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WATCH: Trump promises 'bigger majorities' for Republicans at House GOP dinner
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Mar 26 • 12:05 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
WATCH LIVE: Senate expected to vote on Republican proposal to fund TSA, DHS
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Mar 26 • 10:54 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
WATCH LIVE: Trump holds Cabinet meeting amid Iran war, partial shutdown
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Mar 26 • 9:54 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Transgender women athletes banned from Olympics by new IOC policy on female eligibility

Transgender women athletes are now excluded from the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on women’s sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

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Mar 26 • 9:42 AM EDT • Sports • cnn.com
U.S. conservative conference aims to rein in Republican infighting ahead of midterms

Some of the biggest MAGA voices have broken with Trump over the Iran conflict as well as his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

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Mar 26 • 8:41 AM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com
Exclusive: Kamala Harris to appear at Democratic events through the South in April

As speculation continues about what Kamala Harris will do next, she has at least the first part of an answer: a swing through four Southern state Democratic Party events in April.

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Mar 26 • 7:01 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died

In the years since disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead from what was ruled a suicide in his prison cell on August 10, 2019, conspiracy theories have abounded about whether the convicted sex offender actually killed himself.

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Mar 26 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
If Trump’s diplomacy fails, the Iran war could get much worse

Iran doesn’t seem to be susceptible to the art of the deal.

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Mar 26 • 12:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders push bill to impose AI data center moratorium

A bill introduced by two high-profile progressive lawmakers would pause new data centers in the United States until national safeguards are in place to protect workers and consumers and ensure the technologies don’t harm the environment.

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Mar 25 • 5:33 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Trump showed off a classified map during a 2022 plane trip, Raskin alleges in letter

President Donald Trump showed off a classified map on a 2022 flight to his New Jersey golf club and held onto a record from his first term that was so sensitive only six people would have had access to it, according to a letter released Wednesday by a top House Democrat.

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Mar 25 • 4:18 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Democrats revive allegations around Trump classified document case in latest political battle with Justice Department

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin asserted in a new letter that recently released Justice Department files show that prosecutors once considered whether President Donald Trump had improperly retained classified material relevant to his business interests after his first term.

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Mar 25 • 3:57 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
After delay due to Iran war, Trump will travel to Beijing for rescheduled China trip in May

The White House says President Donald Trump will travel to Beijing for a rescheduled summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 14 and 15.

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Mar 25 • 3:41 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
UK bans crypto donations to political parties in bid to curb foreign influence

The move is likely to hurt the hard-right party Reform UK, which accepts crypto and has received large donations from a businessman living abroad.

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Mar 25 • 3:35 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Casey Means' surgeon general nomination is stalled

The nomination has languished despite ongoing efforts from the White House and Make America Healthy Again activists, revealing how intractable rifts over health policy can be even when Congress has shown deference to President Donald Trump.

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Mar 25 • 3:29 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Casey Means' surgeon general nomination is stalled

The nomination has languished despite ongoing efforts from the White House and Make America Healthy Again activists, revealing how intractable rifts over health policy can be even when Congress has shown deference to President Donald Trump.

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Mar 25 • 3:29 PM EDT • Health • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Melania Trump’s very robotic White House guest

The storied White House East Room has welcomed politicians, foreign dignitaries, war heroes, celebrities and elite athletes, but on Wednesday, it was the setting for an extremely robotic speech introducing first lady Melania Trump.

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Mar 25 • 1:38 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
WATCH LIVE: White House briefing may address Iran troop buildup, DHS funding deal
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Mar 25 • 12:59 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
The economy was already a big problem for Trump. The Iran war is making it worse

Amid the constant barrage of President Donald Trump’s often-unpopular actions, it can be easy to lose sight of what probably matters most politically: the sputtering economy.

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Mar 25 • 12:38 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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The right is openly divided over the Iran war as conservatives gather for CPAC

This year, neither Trump nor Vice President JD Vance has been publicly announced as speaking to the gathering. But among those who are slated to speak are big names in the MAGA movement who have voiced conflicting views on the Iran war.

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Mar 25 • 11:28 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Florida Democrat flips seat in special election in district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Democrat Emily Gregory won a Florida special election on Tuesday, flipping a state legislative district that is home to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate that President Donald Trump counts as his residence. The president had endorsed Gregory’s rival, Jon Maples. In a social media post Monday, he urged voters to turn out, saying Maples was backed “by so many of my Palm Beach County friends.” READ MORE: Trump casts Florida ballot by mail as he

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Mar 25 • 10:27 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Sports Illustrated Stadium to host fan events during FIFA World Cup

Sports Illustrated Stadium will host fan events — unaffiliated with the 2026 FIFA World Cup — during the world's largest sporting event.

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Mar 25 • 4:31 AM EDT • Sports • northjersey.com
The Best Noise-Canceling Headphone Deals from Sony, Bose, and Beats for Amazon's Big Spring Sale

Amazon's Big Spring Sale features major discounts on popular headphones like Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and Beats Studio Pro.

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Mar 25 • 3:02 AM EDT • Technology • consequence.net
Trump sinks to record low approval rating due to Iran war in new poll

President Donald Trump's approval rating dropped to 36%, its lowest level since his return to the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

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Mar 24 • 6:19 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
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WATCH: 'We negotiate with bombs,' Hegseth says of U.S. air campaign in Iran

President Donald Trump has listed five objectives that the U.S. wants to achieve before ending its war with Iran. Now, as he suggests the U.S. may soon be “winding down” the operation after three and a half weeks, some of his key aims remain undefined or unfulfilled.

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Mar 24 • 5:57 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Pentagon will remove media offices after judge reinstates NYT's press credentials

The U.S. Defense Department will remove media offices from the Pentagon after a federal judge sided with The New York Times in a lawsuit challenging limits on reporters' access to the building, a department official announced Monday.

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Mar 24 • 4:54 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
WATCH: Kushner, Witkoff, Rubio and Vance are 'in negotiations' with Iran, Trump says

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf denied on Monday that Iran was negotiating with the U.S. to end the war.

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Mar 24 • 4:20 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Bolsonaro allowed to serve 27-year sentence at home due to ill health

The decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes follows Bolsonaro’s hospitalization since March 13 for pneumonia.

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Mar 24 • 2:48 PM EDT • Health • pbs.org
New poll finds Trump's net favorability at record low in Wisconsin

The first Marquette University Law School poll conducted after the U.S. attacks on Iran found 61% oppose the war, with divides among Republicans.

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Mar 24 • 2:27 PM EDT • Politics • jsonline.com
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Newsom says he regrets earlier comments likening Israel to an ‘apartheid state’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he regretted using the word “apartheid” to describe the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, though he warned “that’s a word you may hear others use” if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for territorial gains.

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Mar 24 • 1:31 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Firefox now has a free built-in VPN with 50GB monthly data limit

Mozilla released Firefox 149 with added privacy protection through a built-in VPN tool offering up to 50GB of monthly traffic.

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Mar 24 • 1:23 PM EDT • Technology • bleepingcomputer.com
Trump casts Florida ballot by mail as he pushes Congress to severely limit that voting option

Trump has in the last week called mail-in voting "cheating" and "corrupt as hell" as he urges Congress to pass the SAVE Act, a sweeping bill that would bar universal mail ballots.

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Mar 24 • 12:43 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Mouse study shows repeated cloning causes grave genetic mutations

1,206 cloned laboratory mice were generated by the scientists from a single female donor mouse from 2005 to 2025 in research conducted in Japan.

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Mar 24 • 12:22 PM EDT • Science • detroitnews.com
WATCH LIVE: Senate meets as lawmakers consider deal to fund Homeland Security
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Mar 24 • 11:44 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Energy executive Alan Armstrong picked to fill Mullin's Senate seat through end of year

The choice by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who had pledged to pick a “conservative voice” to fill Mullin's seat, elevates to the Senate the chairman and former CEO of Williams Companies, a major pipeline operator based in Tulsa.

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Mar 24 • 11:31 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Health care is reshaping the labor market

These days, health care is about more than caring for patients. In the past two years, this service industry has become the economy’s biggest creator of U.S. jobs.

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Mar 24 • 8:13 AM EDT • Health • adpresearch.com
Differences between W2 and 1099 workers for small businesses

Hiring for your small business? One of the first decisions you’ll face is who to hire and how to classify them. Should you bring on a W-2 employee or a 1099 independent contractor? In this episode of Small Business Smarts, ADP’s Laci Buzzelli breaks down the key differences between the two and when each option makes the most sense for small businesses. For more information, visit ADP.com/SPARK

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Mar 24 • 8:02 AM EDT • Business • mediacenter.adp.com
Crowded Democratic race for California governor could open door for Republicans

The candidates will clash on Tuesday at a debate.

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Mar 24 • 7:39 AM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com
Florida Democrats hope in special election to flip a state legislative district that includes Mar-a-Lago

Democrats in Florida are hoping to capitalize on the party’s recent special election overperformances and come out on top Tuesday in a special state House election for a Palm Beach district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

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Mar 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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Voice of America journalists allege Trump is making news outlet a propaganda source

Some journalists at Voice of America charged in a lawsuit Monday that the Trump administration — while largely shutting down the government-run outlet that provides news around the world — has turned what remains into a voice for propaganda.

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Mar 23 • 7:22 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Trump places replica Christopher Columbus statue near the White House

A statue of Christopher Columbus has been placed on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, the latest effort by President Donald Trump's administration to recognize the controversial explorer.

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Mar 23 • 6:34 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Takeaways from arguments in the Supreme Court case that could end grace periods for mail-in ballots

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared dubious of state laws that allow the counting of mail ballots that arrive at election offices after Election Day as justices heard oral arguments in a challenge to Mississippi’s five-day grace period for mail ballots.

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Mar 23 • 3:46 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Airport chaos is adding urgency to the DHS shutdown debate. But who has the leverage?

DHS has been shut down for more than a month. But extremely long and growing TSA wait times have created newfound political urgency to reach a deal.

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Mar 23 • 2:40 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
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2026 Fantasy Baseball ADP Risers: Tigers' prized prospect gaining traction
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Mar 23 • 1:53 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
WATCH LIVE: Trump joins Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable, initiative aimed at combating crime
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Mar 23 • 1:00 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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WATCH LIVE: Senate expected to vote on DHS secretary confirmation for Mullin
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Mar 23 • 12:04 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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Trump was offered an off-ramp to the DHS shutdown but he didn’t take it

President Donald Trump was presented Sunday with a potential off-ramp to the more than month-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown: fund every part of the department except enforcement operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.

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Mar 23 • 11:33 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Microsoft Exchange Online service change causes email access issues

Microsoft is working to address an ongoing service issue that has intermittently prevented some users from accessing their cloud-based Exchange Online mailboxes via Outlook mobile and Mac desktop clients since Thursday.

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Mar 23 • 8:17 AM EDT • Technology • bleepingcomputer.com
‘President Trump is right’: The White House’s go-to line about Trump’s false claims

President Donald Trump’s White House spokespeople have a favorite two-step reply when reporters ask them to comment on one of Trump’s false claims.

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Mar 23 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
'Disgusting.' Democratic senator slams Trump's reaction to Mueller's death

Sen. Chris Murphy called President Donald Trump's response to the death of Robert Mueller "disgusting."

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Mar 22 • 2:20 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
Your Thymus and Your Healthspan

Our thymus gland plays a central role in the development or our immune system, specifically for supporting T cell development (how these cells got their name, maturation and differentiation in the thymus) and discriminating between self and foreign, non-self antigen proteins with production of dendritic cells. As we age, our thymus gland shrinks—the process known as involution—with progressive change from spongy to fatty tissue, with loss of functionality. But this process, with respect to timeline and extent, markedly varies from one person to the next. And to make things even more complicated, our thymus gland anatomy and precise location in the chest also is highly variable. So the famous Frank Netter diagrams from the 1960s (such as at left below) don’t capture the remarkable heterogeneity that a random set of 12 chest CT scans (below at right). What I consider as 2 landmark papers in Nature this week (here and here) used AI to quantify health of the thymus in 2 large cohorts, and then correlate the metric to a broad array of health outcomes. In this edition of Ground Truths, I’m going to cover three questions: (1) How was thymus health determined by AI?; (2) How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? and (3) Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? Subscribe 1. How was thymus health determined by AI? This was accomplished by extensive work developing and validating an AI pipeline for 2 stages, the first for localization and segmentation of the thymus bed, and the second to quantify a digital marker, termed the thymic health score. There’s a lot to this algorithmic development, so I won’t go into all the details, but just provide a rudimentary outline of what was done. The 1st stage used supervised learning with 2 radiologists reviewing 2,461 chest CT scans. That work trained a 3D U-Net model to automatically identify the thymic bed’s 3D cropped region using center of mass coordinates, which reached 99.8% accuracy. The 2nd stage used a foundation model that was pre-trained with SwAV (which stands for Swapping Assignment between multiple Views), a self-supervised model, that generated a high-dimensional thymus representation of 4,096 features. That compares to the radiology reductionist and subjective scoring of 0 to 3 where 0 means the thymus is fully degenerated and fatty, and 3 is considered dense, intact glandular soft tissue. Notably, the self-supervised learning (SSL) performance was superior to supervised (AUC ~0.75 vs 0.55, respectively) reflecting the shallowness of the 0-3 classifier vs SSL’s holistic, self-taught AI. The thymic health score ranged from 0 to 100, with the highest number indexed to fully preserved thymic health. The algorithmic work extended to explainability with both Shapely value distribution, meaning the model was holistic not relying on any “magic” pixel, and occlusion sensitivity, demonstrating the model’s performance was not affected by ribs, sternum, lung tissue, but rather focused on the thymic bed directly. Below are a few saliency maps from the occlusion sensitivity that indicate the thymic bed focus, not affected by neighboring structures, using the jet color scale. Now the AI was ready for processing ~25,000 CT scans, each over 30 MB files, from the 2 large participant cohorts to provide a thymic health score, it did so in less than 14 hours, which is less than 2 seconds per scan! Share 2. How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? The two cohorts were the National Lung Screening Trial, NLST (N=25,031) and the Framingham Heart Study, FHS (N=2,581) each with baseline demographics and long term follow up of >12 years for health outcomes. From the NSLT, you can see below that increased age and body-mass index were correlated to reduced thymic health. And, overall, men had reduced thymic health scores compared with women. There are a lot of graphs in the paper for outcomes, for both the NLST and FHS cohorts. To simplify the major outcomes, below is a composite Figure with striking reduction of all-cause mortality and for the different causes of death. The results were consistent between the 2 cohorts. For example, the cardiovascular mortality hazard ratio average was 0.57 in NLST and 0.38 in FHS (weighted to be 0.53 for the aggregate). The reduction of mortality also extended to digestive diseases and pulmonary disease (data not shown below). Lung cancer incidence was reduced by 36% for high vs low thymic health (Figure below, with a panel -incidence and b panel-mortality, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking status). Notably, there was a smoker’s paradox: lower incidence and improved survival for lung cancer in smokers who had a high thymus health score. Smoking was associated with lower thymic scores whereas alcohol was not. Higher thymic health was linked to higher HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower fasting blood glucose, and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Inflammation biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, were elevated in the people with lower thymic health scores. In their second paper, the same team looked at the relationship between thymic score and outcomes for 3,476 patients receiving cancer immunotherapy. The non-small cell lung cancer progression-free survival was reduced in patients with low thymic health score. A parallel relationship for survival was seen for other types of cancer including melanoma, breast, and kidney with a 44% lower risk among high thymic scores (Figure). A similar pattern was seen with different immune checkpoint inhibitors. The thymus health score outperformed programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)and tumor mutation burden (TMB) assay of the tumor and was an independent prognostic marker of progression-free survival. In this dataset, a direct connect with thymus score and adaptive immune function was noted with a correlation before cancer treatment for both T-cell diversity and thymus T-cell production (a metric known as T cell receptor excision circles). Thymus Removal Study There is a highly relevant citation about thymus function before moving onto ways to rejuvenate it. In 2023, a very important study of thymus removal during cardiothoracic surgery was published, with 1146 patients undergoing thymus removal vs 1146 matched controls (mean age 55 years). The adverse outcomes for thymus removal were striking, with a 2.9 higher risk of all-cause mortality and doubling of cancer incidence, 1.5 fold increase in cancer mortality, and 1.5-fold increase in autoimmune diseases. The immune function showed marked compromise after thymus removal, as reflected by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (Figure below) Share Ground Truths 3. Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? In recent months we’ve learned a lot about the process of thymus involution and the pathways by which this may be modulated. Thymus involution is primarily due to loss to thymus epithelial cells (TECs) and there are 2 subtypes with different functions: the cortical, responsible for positive selection of T cells, and the medullary, for negative selection. When adipose tissue infiltrates the thymus, thymic adipocytes are pro-inflammatory, knocking out T-cell output. Likewise, systemic inflammation, or “inflammaging,” from smoking, obesity, and chronic stress promote thymic adipocytes. Now, from preclinical studies, we know about key pathways that account for these processes. Historically, back in 2014, FOXN1 was recognized as a single master transcription factor essential for TEC function, with studies in mice with forced FOXN1 upregulation leading to thymus regeneration. That laid the foundation for potential regrowth of quiescent thymus cells. It took awhile to find pathways to accomplish this goal and to even refute its role as the master regulator. The Liver-Thymus Axis Feng Zhang and his team recently showed that injection of an mRNA vaccine to the liver encoding DLL1, IL-7 and FLT3-L in combination, factors known to support thymopoiesis (Figure), successfully enhanced immune function in aged mice. However, the effect was transient. The FGF21 Story Two reports in 2025 addressed the thymus gland’s production of FGF21, a growth factor (fibroblast growth factor 21) and its control of thymus involution. This growth factor is also produced by the liver, but it doesn’t have impact on the thymus in aged rodent models. In contrast, The liver’s hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been shown to reverse senescent TEC structural changes. Growth hormone stimulates production of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the liver and the thymus. Two small studies in human participants (TRIIM, for Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation) of 6 and 50 people, respectively, treated with combined human growth hormone, metformin and DHEA, suggested the potential of slowing epigenetic aging and improving thymus mass and function. But the combination of drugs, small sample, and lack of controls make conclusions murky. Increased thymus FGF21 led to increased CD8 T cells in old mice and extended healthspan and improved physical performance. Building on the previous FOXN1 data, ablation of β-klotho, the obligatory co-receptor for FOXN1, accelerated thymic aging. The benefit to FGF21 was confirmed in a companion paper using an FGF21 knock-in mouse model showing thymus enlargement and increased TECs throughout the lifespan. (schematic Figure below). The accompanying editorial for these 2 papers speculated: “The proposed link between age-associated thymus involution and organismal aging is intriguing, and suggests we might seek to achieve systemic rejuvenation by counteracting thymic involution.” Other Factors Lessons from the Axolotl (Mexican Salamander) In an elegant set of experiments of the axolotl (Figure), known for its complete thymus regeneration after total surgical removal, mediators were identified. Surprisingly FOXN1 was dispensable. But midkine, a growth factor, appeared to be the driver, the initiator of thymus cell growth, survival, and repair. Other components that contributed were Postn+ (periostin-expressing mesenchymal niches) and Ccl19, a chemokine protein from the bloodstream. RANK and RANKL RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB its ligand (RANKL) have been considered key regulators of medullary TECs. In a study of both aged mice and human thymus cell cultures, their key role was confirmed, with multiple benefits of resorting TEC function, recruitment of progenitor cells, and T cell development. Subscribe Summing Up This body of work strongly supports the health of the thymus gland as a critical regulator of human healthspan, not just a correlate or link. The new landmark studies are reinforced by the regenerative biology experimental models that have shown, via an array of mediators, that healthspan of aged mice is at least in part dependent on thymus gland function and its critical role for maintaining adaptive immunity. It sure seems that we’d be better off having an immune reservoir of naive T cells instead of a profile in older adults of exhausted, low quality, memory T cells, with a senescent phenotype. It is striking that we ignored the importance of the thymus gland for many decades. A wake-up call was the results of the thymectomy matched control study reviewed here, with the opposite of high thymic health score improved health outcomes. The convergence of AI and healthspan here is notable. The exceptional and laborious work for developing and validating (no less explaining) the AI to quantify thymus health set the foundation for probing the connect the major health outcomes in two cohorts with extensive follow-up. We’ve never had a way to meaningfully quantify the thymus gland before, so this represents important leverage of supervised, self-supervised, and transformer models. The study wouldn’t have been possible without AI. And it begs the question as to whether there are ways we can maintain our thymus at a high health score. But it’s not so simple to rejuvenate our thymus. There are multiple risks including the induction of autoimmunity, increasing the risk of cancer, and inducing a pro-inflammatory state. For example, factors that increase TEC proliferation could compromise the medulllary negative selection process and leak out auto-reactive (self-attacking) T cells. Thymic cells could be induced to proliferate, but we know, for example, that growth hormone and IGF-1 are associated with an increase risk of cancer. If thymus rejuvenation doesn’t clear out the accumulated senescent cells in older adults, then inflammation within the gland could block the production of TECs. Keeping these risks in mind, we now have identified many ways to keep our thymus healthy as we age that undoubtedly will be tested in clinical trials going forward. Ultimately, the benefit-to-risk tradeoffs will be defined. In the meantime, we have desperately needed an immunome. As I’ve stressed in multiple prior Ground Truths, we have no test in the clinic to assess a patient’s immune status! It was very encouraging for me to get an email from Hugo Aerts, the senior author of the landmark papers in the days after they were published: “I also wanted to say that your Substack on “Why We Need an Immunome” was inspiring for this work. We found it a very compelling perspective and greatly enjoyed reading it.” Just having an assessment of a person’s immune status via a chest CT scan, with millions of these performed per year, might help in guiding the right immunotherapy for cancer (e.g. more intensive, combinations for those with low thymic health scores) and help define people who are increased risk for age-related diseases of cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative. The main theme of Super Agers is that we now have many layers of data (genetics, proteins, biomarkers, organ clocks that can be integrated via multimodal AI) for us to define a person’s specific risk decades before one of these age-related diseases leads to symptoms, enabling prevention. From the new studies this week, we can add thymus health score as yet another way to understand a person’s risk, a window into their adaptive immune system and healthspan. And perhaps someday we will be able to safely rejuvenate the thymus, or maintain its health through one’s life, and use the thymus health score to monitor. NB: I wrote this post (No A.I.) A Quick Poll Loading... ********************************************************************* Thanks to Ground Truths subscribers (now > 200,000) from every US state and 212 countries. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. Please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don’t hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. Let me know topics that you would like to see covered. Leave a comment Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. It enabled us to accept and support 47 summer interns in 2025! We aim to accept even more of the several thousand who will apply for summer 2026.

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Mar 22 • 2:18 PM EDT • Health • erictopol.substack.com
LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court considers late-arriving mail ballot laws in case that may affect midterms
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Mar 22 • 1:14 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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US, Iran threaten more energy strikes as gas prices surge. What to know

As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran enters its fourth week, the economic consequences continue to rattle markets.

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Mar 22 • 12:45 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
4 Things You Never Knew Your PS5 Could Do

The PlayStation 5 lets users create custom button mapping, play from a PC and Mac, use motion control to aim, and amplify sounds with headphones.

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Mar 22 • 6:47 AM EDT • Technology • bgr.com
Fact-checking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the effects of the SAVE America Act

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the SAVE America Act would require in-person voter registration, “something only 5% of Americans do today." The act would require that, but the rate of in-person registrations is higher than Schumer said.

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Mar 21 • 6:35 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
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You were born with a playlist already in your soul: Why science says musicality is hardwired

We are born with a musical blueprint that might actually be older than language itself

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Mar 21 • 4:51 PM EDT • Science • upworthy.com
Fourth suspected measles case reported in Washtenaw County

Measles has not yet been confirmed with laboratory testing, according to a health department press release.

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Mar 21 • 3:00 PM EDT • Health • detroitnews.com
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Former FBI chief, Robert Mueller, dead at 81

Robert Mueller oversaw the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States election.

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Mar 21 • 1:42 PM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
6 years since lockdown, here's a look at COVID vaccine guidance today

Changing guidance around COVID-19 vaccines, specifically, has been central to RFK Jr.'s run as health secretary. A judge just struck some of it down.

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Mar 21 • 6:03 AM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
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GOP, Dems battle over Trump's SAVE Act. But who will it really help?

The president says the election security bill 'will guarantee the midterms' for Republicans. Available data is far less clear cut. Here's why.

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Mar 21 • 3:01 AM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (11%)
wow
67%
ahah
33%
Why the Trump administration is easing sanctions on certain Iranian oil stockpiles

Trump administration officials are making a desperate push to secure every available barrel of oil amid a worsening energy crisis — even if it means lifting sanctions on the very country that they’re fighting against.

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Mar 20 • 8:08 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (4%)
ahah
58%
wow
42%
Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to Pentagon policy limiting reporters’ access

A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Pentagon, agreeing with The New York Times that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.

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Mar 20 • 6:39 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
WATCH: Trump says 'we don't need' Strait of Hormuz after allies won't help U.S. escort ships

Speaking with reporters as he departed the White House, Trump said “it would be nice” if the countries that rely on the Strait of Hormuz would get involved in helping to keep it open.

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Mar 20 • 5:42 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Swalwell sees attacks from left and right as California's race for governor heats up

There is finally a breakaway leader in California’s crowded race for governor, at least by one measure: Eric Swalwell is just about everyone’s favorite target.

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Mar 20 • 2:19 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Pete Hegseth's Christian rhetoric reignites scrutiny after the U.S. goes to war with Iran

Hegseth has pushed policy changes that reflect his Christian views, including a revamp of the military chaplain corps.

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Mar 20 • 11:16 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Unilever in talks to sell food business to smaller rival McCormick

Unilever, which owns Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr stock cubes, seeks to focus on higher-growth businesses.

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Mar 20 • 11:15 AM EDT • Business • detroitnews.com
WATCH LIVE: Senate meets to consider DHS funding to end shutdown
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Mar 20 • 9:58 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
America started a war. The economic pain will be borne by countries that never asked for it

The war in Iran has delivered what economists call a “black swan” event — an unforeseen shock so destructive, no one is immune to it.

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Mar 20 • 12:01 AM EDT • Business • cnn.com
US Health Department official signals progress on selecting new CDC head

The top CDC job has been filled by acting directors since Trump fired then-director Susan Monarez last August, after she objected to Kennedy's proposed vaccine policy changes.

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Mar 19 • 10:34 PM EDT • Health • detroitnews.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (17%)
wow
37%
love
36%
ahah
27%
Trump administration probes states that mandate health insurance coverage for abortion

The Trump administration said Thursday that it has launched investigations into 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion.

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Mar 19 • 7:58 PM EDT • Health • pbs.org
Trump administration probes states that mandate health insurance coverage for abortion

The Trump administration said Thursday that it has launched investigations into 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion.

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Mar 19 • 7:58 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Many Americans plan to cut food to afford ACA health insurance, new poll shows

About 8 in 10 Americans who re-enrolled in Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage say their health care costs are higher this year, according to a new survey from the health care research nonprofit KFF.

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Mar 19 • 6:58 PM EDT • Health • pbs.org
What Zohran Mamdani's favorite rappers shows about his politics

Mamdani chooses uber-capitalists Biggie, Nas and Jay-Z among his five favorite rappers. Is it a pivot to center?

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Mar 19 • 6:05 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (10%)
wow
57%
ahah
22%
love
21%
Justice Department probe of Powell could backfire on Trump and keep Fed chair in office

President Donald Trump has for months wanted to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. But instead, an investigation by one of his own officials could end up extending Powell's time at the top of the central bank even after his term formally ends May 15.

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Mar 19 • 5:31 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Trump faces his most difficult Iran war decision: Will he deploy U.S. troops to seize uranium?

The president has been circumspect about how far he's willing to go to follow through on his pledge to destroy Iran's weapons program once and for all, including seizing or destroying the near-bomb-grade nuclear material that Iran possesses.

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Mar 19 • 5:21 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Huge Trump Iran war funding request faces stiff opposition in Congress

Lawmakers estimated the war is costing $1 billion to $2 billion per day.

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Mar 19 • 3:43 PM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com
GOP hardliners wavering on support for Bondi subpoena after testy briefing

Conservative hardliners who supported subpoenaing Attorney General Pam Bondi in the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe are now indicating that they are open to changing their position after Bondi met with the panel for a briefing that turned contentious with Democrats.

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Mar 19 • 3:43 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
How the NFL is betting big on gambling

More than $3 billion will be wagered on March Madness this year. Around $30 billion was bet on the last NFL season. All evidence of an explosion in sports gambling across this country.

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Mar 19 • 2:19 PM EDT • Sports • cnn.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (18%)
wow
51%
love
28%
ahah
21%
WATCH: Senate Homeland Security advances Markwayne Mullin's nomination for DHS
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Mar 19 • 12:12 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
WATCH LIVE: Gabbard, Patel, Ratcliffe testify in House hearing on national security threats
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Mar 19 • 8:15 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Trump may push Japan for help with Iran war in White House meeting

U.S. allies such as Germany, Italy and Spain have ruled out participating in any Gulf mission.

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Mar 19 • 7:36 AM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com
Democrats walk out of heated Epstein files briefing
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Mar 19 • 12:00 AM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
angry
100%
Frustrated Democrats walk out of tense Epstein briefing with Bondi and Blanche on Capitol Hill

When Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, they hoped to boost members’ confidence on their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Within half an hour, Democratic lawmakers had walked out.

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Mar 18 • 10:12 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
What to know about the Jones Act as the Trump administration unveils a 60-day waiver

Passed in 1920, this law aims to protect the American shipping sector — but it's also faced criticism over the years for slowing the delivery of goods, including critical aid during time of crisis.

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Mar 18 • 3:15 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Mullin under microscope by Senate colleagues over temperament, stolen valor and ICE in tense DHS confirmation hearing

A typically friendly setting for one of their own turned tense on Capitol Hill Wednesday with senators grilling Markwayne Mullin for roughly three hours as he vies to become President Donald Trump’s next Department of Homeland Security chief.

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Mar 18 • 3:06 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Takeaways from intelligence officials’ testimony to lawmakers amid war with Iran

Top Trump administration officials testified publicly Wednesday for the first time since the launch of the Iran war three weeks ago.

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Mar 18 • 2:14 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Healthy Returns: Stopping GLP-1s raises risk of heart attack, stroke and death, study says

Research finds that even short gaps in treatment with a GLP-1 can drive up risks of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

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Mar 18 • 2:06 PM EDT • Health • cnbc.com
WATCH: Sen. Paul asks DHS nominee Mullin if he believes violence can resolve political differences
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Mar 18 • 12:46 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Why quitting Ozempic and GLP-1s can be bad for your heart health

People who quit taking popular GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic might their jeopardize heart health, according to a new study.

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Mar 18 • 12:01 PM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (7%)
wow
58%
love
21%
sad
21%
WATCH LIVE: Gabbard, Ratcliffe and Patel testify on worldwide threats in Senate Intelligence hearing
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Mar 18 • 9:05 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
European groups join aid convoy to Cuba amid crippling oil blockade

Millions have been plunged into darkness in Cuba as the US's total blockade has meant no fuel shipments in three months.

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Mar 18 • 8:51 AM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
Olympics urged to drop reported gender test plans for female athletes

Global sports leaders ‌reached consensus on a new set of eligibility criteria for transgender athletes in February.

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Mar 18 • 7:41 AM EDT • Sports • aljazeera.com
Republicans hope to label Democrats as party of election fraud in voter ID debate

Democrats say the bill could disenfranchise millions of Americans including women, minorities and low-income Americans.

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Mar 18 • 7:33 AM EDT • Politics • detroitnews.com
Deputy AG Blanche defends DOJ’s work on Epstein case ahead of closed-door Hill briefing

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, ahead of his appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday, defended the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files and asserted it does not have new evidence to prosecute anyone for crimes related to Jeffrey Epstein, in an interview released Tuesday that forced him to face theories plaguing the department.

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Mar 18 • 12:56 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Killing of Larijani will not destabilise Iranian political system: Minister
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Mar 17 • 11:58 PM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
Shocking ruling strips Senegal of Africa Cup of Nations title, declares Morocco champion

Morocco was stunningly awarded the Africa Cup of Nations title on Tuesday by appeals judges who overturned Senegal’s victory in a chaotic final in January.

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Mar 17 • 7:03 PM EDT • Sports • cnn.com
Argentina officially withdraws from World Health Organization, following US

Argentinian President Javier Milei has criticised the global health body for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Mar 17 • 6:22 PM EDT • Health • aljazeera.com
What is happening in Cuba? Economic struggles, US tensions explained

Trump has recently increased pressure on the island nation of Cuba, adding March 17 Washington would be doing "something with Cuba" soon.

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Mar 17 • 5:28 PM EDT • Politics • usatoday.com
WATCH LIVE: Sen. Markwayne Mullin testifies in confirmation hearing for DHS secretary
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Mar 17 • 5:07 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)
Senate kicks off marathon debate over Trump’s voter ID bill

The Senate has kicked off extended debate on the “SAVE America Act” — one of President Donald Trump’s top legislative priorities.

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Mar 17 • 4:04 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Deep dive
😐 Neutral (17%)
ahah
73%
wow
27%
Live Results: Illinois midterm primary elections

Illinois voters are deciding primaries Tuesday for six open U.S. House and Senate seats that will spur a new generation of leadership in the state’s heavily Democratic congressional delegation.

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Mar 17 • 2:24 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
🙂 Positive (35%)