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Inside California Politics: Governor’s primary race results, state budget process
(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — This week Inside California Politics’ Eytan Wallace is joined by a number of guests to discuss everything from the governor’s race to the state budget to …
Inside California Politics: Governor’s primary race results, state budget process
(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — This week Inside California Politics’ Eytan Wallace is joined by a number of guests to discuss everything from the governor’s race to the state budget to …
Intel Raptor Lake “Next” Desktop CPUs To Come In Core 7, Core 5, Core 3 Flavors With Up To 20 Cores But Retain 8 P-Cores On LGA 1700 Socket
Intel Raptor Lake Next Desktop CPUs will bring value-oriented options to mainstream and budget gamers on the existing LGA 1700 sockets.
Politics Unusual: NYC Schools Chancellor investigation, city budget conversation
In this episode of Politics Unusual, FOX 5 NY's political reporter Morgan McKay peaks with Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, about a potential finalized budget deal for New York City. Also, a conversation with Madina Touré, an education reporter at Politico, about the allegations the Schools Chancellor is now facing.
Massachusetts Ties Business Tax Breaks to Ballot Initiative
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) signed a budget bill Friday that ties five business deductions to maintaining the state’s 5% personal income tax rate, putting fresh pressure on a proposed ballot measure that could lower the rate to 4%.
Thousands protest across Austria and Poland calling for ...
Proposed budget cuts and lack of funding have led to demonstrations throughout both countries
The Politics Hour: The final countdown to the D.C. primary and Virginia lawmakers stall over the budget
WAMU's Alex Koma and Washington Informer's Sam P.K. Collins get us ready for the D.C. primaries. Plus, Virginia Delegate Vivian Watts weighs in the data center tax breaks stalling budget negotiations.
CMS approves budget for GO-NORTH, the state’s federally funded rural health program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved New Hampshire’s spending plan for a large tranche of federal money that will go toward rural health initiatives, state officials announced Thursday.
UVM Health cuts more jobs as budget strains continue
The hospital network announced a new round of layoffs after heavy cuts last year and a $300 million budget gap.
How an activist network built pressure without political power
When Rainforest Action Network began in 1985, it had little of what usually makes an organization powerful. It had no large budget, no legal department, no reliable access to politicians, and no formal way to force global corporations or development banks to change. It had Randy Hayes, a wide activist network, a way to connect […]
Pac-12: How Fresno State’s soon-to-be conference foes outspend on sports programs
Fresno State will join a rebuilding Pac-12 on July 1, with operations budgets that lag behind its conference peers in most sports.
Social Security is Facing a Political Crisis
On Tuesday the Social Security Trustees released their latest report on the system’s finances. The numbers didn’t change much: Unless something is done, the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, Social Security’s official name, will be unable to pay full benefits starting in either 2032 or 2034, depending on some technical issues. That’s not far away: If the Trustees are right, the prospect of a Social Security crisis will loom over the next presidential administration. It’s important to understand, however, the nature of the looming crisis. It won’t be an economic crisis. It won’t even be a serious fiscal crisis. Whatever you may have heard, Social Security isn’t in danger of going bankrupt. What we’re facing, instead, is potential political crisis. Congress and the White House could easily take action to sustain America’s retirement system. But given the current state of our politics, there’s no guarantee that they will. There is a widespread misunderstanding of how Social Security works. While Social Security was designed to look like a pension fund, it isn’t. A pension fund pays benefits out of a stock of assets it has accumulated over time. In contrast, Social Security operates as a government transfer program, like food stamps or Medicaid. Now, unlike food stamps — but like the highway trust fund — Social Security is on paper supported by a dedicated tax, the payroll tax, that is assigned to that program. But I say “on paper” because from an economic point of view assigning the payroll tax to Social Security is just an accounting convention. What matters for the U.S. economy is the overall balance between government spending and government revenue, not the difference between one type of spending and one source of revenue. So there’s no inherent economic significance to the fact that by 2034 payroll tax receipts will be insufficient to cover promised benefits. There is, however, a legislative issue. As long as the Social Security Administration can pay benefits out of payroll taxes and its cash reserve, there’s no need for Congress to vote each year to authorize benefits — they just keep going out until further notice. However, once those resources become insufficient, benefits will fall —by 17 percent according to the Trustees — unless Congress passes new legislation that “tops up” Social Security’s finances. Yet the current administration and Republican party are such extremists that there is a real risk that Social Security will be held hostage on behalf of their goals. If this should come to pass, the hostage-takers will claim that shoring up Social Security is unaffordable. Right on cue, Mike Johnson, the Trump-sycophant Speaker of the House, declared on Monday that “entitlement programs” like Social Security “have to be adjusted and fixed,” and that Republicans will introduce a plan to that effect next year. But this is a ploy, because while the cost of maintaining Social Security benefits at their promised level isn’t trivial, it is in fact affordable. According to the Trustees’ report, the actuarial balance of OASDI up through 2050 — the amount of additional funds it would need to keep paying full benefits for the next 25 years — is 1.06 percent of GDP. To put that number in perspective, the Trump administration proposes increasing military spending next year by $420 billion, equivalent to about 1.4 percent of GDP – without any discussion of whether that’s affordable Yet how did we get to the point where Social Security will need to be topped up? The main answer is that we have an aging population, with a growing ratio of retirees collecting benefits to workers paying into the system: Trump’s anti-immigration policies are making this problem worse. According to the Trustees’ report, lower immigration will deepen Social Security’s financial hole because many immigrants are working-age adults who will pay into the system for decades before they collect benefits. In fact, this problem may be much bigger than the report acknowledges: The report’s baseline assumption is that we’ll have net immigration of almost 1.2 million people a year, and even the pessimistic case assumes 750,000 a year. Meanwhile actual net immigration has already been cut far below that — and may now be negative. Moreover, Social Security is being financially damaged by growing income inequality in America. Payroll taxes are levied only on wages up to $184,500, and they don’t touch capital income. With the distribution of income increasingly shifting from labor to capital, as well as becoming more unequal among wage-earners, revenue from the Social Security payroll tax has been falling as a share of national income. From 1990 to 2024, it fell from 5.02 percent of gross domestic income to 4.46 percent. Which brings me to the question that, these days, we ask about everything: How might Social Security be affected by the advent of AI? A short answer: If, as many of us fear, AI accelerates rising income inequality, it will further reduce the payroll tax receipts that currently pay for Social Security and further endanger its finances. On the other hand, if AI, as its advocates promise, leads to faster economic growth, it will increase the potential tax base that could and should be used to support Social Security and other social insurance programs. But to take advantage of that larger base, we’ll have to get serious about taxing wealth and capital income. Is Social Security in trouble? Yes, but only because of the way its financing is currently structured — a structure that no longer works well because our society and economy have become so unequal. Moreover, Trump’s immigration policies are further endangering its already deteriorating financial condition. So don’t believe Republicans’ gaslighting that it will be necessary to cut Social Security benefits. All that is necessary to preserve Social Security is political will to raise taxes on the wealthy and a sensible immigration policy. MUSICAL CODA Actually 67 under current law.
City of Houston passes Whitmire’s $7.5-billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027
Houston City Council approved Mayor John Whitmire’s budget with a vote of 15 to 1. Council Member Edward Pollard, the sole “no” vote, argued the plan was “fiscally irresponsible.”
Intel’s Project Firefly Takes The Best of Phones To Build Laptops In A Slim 12.9mm Metal Chassis With No Vents
Intel's Project Firefly aims to deliver premium-grade budget laptops with Wildcat Lake SoCs and a metal chassis, targeting affordability.
Virginia's business reputation at the center of state budget impasse
Lawmakers are split on whether to end a tax exemption for data centers early.
New OMB rule could break science in the United States
The drug that saved your mother. The treatment your doctor recommended. The clinical trial that bought someone you love more time. None of it was inevitable. It required a system built to operate outside politics and sustained over decades, because science doesn’t operate on the timeline of a politician. That system is now under direct threat. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a new rule to regulate all federal grants, not just science, but housing, education, defense, NASA and everything in between, that would fundamentally change how research is conducted in the United States. There have been a lot of fires in the past 16 months, and if everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency. But this is a very big deal. These rules would strip away the independence that has kept science from becoming a political tool. The good news is there’s still something we can all do. How the grant system was designed to work When I was a new faculty member, I was full of millions of ideas, so I sat down and wrote an NIH proposal. I worked on it for months and thought it was so good. Then I sent it to my mentor. It came back covered in comments. Places where my reasoning wasn’t as airtight as I’d thought, methods that could be stronger, gaps in my thinking that I had been too close to the work to see. It stung, as honest feedback always does, but peer review almost always makes the work better. In fact, it’s the backbone of how American science has functioned for generations. At NIH, submitted proposals go to a panel of scientists who have experience in the field. These are the people who can read research methods and spot their weaknesses, who understand when an experiment is designed well and when it isn’t. Applications are scored rigorously, and often only the top 3-20% of proposals receive funding. The people making funding decisions are required to justify them based on these reviews. To be clear: this is not a perfect system, and good science still goes unfunded more often than any of us would like due to limited resources. There is also criticism that peer review may undervalue bold ideas that are risky but could have high payoffs. But the peer review system is nonetheless a meaningful part of the grant selection process. While thoughtful and careful changes could improve the system, the changes being proposed by OMB will not make things better. The rule that could change everything Through this OMB proposal, the system that helps decide what gets funded is being dismantled. There are many troubling elements buried in this proposal, but three provisions stand out in particular. Each would be damaging alone. Together, they would change what kind of science gets done in America, and who it serves. 1. Political appointees would decide which science gets funded, and peer review would be explicitly sidelined or ignored. The guidelines your doctor follows, the standards that determine what’s in your air and water, the drugs that get approved for your family: all of it starts with a funding decision. Right now, that decision is made by scientists who can evaluate whether the work is actually sound and whether it could move the needle forward. Under this proposal, funding decisions could be made by political appointees. The careful, expertise-driven review process that shapes grant funding would be effectively sidelined. That means that a poorly designed study could get funded simply because someone in a political office liked the sound of it, while rigorous, important work doesn’t get funded because it no longer aligns with the administration’s priorities. In other words, critical work that benefits all of us could now be missed just because it has become politically inconvenient. 2. Grants could be canceled at any point, without warning, in the middle of ongoing work. Say your tax dollars have been paying for a cancer study for two years. The grant was awarded for five years, so the team is mid-experiment. There are three additional years’ worth of answers that could change how the disease is treated for hundreds of thousands of people. With this new rule, the federal government could cancel the remaining funding tomorrow, walk away from the commitment it made with your money, and have no legal obligation to finish what it started. This is a huge waste of money. There are rarely other sources of funding for this work, which means the team, the graduate students, postdocs, and research staff who have dedicated years of their careers to this project could lose their jobs. Patients who have contributed their time to studies may not see it turn into useful learnings for others. Every hour of work already completed could result in nothing useful. Science can take decades to get to tangible outcomes. It needs a stable funding system to flourish. 3. Researchers would have a harder time communicating their findings without pre-approval from the federal government. There is a saying from Sir Mark Walport: “Science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Science is no use to anyone if it is kept locked away in the labs that produced the data. The proposed rule could make communicating research findings harder in a number of ways: Make it harder for scientists to widely share their findings in scientific journals. Publication costs, including journal fees that allow for broad public access, could not be paid for by federal funds which is often how scientists pay these costs. Restrict researchers from engaging publicly about how their findings should inform policy or public health guidelines. This would restrict scientists from doing the work that transforms years of lab work into decisions that actually affect people’s lives. Make it harder for scientists to attend conferences. Conferences would now need to be approved by the federal agency at the time of grant award. This disadvantages conferences or publications that are not politically aligned. Conferences are a key way in which scientists learn about work happening in their field so they can collaborate and build on each other’s findings. What good is science with a muzzle? The long-term impact These changes could (and hopefully would) be reversed under the next administration. But by then, damage has been done. Once projects are halted or denied funding by political appointees, people leave their science careers for other paths or even leave the country to do their amazing science elsewhere. You cannot pause a scientific study the way you pause a subscription you decided isn’t useful anymore. You cannot freeze a research team that depends on salaries to feed their families, causing a scramble for replacement funding that, in most cases, simply does not exist. When the money stops, everything stops, and all the work in progress and its potential are lost. Despite all of the language about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse, this new proposed rule increases the administrative burden tremendously. Every researcher watching this unfold will make a rational decision: don’t start anything that will take a decade to finish. This includes not building a team around funding that could vanish, or asking the big questions that need patience and stability to answer. The most consequential science, the kind that produces the treatments and the breakthroughs that reach your doctor’s office twenty years from now, is exactly the science that would be abandoned first. This is still a proposal, so we can all do something Some worry this rule is already a done deal. But by law, OMB is required to open a public comment period. Those comments matter because they inform members of Congress, they can be used in litigation, and they create a public record. So here’s what you can do: Submit a public comment. The public comment period on this proposed change is open until July 13. Anyone can submit a comment, and OMB is required to respond to substantial ones. Each comment must be different to count as distinct; identical comments will be counted only once. Comment as an individual, not on behalf of your organization. Here’s a full resource to help you, with useful examples, but in general: Share a story about how science or federal funding has benefitted you or is involved in your work. Are you or someone you loved a cancer survivor? Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s? Have you received NIH/NSF or other federal funding? All of these can be stories you use to highlight why you care. Explain why you’re worried about these proposed changes. You can use the wording found here or in other resources to help you. Ask them to withdraw this proposed rule. Contact your elected representatives. Congress allocates money to federal agencies to spend, and it has oversight of how that process works. You can let your representatives know this proposed change concerns you and ask them to intervene. There are levers they can push that can help at this moment. Let others know why federal funding matters. This isn’t just about science, but ALL federal grants, including for education systems, defense projects, and more. The process, including the importance of federal funding, is invisible to many. We can all make it more visible by sharing how science benefits us and why we value it. You can also share this article, or any of the resources linked here, to help spread awareness! Bottom line We are quickly losing ground in scientific research in the U.S. More changes, like the proposed rule by OMB, would decimate our ability to conduct research here, leaving us all worse off: fewer treatments for pancreatic cancer, less research on pollution impacts, fewer answers for patients with rare disease, and more unaddressed health needs. The impact will be very real for all of us, regardless of where we stand politically. Using our voices for science is more important than ever. Love, LM Big thanks to Dr. Megan Ranney for reading this over and providing brilliant insights, as always. Dr. Liz Marnik, PhD, is Executive Director of The Evidence Collective at YLE and a science communicator and immunologist working at the intersection of public trust, science, and public health. You can find her on Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram and Threads. Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) comprises a team of experts, ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. The YLE suite of newsletters reaches over 475,000 people across more than 132 countries. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: Subscribe
Google just fired a warning shot in the AI subscription price wars
Google just made it significantly cheaper to enjoy its budget AI subscription tier.
UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9 million in staff positions
The cuts come as the hospital network faces an expected $300 million budget deficit and increasing pressure to cut costs.
From Classroom to Racetrack: How Charlie Baur is Building a Motorsports Career in a Business Discipline
Charlie Baur can trace his racing story back to a Christmas morning in Michigan — the kind that starts with snow on the ground and ends with a throttle in a kid’s hands. “I remember being 3 years old and then for Christmas that year, my parents had gotten me a 120 cc snowmobile,” Baur said. Long before sprint cars, he was a Michigan kid on snowmobiles, dirt bikes, four-wheelers and jet skis — and a regular at car shows and races with his family. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur That early exposure became a calling. At 12, he sat in a sprint car for the first time and knew he’d found the next chapter. He started in quarter midgets, moved to go-karts, and the day before he turned 16 — one day shy of the minimum age required by track insurance — he made his first sprint car start after convincing officials to let him race. Five years later, Baur is still pushing forward, now racing sprint cars on both pavement and dirt while pursuing an automotive business education at Northwood University — with a clear-eyed understanding that motorsports encompasses more than what happens under the lights on Saturday night. “It’s a business,” said Charlie, a 20-year-old who calls Fenton, Michigan, home when he’s not at a racetrack or at Northwood’s residential campus in Midland, Michigan. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Racing is the product — but preparation is the job To the average fan, race day begins around dinner time. For a team, race day can be a 12-hour shift — plus the work that came before it. And Baur’s racing operation is a family affair. “The team is my parents and myself,” he said, explaining they own the cars, maintain equipment and manage the business side — from sponsor relations to budgeting. On race weekends, the core group includes Baur and his parents (Eric and Stefanie), plus a couple of additional hands (Alex Photiou and Robert Flannigan) who help with the intensity and pace of trackside work. That structure has shaped how he thinks about efficiency and professionalism. “We’ve always kind of had the mentality of we’re never working on the car for maintenance at the track,” he said. “Our goal is to do as little work as possible to the car because it should be ready when that car rolls out of the trailer to go racing.” That mindset shows up in routines: bolt checks, tire procedures, safety equipment and a repeatable process designed to limit errors. “Once I fire the car up and put my helmet on, that’s when it’s go time,” he said. “You can plan as much as possible for how the race is going to play out, but until you take the green flag … you don’t know how it’s going to go.” Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur First-generation driver, student of the game In racing, “first-generation” matters — and Baur wears that label with pride. “A lot of the drivers are third or fourth generation,” he said. “My family has never been in motorsports. So for me, we’ve always looked at it as we’re new to it and we want to be as different as possible. From a marketing standpoint, it helps us stand out.” It also pushes him to seek out mentors — especially veteran drivers who have seen every scenario, solved every problem and won in multiple eras. Baur credits accomplished driver Jason Blonde, a 10-time champion, for becoming his driver coach and helping him develop as a competitor. “To me, learning from Jason helps me because he has had lots of success and knows what to do,” Baur said. “You have to humble yourself and say, ‘I don’t know what to do; can you help me out?’” That willingness to learn extends off the track, too. Baur says one of his biggest challenges is not a mechanical limitation, but credibility. “It’s my age,” he said. “Some people won’t take me seriously because I’m so young. Even though … I do know what we’re talking about and have a general idea.” His answer has been to out-prepare, out-communicate and treat the operation like a real enterprise — because it is. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Northwood’s role: Turning passion into a plan Baur is majoring in automotive aftermarket management and pursuing an accelerated path that pairs undergraduate study with graduate work. He’s also exploring how to align his studies with motorsports-focused coursework as Northwood advances related programs and pathways. He sees the value clearly: motorsports needs business-literate professionals who understand budgets, sponsorship, marketing, operations and long-term strategy — and who can translate between the language of the shop and the language of the boardroom. That’s why his Northwood experience isn’t limited to the classroom. He has been involved with the Northwood University International Auto Show and serves as motorsports chair — a leadership role that demands outreach, contracts, coordination and a steady professional demeanor. “There’s so much outside work that makes the auto show successful that people don’t realize,” he said. “And it is truly student led.” He’s also participated in industry experiences through Northwood at major events such as AAPEX, SEMA and PRI, along with other automotive networking events — opportunities he describes as a fast track to understanding how business really gets done. “You learn a lot in the classroom,” he said. “But if you learn it and you can’t apply it to the real world, it loses its value. Or if you learn it and can apply it, but you don’t know anyone, it is still of no value.” In his words, Northwood helps him win because it “gives me the tools to succeed” — including flexibility and faculty support as he balances travel and racing commitments with academics. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Racing as an ecosystem — and a talent gap waiting to be filled Baur is blunt about what he sees across the motorsports world: a deep bench of experienced professionals, and not enough young talent entering the pipeline. “I go to car shows, I go to these different events, and typically … the average age is between 45 to 55,” he said. “There’s not a lot of young people going into the motorsports world.” That reality reinforces Northwood’s communications focus: positioning motorsports not as a narrow lane, but as a wide ecosystem of business careers — sponsorship, logistics, data, media, leadership, hospitality and innovation — with real demand for prepared graduates. It also shapes how Baur talks to younger students who love racing but aren’t sure what their future looks like. “If you have a passion for motorsports, there’s gonna be a spot for you somewhere,” he said, emphasizing that driving is only one of many career paths — and that local tracks and hands-on experience are often the best first step. But if someone is interested in driving as a career path, it will take a team to make that happen. Baur’s team includes Stahl’s Motors and Music Experience, Rhino Racing, Randy Wise Buick GMC Chevrolet, Western Michigan Fleet Parts, Mother’s Polish, Schaeffer’s Oil, Hepfner Racing Products, Ameriguard Storage Centers, Justice Brothers, Race 1 Wraps, TBM Brakes, Behind Your Design, CharlieBaur.com and Northwood University. “There are so many people who invest not only in myself but in my race team and who believe in us to succeed,” he added. Pictured: Charlie Bauer’s sprint race car. Looking ahead: A headline worth chasing Ask Baur to imagine 2035, and he’ll give you two answers — one dream, one blueprint. “In a perfect world,” he said, “winning the Indy 500.” Realistically, he wants to build a life where business ownership and racing reinforce each other and where he can pay forward the help he has received by mentoring younger drivers, especially those trying to break into motorsports without a family legacy. “When I retire from full-time racing, I want to be able to provide the same opportunities that were presented to myself to the next generation of drivers,” Baur said. “I know how difficult it is to get your foot in the door.” For now, the focus is simple: keep building the operation, keep learning the business, and keep showing up prepared — because in sprint car racing, as in life, process matters. And once the helmet goes on? “It’s go time,” Baur said. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Learn more Students interested in motorsports careers — whether in competition, team operations, marketing, finance, sponsorship, data, or management — can explore opportunities through Northwood University’s Center for Automotive and Mobility Studies. For Charlie Baur’s latest motorsports adventures, follow Charlie_Baur and Charlie Baur Racing on social media. To learn more about Northwood’s Bachelor of Business Administration in Automotive and Mobility Studies and motorsports management concentration, visit www.northwood.edu/programs/automotive-mobility-studies/. Photo courtesy of Charlie Baur Pictured: Charlie Baur at Butler Motor Speedway on May 31, 2026. Share this page
The President’s FY27 Budget Request: More Bad News For Science
The president's proposed budget would be bad for science—but it's not too late to change it.
CPS unanimously approves budget, discusses Health Science High School
The Columbia School Board met Monday and approved the 2026-27 budget and also talked about a new Health Science High School.
CPS unanimously approves budget, discusses Health Science High School
The Columbia School Board met Monday and approved the 2026-27 budget and also talked about a new Health Science High School.
State CFO attacks Jacksonville spending; city calls the criticism politics
Appearing in Jacksonville Beach, CFO Blaise Ingoglia said Jacksonville wasted $275.7 million in its current budget
WAMU's week ahead: D.C. Council tackles a delayed budget, preventing ticks from biting into your summer and the politics of streateries
This week WAMU will be checking in on the D.C. Council's first vote for the FY2027 budget, responses from health officials to increased tick bites across the D.C. region and the politics at play this summer around streateries.
Worse than he thought: Blaise Ingoglia again blasts Jacksonville budget, alleges $275M in wasteful spending this fiscal year
'Somebody needs to rein in local government here.'
Pet Owners Prioritize Pet Health & Wellness Despite Rising Costs, Survey Shows
Plenty of household budgets have gotten tighter lately. Yet for many pet owners, there’s one line item they seem reluctant to touch: their pet. New survey data released by Elanco Animal Health suggest...
Healthcare Highlights in the New State Budget - Empire Center for Public Policy
Governor Hochul's focus on affordability seems to have skipped over the healthcare portions of the new state budget.
California wants to cap business tax credits, alarming life sciences and tech industries
California's life sciences industry, and some lawmakers, urge state leaders to reject budget proposal to permanently limit R&D tax credits.
Media Buying Briefing: The upfront has started to move, as sports leads the way again
The upfront has begun to move, and sports is leading the way, but budgets are getting tighter as the buying season progresses
‘Scary Movie’ tops box office, slaying ‘Masters of the Universe’ and adding to low-budget streak
The summer box office is booming — but not because of the usual suspects.
'Scary Movie' tops box office, slaying 'Masters of the Universe' and adding to low-budget streak
The summer box office is booming — but not because of the usual suspects.
UCDC program connects students to US politics at Capitol
UCLA students interning in Washington, D.C., this year navigated anti-immigration enforcement protests, congressional budget negotiations during appropriations season and uncertainty surrounding federal funding. The UC Washington Program, created in 1997, sends at least 31 UCLA undergraduate students to the United States Capitol each quarter.
CPS board to consider budget approval, safety, smoothies and Health Science High
The gap in the proposed budget for next year would be made up by drawing roughly $11.7 million from reserves.
CPS board: budget approval, safety, smoothies and Health Science High
The gap in the proposed budget for next year would be made up by drawing roughly $11.7 million from reserves.
007 First Light Budget Was Not $200 Million, Exec Says As Game Passes 3 Million Sales
The new James Bond game, 007 First Light, has passed 3 million sales, according to IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak, who also pushed back against the claim that the game cost $200 million to develop. He told IGN that it’s true that First Light is “by far” the most expensive entertainment product to ever come...
Biophysical Society Condemns OMB Proposed Rule to Politicize Science
BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society condemns the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Federal Financial Assistance, released Friday, May 29th. The NPRM is a sweeping overhaul of federal rulemaking and oversight, removing individual oversight from federal agencies to promulgate rules and oversee how regulations are implemented and enforced internally.
Florida's 2026 Sessions deliver wins for homeowners as budget heads to Governor
'These are meaningful steps toward a more affordable and resilient Florida.'
What Paying for College Can Do to a Family Business
Sending children to college not only strains household budgets, but may also stall small business growth, research by Olivia Kim shows.
Millions of Kids Could Lose Insurance as GOP Healthcare Cuts Start To Bite
Big cuts to healthcare programs in the 2025 GOP budget law are creating an affordability crunch for many Americans: Higher health insurance premiums. Confusion about whom Medicaid will cover under the new rules. KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner explains how the changes could leave nearly 2 million children uninsured.
Speaker Scott says Virginia should honor its word on business deals, including with data centers
The new fiscal year starts next month, but Virginia still has no budget. And leaders in the General Assembly are still divided over what to do about a tax break for data centers.
What’s new in EA Sports’ College Football 27: A new level of NIL in Dynasty Mode and more
In Dynasty Mode, players will need to manage differing school budgets and how much to pay both players and coaches.
Four Senate Republicans again unite with Dems to block Trump's SAVE America Act
Four Senate Republicans joined Democrats to kill the SAVE Act voter ID amendment for a second time, blocking it from the budget reconciliation package.
Partisan Politics Trumps Peer Review
On May 29, the Office of Management and Budget published a proposed rule that would fundamentally reshape how the federal government funds scientific research.
The Politics Hour: D.C.'s budget crunch
Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink on how MCPS is navigating cuts and what the council can do to help. Plus, D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson on the council's first budget vote next week.
Free Summer Entertainment Series returns with varied lineups despite reduced budget
The Fairfax County Park Authority has unveiled event lineups for this year's Summer Entertainment Series, which will feature more than 100 outdoor concerts, movie screenings and other free diversions. Kicking off with Springfield Nights at Burke Lake Park and Arts in the Parks at Frying Pan Farm Park on June 24, the 2026 offerings won't
When science answers to politics
The White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed new rules that would require political appointees, not scientists, to decide which research…
When science answers to politics
The White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed new rules that would require political appointees, not scientists, to decide which research…
Lehigh Valley Political Pulse: Gridlock, budgets and midterm politics shape summer outlook
With Memorial Day behind them, lawmakers are heading toward summer recess amid questions about what, if anything, they will be able to accomplish before voters return their attention to the fall elections.
Kaua‘i Ups Funding For Homeless Services, Mental Health, Substance Abuse
The funding is part of the county’s nearly $499 million spending plan for fiscal year 2027.
Trump Kicks His Dismantling of Veterans’ Health Care Into High Gear
His proposed new budget shrinks the VA’s ability to meet veterans’ needs.
Software company Teradata pauses raises, says budget is going to AI
Cloud software firm Teradata has told employees not to expect annual salary raises in 2026, and says it is putting the money towards AI instead.
Donald Trump’s proposed grant rules could destroy US science, researcher warns
Additional funding controls by Office of Management and Budget will make new discoveries less likely, say critics
The Trump Administration Has Launched Its Biggest Threat Yet to Scientific Research. We Can Stop Them.
Last week, the White House released draft regulations that—if enacted—will upend US science as we know it. Under the rule proposed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), political appointees would have the final say over who gets billions of dollars of federal funding for res
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
Top NC lawmakers say budget negotiations are on track. Gov. Stein won’t bet on it
North Carolina’s state budget is already a year late. Is it still on schedule for June? Lawmakers say yes. The governor won’t bet on it.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House and the Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars federal grants. This move has implications for areas as broad as housing and transportation, but science and health would be the most significantly impacted. Scientists and advocates say if it goes into effect, the change would jeopardize the integrity of science in the United States.
Nashville Downtown Improvement District Budget Fails by a Single Vote at Metro Council
The Metro Council rejects the annual budget for the Central Business Improvement District, raising concerns about funding for downtown services.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin refuses to commit to following court orders
Mullin faced the Senate Appropriations committee amid scrutiny over the agency's budget and immigration enforcement ahead of the World Cup.
Political play or budget fix? Competition for JPL's management comes at a fraught moment
A competitive contract isn’t necessarily a bad thing, experts say. But the administration’s anti-science record raises suspicion.
How Science Works
The 2nd Weather and Climate Livestream is now underway. It is organized by a group of early-career researchers concerned about declining funding for the field and eager to demonstrate how weather and climate research makes a difference in our lives. Last year’s event was a great success, drawing terrific press coverage including a piece in the NY Times. This year features a strong lineup of talks aimed at a general audience — I highly recommend tuning in. Share I gave a talk yesterday about How Science Works in Three Steps. You can see the short presentation here (I’ve appended a transcript below): And please tune into the livestream here. It runs through tomorrow at 6 pm ET. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Cleaned up transcript: Thank you, and thanks to everyone tuning in. I want to talk about something I think a lot of people don’t really understand: how science actually works. Arguments over any scientific topic — climate change, vaccines, you name it — revolve around competing claims. For climate change, the claims are: Is the Earth warming? Are humans to blame? What will the impacts be? Over the last 150 years, the scientific community has developed a remarkably robust method for sorting out which claims are true and which aren’t. That method is what I want to walk through. So how does science generate knowledge? If you ask a high schooler, they’ll give you the version they learned in ninth grade: an individual scientist forms a hypothesis, runs an experiment, and draws a conclusion. That’s more or less what happens at the individual level, though in practice it’s more iterative — you design, test, and refine all at once, landing on a slightly different idea each time until you reach a conclusion about whatever hypothesis you’ve ended up with. But this isn’t science. It’s only step one. Any individual scientist can make mistakes — scientists are human. Maybe there’s a bug in the code, maybe there’s an error in the experiment. Just because someone ran an experiment and reached a conclusion doesn’t mean it’s right, and scientists don’t treat a single result as settled truth. Step two is peer review, the first layer of quality control. The scientist writes up what they did and submits it to a journal, which sends the paper to other experts in the field. Those experts judge whether the methods are sound, whether it properly references prior work, and whether the conclusions actually follow from the data. Ask any scientist and they’ll tell you peer review is miserable — the comments come back brutal, often harsh, and you have to revise and resubmit, sometimes multiple times, before an editor finally accepts the paper. Peer review catches an immense amount of bad science, but it can’t catch all of it. Reviewers get sloppy or overworked, they miss obvious mistakes, and they can’t catch hidden errors — a bug in the code, a misread instrument. So a peer-reviewed paper making it into a journal doesn’t mean the paper is right. Nobody treats a single paper as the final word. That’s where step three comes in: the crucible of science. Important results get retested by the broader community. If you publish something interesting, it gets dissected. Sometimes people try to reproduce your work directly but more often they test its implications. If someone claims X is true, and that implies that Y is also true, then scientists will go check Y. If a claim survives this gauntlet long enough, it becomes accepted. That’s how we generate knowledge. Let me give an example: the ozone hole. In 1985 — and I doubt many people watching were around then, but I remember it well — Joe Farman and his colleagues published observations from Antarctica showing that a huge chunk of ozone was disappearing every year. This was shocking because most atmospheric chemists had expected ozone loss to occur at mid-latitudes and high altitudes, not over the South Pole. When scientists see something they don’t understand, they rush to explain it, and several competing hypotheses quickly appeared in the peer-reviewed literature. One pointed to chlorine chemistry from chlorofluorocarbons. A second blamed nitrogen chemistry, possibly driven by solar proton events — meaning the sun was responsible. A third argued it wasn’t chemistry at all but dynamics: winds were carrying naturally low-ozone air from the lower atmosphere up into the stratosphere. Then the community went to work testing which theory could survive the crucible. Aircraft flew into the ozone hole and found no nitrogen, ruling out the nitrogen theory. Measurements showed the air in the polar vortex was descending, not rising — which would bring high-ozone air down, eliminating the dynamics theory. Meanwhile, those same flights measured enormous amounts of chlorine, strongly correlated with exactly the regions where ozone was being destroyed. That became known as the “smoking gun” paper, and it established that chlorine chemistry was the cause. Through this process, a consensus emerged. And it’s worth being clear that this consensus is organic. There’s no vote, no poll, no meeting where it gets decided. Scientists go to conferences, talk to one another, and independently arrived at the same answer. It’s the ultimate free market of ideas. After the consensus was established, the peer-reviewed literature doesn’t even mention the rival theories — it simply takes chlorine chemistry as given. That’s what a consensus looks like. It doesn’t mean every single scientist agrees, but it does mean there’s no longer any legitimate debate. So where can you see what scientists actually think? It’s all in the peer-reviewed literature, which contains the entire historical record of the argument: the discovery, the competing theories, the debate, the testing, and finally the community coalescing around one answer. But there’s a lot of room for misrepresentation. You can dig up an old paper claiming the ozone hole was caused by dynamics and wave it around as if there still was a debate about the cause of the ozone hole — without mentioning that the idea was disproven long ago and that even its own authors no longer believe it. There’s a bigger problem, though: the peer-reviewed literature is written in a language I call “nerd.” It’s extremely hard to read — honestly, some of it is hard for me to follow. It takes graduate students years to work through the literature in a single field, so we can’t expect policymakers or ordinary people to do it. This is where scientific assessments come in. The most famous is the IPCC — the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The job of an assessment is to read and summarize the peer-reviewed literature, synthesizing what’s settled, what’s been disproven, and what remains genuinely debated. To ensure the assessments accurately summarize the peer-reviewed literature, assessments are written by large teams, which are far less prone to bias than individuals and which dilute the influence of any one scientist with an axe to grind. The teams are deliberately assembled to avoid stacking the deck, and the reports themselves go through multiple rounds of peer review. That rigorous process is exactly why you can trust them and why people consider the IPCC to be the gold standard of what we know about the climate system. An assessment produced through a different process may well not be credible. You can even watch the consensus evolve across assessments. Take the attribution of warming. The 1990 IPCC report said the observed warming was broadly consistent with model predictions but also comparable to natural variability — in other words, we don’t know whether humans are responsible. By 1995, it concluded that the balance of evidence suggested a discernible human influence — a sentence only a committee could write, and one that barely commits to anything. By 2001, most of the warming over the previous 50 years was judged “likely” due to greenhouse gases; by 2007, “very likely”; by 2013, “extremely likely.” The 2023 report says essentially the same as 2013 — there’s not much stronger language available. So, to wrap up: science is our ultimate tool for deciphering the universe — the most successful method we’ve ever developed for determining what’s true and what isn’t. Our understanding is written into the peer-reviewed literature, so if you want to know what scientists think, that’s where to look. And for those of us who don’t speak nerd, scientific assessments are the Rosetta Stone — they translate nerd into English. Let me open the floor to questions. Thank you.
White House Seeks to Impose Political Test on Billions in Federal Grants
A new proposal would allow the administration to block grants if they do not satisfy President Trump’s agenda or support what it calls “anti-American” values.
FEA calls lawmakers out of touch, says budget shortchanges public schools
'This budget puts politics above people.'
WATCH LIVE: Rubio testifies on Capitol Hill for the 1st time since start of Iran war
The Republican former senator will sit before House and Senate committees to make the State Department's annual budget request. But the focus is likely to shift quickly to the already unsteady ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, which has been further tested in recent days by back-and-forth attacks.
California votes in most uncertain governor’s primary in years
Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer and Steve Hilton lead the polls in the final days of the California governor election. Results are coming in.
Towards a responsive health system and equitable access to quality RMNCAH services
Indonesia’s vast geography and sociocultural diversity shape the delivery of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) services in ways that are both enabling and challenging. Across provinces, significant variation has been observed in how services are planned, resourced, and delivered. These variations in service standards and quality are felt daily in the lives of women, newborns and adolescents. Despite these challenges, progress is visible. National estimates show a drop in maternal mortality ratio, from 331 to 140 per 100 000 live births since 2000, signaling improvements in care quality and access. Fertility has stabilised and contraceptive use has grown, yet unmet reproductive health needs persist, and adolescent pregnancies continue to reflect early marriage and limited access to youth-friendly services.To better understand how Indonesia’s health system has evolved under decentralisation, the Ministry of Health, supported by World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), IPAS and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), conducted a joint external review of RMNCAH programmes. This review draws on multiple sources of evidence, including existing literature, policy documents, national health system data, as well as field visits to six selected provinces to represent Indonesia’s geographic and administrative diversity. During the field visits, review teams observed service delivery in health facilities, spoke with health workers and local leaders and met mothers and families to understand how RMNCAH policies are operationalised. One of the challenges identified was the management of low birthweight (LBW) infants, a major contributor to neonatal deaths, under resource constraints. One midwife described a severe case of extremely LBW twins, one stillborn and the other died after three days of care. She recalled how the surviving infant struggled to swallow and may not have received breast milk, while simultaneous emergencies required the team’s attention, affecting the care provided to the infant.A subsequent review of the case by the district health office revealed insufficient antenatal care, fragmented maternal medical history due to population mobility, referral delays, limited provider capacity in neonatal intravenous access and a heavy workload that constrained proper newborn monitoring. These insights informed recommendations to strengthen both system-wide and service-level responses. Since the early 2000s, Indonesia’s decentralisation initiative has given much of the responsibility for funding, staffing and managing health services to regional governments. While the Ministry of Health sets national clinical standards, daily management of public health facilities falls under regional authorities through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. While this arrangement allows services to be tailored to local needs, it also depends heavily on local capacity for planning, budgeting and management. Health facilities and district health offices are better positioned to translate national priorities into local action when they have access to consistent technical support, helping health workers manage resource constraints and infrastructure gaps.The complexity of Indonesia’s health system governance is no easy feat to navigate. Understanding these dynamics is essential to strengthening policy, improving coordination and ensuring more equitable access to services across Indonesia. Under the leadership of Ministry of Health, recommendations from this exercise will be key in guiding the nation’s roadmap to an equitable and quality health system for RMNCAH.Written by Edit Oktavia Manuama, National Professional Officer (Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health), and Jessie Yunus, National Professional Officer (Gender, Rights, Equity, and Disability Inclusion)
Roundup: US retail industry / Anthropic / Business opportunity
Facing challenges: The retail industry emerged from a choppy first quarter relatively unscathed, but higher-than-usual tax refunds likely helped to buoy spending. The second quarter could offer a clearer view on consumer health and just how much gas price increases and persistent inflation have disrupted the economy and put more pressure on household budgets. The […]
Missed Opportunities: Using Medicaid Section 1115 Projects to Improve the Health of Medicaid and Medicare Beneficiaries
Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration projects are widely used to test innovative policies but are subject to “budget neutrality” limits so that federal expenditures do not exceed what the federal government would have spent if the project was not adopted.
At Computex, Dell’s $700 XPS 13 Sets Its Sights on the MacBook Neo
To compete with Apple's MacBook Neo and other 'cheapium' budget laptops, Dell transforms its high-end 13-inch XPS 13 into an entry-level system for $699.99. It's pricier, but Dell's laptop has some key edges over the Neo that justify the extra cost.
Plymouth Argyle Women slam club as players released
Players from Plymouth Argyle Women criticise the club after the budget was cut and most of the squad released.
AI Is Forcing Big Law to Rethink Business As Usual
In 2021, Volkswagen AG approached the global law firm Freshfields with a problem. The German carmaker’s technology unit was preparing to release new software features and wanted to make sure that they would be compliant in the more than 100 countries where Volkswagens are sold. Ordinarily, Freshfields said, it would bring in lawyers from each jurisdiction to vet the updates, budgeting thousands of euros per country — a process that would need to be repeated if any components changed in the futur
Dell Rivals Apple’s MacBook Neo With $699 Touch-Screen XPS 13 Laptop
Dell Technologies Inc. introduced a redesigned XPS 13 laptop, positioning the device as a direct answer to Apple Inc.’s popular MacBook Neo, which stunned the budget PC market upon its debut in March with its features and price.
Horror hits 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession' Beat Star Wars at box office
Low-budget horror films "Backrooms" and "Obsession" are leading the box office, showing the power of internet native culture on the big screen.
007 First Light Budget Over $200 Million to Develop; Considered Denmark's Most Expensive Entertainment Project
007 First Light has cost IO Interactive over $200 million to develop across 7 years and is considered Denmark's most expensive cultural project.
007 First Light Budget Over $200 Million to Develop; Considered Denmark's Most Expensive Entertainment Project
007 First Light has cost IO Interactive over $200 million to develop across 7 years and is considered Denmark's most expensive cultural project.
Low-budget horror films from YouTubers conquer the box office
"Backrooms," a film based on 20-year-old Kane Parsons’s popular YouTube series of the same name, debuted to $81.4 million at the U.S. and Canada box office this weekend, setting a
Trader Joe's skin, hair, beauty products I recommend that are under $9
From moisturizer and soap to bonding shampoo and body oil, these are my favorite budget-friendly hygiene, skin, and hair products from Trader Joe's.
$300M investment secured for Rochester, Monroe County as part of state budget
A massive state investment is coming to Monroe County.
‘Purely politics’: Row over Zohran Mamdani’s new communications office costing $5 million
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new communications office is facing backlash after budget documents revealed it could cost taxpayers more than $5.2 million in salaries. Critics are calling the spending “morally incomprehensible”.
NC lawmakers return from break with budget pending. Catch up on what they’re doing
The NC legislature is about to return from a break. Here’s what you need to know about their activity so far.
Sheriff, mental health experts sound alarm over loss of funding for mobile crisis teams in state budget
Mental health care experts gather to express concerns for behavioral health funding in Newsom's proposed budget.
Mauna Loa Observatory Survives Lava, Budget Cuts And Politics
After a volcanic eruption and funding threats, NOAA says Mauna Loa's world-famous CO₂ record is secure, accessible again, and undergoing major upgrades.
Takeaways from Tallahassee — Same time next week?
The budget is finished, but there's more work to be done in Tallahassee.
Plaintiffs suing New York argue against climate law budget rollbacks
"The commonsense reforms Governor Hochul fought for in this year's budget protect New York's status as a climate leader."
Applyrs lauds 'historic' $60 million state aid commitment for Albany
The $20 million in additional state aid the city received is expected to be renewed the next two budget cycles, the mayor said.
The Office of Management and Budget tries again to cripple US science
Peer review now optional, political staff would screen grants for forbidden topics.
State budget deal includes auto insurance relief
Fraud, liability claims and transparency regarding how insurers set your rates — those are just some of the changes that are part of the budget.
Approved budget includes $29M for Florida Poly growth and student success
'This investment is a powerful vote of confidence in the role Florida Poly plays in advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medical education.'
Questions surround shellfish workforce appropriation tucked into budget
The small appropriation would direct as much as $75K to the FSAA's Executive Director.
Auburn city budget vote delayed
It comes as the proposal includes an 8% property tax increase, which would go above the state cap.
Ann Arbor SPARK’s Small Business Hubs Support Program grows despite budget cuts
Ann Arbor SPARK’s newest annual report for the past fiscal year shows continued investment and growth in its business incubation efforts in Ypsilanti. WEMU’s Ana Longoria has the details.
Cardiac emergency survivors, advocates encourage ‘Smart Heart Act’ inclusion in state budget
The bill would require that every school have automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which increase the chance of surviving a heart attack.
N.Y. budget is complete as Hochul walks away with key wins
More than eight weeks late, New York finally has a state budget.
Upstate N.Y. cities receive millions from state budget to help with deficits
Changes to the Tier 6 pension plan for more than 830,000 public employees hired after April 2012 included in the state budget is anticipated to take a bite out of this funding.
Hochul on state budget, Pope Leo's AI policy and Knicks fandom
Gov. Kathy Hochul sat down with NY1 for a wide-ranging interview.
Verra Mobility’s Toll Business Is In Focus. Why Analysts Are Downgrading the Stock.
Analysts said the loss of a contract with Avis Budget threatens the smart mobility tech company’s ties to other rental car customers.
Report Shows People With Medicare Feeling Pinch of Rising Health Care Costs
As affordability concerns remain top of mind for many Americans, a timely KFF report examines Medicare beneficiary finances and health care costs, lending context to these anxieties. Recent KFF polling found that as health care costs continue to grow and cost-of-living increases stress household budgets, paying for care and coverage tops the list of consumer financial concerns. In total, 64% of households […]
State budget delivering $30 million in aid to Syracuse
The city of Syracuse will receive a total of $30 million in additional aid through the 2026-27 state budget, officials said.