Welcome to Popular Information, a newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. A Popular Information investigation found that a network of award-winning newspapers has quietly published over 17,000 online articles pushing promo codes for sports books, online casinos, and prediction markets since 2022. Contacted for comment, the owner of the network, Advance Local, claimed these articles — which featured headlines like “Kalshi promo code PENNLIVE: UFC 328 Preview” — were legitimate journalism. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that major U.S. cities are overrun with crime, specifically targeting Democrat-run cities as “unsafe” and “crime-ridden.” But according to a report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, violent crime decreased in cities across the country in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year. In June 2025, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump announced the launch of Trump Mobile, which promised to release “a sleek, gold smartphone” that would be “made in the USA” and available in August 2025 for $499. It has collected $100 deposits for the devices since last summer while quietly dropping its pledge to produce them domestically. As of the beginning of May, no products have been sent to customers. (On May 13, Trump Mobile claimed on X that phones, which resemble a Chinese phone available for $200, would “start shipping this week.”) |