By Andrew Xie May 20, 2026 On March 12 2023, the trailer for the live-action adaptation of the animated film “The Little Mermaid” dropped online and, within hours, garnered tens of millions of views. Online, two sides emerged almost immediately: one flooded with parents sharing videos of their young daughters joyously pointing at the girl on the screen, and another filled with fans of the original, frustrated that something fundamental to the film was lost. When H

By Sarah Perez May 20, 2026 Police responding to a fire alarm call at the University of Iowa discovered a disturbing scene: 56 shirtless, blindfolded men standing in a basement, covered in ketchup, mustard and alcohol. Despite the appearance of the situation, these men were not hostages; instead, they were voluntary participants of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity’s peculiar hazing ritual. For the roughly 600,000 members of fraternities and sororities in the Unite

By Srihita Madiraju Apr. 5, 2026 Eleanor Wang Art Bad Bunny, or Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, stands as one of the biggest artists in the world, generating billions of streams globally. In a historic moment, he proudly represented Latino culture at the Super Bowl Halftime show, acknowledging America as a continent consisting of many countries instead of simply the United States. His performance was a powerful act of courage as he used the halftime stage to speak

By Winston Chu Apr. 5, 2026 Catherine Nguyen Art From the east to west coast, thousands of students across the nation walked out of classrooms on Jan. 30 and marched on the streets to protest the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Following the death of civilians Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by ICE agents, citizens organized a national protest to demand accountability for ICE. Yet, many students who supposedly walk

By Dylan Xie Feb 15, 2026 Kira Yoshioka-Gutierrez Art When the European Union (EU) recently switched from adoption to enforcement of their new Digital Services Act (DSA) on Dec. 5, 2025, it marked one of the largest escalations over control, truth and speech on the internet. This is yet another intrusion from the EU on American social media, censoring what they consider disinformation and encroaching on First Amendment rights in the process. The new DSA act gran

By Brandon Koo Despite being home to over 200 billionaires, California faces serious budget deficits, particularly in healthcare. This irony has led to a proposal known as the California Billionaire Tax Act of 2026, an idealized measure that aims to stabilize the state’s finances but will ultimately drive out innovation and weaken the state’s economy. Ryan Park Art The act requires all individuals residing in California with a net worth exceeding $1 billion to pay a one-time

By Ayush Deshpande In August 2025, “The Stanford Daily”—Stanford University’s student-run newspaper—filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio, arguing that the federal government’s use of deportation to threaten foreign activists poses an active threat to free speech. Their decision to sue was primarily motivated by a responsibility to protect staff and students who fear speaking out due to threats from the government. If students and staff cannot voice their per