Since the federal government enacted a law to fight sex trafficking online, the predictions of one Oregon congressman who opposed the measure appear to have come true.

“The bill passed today by the House will make it harder to catch bad actors and protect victims by driving this vile crime to shadowy corners of society that are harder for law enforcement to reach,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in February 2018.

David and Ruth Daumer celebrated their 40th anniversary this year on Jan. 6. They almost didn’t make it: David had a heart attack in 1996 at their older daughter’s 7th birthday party. She and her 1-year-old sister had to say goodbye to their dad in case he didn’t make it home from the hospital.

David and Ruth met when they were children in Hammond, Ind. They lost track of each other during high school but reconnected at a singles event during college. Their first date was a trip to the circus (“a good metaphor for our marriage,” said Ruth). Five months later they were engaged. 

After a campaign fundraising visit to San Francisco last week, President Donald Trump accused the city of allowing human waste and needles to wash down storm drains. The problem—a side-effect of the city’s homelessness crisis—could constitute a violation of Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the president said.

“It’s a terrible situation that’s in Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They’re in total violation. We’re going to be giving them a notice very soon.”

The United States has the lowest poverty rate it has seen since 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week. The overall poverty rate dropped from 12.3 percent in 2017 to 11.8 percent last year. The slight percentage drop finally brings the poverty rate below its 2007 number, marking further recovery from the Great Recession. 

In 1986, Hal Higley found a letter addressed to his wife in the mail. When he asked Kathi, she said it was from a friend in Louisiana, but their strained marriage had left him suspicious. Later, as they put their three kids in the car to go to dinner, Hal slipped inside to search for the letter and found it hidden in a drawer. When he read it, he said, his “whole world fell apart.” The letter was from another man.

The midsize city of Stockton, Calif., grants some residents an extra special perk: $500 a month in additional income. The money, part of a privately funded poverty-fighting experiment, allows 31-year-old Jovan Bravo to take off from his construction job every other Saturday.

“It’s made a huge difference,” Bravo said. “Just being able to spend more time with the wife and kids, it brings us closer together.”

Court cases against opioid manufacturers are starting to make big bucks for the nation’s hardest-hit states. With potentially billions of dollars coming in, advocates for victims and their families want to make sure the money goes to help the people who need it most.

Opioid makers are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars in state coffers.