Across the country, families continue to face rising costs that touch nearly every aspect of daily life. The increases are showing up at gas stations, in grocery stores, on utility bills, and in household budgets already stretched by years of inflation and economic uncertainty.

The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in April and 3.8% over the previous 12 months, marking one of the strongest inflation readings in more than a year.

In August 2024, driven by hunger and desperation, Shelly went to Walmart to buy food. She paid for what she could but hid the rest in her bag. A Walmart employee caught her, called the police, and Shelly was arrested, charged with a misdemeanor, and booked into jail. Unable to pay $800 in cash bail, she faced the possibility of indefinite incarceration.

A Gallup survey conducted April 1–15 found that 31% of Americans identify the high cost of living and inflation as the most important financial problem facing their families, making it the most frequently cited concern by a wide margin.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is warning that the White House’s national AI framework moves aggressively to boost industry growth but leaves unanswered who will benefit from the wealth and opportunity the technology is expected to generate.

After billions of dollars in pledges poured into Black communities following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Black-led nonprofits now say they are being pushed to remove race from their mission, language, and identity or risk losing funding, according to a new report detailing a sharp reversal across philanthropy.

According to a newly released fact sheet from the National Women's Law Center, women working full time, year round were typically paid 81 cents for every dollar paid to men in 2024, a decline from prior years that left women earning a median of $13,570 less annually.

Among the hardest hit by these shifts are Black women, whose unemployment rates have surged sharply.