In post-WWII America, the Levittown house was a house for all — as long as you weren't Black

They weren't the most impressive-looking houses: boxy and small, two bedrooms with a living room and kitchen, no basement, tossed up one after another in assembly-line fashion.

America 250 Objects Levittown House

For certain families in the years after WWII, though, they were perfect — a chance to have a home of one's own, an answer to a serious housing shortage. So was born Levittown, about 40 miles outside of New York City on Long Island. It grew to more than 17,000 houses, the first wholly planned American suburb.

Developer William Levitt wasn't the first builder to use mass-production methods to build homes that were accessible to the middle class, but “nobody was building on the scale that he did,” says Ed Berenson, professor of history at New York University and author of “Perfect Communities: Levitt, Levittown and the Dream of White Suburbia.”

Levitt started out with 2,000 homes, unsure of what the demand would be. About three times that many people signed up, so eager were returning veterans for their own homes. The Federal Housing Authority played a part as well, guaranteeing mortgages.

Advertisement

But the first Levittown and others that he built, and suburbs developed by others, weren't open to all. Federal backing of mortgages was aimed at white buyers, in white communities, not Black buyers. Levitt refused to sell to Black families and included restrictive covenants that barred those who bought the homes from reselling to Black people.

That's left a legacy in a country where the biggest financial asset for many Americans has been their homes, Berenson says.

“What Levitt did by creating these exclusively white communities is he set up a structure that still exists today, and it’s a structure that has really maintained racial inequality, even more than class inequality,” Berenson says. “It’s not nearly as bad as it was, but it still exists.”

Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250 anniversary of the United States.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 08, 2026

In post-WWII America, the Levittown house was a house for all — as long as you weren't Black

They weren't the most impressive-looking houses: boxy and small, two bedrooms with a living room and kitchen, no basement, tossed u...

Read More

Shelly Kittleson, US journalist kidnapped in Iraq, is freed

An American journalist kidnapped in Iraq has been released, according to multiple reports.

Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah said on April 7 that it would release abducted U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson, reported Reuters, theNew York Timesand theAssociated Press.The group added that she must leave Iraq immediately.

Kittleson, 49, was kidnapped on March 31 on a busy street in central Baghdad, Reuters andUSA TODAY previouslyreported. Both U.S. and Iraqi officials said Kataib Hezbollah was responsible for the abduction, and the group offered on April 1 to negotiate with the Iraqi government for her release in exchange for several militia members being held by authorities, according tothe New York Times.

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Smoke rises following an explosion after the U.S. and Israel reportedly launched an attack against Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026, in this screen grab taken from video.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> A plume of smoke rises following a reported explosion in Tehran on February 28, 2026. Two loud blasts were heard in Tehran on February 28 morning by AFP journalists, and two plumes of thick smoke were seen over the centre and east of the Iranian capital.

Israel's defence ministry announced it had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran as sirens sounded in Jerusalem and people across the country received phone alerts about an "extremely serious" threat.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist after disembarking Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 27, 2026. Hours later, Trump made live comments about the military strikes he launched against Iran.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Buildings inin Tehran stand after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, February 28, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Latest photos capture US and Israeli strikes against Iran

Smoke rises following an explosion,after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026.

A spokesperson for Kataib Hezbollah said Kittleson was freed "in appreciation of the patriotic positions” of Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who had been negotiating for her release, reported the AP and the Times.

“This initiative will not be repeated in the future,” the militia's statement said, according to the same sources. "We are in a state of war waged by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam and in such situations, many considerations are disregarded.”

The U.S. and Iraqi governments have not yet confirmed Kittleson's release or whereabouts. USA TODAY reached out to Iraq's Ministry of Interior and the U.S. State Department for comment.

Who is Shelly Kittleson?

Kittleson is an independent journalist living in the Middle East,USA TODAY previously reported.Her work has appeared in multiple publications over the past decade, including Al Majalla, Al-Monitor, ANSA and RAI Radiotre, among other freelance work,according to her public LinkedIn account. Other social media profiles show she has worked for publications like BBC World Service and Politico.

Advertisement

Kittleson also won the coveted Italian journalism award Premio Caravella in 2017 for her war zone reporting, according to the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.

Middle East news siteAl-Monitor, which first identified Kittleson upon abduction, said she has covered several wars in the region and had contributed articles to the outlet. The publication called for her "safe and immediate release" after Iraq's Ministry of Interior confirmed the kidnappingin a March 31 Facebook post.

Americanofficials had previously warned Kittlesonof threats against her, according to a social media post from Dylan Johnson, a U.S. State Department senior official. Johnson said in other posts that the State Department and FBI were working to secure her release "as quickly as possible."

Kittelson is originally from Mount Horeb, a small village in south-central Wisconsin, her mother, Barb Kittleson,told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,part of the USA TODAY network, on April 1.

"She just wanted to help people. She’s just a journalist," her mother said.

This story will be updated.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Journalist Shelly Kittleson released after Iraq kidnapping

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 08, 2026

Shelly Kittleson, US journalist kidnapped in Iraq, is freed

An American journalist kidnapped in Iraq has been released, according to multiple reports. Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib H...

Read More

Ohio man becomes first person convicted under federal law criminalizing intimate deepfakes

An Ohio man is the first person to be convicted under the Trump Administration’s Take It Down Act, a federal law that criminalizes posting nonconsensual explicit imagery, including AI-made deepfakes,the Department of Justice announced in a Tuesday press release.

The man, 37-year-old James Strahler II, used AI to create nonconsensual images and videos of both adult and minor victims, the department said in the press release. He was arrested in June of 2025 and, on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to cyberstalking, producing obscene visuals of child sexual abuse material and publishing digital forgeries — the law's term for deepfakes.

According to the release, Strahler used images of minor boys he knew in his community and morphed their faces onto the bodies of adults or other children to create material of them engaged in sex acts, specifically with their family members. Strahler posted over 700 images of people online to a website dedicated to child sexual abuse.

On his phone, Strahler had 2,400 images depicting nudity or AI-generated CSAM, according to the DOJ release, and he had downloaded more than 24 AI platforms and over 100 web-based AI models.

Strahler had also sent messages to at least six adult female victims that contained both real and AI-generated nude images of them. Strahler created at least one AI-generated video depicting an adult victim engaging in sex acts with her father, which he then circulated to her co-workers, the release said.

“I am proud to have worked with Congress to provide U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II with a strong legal mechanism to protect innocent victims from cybercrimes of this nature,” the First Lady said in an emailed statement to NBC News.

Advertisement

President Donald Trump firstsigned the Take It Down Act in May of 2025. In addition to criminalizing nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, the federal law also requires platforms to take down imagery 48 hours after it is reported. The act was spearheaded and widely advocated for by First Lady Melania Trump as part of her “Be Best” initiative. By May of this year, online platforms will have to establish a set process to remove nonconsensual material that victims report from their platforms.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saidin a Wednesday press briefingthat the conviction "is a huge achievement for the First Lady" and that "the President is very proud of his wife’s efforts in getting this critical legislation passed to protect America’s youth.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas first introduced the bill in June of 2024. It passed through the Senate with a unanimous vote and later in the House with a 409-2 vote. Those who violate the law can be subject to fines and up to two years in prison, when there are adult victims, and up to three years for minor victims.

The conviction comes afterthe issue of AI-generated CSAMhas been building for years.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a child protection organization that operates the official online sexual exploitation tip line in the U.S.,reported in a March 31 releasethat it had received more than 1.5 million tips related to generative AI and child sexual exploitation in 2025.

Aside from the Take It Down Act, Congress and state lawmakers are circulating additional bills and local legislation that attempt to further criminalize AI-generated CSAM.

In December of 2025, the Enhancing Necessary Federal Offenses Regarding Child Exploitation (ENFORCE) Act, which proposes prosecuting creators and distributors of AI-generated CSAM to the same degree as those who create non-AI generated CSAM,passed unanimously through the Senate. The bill has not yet made any progress in the House. A tracker created by the watchdog group Public Citizen shows thatat least 45 states have passed local laws related to AI deepfakes, some specifically tailored towards minors.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 08, 2026

Ohio man becomes first person convicted under federal law criminalizing intimate deepfakes

An Ohio man is the first person to be convicted under the Trump Administration’s Take It Down Act, a federal law that criminalizes post...

Read More

Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions rose under Trump, report says

Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions by ICE have surged 770%, while street arrests saw a more than 1,000% increase during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

The analysis by the Deportation Data Projectat UC Berkeley found that ICE arrests more than quadrupled in that period, with transfers from jails and prisons roughly doubling. The much-increased street arrests took place in neighborhoods, at immigration court and at ICE field offices during regular immigration check-ins, the report said.

“Arrests not in jails or prisons at this order of magnitude are a new phenomenon. For both types of arrests, ICE was much less likely to target people with criminal convictions,” according to the analysis by the Deportation Data Project, which is led by a group of academics and lawyers that collect, post and analyze government immigration enforcement data.

The changes in enforcement led to a 770% increase in immigration arrests of people without criminal convictions, according to the analysis.

The project's analysis is based on data obtained through a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act and covers arrests through March 10, according to the report.

“It’s well known that ICE has been pursuing a campaign of indiscriminate arrests, but it’s less well known that even as ICE has arrested more people who likely could win their cases and stay in the United States, arrests have been ending more often in deportation,” report author David Hausman, co-director of the Deportation Data Project and assistant professor of law at UC Berkeley, said in a statement. “One big factor is that detention causes people to give up on their cases.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News that the Deportation Data Project had “cherry picked” data in order to “peddle a false narrative.”

The spokesperson added: “70% of ICE arrests are criminal illegal aliens. We are continuing to go after the worst of the worst — including gang members, pedophiles, and rapists.”

The DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for data substantiating that 70%. The agency has previously said that 70% of its arrests are of people who have been either convicted or charged with a crime in the U.S.

Advertisement

The agency added that “every single one of these individuals committed a crime when they came into this country illegally.” Crossing the border without authorization is a federal misdemeanor for a first offense. The administration has also arrested immigrants who entered the country legally.

“The Deportation Data Project relies on information releases that have not been reviewed, audited or given context,” the spokesperson said. “DHS nor ICE have verified the accuracy, methodology or the analysis of the project and its results. The bottom line is that the Deportation Data Project is not accurate.”

In response, the Deportation Data Project said that ICE had sent them its datasets in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and that it posted the original data.

“These are ICE’s own records of who is arrested, detained, and deported,” the project said.

The group also said it documented every step it took in analyzing the original data.

The project’s analysis also found that deportations of people who were already in the U.S. — versus migrants encountered at the border — increased by a factor of five during the first year of Trump’s second term. The report said this change was due to increases in detention space and a decrease of releases.

The administration also more than quadrupled the number of detention beds used for people arrested within the U.S., according to the analysis. That surge was due to both new funding and a decrease in border arrests, the report said.

Graeme Blair, co-director of the Deportation Data Project and professor of political science at UCLA, said in a statement that the analysis showed that arrests did not surge only in Democratic cities where the administration launched immigration enforcement operations, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.

“In fact, even at the peak of the Minneapolis surge, those arrests accounted for only 15% of nationwide street arrests,” Blair said. “The expansion is truly national.”

The project’s report follows itsprevious analysis of the first nine monthsof the Trump administration, which found that a jump in the number of street arrests led to an increase in the number of deportations of people who were in the U.S. by more than four and a half times.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 08, 2026

Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions rose under Trump, report says

Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions by ICE have surged 770%, while street arrests saw a more than 1,000% increase during...

Read More

Bondi will not appear for House interview on Epstein files, DOJ says

By Nolan D. McCaskill and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi does not plan to appear for a planned interview with a House of Representatives committee ‌on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files following her firing by President Donald Trump, the ‌Justice Department told Congress on Wednesday.

Bondi was subpoenaed last month to testify in her formal role as attorney general, rendering the demand invalid ​now that she no longer holds that title, a Justice Department official wrote in a letter to the House Oversight chairman, Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky. Trump fired Bondi last week, in part over discontent with her management of the release of records related to Epstein, the late financier and sex offender who died in jail ‌while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

"The ⁠Department's position is that the subpoena no longer obligates her to appear on April 14. We kindly ask that you confirm that the subpoena is withdrawn," Assistant Attorney ⁠General Patrick Davis, the DOJ's top liaison with Congress, wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Bondi for questioning on the Justice Department's compliance with a bipartisan law passed in November that ​required DOJ ​to release nearly all of its files on Epstein. ​Lawmakers have complained that redactions in the files ‌appear to exceed what is allowed in the law and that the Justice Department publicly released names of victims in some documents.

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said the panel will contact Bondi's personal lawyer to "discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition."

Advertisement

A Justice Department spokesperson said the DOJ "remains committed to working cooperatively" with the committee but the subpoena to Bondi "no longer applies."

The panel's top Democrat, Representative Robert Garcia of California, threatened to begin contempt proceedings against ‌Bondi if she did not appear before the panel, a ​move that would require Republican support to advance.

“Now that Pam Bondi ​has been fired, she’s trying to get out ​of her legal obligation to testify before the Oversight Committee about the Epstein files ‌and the White House cover-up," Garcia said in ​a statement.

The House Oversight Committee ​has been conducting a wide-ranging probe into Epstein's ties with wealthy and powerful individuals and the Justice Department's handling of criminal investigations into Epstein and his former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Bondi and her then-top ​deputy, Todd Blanche, who is now acting ‌attorney general, appeared last month to privately brief the committee on the Epstein files. Democrats ​walked out during the session, demanding that officials answer questions under oath.

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill ​and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 08, 2026

Bondi will not appear for House interview on Epstein files, DOJ says

By Nolan D. McCaskill and Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi does not plan t...

Read More

Trial is ending for doctor accused of trying to kill his wife during a cliff-side hike in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — An attempted murder trial is wrapping up for an anesthesiologist accused of trying to kill his wife during a cliff-side hike near a popular scenic lookout in Hawaii, with closing arguments expected Tuesday.

The trial started last month, nearly a year after Gerhardt and Arielle Konig went on a hike on the Pali Puka trail in Honolulu that ended with her bloodied and screaming that he tried to kill her. Gerhardt Konig has pleaded not guilty.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of domestic violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-7233 in the U.S.

The couple were on a weekend trip to Hawaii's capital city for her birthday in March 2025 while their two young sons stayed home on Maui. Near a lookout offering sweeping views, Gerhardt Konig, 47 — upset about his wife's relationship with a coworker — tried to push her off the steep trail, bashed her head with a rock and attempted to stab her with a syringe, prosecutors said.

The trial, with testimony livestreamed by Court TV, has aired the couple's marital problems leading up to the hike, along with their versions of what happened on the trail.

Gerhardt Konig testified that his wife was having an affair, which he confirmed by unlocking her phone while she slept. The relationship, which Arielle Konig characterized as an “emotional affair” involving flirty messages with a coworker, came up during the hike.

Advertisement

Arielle Konig testified that her husband grabbed her and moved her toward the cliff's edge, but she threw herself on the ground in an attempt to hold on. He straddled her and had a syringe in his hand, she said, but she batted it away. She bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles in attempt to get him off her, she said.

Her husband denied pushing her toward the edge and testified that she hit him with a rock on the side of her face. He wrestled the rock away and hit her with it twice in self-defense, he said.

He denied having any syringes on the mountain, or trying to stab her. His defense attorney told jurors no syringe was found at the scene.

Two hikers who heard Arielle Konig's screams helped her get down the trail.

Pali Puka, which means “pierced cliff” in Hawaiian, leads to a hole in a rock ridge through which hikers can look out over the forest to see the ocean. The trail is closed because state officials have deemed it unsafe, but hikers often enter through a small clearing, ignoring a warning sign that reads: “Area Closed! Do not go beyond this sign.”

Gerhardt Konig testified that as he watched his wife crawl away, he believed his marriage and career were over, and he decided to jump to his death. But first, he called his adult son from a previous marriage. The son told authorities that his father said he "tried to kill your stepmom” — a confession Gerhardt Konig denied having made.

He spent hours on the mountain before deciding to come down and surrender to police.

His wife has since filed for divorce.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 07, 2026

Trial is ending for doctor accused of trying to kill his wife during a cliff-side hike in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — An attempted murder trial is wrapping up for an anesthesiologist accused of trying to kill his wife during a cliff-side...

Read More

French train driver killed after crashing into truck at railway crossing

BULLY-LES-MINES, France (AP) — A French high-speed train driver was killed on Tuesday and 16 people were injured when his locomotive slammed into a truck carrying military equipment at a railway crossing in northern France, local authorities said.

France TGV Crash

The driver of the truck was detained, and an aggravated manslaughter investigation was opened, but it is too early to determine the exact cause of the crash, Prosecutor Etienne Thieffry told reporters.

Jean Castex, the head of the national railway authority SNCF, said the railroad crossing gates were functioning correctly. The train was traveling at 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) when it hit the truck, the local prefect said.

Rescue crews rushed to the scene after the crash in the town of Bully-les-Mines on a train route leading from Dunkirk to Paris, the regional administration said in a statement, adding that two of those wounded were seriously injured and that more than 200 train passengers were evacuated.

Advertisement

The nose of the locomotive was badly mangled and the truck also severely damaged, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. The train remained on the tracks, and the railway and some nearby roads were closed while emergency teams and investigators worked in the area.

The truck was tossed toward a nearby garden by the impact. The worst damage to the truck was in the rear of the vehicle, not the cab.

The crunch of the collision soon after dawn awakened some residents. Others told the AP that they were alerted by the smell of gasoline, or the sight of flames above the crash site.

Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 07, 2026

French train driver killed after crashing into truck at railway crossing

BULLY-LES-MINES, France (AP) — A French high-speed train driver was killed on Tuesday and 16 people were injured when his locomotive sl...

Read More

Inside a huge compound on Thailand-Cambodia border where 10,000 workers scammed people globally

O'SMACH, Cambodia (AP) — I have often used the word industrial-scale in my own writing to describe thescam compoundsthat dot the region.

Cambodia Thailand Scam

But the weight of that phrase truly sunk in at the O’Smach Resort complex that we visited Tuesday. Thailand's military, which conducted a tour for the media, said that the whole area encompasses around 197 acres (80 hectares), equivalent to 150 American football fields.

It wasn't my first time at ascam center, but its scale dwarfed anything I had seen before.

From my base in Southeast Asia, I have followed this issue for the past few years, watching its scale only grow larger and larger.

Scam compounds havemushroomed across Southeast Asiasince the pandemic. Inside these industrial-scale complexes, workers attempt to lure unsuspecting targets from countries all across the world in sophisticated online-based scams. The latest estimates from the U.N. office on Human Rights are that around 300,000 workers are caught up in the industry regionally.

Thailand’s military invited journalists back to the huge scam complex that it had seized in December during its border conflict with Cambodia. The military said that it had taken the area in response to the Cambodian side using it as a base of operations for launching attacks.

The complex was called the O’Smach Resort, owned by Cambodian politician Ly Yong Phat, who faces U.S. sanctions for rights abuses in the very same complex. It's unclear, however, whether the new construction also belongs to Ly. Throughout the massive grounds of the self-contained town, there were signs of construction. Piles of bricks and construction cranes sat waiting for workers to finish the job.

Advertisement

The military also took us to the premises where workers likely scammed Americans. FBI data released Tuesday shows that Americans lost near $21 billion to scams in 2025 alone.

On the desks inside the four-story office building were still snacks from the previous users, as well as scripts and notes in Chinese on each aspect of the scam. American SIM cards were scattered on the surface as well.

There was an elaborate backstory to target the Americans. One of the scripts on the desk was 24 pages of an in-depth character sketch of a woman named Mila who had earned a lot of money on the gold options trading market.

But the script went further. Mila had lost her husband to leukemia when their daughter was just a baby. It constructed memories of her childhood, such as her getting bullied by other girls, and then her parents sending her to South Africa to live with her uncle in order to be in a healthier environment.

There’s 157 buildings, 29 of which were buildings that housed the scam companies and their offices. The rest included massive dorm complexes, and more luxurious accommodations that included apartments and three-story villas. The military officials said that they estimated at least 10,000 people were living there.

There was also a variety of Chinese restaurants, catering to people who wanted spicy Hunan cuisine, or southern Shaxian cuisine, or hot and sour rice noodles, a Sichuanese classic.

While Thailand and Cambodia have vowed to tackle the problem, the scale of the problem is far more global.

“Every country of the world has to join together to solve this problem, (we) cannot do it alone with Cambodia and Thailand,” said Air Chief Marshal Prapas Sornchaidee, who was one of the officials leading the tour.

byVincento Seyarto

in

April 07, 2026

Inside a huge compound on Thailand-Cambodia border where 10,000 workers scammed people globally

O'SMACH, Cambodia (AP) — I have often used the word industrial-scale in my own writing to describe thescam compoundsthat dot the re...

Read More