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Thursday’s Chaos Shows How Trump and Congress Have Cracked Apart | WSJ Politics Newsletter for May 22
Plus, Kevin Warsh will be sworn in as the next Fed chair and the Democrats published their ‘autopsy’ into what went wrong in 2024
China calls for APEC cooperation as commerce minister skips opening over ‘urgent official business’
China's international trade representative Li Chenggang said he was chairing Friday's meeting as Commerce Minister Wang Wentao had urgent matters to attend to.
5 Notable Moments From Candace Owens’s Warm Interview With Hunter Biden
In a nearly two-hour conversation, Mr. Biden discussed his addiction to drugs and alcohol, and Ms. Owens apologized for her past remarks about him.
Next on Native Bidaské: How U.S. Politics and Voting Rights Today Are Impacting Native Americans with Gwen Carr
In this episode of Native Bidaské, host Levi Rickert talks with political strategist Gwen Carr about how U.S. politics, voting rights, and elections are impacting Native Americans right now. They break down: Gwen shares her perspective as an Indigenous woman with more than 30 years in politics, including work in the Clinton administration, the DNC, […]
When Humans Went Away, the Wildlife Strayed
When people disappeared from the landscape, as they did during the pandemic, wild animals changed how they used space and resources, scientists found.
DNC Report Live Updates: Democrats' Autopsy Report on 2024 Election Faults Biden, Harris and Others
An incomplete report on what went wrong in 2024 was released after it had become an embarrassment for the Democratic National Committee.
Mercer Health awarded Acute Stroke Ready Certification from The Joint Commission
Mercer Health has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® and the American Stroke Association’s Heart-Check mark for Acute Stroke Ready Certification. Mercer Health underwent a rigorous onsite review on February 6, 2026. During the visit, a team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with related certification standards including program management and supporting self-management. […]
Takeaways from the DNC autopsy
Ever since the 2024 election, Democrats have been searching for answers as to what went so wrong to possibly have re-installed Donald Trump as president.
Mosaic Health Appoints Seasoned Healthcare Leader Doug Wenners as Chief Executive Officer
/PRNewswire/ -- Mosaic Health (the "Company") today announced the appointment of Doug Wenners, a seasoned healthcare leader with a proven track record of...
Complex animals evolved up to 10 million years earlier than previously thought, fossil discovery shows
Trove of fossils discovered in Canada sheds light on "when life first became large, complex and unmistakenly animal."
Cleveland sports radio host has rough morning trying to process Cavaliers' Game 1 choke job
Cleveland radio host Ken Carmen went viral after an impassioned meltdown over the Cavaliers blowing a 22-point lead to the Knicks in overtime.
Interstellar's most-discussed scene is treated as exotic science fiction, but the family-separation problem it dramatises is one of the more actively studied subjects in long-duration mission planning.
The scene that has stayed with most viewers of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is not the wave-planet, or the visualised black hole, or the climactic library of moments. It is the one in the middle of the film where Matthew McConaughey’s character, Cooper, watches twenty-three years of his children’s recorded video messages, having lost that span […]
Jack Davis, the most feared and loathed man in San Francisco politics, dies at 79
How a kid who grew up in a Pennsylvania funeral parlor went from gay rights activist to S.F. political kingmaker
He Went With Ken!
After months of being noncommittal, President Donald Trump finally announced he’s endorsing Ken Paxton.
Sports Daily Live: NBA Western Conference Finals open with thriller; Royals stumble again
In NBA action, the first game of the highly anticipated Western Conference Finals didn’t disappoint, as a battle between the top two seeds went into two overtimes.
These Memphis restaurants got perfect health inspection scores in April
Tennessee Health Department inspectors performed hundreds of health inspections in Shelby County in April. These 29 restaurants earned perfect scores.
Ask Pinstripe Alley: Yankees mailbag questions request
A lot went wrong for New York in a week’s span. What can they do about it?
Scientists claim our dreams are real in another dimension
You know those dreams that feel way too real? The ones with full storylines, familiar places, recurring people like you didn’t imagine them but went there.
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
Ella Langley dominates the ACM Awards honoring the best in country music
The Academy of Country Music Awards' ceremony was Ella Langley’s night from the start. Sunday night's first honor, for the coveted song of the year, went to Langley for the
A prayer festival calls for more religion in politics, not less
A prayer festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC was partially organized and funded by the federal government. Its evangelical Christian messaging and call for more religion in politics not less, aligns with the Trump administration's fusion of faith and governance. NPR's Emily Feng went to the event to understand the audience for this approach, and she spoke with author Eric Metaxas, a speaker at the Rededicate 250 festival.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Henry Larson, with audio engineering by It was edited by Sarah Robbins and Daniel Burke.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Vlad Homers, Jays Beat Tigers
Blue Jays 4 Tigers 1 We got more than two runs. Or actually, we got two runs twice: We only had six hits and one walk on the day. Vlad and Varsho had two each (and all the extra base hits). On the pitching side, Kevin Gausman was great. He went six innings, allowing just […]
Sway a crowd, wear a martyr’s crown: how one NSW politician went from scandal to political success – and wrote a playbook still used today
At the turn of last century, an ambitious young solicitor caused a scandal in a high-profile murder case. Years later he was a political leader in a new nation. How did he do it?
Reims’ Ewen Jaouen agrees to Newcastle United move
Stade de Reims goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen (20) has reached an agreement in principle to join Newcastle United, as per a report from Sacha Tavolieri. Jaouen impressed last season while on loan at USL Dun...
I couldn't get a job after graduation; went back to school in new field
After graduating from college, I struggled to find a full-time job in my field. Now, I'm going back to school for a master's in a new field.
I took my Wall Street skills from Goldman Sachs to a dance studio
Caila Moed, 35, went from professional dance, to arts and philanthropy, to Goldman Sachs, to entrepreneurship — and a better work-life balance.
A measles outbreak crossed into Mexico from Texas. A larger tragedy followed
It all started when a 9-year-old boy went with his parents to visit relatives in Seminole, Texas, early last year. After he returned home to Mexico, a red rash erupted on his skin. Within weeks, so many of his classmates fell ill that their school shut down.
Too many mistakes cost Yankees in loss to Mets
At least one thing went wrong in every aspect of the game as the Yankees took a loss on Saturday.
Dear Abby | Old friend reappears after years of no contact
Dear Abby: I had three close girlfriends in college. We lost touch with one of them more than 35 years ago. She has family in our area but moved to
Trump and his CEOs want China’s business – but has Asia moved on?
The US delegation went to Beijing looking for deals, but a ‘super cycle’ of capital expenditures across Asia is already fuelling enormous growth.
Jackie Tohn reveals she underwent double mastectomy after health scare
Jackie Tohn is opening up about a health scare and procedure she underwent after learning she had an 85% chance of getting breast cancer.
Cleveland Browns Predicted to Have Losing Record Again in 2026
The Cleveland Browns went 5-12 last season. How will they do in 2026?
Proposed VHC Health facility needs more public input, County Board candidates say
The three Democratic candidates for County Board are all in favor of extensive community input on a proposal for a new behavioral health facility in Glencarlyn. "You need to listen -- it needs to be community-first," challenger Julie Farnam said at a debate hosted by the Arlington County Civic Federation on Tuesday. Farnam and James DeVita
Active 10-year-old makes his mark as hospital ambassador
Owen Ragsdale is the 2026 Sanford Children's Hospital Ambassador, and so far he is making the hard parts of his life look like fun.
Deion: Shedeur Sanders ‘went through hell’ during NFL Draft process, rookie season with Browns
Inaugural Mind-Body Science and Health lecture planned
The inaugural Distinguished Lectureship in Mind-Body Science and Health will be delivered by Wendy Berry Mendes, Yale University professor of psychology, on May 28 at the Mellon Institute. Mendes will discuss “Affect Contagion: Physiologic Synchrony among Strangers and Close Others,” from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Mellon Institute Auditorium. The lectureship is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine Research Network, a joint project of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University, and Pitt’s Center for Mind-Body Science and Health. RSVP as soon as possible to help plan for a reception following the lecture. This is a public event. Students, post-docs, and early-stage investigators are especially encouraged to attend.
Chartbook 449: Voldemort on Threadneedle street. The Bank of England and the "haunted house" of English politics.
Imagine the scene: In some Harry Potter version of 21st-century London, a group of deathless UK Treasury officials gathered from across the last century huddle over warm pints and glasses of Chardonnay. Around the table there are officials from the 1920s, the 1930s, the 1970s, 2022 and today. Inevitably, in May 2026, the subject of conversation is the disintegration of the current Labour government. Despite its huge majority in parliament, it has been reduced to tatters by catastrophic local election result. These exposed the fact that rather than having a government with a clear popular majority, the UK is like most other modern societies divided into 5 segments each of which commands between 26 and 16 percent of the vote. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the leadership at Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street - where the Prime Minister and the Chancellor (Treasury Secretary) work - seem paralyzed. They are caught between mounting discontent over unfairness and the cost of living, and tough fiscal strictures that push them into making unpopular spending decisions. In the London pub, the Treasury officials from across the ages, can barely hide their satisfaction at the latest display of democratic politics caught in the vice-grip of financial logic. “Remember the mur d’argent and the banker’s ramp?” “Just like yesterday!” There are smirks around the table. Then the representative of 2026 pipes up: “One thing you have to say about the current lot (referring to the latest hapless Labour government), you don’t have to teach them about the bond market!” There is a murmur of ascent from the Treasury Mandarins. The trauma of the fiscal crisis of September-October 2022 sits deep. Back then, in the final stages of Tory decay, a ‘mini budget’ that challenged fiscal orthodoxy led to a brief but fierce panic in one of the oldest government bond markets in the world (aka gilt market). Now all you have to do is to mention the “bond market” to hush debate. [ Paul Mason@paulmasonnews In the name of public service, and as ex-economics editor of BBC Newsnight, I offer to do a zoom call, tonight, with any Labour MP who wants to understand why bond markets do not "fall into line" with governments. 1/ 3:57 PM · May 12, 2026 · 466K Views 224 Replies · 674 Reposts · 3.93K Likes ](https://x.com/paulmasonnews/status/2054229532404519082?s=20) “And the funny thing is”, the young man in the huddle continues, “they don’t even want to talk about … ”. There is a sudden hush. Significant looks are exchanged around the table. About? One of the senior figures puts down his glass with a decisive “clink”. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has entered their thoughts. Meanwhile, a few miles away in a grubby pub in Bloomsbury, two conspirators from the camp of Critical Macrofinance huddle over cans of low-alcohol IPA. They look at each other and blurt out loud: “The Bank!” “Everyone in the bloody Labour party is talking about the bond market. But why aren’t they even mentioning … the Bank of England!?” “Why is no one talking about Voldemort?” In Paul Mason’s blogpost, after much chest-thumping about basic fiscal logic, the basic point about the Bank of England is buried in the fine print at #3 in his list of suggestions as to what a radical Labour government might actually be able to do! [ Conflict & Democracy Down with the bond market! Down with gravity! It may seem unfair to focus on Labour MP Paula Barker for her off-the-cuff assertion that the bond market would have to “fall in line” with Andy Burnham, should he replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. But Burnham himself told the New Statesman that Labour had to “get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets… Read more 2 days ago · 100 likes · 3 comments · Paul Mason ](https://htsf.substack.com/p/down-with-the-bond-market-down-with?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Back in Bloomsbury they shake their heads and ask: “Didn’t we learn anything from the Eurozone crisis?” Meanwhile, as if summoned to the conversation by some higher force, the “pink pages” announce: “The days of ultra-cheap government borrowing have come to an end” and Martin “Whizzard” Wolf publishes the graph of the season Look at the UK in 2026, perilously positioned on the upper edge of the pack. No wonder no one in London needs any lessons about the “bond market”. But, look again. Imagine how they feel in Rome. What is London’s nightmare in 2026? The nightmare is that you end up like Italy in the early 2010s during the Eurozone crisis. Once comfortably situated in the middle of the pack, watching with horror as your ten-year yields explode to 7 percent and “spreads” become a national nightmare. One of the largest economies in Europe, a founding member of the euro, stigmatized. But the message of the Italian experience is ambiguous. After all, the stigma didn’t last. In 2026, Italy borrows at rates lower not only than the UK but the US. The US, which, as everyone knows, enjoys the “exorbitant privilege” of being the issuer of reserve, safe asets. What kind of magic is this? How did Italy, in the space of fifteen years, go from being good, to bad and back again? Which brings us back to our dissident friends in their Bloombury boozer and their memories of the Eurozone crisis. Italy never was Britain - with its ongoing fiscal deficits. Without interest payments, on primary balance, from 2000 to 2020 Italy ran a tight fiscal ship. Even in 2008 it barely went into deficit and when it was being put on the rack in the early 20210s its primary surplus matched that of austere Germany. So, what happened? How did it end up stigmatized? Of course Italian politics didn’t help. Berlusconi was at the helm and he had legal issues. But amongst friends in the Bloomsbury pub, Berlusconi is a sideshow, the name we whisper to each other is “Trichet”. From 2004 to 2011 the ECB was headed by Jean-Claude Trichet, ex of the French Treasury, more German than the Germans. After 2009 as the news of the Greek fiscal disaster broke, the European bond markets wento into panic mode and Trichet began a brutal game of cat and mouse. Between 2009 and 2011, Trichet intervened in the bond market to help, only when he thought he had compliance with austerity. When he thought they were uncooperative, he withdrew. In the summer of 2011, he even made direct suggestions to his Italian counterparts in Rome, as to how Italy should be governed. It was this cat and mouse game that drove the bond markets crazy and exposed Italy to a violent squeeze. When Mario Draghi took over the ECB at the end of 2011 and declared “whatever it takes”, the pressure on Italy, gradually eased. It is that starring role that has made Draghi into the towering figure in European politics that he remains today. So now you see why voices in London hush when it comes to the Bank of England. “The bond market” isn’t an irresistible objective force like the weather or an avalanche. It can appear like that. But that depends on the way it is being handled, or not handled by the central bank. Which is why the silence about the Bank of England in London right now is so significant. If you think this all sounds a bit fishy, coming from a left-liberal Keynesian like myself, well, let me introduce you to Robin Brooks, who, to put it mildly, plays on a different quidditch team to me. Here, from the position of a fiscal hawk is Robin’s celebratory account of the Bank of England’s role since 2022; In October 2022, at the height of the bond market blow-up in the UK, something incredible happened. Governor Andrew Bailey told British pension funds the Bank of England would end its support program for the country’s fragile gilt market, drawing a line under how much help the central bank was willing to give to exposed pension funds and - implicitly - the government. By the end of that week, Kwasi Kwarteng - the finance minister - had resigned. Prime Minister Liz Truss would soon follow. This episode is so incredible because it contrasts with what happened in the Euro zone earlier that year. Bond markets in Spain and Italy were under pressure amid high inflation and rising interest rates. In the middle of this, Mario Draghi - Italy’s Prime Minister - resigned, compounding pressure on bond markets of high-debt countries on the Euro periphery. Unlike the Bank of England, the ECB caved. It bought Italian and Spanish government bonds in an effort to cap yields and introduced a new tool that signaled to markets it might do such caps more frequently going forward. Faced with pressure on bond markets, the ECB capitulated to political pressure from high-debt countries like Italy and Spain. The Bank of England stood its ground and toppled the Truss government. This kind of thing has long-lasting consequences. It means markets price a higher probability of yield caps in the Euro zone, which keeps Italian and Spanish yields artificially low, while markets feel free to push up UK yields without fear of central bank intervention. As I flagged in yesterday’s post, this means you really can’t compare UK yields to those of other high-debt countries. The UK looks worse, but only because its central bank isn’t interfering with markets. There’s more to this than just that 2022 episode. The Bank of England has also been much more aggressive in its quantitative tightening (QT) than other central banks. If one motivation for quantitative easing (QE) is to lower bond yields - especially longer-dated ones - then it stands to reason QT pushes yields up. The left chart above shows a four-quarter moving average of UK government debt issuance (black line) in percent of GDP and which sectors absorb this issuance, including the Bank of England (blue bars). The right chart above compares the Bank of England’s accumulation or run-off of government bonds (blue line) with that of other central banks, where this blue line is the same as the blue bars in the left chart. The Bank of England was quicker and more aggressive than other central banks in downsizing its bond holdings, so UK yields will have risen more than elsewhere also for this reason, not just because of Governor Andrew Bailey’s remarks in October 2022. Back in October 2025, after a conversation in New York with friends in British politics, my sense of dysphoria was such that I raised the issue of the Bank of England openly in the FT Since 2008, the UK has slid into a deep economic and political predicament. Growth has stagnated to a degree far worse even than in the 1970s. The Tory leadership’s wager on the Brexit referendum spectacularly backfired, leaving the UK isolated from Europe and at the mercy of its special relationship with the US, many of whose political class regard the UK as a basket case. After years of austerity, the Labour party lurched to the left and then back to the centre. The Tory party has been eclipsed by the populist nationalism of Reform. Any British government should be worrying first and foremost about how to restart growth. Instead, Keir Starmer is beset by shades of the gilt market panic triggered by the Liz Truss government in 2022. The debt level is higher than in recent years, but there is no cause for panic. UK debt is at far from critical levels and of long duration. Whether you want to “take back control” or launch progressive economic policy, a democracy dogged by fear of bond market vigilantes is unhealthy. In a country that is a monetary sovereign, this climate points to one thing: a disconnect between the government and the central bank. Since 1997, the independence of the Bank of England has become a sacred cow. But independence is what you make of it. And in the wake of the gilt market crisis of September 2022, relations between the Bank of England and the UK government need a reset. In normal times, there is no doubt that an inflation-targeting independent central bank can serve a country well. But since 2008, the UK and other advanced economies have not had the luxury of such simple problems. To their credit, central bankers around the world have not stood on orthodoxy. After 2008, the US Federal Reserve rescued the global banking system and, through quantitative easing, it stabilised the Treasury market in the face of huge deficits. In Europe, things were trickier. Both the Bank of England under Mervyn King and Jean-Claude Trichet’s European Central Bank played cat and mouse with national governments. This was a high stakes wager that between 2010 and 2012 escalated bond market tension and triggered a disastrous turn to austerity. Shaken by the impact of those shocks, their successors, Mark Carney and Mario Draghi adopted a more protective stance (assuming you were not the government of Greece). Recall that Draghi’s legendary slogan, “Whatever it takes”, was uttered to face down the City of London’s bond vigilantes. In 2015, Draghi launched QE — financial repression by another name. In 2016, Carney used the authority of the Bank of England to stabilise markets following the vote for Brexit, an exemplary demonstration of how central banks can underpin democratic choice, even when those choices are wrong headed. All these were independent central bankers steeped in the best practice of the 1990s, who recognised that historic crises demanded radical action. It was the price surge of 2021-2023 that poisoned the atmosphere. Though the shock came mainly from the supply side, central banks ended up in the dock. Nowhere more so than in the UK. The Bank of England reacted with aggressive normalisation. Faced with a cost of living crisis, the governor called for workers to accept real wage cuts. In early 2022, as gas prices were at record levels and Russia’s army was poised to invade Ukraine, the Bank adopted a stringent programme of quantitative tightening, elevating interest rates. When the Truss government got itself in trouble, the Bank took almost a week to come to the rescue. Rather than enacting a charade of normality, it is time to recognise that in 2025 the UK faces a period of historic transition. To meet this challenge, what is needed is a new concordat with the Bank. This should not ignore inflationary pressures or the long-run trajectory of debt, but should affirm the priority of reviving investment-led growth. One could follow Donald Trump in demanding interest rate cuts. The Bank could shadow the ECB in its commitment to capping Eurozone yields. But the top priority should be to lay the ghost of September 2022. The Bank’s slowing of QT last month was a concession. An immediate and complete end would send the right signal. Such a concordat will not by itself restore sanity to politics, solve the housing problem or rebuild the NHS. But it would help to lift the fear of bond market crisis, which is paralysing the effort by democratic politicians to answer the fundamental questions facing the nation. Now, that call for a new concordat between government and Bank of Englands seems more urgent than ever. The problem is that in October 2025, Starmer still had some authority. Today the government is in tatters. And when you are the “under the harrow” - to echo a phrase of Montagu Norman’s from the 1920s - it is the worst possible time to consider institutional change. To make general arguments at a time of crisis can only seem like special pleading rather than a general argument for long-term change. The same, unfortunately, is also true for the other basic institutional reform that Britain urgently needs i.e. the abolition of the out-dated first past the post electoral system and its replacement by a moderated form of proportional representation. And thirdly - whilst we are saying the quiet parts out loud - Britain needs to reopen the question of EU membership. What the local election results of 2026 show is that this remains a key issue. And what they also show is that there is a clear majority that would favor a return. Until these basic features of Britain’s political economy are addressed the country will carry on its politics as though in a haunted house, governed by governments that lack actual majorities, conjuring up false constraints whilst ignoring the real ones. This one is for DG and MI. I love writing the newsletter. If you enjoy it too and fancy buying me a coffee once a month, you know what to do. Click below! Subscribe
Prep baseball playoffs: Santa Margarita hits eight home runs in 19-1 victory
Andre Owens hits three of Santa Margarita's eight home runs in a Southern Section Division 2 playoff win over Rancho Christian.
‘There’s science happening all around us’
MARSHALL — As another school year approaching the end, more than 900 area students and participants went on a field trip and made memories at the 2026 Science and Nature Conference on Tuesday at Southwest Minnesota State University, hosted by the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative (SWWC). This was the SWWC’s 32nd annual Science and […]
Netanyahu testifies his health is 'top decile' in libel suit over cancer reports
The Prime Minister Testified in Court After He Sued an Anti-government Activist and Two Journalists Over Reports on His Health. In April, a Medical Report Revealed Netanyahu Had Been Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer and Underwent Radiation Therapy Without Informing the Public in Real Time
Senators agree to go without pay during shutdowns after historic closures left workers unpaid
Senators unanimously voted to withhold their own pay during future government shutdowns after federal workers went unpaid in two historic closures.
NFL schedule: Joe Burrow's complaints may have resulted in Bengals hosting Ravens for prime time game
Faig Ahmed Weaves Mysticism, Science, Technology, and Craft into 'The Attention'
Curated by Gwendolyn Collaço, Ahmed's Venice Biennale presentation expands upon the dialectic between digital processes and hand-crafted techniques.
BASF and NOD Apiary Products collaborate to advance honey bee health
BASF and NOD Apiary Products Ltd., a Canadian company specializing in honey bee health solutions, today announced a collaboration focused on advancing honey bee health and supporting beekeepers through shared expertise and funding.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Alicia Salazar Contreras
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Alicia Salazar Contreras is this semester's recipient from Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences!
The Stanley Clark School Science Olympiad Team is going to nationals
The last time Stanley Clark School Science Olympiad team went to nationals was in 2013. In 2026, 18 middle school students won first place state title
Donovan Mitchell turns ankle on photographer’s shoe vs. Pistons
The Cavaliers went from watching Donovan Mitchell rearrange franchise postseason marks to watching him land awkwardly.
Q&A: Energizing entrepreneurship; students launch energy drink business
What was your process in creating and designing these drinks? We started with Bernardo Vargas, my friend and co-founder. A year and a half ago we both went to the Ecuadorian Amazon. I am from Ecuador, and he came with me. He tried Guayusa which is a plant in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Here’s a First Look at the New Google Fitbit Air
The Google Fitbit Air was announced last week and immediately went up for pre-order with a ship date at around May 26. It costs either $99 or $129 depending on which version you want, is a...
Cary Elwes was unemployed after 'The Princess Bride.' Then Al Pacino stepped in.
After starring in "The Princess Bride," Cary Elwes went through a dry period of his career. A chance meeting with Al Pacino changed everything.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Elise Belcher
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Elise Belcher is this semester's recipient from Psychology!
Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander
Timed for release during AAPI Heritage Month, “The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas” has dropped on HBO Max | Newsradio 1140 WRVA
Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander
Timed for release during AAPI Heritage Month, “The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas” has dropped on HBO Max | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander
Timed for release during AAPI Heritage Month, “The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas” has dropped on HBO Max | WBEN
Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander
Timed for release during AAPI Heritage Month, “The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas” has dropped on HBO Max | 830 WCCO
Rangers' Nimmo leaves game against Diamondbacks with apparent ankle injury
Texas Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo left Tuesday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning with an apparent left ankle injury. Nimmo's left foot hit the edge of first baseman Ildemaro Vargas' foot as he tried to leg out an infield single and he came up limping. The Rangers were up 7-1 on the Diamondbacks when the injury occurred and Nimmo went 3 for 4 with a triple.
Secret Service Makes Case for Security Funding Amid G.O.P. Unease on Ballroom
The presidential protection agency detailed how it would use a proposed $1 billion as Republicans asked for more detail and Democrats went on the attack.
Grizzlies forward, Desert Vista alum Brandon Clarke dead at 29
Brandon Clarke went to Desert Vista High School in Phoenix before a pair of college stops. He was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Cannes: Demi Moore Decries Self-Censorship, Park Chan-wook on Politics
The pointed remarks at a respectful jury press conference landed three months after an embattled Berlin Film Festival, where the jury led by Wim Wenders, became subsumed by political acrimony.
Wendy's has a billionaire circling its ailing business
Wendy's may have a bidder for its struggling business.
Five moments it all went wrong for Starmer
Winter fuel and welfare U-turns, national insurance hikes, Peter Mandelson’s appointment and disastrous local elections have brought PM to the brink
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Aurora Wilde
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Aurora Wilde is this semester's recipient from Physics!
Uncharted 4 Deep Dive Reveals Cut Content And Much More
The 2016 game underwent a significant rework after the departure of original creative director Amy Hennig
Fitbit Air vs. WHOOP Size Comparison
The Fitbit Air went up for pre-order last week and we're now all waiting to get one on the wrist as soon as possible. For some lucky folks who live near a physical Google Store, that can actually...
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Mackenzie Lynch
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Mackenzie Lynch is this semester's recipient from Neuroscience!
Alok Gadkar of Tuesday: Balancing Science and Storytelling in Healthcare
Alok is co-founder, CEO and CCO of Tuesday, a Dubai-based independent creative agency designed to shape culture and challenge convention. Alok cut his teeth at agencies in India before relocating to Dubai, earning Campaign's "Young Creatives to Watch." He went on to craft fashion work for Splash and launch new brands including Iconic. Alok mentors Alok is co-founder, CEO & CCO of Tuesday, a Dubai-based independent creative agency designed to shape culture and challenge convention. Alok cut his teeth at agencies in India before relocating to Dubai, quickly earning Campaign's "Young Creatives to Watch." He went on to craft iconic fashion work for Splash and launch new brands including Iconic.
NBA Draft Lottery winners and losers: Pacers' bet fails, more Kings bad luck, Wiz, Grizz and Clips hit big
One of the most consequential NBA Draft Lotteries ever went down Sunday, and these are the biggest winners and losers
As asthma counts for most health-related school absences, Colorado school districts are getting prepared
Twenty-four out of Colorado's nearly 180 school districts have earned special recognition for asthma preparation and education. Cherry
ESPN identifies what went right for USC football this offseason
USC's positive offseason developments are mostly on offense, but the key is if defensive adjustments are able to solve problems
Chicago Teachers Union wants $8.5 million dues hike to fund politics
“Has your brand become toxic?” This was a pointed question from WGN Political Editor Tahman Bradley, posed to Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates in a recent interview. Her immediate response: “I don’t understand the question.” When pressed, Gates added, “The Chicago Teachers Union is not a political party, it is a labor union.” But internal union documents show CTU leadership is trying to skim $8.5 million more from teacher paychecks explicitly for politics, while trying to silence union members critical of Gates’ leadership. Under the proposed dues hike, Chicago teachers would see up to $800 more per year flow from their paychecks to union coffers. The union already takes in more than $40 million a year, mostly from dues. And it spends less than 18 cents of every dollar on teacher representation. The No. 1 reason for the proposed dues hike? Politics. “We must win a majority of the first 21 person fully elected school board in November,” reads the first point in CTU’s member FAQ document.1 This directly contradicts CTU’s promise to members about how leadership uses dues money. The official CTU handbook tells members that the union does not use dues money for politics, so if they are interested in funding political activity, they should consider voluntary donations to CTU’s political action committee. “Our dues are not used for political purposes,” according to the handbook. “So our PAC relies on extra contributions from our members to support progressive candidates and to impact elected officials at the city, county and state levels.” This kind of double-speak is one reason members are concerned about another constitutional change slipped into the dues hike vote, which will take place on May 20-21: an attempt to stop members from holding the union accountable. A proposed amendment to the union constitution tries to place limits on when members may bring a lawsuit against the union for violating members’ rights.2 This provision is clearly a response to members’ lawsuit against union leadership regarding Gates’ years-long refusal to publish audited financial statements. The judge in that case has repeatedly denied the union’s attempts to dismiss it. Teachers opposed to these changes have been circulating this flier, urging members to vote no. What will CTU members get in return for millions of dollars in additional dues? If the 2024 school board elections are any indication—not much. CTU leadership’s record on school board races may not inspire confidence among members. A Chicago Policy Center analysis of a dozen affiliated PACs found CTU spent nearly $2.9 million on school board races in 2024. Of that spending, more than $2.1 million (75%) went to losing candidates. And while CTU-backed candidates lost six of the nine competitive seats overall, they fared worse in their biggest-spending races, losing five of six contests in which the union and its affiliates put up more than $250,000 for their candidate. The Chicago school board elections take place Nov. 3.3 Is another $8.5 million enough to clean up a toxic reputation? Not likely. Update on federal tax credit scholarship: Last week, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to opt into the federal tax credit scholarship program. If Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker follows suit, Illinois could unlock $1 billion in donor money statewide for both public- and private-school students. If Illinois does not opt in, that money will flow to other states. The Last Ward reported in February on how Illinois Democrats could unlock at least $100 million in new resources for Chicago public-school students by opting in. Update on the investigation into how Chicagoans learned about a meeting to hike their property taxes: The Last Ward reported in January on an absurd, taxpayer-funded investigation into how local media learned of a planned Chicago school board meeting to hike the district’s property tax levy. That investigation is now complete. Lawyers interviewed two dozen witnesses, and found nothing. Update on Illinois’ muni debt crisis: My colleague Joe Tabor last week published a must-read piece in Crain’s Chicago Business about how Illinois recently rejected south suburban Harvey’s request to be designated a “distressed city.” The saga shows why the state must implement a better structure to assist insolvent local governments, including allowing for the option to pursue debt relief via Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The Last Ward reported in October on how Harvey is tipping the first domino in Illinois’ municipal debt crisis. Mincing Rascals: I joined the Mincing Rascals podcast to discuss the SAFE-T Act, the millionaires tax, and more. My “green light” recommendation: Force Majeure (2014). 1 Notably, the No. 2 reason cited is “resources to fund a state-wide millionaires tax campaign in order to fully fund the state’s school funding formula.” The constitutional amendment necessary to implement a progressive income tax in Illinois recently died in the Illinois House, meaning this question would not appear on the ballot until 2028 at the earliest. 2 There is seemingly no single-subject rule for CTU constitutional amendments. So members only get one vote on the full package. One cannot vote “yes” on the dues hike and “no” on the restriction of members’ rights, for example. 3 Illinois law grants far too much power over local government to unelected officials like Gates. State lawmakers should fix that.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Natalie Rawlings
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Natalie Rawlings is this semester's recipient from Molecular & Cellular Biology!
Manchester City 3-0 Brentford: What Guardiola and Doku said
Man City's Jeremy Doku, speaking to BBC's Match of the day on his goal: "Looks a bit like the one against Everton, we wanted to take short, the corner, I go past my man and then I look for the pass in between, the ball comes back and I'm inside the box and I feel I have space to shoot and I do it without thinking and I'm happy that it went in." Did you know?
Machining A Two-Stroke Engine Out Of Aluminium
Recently [Camden Bowen] took a swing at machining a two-stroke engine out of billet aluminium, following adventures in 3D printing such an engine, as well as building one out of parts largely sourc…
Dear Abby | Man wishes good friendship was something more
Dear Abby: I'm a 60-year-old man. I have a close female friend who is 20 years younger. We see each other just about every day and call each other to
White Sox fall to Mariners in 12-8 slugfest
A supposed pitcher’s duel went off the tracks in a hurry
Are Louisiana adults skipping annual dentist visits? See parish data.
When was the last time you went to the dentist? See parish data.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Samuel Gibbon
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Samuel Gibbon is this semester's recipient from Math!
How did Meeka Owens oust a Hamilton County commissioner?
Hamilton County residents could have a new commissioner next year, in the first upset since Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas won in 2018.
WATCH: K-State HC Collin Klein chats with 13 Sports at Topeka Catbackers event
Klein went live with 13 Sports at 6 to discuss Thursday night's event in Topeka.
Cubs beat Reds 8-3 for 9th straight win
Michael Conforto went 3 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs, Shota Imanaga pitched six innings of one-run ball and the Chicago Cubs extended their winning streak to nine games with an 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. The Cubs completed a four-game sweep of the Reds and won their 15th straight game at Wrigley Field for their longest home winning streak since 1935. Reds starter Rhett Lowder left the game in the inning with what the team said was right shoulder tightness.
Bullying or entertainment? Kyle Sandilands argues that fights with Jackie O were ratings gold for Kiis FM
Shock jock claims his bosses had monetised the conduct he was sacked for. Plus: Michael Gawenda v Jeff Sparrow
The 'nostalgia effect': Scientists produce less disruptive work as they age
You probably know that Einstein changed the face of physics with his theory of relativity in his twenties. What you may not know is that he spent his later career on a crusade against quantum mechanics, ...
How Disneyland Remade American Politics
America is turning 250, and The Free Press is marking the occasion with a yearlong series of events, conversations, and stories celebrating our country’s history. Today, we’re taking a journey with historian Beverly Gage to Southern California. Beverly traded the archives for the open road for her new book, This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History. We’re proud to publish an excerpt, on the theme park that shaped American politics—and the presidents who loved it. —The Editors On July 17, 1955, Ronald Reagan stood near a mocked-up wood-plank town in Anaheim, California, where a 13-star flag flew incongruously over an “Old West” landscape, and introduced the world to Disneyland. He had been invited by Walt Disney himself to co-host the park’s live ABC broadcast, alongside Art Linkletter and Bob Cummings—three Hollywood actors who seemed to embody a wholesome, all-American ethos. From the imagined past of Frontierland, the show leaped ahead to Tomorrowland, set in the far-off year of 1986, emphasizing the technical marvels yet to come: nuclear energy harnessed for civilian purposes, human beings riding rocket ships into space. Disney foretold great things for a 1980s in which the United States would serve as “a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” But even he could not predict the most important political fact of the age: that his genial co-host would become president. Southern California was a strange place to build a park about the past, because the region at the time was all about newness and abundance and growth. For a lot of its history, Orange County had been Southern California’s version of flyover country: a vast agricultural expanse between two desirable places, Los Angeles and San Diego. But Disneyland was changing that. Before long, 50 miles south of deep-blue Hollywood, Orange County would become a region famed for its right-wing politics—but also for its mythmaking skills. Those two things, it turned out, went naturally together. ADVERTISEMENT The two presidents Southern California gave America both understood this instinctively. Richard Nixon and Reagan each built a national career on invoking a version of the American past in which the specificities of historical context mattered less than the big picture. For Nixon, progress meant proclaiming a “New American Revolution” on the eve of America’s bicentennial while dismantling the federal programs that had built the postwar middle class. For Reagan, it meant recapturing a lost optimism and an old-fashioned faith in America as an exceptional nation. Both men were less interested in history as it actually happened than in history as it felt—and Orange County, a place that had built itself almost entirely from scratch, turned out to be exactly where the myth of America’s future was getting made. I’m a historian—and historians tend to be myth-busters. With the country’s 250th birthday on the horizon, I figured it was a good time to step out of the ivory tower and check in with the past as it exists here and now, at the museums and monuments and roadside attractions where Americans go to learn about their history. After all my travels—to Davy Crockett’s Tennessee and Texas, to the real Erie Canal, to the birthplace of the American automobile and the actual Old West—I couldn’t miss out on Disneyland, the single most influential historic attraction in U.S. history.
Marco Rubio’s campaign-style video sparks presidential run speculation
Comments with optimistic tone went viral on social media with some framing it as unofficial start of Rubio’s campaign
4 WVU students awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
The four West Virginia University students — Daniel Campa, of Morgantown; Colin Krisulevicz, of Salisbury, Maryland; Rebecca Ozbolt, of Akron, Ohio; and Samuel Stalnaker, of Atwater, California and Cowen — have joined the ranks of the nation’s top emerging researchers after earning National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Brandon Nepsa
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Brandon Nepsa is this semester's recipient from Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences!
Is the FDA Really Suppressing Science? Plus. . .
It’s Thursday, May 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Aaron MacLean says Trump is poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the Iran war. Joe Klein on the life of CNN founder Ted Turner. Jillian Lederman on why cruise ships are here to stay. And much more. But first: Is the FDA suppressing science? On Tuesday, The New York Times published a story with an alarming takeaway. “FDA Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe,” read the headline. It is the latest in a string of stories that all have the same message: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies, are engaged in a cover-up—and silencing scientists trying to get the word out about the Covid vaccine. What all these stories suggest—some more subtly than others—is that the outsiders now running the public health establishment, officials such as Marty Makary at the FDA and Jay Bhattacharya at the National Institutes of Health, are on a revenge tour. That they are doing harm to the country to get back at the scientists and bureaucrats who ostracized them for deviating from the public-health consensus during the pandemic. It’s a seductive narrative. But is it true? That’s the question we address in our latest editorial. —The Editors Read [ Marty Makary's FDA Has All the Right Enemies ](https://www.thefp.com/p/marty-makary-vaccine-study-fda) [ Trump Blinks First ](https://www.thefp.com/p/iran-peace-deal-pakistan-trump-strait-of-hormuz) Aaron MacLean In return for no detectable concessions, President Trump this week gave up on forcing open the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the Trump administration looks desperate for a deal to end the war with Iran. It’s easy to understand the desire to end the war, but are they blowing the chance at victory? Aaron MacLean makes sense of the administration’s latest moves—and Iran’s response—in his column today. Read full story Aaron MacLean and Niall Ferguson: Live in New York City Join Aaron MacLean and Niall Ferguson on May 19 for a live recording of School of War at the iconic New York Historical. In a conversation as timely as it is wide-ranging, Aaron and Niall will explore the strategic stakes of the moment, including the Middle East, China, and the future of American leadership on the global stage. Get Tickets Now [ Ted Turner, the Optimist Who Built CNN ](https://www.thefp.com/p/ted-turner-cnn-tribute) Joe Klein The man who gave us CNN and the 24-hour news cycle, Ted Turner, died Wednesday at the age of 87. Today, political writer Joe Klein—who almost ghostwrote Turner’s autobiography—remembers his friend, the American media mogul who stood out for his idealism and lack of a filter—something that got Turner in trouble more than once. “His was not a traditional intelligence, but one of horizon: Ted saw things before other people did,” Joe writes. Read full story [ Nothing Can Sink the Cruise Ship ](https://www.thefp.com/p/cruise-ship-hantavirus) Jillian Lederman A viral outbreak on a cruise ship that left three passengers dead has left some people wondering: Are cruise ships on the way out? Not so fast, says Jillian Lederman, who has been on many a cruise herself. Read her piece on why 38 million people a year take a cruise—and aren’t about to stop. Read full story [ The Great Writers Who Were Terrible People ](https://www.thefp.com/p/the-great-writers-who-were-terrible) Shilo Brooks Throughout history, some of the greatest literary geniuses have also been immoral bigots. In the latest episode of Old School, Shilo Brooks is joined by Eli Lake for a conversation about those geniuses, from Voltaire to Norman Mailer and Roald Dahl—and why we should read their work despite their odious prejudices. Listen on MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS [ Inside the Digital Intifada ](https://www.thefp.com/p/digital-intifada-social-media-hamas-terror) Warren Kinsella Read full story [ This Week in American History: Trump’s Over-Arching Problem ](https://www.thefp.com/p/this-week-in-american-history-trumps-over-arching-problem) Jonathan Horn Read full story [ Humanity Is Still Evolving—and Fast ](https://www.thefp.com/p/humanity-is-still-evolvingand-fast) Razib Khan Read full story THE NEWS Thirteen D.C. Metropolitan Police officers have been placed on administrative leave and could face termination after an internal investigation found evidence that crime statistics were manipulated to make the city look safer. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee previously alleged that former D.C. police chief Pamela Smith pressured officers to skew data. Tennessee Republicans unveiled a redrawn U.S. House map yesterday that would split up Memphis’s black-majority Democratic district, the latest move in a nationwide push to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the midterms. The effort follows a Supreme Court ruling last week on Louisiana’s districts, which Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said gave states the green light to redraw maps along partisan lines. Israel struck Beirut for the first time since a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect last month, saying it targeted a commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force in the city’s southern suburbs. The strikes risk destabilizing that truce at a delicate moment, as Iran and the U.S. report progress toward a deal to resolve their own standoff. The U.S. Air Force is aiming for a Fourth of July delivery of a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar, hoping to add it to the Air Force One fleet in time for the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, Reuters reported. (For more on the controversy surrounding the aircraft, read Jed Rubenfeld’s piece “It’s a Terrible Idea, but Trump Probably Can Accept a Free Jet from Qatar.”) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified privately before Congress that he has no memory of why he and his family dined on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, according to Reuters. The admission contradicts Lutnick’s earlier claim that he had cut ties with the convicted sex offender well before that visit. Weeks before a former JPMorgan investment banker filed a lawsuit packed with explosive allegations, the bank reportedly offered him $1 million to settle his sexual assault and harassment claims, according to The Wall Street Journal. The suit, filed by Chirayu Rana, alleges he was sexually assaulted by a female colleague, subjected to racial discrimination, and forced into a degrading dynamic at work. JPMorgan says the claims lack merit, and the female colleague’s lawyers call the accusations fabricated. A new report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research shows that, for the first time in roughly 20 years, church attendance is trending upward, with more people volunteering and clergy expressing renewed optimism. The study’s authors described the findings, based on a survey of more than 7,400 congregations, as showing signs of widespread recovery from low attendance numbers.
How Nueces County went from blue to red; leaders talk shift
From Latino voters to the economy, several factors led to Nueces County's shift from Democratic to Republican. But will the county turn blue again?
Carlos Rodón could make season debut Sunday vs. Brewers as Yankees rotation gets healthier
Rodón underwent surgery last October to remove loose bodies from his elbow
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Angela Tatsch
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Angela Tatsch is this semester's recipient from Geosciences!
'My heart is so full.' Meeka Owens wins county commission primary
Cincinnati City Council member Meeka Owens is the Democratic pick for Hamilton County commissioner.
Marina business owner arrested in alleged sexual assault during spiritual cleansing
Marina police said a business owner was arrested in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a woman who went to the business for a spiritual cleansing.
Course on science museums travels to the United Kingdom
Every child can recall their first trip to a museum and the sense of wonder and excitement that comes from laying eyes on the real-life remnants of a dinosaur or the preserved artifacts of our ancestors. For a group of students taking a course on the impacts of colonization on science museums, that spark was ignited by all the work that went into the completion of those museum exhibits.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Veronica Klawender
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Veronica Klawender is this semester's recipient from Ecology & Evolutionary Biology!
Maine State Sen. Jim Libby endorses Bush for governor
Even with Libby out, there are still seven men competing for the right to run for governor as a Republican in November. In addition to Bush, Bobby Charles, Ben Midgley, Garrett Mason, David Jones, Owen McCarthy and Robert Wessels will be on the ballot.
Ohio University, Kettering Health launch partnership scholarship program
Twenty-three medical students will receive the scholarship for fall and spring terms.
Snooker World Championship: The antidote to modern sport? This is the year snooker went wild
This year's Snooker World Championship made headlines for crowd behaviour at odds with the sport's etiquette
Carolina Holds Off Philadelphia – Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2 OT
The Carolina Hurricanes fell behind for the first time this postseason but regrouped and went on to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2, in overtime on Monday night at the Lenovo Center. The win gives the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead over the Flyers in their Round 2 matchup. They are 6-0 so far this postseason. Taylor […]