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What was your favorite John Sterling home run call?
What was your favorite call from the beloved broadcaster?
First Hawaiian Bank: Open for Business – Seven Brothers
Seth Hannemann of Seven Brothers shares how his family’s humble vision became a local favorite and how First Hawaiian Bank has helped support their growth
NHL Draft Lottery 2026: Maple Leafs to select first overall
Penn State's Gavin McKenna is the strong favorite to be taken at No. 1.
iOS 27 Will Let You Pick Claude or Gemini Instead of ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence
iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 will let users set third-party AI services as the default for Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools and Image Playground, reports Bloomberg. Apple has signed a deal with Google and plans to use a Gemini-based model for Apple Intelligence and Siri features in iOS 27, but users will also be able to choose their favorite AI service as an alternative.
2026 Truist Championship Odds: Rory McIlroy Favored in First Start Since Masters Win
Rory McIlroy is set to make his first start since his second straight win at The Masters. Here’s a look at the latest odds and best bets for the Truist Championship.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Met Gala 2026 Dress Is Made of Film Reels From One of Her ‘Favorite’ Movies
The custom look was designed by Jonathan Anderson of Dior.
New bill aims to reduce sports streaming costs for Wisconsin fans
MADISON, Wis. — A new push in Washington, D.C. aims to make it easier and cheaper for fans to watch their favorite Wisconsin teams.
Champions League expert predictions, picks: Arsenal favorites to move on; Bayern, PSG's awaited encore
Here's how our experts think Tuesday and Wednesday's UCL semifinal second legs will go
NASA just released 12,000 more Artemis II photos — here are a dozen of our favorites
NASA just uploaded more than 12,000 photos snapped by the Artemis II crew during their record-breaking flyby around the moon. Here are some of the most inspiring ones.
Dodgers offense faces a vulnerable Astros bullpen
After an underwhelming output against the Cardinals, the Dodgers offense gets a favorable matchup in the Astros bullpen
Resident Evil Plans To Keep Favorites Like Leon Around
Leon could still be kicking zombie ass in his 70s
An asburd amount of goals, plus 3 Game 7s
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Make a hard decision today. Coming up: 😮💨 15 goals 😵💫 Three Game 7s 💔 Time to trade a star? Normally, we would lead this newsletter with the three Game 7s that happened across both the NBA and NHL yesterday. But we cannot ignore the the goalfest that happened in Colorado last night: The Avalanche, the Stanley Cup favorite, allowed six goals to the visiting Minnesota Wild in their opening game of the second round...
What concerts are happening in the South Bend area May 4 to 10?
Michiana is buzzing with live music this week. Find your favorite artists and events from May 4-10, 2026.
Global Health & WASH: May 2026 Funding Opportunities (14 new opportunities!)
The May update for Global Health & WASH brings new calls that cluster around three distinct shifts: LMIC research leadership moving from funder encouragement into a hard eligibility constraint, pharmaceutical and corporate-linked funders running structurally independent education and use-inspired research portfolios at substantial scale, and AI adoption shifting decisively from speculative tool to operational capability across health and WASH systems alike. In LMIC Research Leadership as Eligibility, Not Encouragement, Wellcome anchors the dominant signal of the month with three separate major calls that all require or strongly center LMIC leadership in their basic eligibility architecture. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs (£1.5-£1.9M per hub over 3-5 years) explicitly requires an LMIC-based lead applicant, treating Global South leadership as a design constraint rather than a participation goal. Wellcome’s Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award funds transdisciplinary teams whose lead must be a mid-career or established researcher based at an organization in Africa, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Wellcome’s larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1M-£8M for optimizing licensed interventions) requires the administering organization to be in eligible LMIC regions and at least 50% of applicants based there. Around Wellcome, the same pattern shows up at smaller scale and across funders: CHINNOVA channels $1M into West and Central African research institutions for climate-health work; IBRO’s Neuroscience Training Grants explicitly tier ceilings by region of residence with Africa receiving the highest amount ($5,000); IHME’s GBD Emerging Researcher Award reserves at least one of its two annual awards for an LMIC researcher; Sidaction’s HIV Cure call funds research teams across France, the Netherlands, and eligible African countries with a minimum two-country collaboration requirement. Taken together, these calls signal a meaningful shift in how research equity is being operationalized — not as encouragement language at the bottom of a call, but as a structural feature of who can lead, where the work must be administered, and what proportion of the team must be regionally rooted. In Pharma-Funded Independent Medical Education and Use-Inspired Research, the lineup this month is unusually deep. Pfizer alone runs four parallel calls under independent education and quality improvement frameworks: a Migraine and Women’s Health RFP (200K x 2-year, $500K pool), Migraine IME ($200K, $1M pool), JAK Inhibitor evidence-based education ($100K), and Maternal Vaccination HCP Education in Saudi Arabia ($75K), plus a separate Pediatric Pneumococcal Surveillance research call in Saudi Arabia ($400K per project). Novo Nordisk Foundation runs four parallel calls of its own at substantial scale: Infectious Diseases Catalyst Grants (DKK 60M pool, up to DKK 7M collaborative), Non-Diabetic Endocrinology Collaborative Grants (DKK 53M pool, DKK 5-10M per project), Pioneer Innovator Grant Health (DKK 1.1M), and Distinguished Innovator Grant Health (DKK 6.8M). LEO Foundation deploys DKK 2-4M per project for dermatology research excellence. Pfizer’s framing across calls deliberately separates the funding from product promotion, emphasizing measurable practice-relevant change and structural distance between scientific outputs and commercial activity. Novo Nordisk’s “use-inspired” hard filter pushes researchers toward a credible translation pathway from mechanism to deployable tool. The pattern: industry-aligned funders are running structurally independent portfolios at meaningful $ that fund implementation evidence, not promotion. In AI as Operational Capability, Not Speculation, several calls this month explicitly treat AI adoption as a near-term operational question with real evidence and governance requirements, rather than a speculative trend to be watched. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs frames AI as “the accelerator” for evidence synthesis, asking hubs to translate technical innovation into adoption-ready workflows that can match real-world policy timelines. UNICEF Venture Fund’s new Climate Tech for Children’s Health call funds for-profit startups deploying AI, machine learning, and blockchain in low-resource environments, with a strict requirement that solutions must already have a working prototype with promising pilot results. The Water Research Foundation has launched two simultaneous AI calls treating reproducibility, cybersecurity guardrails, and human-in-the-loop deployments as core design constraints rather than nice-to-haves: one on GenAI and Agentic AI in water utilities ($200K), one on alternatives to water shutoffs that explicitly screens for implementation economics evidence. Nordic Innovation’s quantum technology call (NOK 4.5M) extends the same logic into life science and healthcare, demanding consortium-stage projects mature enough to test with real users. TEF-Health offers €300K in subsidized testing infrastructure for European healthcare AI and robotics SMEs. The pattern: funders are converting AI pilots into playbooks, requiring transfer evidence and risk controls before AI can move from experimentation to sector-wide operational practice. For LMIC-based researchers in infectious disease or evidence synthesis, the three Wellcome calls together represent the deepest concentration of LMIC-led research capital in recent memory — pair the Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award (£200K, deadline May 19) as a strategic pipeline feeder into the larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1-£8M, deadline June 2), since the development award functions explicitly as a track into the larger trial scheme. For Nordic researchers, the four Novo Nordisk Foundation calls plus LEO Foundation and Nordic Innovation Quantum represent ~$30M in regional research capital this cycle, all with deadlines clustered in May-August. For WASH practitioners, the three Water Research Foundation calls together (each up to $200K) are a cluster worth reading across — one on AI deployment, one on shutoff alternatives, one rewarding applied innovation — and the strongest applicants will articulate how their work bridges utility operations to policy-relevant evidence. For US-based clinical researchers and educators, the four Pfizer calls plus the APF Portfolio’s 80+ programs form an unusually accessible recurring pipeline; APF’s prohibition on indirect costs is a meaningful structural feature for early-career applicants whose institutions might otherwise absorb significant overhead. Snapshot of New Opportunities Total Estimated Funding Pool: $100 Million+ USD The grants are organized into three categories: Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date. 39 open opportunities- 14 new! Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible). 14 rolling opportunities- 1 new opportunity! Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows. 4 long term opportunities! A quick tip for returning readers: if you want to jump straight to the newest additions, use CTRL F to search for “New!” and navigate quickly to the latest funding opportunities This post is for paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Subscribe To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer pay what you can rates. You can find more details here. Open Calls: Migraine Competitive Grant Program: Migraine and Women’s Health (Quality Improvement and/or Research RFP), Pfizer.*Closing soon!* Pfizer, in collaboration with the American Headache Society, is seeking independent quality improvement and research projects that close persistent gaps in migraine care for women across the United States. The funding logic centers on measurable, practice-relevant change: proposals should generate actionable evidence, tools, or system improvements that can be shared and used widely, not just within a single site. Priority areas span menstrual migraine and screening in women’s health settings, the role of hormonal fluctuations across the lifespan, sex-specific risk factors, comorbidities and quality-of-life burden, and disparities in outcomes by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The call is structured as a two-step competitive process with an initial Letter of Intent, with the strongest concepts expected to translate scientific insight into implementable improvements in diagnosis, management, and equity. Geographies: United States. Who can apply: U.S.-based organizations (not individuals), including professional schools, healthcare institutions, professional organizations, and other entities focused on healthcare improvement. Funding amount: Up to USD $200,000 total over 2 years; total pool USD $500,000. Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: migraine, women’s health, quality improvement, clinical research, menstrual migraine, health disparities. Deadline: LOI: May 5, 2026; Full proposal (by invitation): August 28, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This RFP rewards “shareable impact”: the most competitive submissions will pair rigorous methods with a clear plan for system uptake and dissemination beyond the originating institution. ReSSARC: Strengthening the Health Sector and Food Security in the Central African Republic (AID 013381/01/0) Call for Proposals, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). *Closing soon!* AICS is seeking a limited set of high-capacity humanitarian partners to deliver an integrated package that stabilizes essential health services while reducing acute malnutrition and strengthening food security resilience in priority areas of the Central African Republic. The funder’s logic is explicitly nexus-based: proposals should meet urgent, life-saving needs while reinforcing local systems, coordination mechanisms, and community-level capacity so results persist beyond the emergency window. AICS emphasizes inclusion and protection outcomes, expecting gender-sensitive design and explicit measures for groups facing compounded vulnerability, including women, children under five, internally displaced people, and people with disabilities. The call also signals a localization pathway, encouraging stronger collaboration with national NGOs and balanced partnerships, alongside clear coordination with existing cluster and humanitarian actors to minimize duplication and improve coverage. Geographies: Central African Republic (Bangui, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Lim-Pende, Lobaye). Who can apply: Non-profit organizations registered with AICS, plus eligible non-profits without an office in Italy that have a pre-existing collaboration agreement with an AICS-listed organization. Funding amount: Total pool EUR €1,800,000; max EUR €800,000 (single applicant) or EUR €1,000,000 (ATS). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: malnutrition prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, community health services, food security and resilience, localization partnerships Deadline: May 5, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This call is structured to reward partners who can link frontline service delivery to system durability and localization, not just short-term coverage gains. Contracts for Innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare, Innovate UK. *Closing soon!* Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Addiction Healthcare Goals program, is procuring R&D to accelerate innovations that can improve treatment outcomes, strengthen recovery, and reduce harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction. The competition is positioned as a market-facing readiness push: selected projects are expected to advance solutions toward later-stage validation, generate evidence of user acceptability and UK market fit, and map credible routes through regulatory and certification requirements. Innovate UK signals a preference for innovations that can be field-tested in relevant UK settings and progressed to TRL 6 or 7, with practical plans for commercialization after contract completion. This structure favors applicants that can execute most work in-house, co-develop with service providers and people with lived experience, and translate technical progress into deployable tools for addiction healthcare delivery. Geographies: United Kingdom. Who can apply: Single organizations of any size (including EU, EEA, or international) leading delivery, with most work and key deliverables carried out in the UK; subcontractors for specialist skills only. Funding amount: GBP £200,000–1.5 million per project (inclusive of VAT); Total pool: GBP £20 million (across two strands). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: Mental Health, Health Systems Strengthening, Research & Development, Technology Access. Deadline: May 6, 2026 (11:00am). Learn more and apply here. This call uses procurement to pull near-market addiction innovations toward operational proof and adoption pathways in UK services.
Yankees send Anthony Volpe to minors in favor of SS José Caballero
Analyst reveals surprising choice for favorite Chiefs draft selection
This might not be everyone's choice.
Did DOJ Settlement and Strong Ticket Demand Just Shift Live Nation Entertainment's (LYV) Investment Narrative?
Live Nation Entertainment recently outlined continued strong global concert demand, pricing power and a favorable Department of Justice settlement that avoided a Ticketmaster divestiture, while also confirming past management presentations at MoffettNathanson and J.P. Morgan investor conferences, both of which were webcast to investors. These developments, alongside Vanguard holding over 12.04 million shares and modest insider selling, spotlight how regulatory outcomes and investor...
Carolina Panthers looking to trade fan-favorite wide receiver
The NFL offseason has begun its shift toward minicamps and OTAs, and the draft gave teams a chance to infuse their rosters with rookie talent after free agency. The Carolina Panthers made several moves this offseason, including selecting a wide…
How the internet’s favorite squirrel dad made the hottest camera app of 2026
It’s a nutty story.
I stopped playing music on my Android phone and went back to my iPod
In 2026, my favorite music player has no Wi-Fi, no notifications, and no subscription. Here's why I'm using an iPod instead of an Android.
Inside the complex, secretive business of buying ube, the internet’s new favorite food
A global hunt for ube, whose signature violet hue has taken over social media, is upending a precarious supply chain in Asia.
Kentucky Derby best bets from NBC Sports betting experts
Renegade is the favorite (5-1), but his position on the rail raises some doubt he can win at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Chahinkapa Zoo partners with colleges to enhance science education
Some of my favorite educational partners throughout the year are schools. Today, I write about our secondary education partners — colleges and universities. Science curriculums across the tri-state area vary in courses and focus. I am proud that Chahinkapa Zoo has been an associate to many.
This Vampire Musical Is My Favorite New Show on Broadway—It's Scary Good
I just took in a showing of 'The Lost Boys' on Broadway in NYC, and it was a fabulous and scary musical based on the original film. My review? I'd call 'The Lost Boys' the best new musical of the year.
The politics of Trump's ballroom
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President Trump was about a half-hour into his second speech of the day, musing about the danger he faced last week at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Saturday night, it was good for one thing. People are loving my ballroom now,” Trump told a crowd last night. “That’s the only thing. They love my ballroom.” Ever since he was hustled off stage at the Washington Hilton last week, after an attempted shooter breached the dinner’s security perimeter and sent guests diving to the floor, the president has argued that the incident is proof for why his White House ballroom is needed. Only his planned $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project, Trump has reasoned, can keep a president truly safe at major events. It’s true that a bunch of GOP lawmakers have jumped on board with new legislation and words of support for Trump’s project. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Rand Paul and other prominent Republicans went on TV to talk about the need for a ballroom. But as we reported at The Washington Post this week, “people” aren’t really changing their minds on Trump’s ballroom. A new Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that most Americans still oppose the ballroom project: 56 percent against it versus 28 percent in favor. The numbers are the same as a poll from last year, the Post’s polling whiz Scott Clement found. Other new polls have found similar margins, too. “I’m just not a giant fan, especially of extravagance,” one independent voter told me. “I mean, in the era we’re in right now, given how much people are struggling, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to spend $400 million on a ballroom.” How we got here The Washington Post has followed Trump’s ballroom project very closely. (My colleague Jonathan Edwards may have written the most total words of any reporter about the project; I may be second.) The project exploded as a national issue after Trump tore down the White House’s East Wing after initially promising not to touch it.1 Historic preservationists sued, and about a month ago, a federal judge ordered a halt to ballroom construction.2 The only way the ballroom could proceed, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled, was if Congress explicitly authorized Trump’s plans. (An appeals court has stayed Leon’s order for now.) The judge’s ruling raised an obvious question: would Congress authorize the project? Keep in mind, “authorization” doesn’t mean that Congress needs to necessarily fund the planned $400 million project; they could just sign off on the private donations that Trump has solicited to pay for the ballroom.3 But GOP lawmakers really didn’t want to talk about the ballroom, we reported at The Post just a few weeks ago. One major reason was the ballroom’s bad polling — not a small detail with many of their own midterm elections looming. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident, and Trump’s advocacy, may have changed the political conversation around the ballroom. As this week’s polling shows, it doesn’t seem to have affected the fundamental questions surrounding the project. To put it another way, voters still say that cost-of-living concerns are top-of-mind heading into the midterms. Some Republican and independent voters have told me that they see the ballroom as a vanity project that will help Trump but do nothing for their own lives. It might not help Republicans that Trump has dismissed some of the cost-of-living concerns. He’s described “affordability” as a buzzword manufactured by Democrats whose policies helped cause inflation. “They’ve got one good line of bullshit,” Trump said in his first speech yesterday, delivered at a Florida retirement community known as The Villages. Thanks for reading Dan Diamond's newsletter! Subscribe for free to stay up-to-date on my work. Subscribe Speaking of Trump’s speeches… I’m down in Florida because it’s my “duty week” as a White House reporter — basically, I follow the president wherever he goes. (And then hand the baton off to one of my Washington Post colleagues next week.) As part of my duty week, I’ve spent a few days covering the White House’s reaction to Saturday’s attempted shooting, including officials’ review of the security protocols to protect the president. Trump was restrained in the wake of the incident, addressing the nation from the White House briefing room about the need for peaceful dialogue and trying to lower the temperature. But he’s clearly been itching to get back out of the White House, and I was curious to hear how his Florida speeches would go. And — to my ears — it was an unburdened Trump. Not the one we saw Saturday night in the White House briefing room, but the one we witnessed on the campaign trail in 2024. Loose, dropping profanities, mocking everyone, including members of his team. “We have a man here who knows more about Medicaid, Medicare, medical crap than any human being. Where’s Dr. Oz? Where the hell are you, stand up,” Trump said, referring to Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “It’s the most boring trip I’ve ever made. He’s telling me about Medicare, Medicaid. All I want to do is take care of you, I don’t care. I said, ‘You work out the details.’” I wrote up the speech, as Trump headed to West Palm Beach to deliver more remarks a few hours later. The White House didn’t like my story. Their rapid-response team called it the work of a “total loser”4 and “a miserable TDS-ridden moron.” You can be the judge of whether it’s a fair story or the product of someone afflicted with “TDS.” (The White House’s shorthand for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”) I’ve pasted the story below with a gift link, meaning that you don’t need to be a Washington Post subscriber to read it. It might prompt you for an email address, though. Meanwhile, I’ll be down in Florida for the rest of the weekend, covering the president. It’s TBD whether those stories will be deemed TDS-afflicted, too. 1 Jonathan details the past six months of ballroom fallout, reactions and the implications for executive authority here. I also had a great time talking about Trump’s ballroom and other projects with Australia’s ABC News Daily on a podcast this week. 2 The judge allowed underground construction and national security-related work to continue. But that hasn’t been enough for Trump, who says the ballroom itself is essential for his protection. 3 The ballroom donors include companies like Palantir, Google and Amazon. For transparency, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, where I work. No one has ever interfered with our team’s coverage of the ballroom or our mentions of Amazon or Bezos, and if that changed, I’d speak out. 4 To be fair, I’ve spent the morning working on stories and writing this Substack post rather than enjoying the beautiful Florida weather. So they may be onto something about who’s winning and who’s losing.
Kentucky Derby: The Puma, among the favorites, scratched with swelling in his leg
The Puma was had odds of 8-1 to win the race heading into Saturday's race.
Favorite things to buy at Trader Joe's, from restaurant owner
As a restaurant owner who shops at Trader Joe's for my own personal grocery needs, I love the store's ranch-seasoned cashews and Thai wheat noodles.
Boulet Brothers Reveal What They Want From Future ‘Dragula’ Competitors
The duo share their insights on becoming a pop culture phenom, as well as favorite horror movie influences.
2026 Kentucky Derby picks, odds, predictions, favorites: Bets from elite expert who had $1,045 win last year
Gene Menez revealed his Kentucky Derby 2026 picks for the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs
Rounding up Essentia media coverage from April
Each month, we share some of our favorite Essentia Health-related stories on the Newsroom.
Americans continue to view both the Republican and Democratic parties negatively
The share of Americans holding unfavorable views of both parties has grown over time, rising to 26% today compared with 21% in 2020.
Great Smoky Mountains trip: Gatlinburg tram was an unexpected highlight
I rode one of the largest aerial tramways in the US in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It offered some of my favorite views of the Great Smoky Mountains.
The Pixel 10 Pro was my favorite phone camera — until I tested this viral Android phone
I took the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL out for a camera shootout against the new OPPO Find X9 Ultra and there's one clear winner.
Where UNC lands in USA TODAY Sports' post-spring practice re-rank
An unfavorable 2025 season gives the UNC football team a bleak outlook heading into the fall. Where does USA TODAY Sports rank the Tar Heels?
2026 Kentucky Derby picks, odds, predictions, favorites: Best bets via top expert who had $1,045 win last year
Gene Menez revealed his Kentucky Derby 2026 picks for the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs
Apple TV has three fan-favorite sci-fi shows returning this summer
Apple TV is assembling a packed summer lineup, including several fan-favorite sci-fi series that are returning soon.
7 House seats could shift to GOP after voting rights ruling: Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball
Two nonpartisan election handicappers identified seven districts that could be at risk of being redrawn to favor Republicans following the Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision limiting the scope of t…
April Xbox Update: Customize Your Console, Manually Add Your Favorite Games on PC, and More.
The April Xbox Update is rolling out today featuring an array of improvements for console, PC, mobile, and more.
Google expands ‘Preferred Sources’ to everyone so you actually see your favorite sites
Launched in the second half of 2025, Google is now expanding its “Preferred Sources” tool in Search to all users...
2026 Kentucky Derby picks, odds, predictions, favorites: Best bets via expert who had $1,045 win last year
Gene Menez revealed his Kentucky Derby 2026 picks for the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs
Fed's favored inflation gauge remained elevated in March
The latest PCE inflation data was released by the Commerce Department which showed that inflation rose and remained elevated in March due in part to the Iran war's impact.
College sports sponsorships are quietly shaping what fans buy
44% of college sports fans say sponsorships favorably influence their purchase decisions, according to February data from Big Chalk.
ESPN reveals Chiefs selection was favorite move of NFL Draft
The Chiefs knew who they wanted, and made it happen.
2026 Kentucky Derby picks, odds, predictions, favorites: Best bets by expert who had $1,045 win last year
Gene Menez revealed his Kentucky Derby 2026 picks for the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs
The Kentucky Derby is the most consistent — and unpredictable
While some heavy favorites have won the race, many longshots like Rich Strike in 2022 show anything is possible at Churchill Downs.
Entertainment Update: Big News for TV Fans
Charlie and Leah Cover major announcements from some of today’s biggest streaming hits. From returning fan-favorite series to exciting new casting news and upcoming animated projects, there’s a lot for
2026 Kentucky Derby picks, odds, predictions, favorites: Best bets from expert who had $1,045 win last year
Gene Menez revealed his Kentucky Derby 2026 picks for the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs
Sci-On! Film Festival returns to the Biggest Little City
The festival is open to the public, who can vote on their favorite science and science fiction films and meet the star of a science documentary
Supreme Court leans in favor of Trump's bid to end protections for Syrian, Haitian migrants
Trump's lawyers say Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security, not judges, the power to end Temporary Protective Status granted earlier.
Watch stories come to life at these 10 dazzling theme park shows
When you're ready for a break from the rides, entertainment options abound at theme parks. Here are our readers' 10 favorites.
Apple might ditch MagSafe on future iPhones, per bizarre rumor
MagSafe is a fan-favorite iPhone feature, but a bizarre rumor this week says Apple is apparently debating whether to remove...
Supreme Court voids majority Black congressional district in Louisiana, boosting Republican chances
The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Louisiana’s second majority Black congressional district in a decision that could open the door for Republican-led states to eliminate Black and Latino electoral districts that tend to favor Democrats and affect the balance of power in Congress.
Phillies replace manager Rob Thomson with Don Mattingly
Philadelphia Phillies axed manager Rob Thomson in favor of Giants favorite Don Mattingly
Kentucky Derby 2026 prediction: We asked AI to simulate the 152nd Run for the Roses. Here's who won — and it wasn't the opening favorite
Ranking each team's 2026 NFL Draft class: Chiefs, Browns, Jets crush it; Steelers, Rams, 49ers raise questions
Keep reading to see how your team did -- everything from our favorite picks to best values to most surprising selections
Texas' Top Criminal Court Has Stymied the State's 'Junk Science' Law. Will SCOTUS Intervene?
If the U.S. Supreme Court renders a decision in favor of Charles Flores and others, it would likely force the Court of Criminal Appeals to relax its extremely strict handling of appeals based on shoddy and outdated science.
Vote in EW's best 'Survivor' winner ever bracket
Who is the best 'Survivor' winner ever? Vote for your favorites daily in EW's 'Survivor' winner bracket.
As TN expands private school vouchers, money in favor continues to lead political spending
For the second year, Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers narrowly passed legislation to expand the state’s private school voucher program.
Kentucky Derby odds: Favorite Renegade gets dreaded No. 1 spot
Altman makes courtroom appearance as potential jurors slam AI, Musk
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was spotted at a California courthouse, where some potential jurors shared unfavorable views about AI — and Elon Musk
Virginia Supreme Court considers GOP challenge to voter-approved redistricting plan favoring Democrats
Virginia's Supreme Court is considering whether a voter-approved redistricting amendment complied with the state's constitutional requirements.
2026 Indy 500 Odds: Alex Palou Favored, Kyle Kirkwood Close Second
Alex Palou is the reigning Indy 500 champion, but can he get back into Winner's Circle at the Brickyard this season? Here are the latest odds.
Rethinking Utility Incentives and Business Models in the Age of Distributed Energy
Many utilities have been slow to embrace distributed energy resources (DERs) and, in some cases, have reshaped rate structures and compensation mechanisms to limit their growth. This is not simply resistance to change. It is a rational response to incentive structures that favor building infrastructure over technology advancement and energy optimization and efficiency.
New poll shows Florida voters support state vaccine policies in schools
Pollster says the majority Floridians favoring vaccines in schools is not changing.
I let my tween watch shows intended for more mature viewers
There's a huge to upside to letting my tween watch my favorite not-for-kids shows like "Good Omens," "Lost," and even clips from "Heated Rivalry."
Virginia Supreme Court considers whether to block voter-approved US House map favoring Democrats
The Virginia Supreme Court is considering whether to block new U.S. House districts narrowly approved by voters | KMBZ
Virginia Supreme Court considers whether to block voter-approved US House map favoring Democrats
The Virginia Supreme Court is considering whether to block new U.S. House districts narrowly approved by voters.
2027 NFL Draft Odds: Arch Manning Favored to Go No. 1
The odds say that a QB will go No. 1 in the 2027 NFL Draft. Which one is still up in the air. See the latest.
Save the date for Christmas in July
WEST JEFFERSON — Get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience as Ashe County’s free-of-charge and one of NC’s favorite festivals comes to downtown West Jefferson on Friday, July 3, and Saturday,
Ordering Takeout? These 6 Tricks Could Make It Healthier
Healthy takeout is possible. Try these simple tips to make your favorite orders lower in sodium, fat and extra calories.
What were Giants fans’ favorite highlights of the week?
Another weekend of Giants baseball draws to a close today. What were Giants fans’ favorite highlights of the week?
TST Best Bets: April 25, 2026
Heading into the season, the New York Knicks were one of the biggest favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference, while the conversation surrounding the Atlanta Hawks was whether it was time to blow it up. Five months and a Trae Young trade later, and these two teams are now embroiled in the most must-see series of the first round. On Saturday, the Knicks will look to avoid falling into what would be a catastrophic 3-1 hole, while CJ McCollum and the Hawks aim to repeat their late-game heroi
Best of the Bay Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: Shelton Manor
We're in the final stretch! Ready to recognize your favorite local businesses? Submit your nominations for Best of the Bay Community’s Choice Awards today.
Best of Bay Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: Cahall's Deli
We're in the final stretch! Ready to recognize your favorite local businesses? Submit your nominations for Best of Bay Community’s Choice Awards today.
Bucks County Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: Christian Life Academy
We're in the final stretch! Ready to recognize your favorite local businesses? Submit your nominations for Bucks County Community’s Choice Awards today.
Best of Central Florida Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: CPS Investment Advisors
Nominations for the Best of Central Florida Community's Choice Awards are rolling in! Don't miss your chance to recognize your favorite businesses.
Best of Blue Ridge Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: Lake Pointe Landing
We're in the final stretch! Ready to recognize your favorite local businesses? Submit your nominations for Best of Blue Ridge Community’s Choice Awards today.
Finest on the Emerald Coast Community’s Choice Awards business spotlight: Stubbs Orthodontics
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Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections
[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
The Death of Public Health
During the recent measles outbreak, the largest in more than 30 years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to clearly recommend the measles vaccine, saying instead that it was a “personal decision,” and that parents should “do their own research.” Similarly, during her recent confirmation hearing for United States Surgeon General, Casey Means was questioned by Senator William Cassidy (R, La). “You’re the nation’s doctor,” said Cassidy. “Would you encourage [a mother] to have her child vaccinated!” “I’m not an individual’s doctor,” Means said. “And every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.” In June 2025, Marty Makary, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that COVID vaccines for pregnant women should be a “personal choice”, even though every other country in the world recommended the COVID vaccine during pregnancy due to a higher risk for severe disease. It doesn’t end there. On January 5, 2026, RFK Jr. reduced the number of routinely recommended vaccines from 18 to 10. For vaccines that protected against influenza, COVID, and rotavirus, parents were urged to speak with their doctors—to make an individual choice. (On March 16, 2026, in a ruling by a federal court in Boston, RFK Jr.’s revised schedule was invalidated.) What’s happening? Why are public health officials moving away from making recommendations for the public? The origin of this change might be rooted in the first two years of the COVID pandemic. In 2020, during the first year on the pandemic, we didn’t have anything to stop a virus that was killing hundreds of people a day and could be spread asymptomatically. We didn’t have antivirals until October, monoclonal antibodies until November, and vaccines until December. All we could do was restrict travel, close businesses, shutter schools, and mask, isolate, quarantine, test, and social distance. During the second year of the pandemic, when we had vaccines to prevent COVID, people couldn’t go anywhere without their vaccine cards. They couldn’t go to their favorite bar or restaurant or sporting event or place of worship without proof of vaccination. Some people were fired from their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. For many, this was seen as massive government overreach and energized what has been called the “medical freedom movement.” Indeed, a headline in the New York Times declared, “How Health Freedom Became a Winning Rally Cry.” As expressed in the comments of RFK Jr., Casey Means, and Marty Makary, the medical freedom movement focuses on the individual not the community—the opposite of public health. In an article titled “Ethics and Social Value Judgments in Public Health,” ethicists from Yale University distinguished public health from medical freedom. “Public health policies,” they wrote, “are population oriented. Because individual health affects the health of others, public health measures regulate individual behavior to achieve population health goals. All raise questions about how individual autonomy and freedom should be balanced against public health interests…which respects individuals’ sovereignty over their bodies and actions as long as their actions do not harm others.” The medical freedom movement fails to recognize that it often limits the freedom of others. For example, a parent who is afraid to send a child to school where many of the students are unvaccinated. Or immune compromised children who depend on those around them to for protection. The question then becomes “Freedom for whom?” Is it your right, in the name of medical freedom, to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection—and in so doing, take away the freedom of others? In Four Essays on Liberty, Isaiah Berlin sums it up best. “Liberty for the wolves,” he wrote, “is death to the lambs.” Thanks for reading Beyond the Noise! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe