkers. The article suggested that these behaviors could actually…
Seeing a father battle in court over his daughter’s dresses has a subtle, devastating quality. The emotional impact of the Amy Winehouse belongings lawsuit verdict is difficult to overlook, regardless of one’s opinion of the legal strategy. Even though she acknowledged the grief that is obviously at the heart of all of this, Deputy High Court Judge Sarah Clarke KC did not spare Mitch Winehouse from harsh criticism when she delivered her ruling this week. The case had been developing for a while. Two of Amy’s closest friends, stylist and costume designer Naomi Parry and longtime confidante Catriona Gourlay, were…
Spending a lot of money on a product, treating it with care, keeping it in its case, and never throwing it around, and then seeing it break down is especially frustrating. A growing number of owners of the Sony WH-1000XM5 appear to be describing precisely that, and it has now progressed beyond online forums and into federal court. Sony Corporation of America and Sony Electronics Inc. are named as defendants in a class action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York. Ian Kanter, the plaintiff, claims that the WH-1000XM5 headphones have a structural flaw in the swiveling hinge…
The Mojave National Preserve’s Clark Mountain region experiences a certain kind of silence that takes a few minutes to fully register. No crowds, no traffic, and no background noise from machinery. All that is present is heat, rock, wind, and an ecosystem that has been silently functioning for thousands of years. It is difficult to believe that bulldozers have been slicing through delicate habitat somewhere in this silence. However, that is precisely what occurred, and the legal system is now being consulted. The federal government’s decision to permit Dateline Resources Ltd., an Australian mining company, to resume industrial operations at…
When Dana Nessel took the oath of office on January 1, 2019, she gave a description of her mission that is worth mentioning. She avoided discussing her political aspirations or legal successes. She discussed the individuals. In particular, about returning the Department of Attorney General to its constituents. That promise is surprisingly straightforward, but it’s more difficult to fulfill than it seems. After winning the election in November 2018, Nessel—a former criminal prosecutor and civil rights lawyer—became Michigan’s 54th Attorney General. She entered a position that most people in Michigan wouldn’t be able to adequately explain. The 1963 Michigan Constitution…
It began with a chilly swim in the ocean. In a Sydney federal courtroom, an experienced lawyer referred to one of Hollywood’s most famous faces as a “fantastical liar.” Regardless of your preconceived notions about Rebel Wilson—her relatable underdog persona and her astute comedic timing—the defamation lawsuit filed by young Australian actress Charlotte MacInnes is revealing a much more nuanced picture of her off-screen persona. MacInnes starred in Wilson’s first feature film, The Deb, after graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2021. Wilson’s Instagram posts from 2024 and 2025 are the subject of her current lawsuit,…
The use of the land near Bridgwater, Somerset, to construct the future has an almost poetic quality. This area of rural England was home to a royal ordnance factory for many years; it was a place meant to be destroyed. A business supported by the Tata Group is currently attempting to produce the batteries that could power Britain’s electric future on the same 616 acres. It’s a major reversal of intent. It’s not going as planned, like most ambitious endeavors. A contractor change is the most recent development in the construction story of the Somerset EV battery plant. Agratas, the…
2032 is a date that Washington keeps in the back of his mind. It’s not that it’s far away; rather, it’s not at all. According to the Social Security trustees’ projections, the program’s primary trust fund will run out in just six years. If Congress does nothing before then, about 70 million Americans may see a $500 monthly check reduction. That figure isn’t theoretical. For many retirees, that means rent, groceries, or prescription drugs. During a recent conference call, Social Security Administration chief actuary Karen Glenn stated bluntly, “We need to either raise scheduled revenue, reduce scheduled benefits or some…
When you hold a newborn kitten in your palm, you experience a certain kind of helplessness. It is nearly weightless. It sounds less like a cry and more like a creak. Additionally, when something starts to go wrong, it can happen so quickly that the window of opportunity for assistance has already significantly shrunk by the time most people become aware of it. Veterinarians refer to a newborn kitten’s failure to flourish during the first four to five weeks of life as “fading kitten syndrome.” There isn’t just one illness. It’s more akin to a collapse—a collection of symptoms that…