California gay law

Headline USA  -   In California, being a gay business owner comes with some special perks, including a preferred shot at utilities contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. There’s just one catch: you have to prove your homosexuality.

The program, highlighted by City Journal’s Christopher Rufo on June 16, operates from the California Public Utilities Commission. The agency oversees private utility companies and urges them to increase diversity. According to Rufo, the diversity program dates back to several previous governors, but Newsom expanded its scope in 2019.

The CPUC, on the orders of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, effectively directed companies to allocate 1.5% of procurement to LGBT-owned firms in 2024. In practice, the companies spent $633 million on LGBT firms that year alone. business owners must submit evidence intended to prove they qualify for the LGBT program. Among the required materials are letters from friends, on company letterhead, who can “vouch/attest to LGBT status.”

Paperwork states that individuals who misrepresent or falsify information in documentation could face penalties, including up to one year in state prison and a $5,000 fine.

American families

NY Times -    The sheer logistical and financial madness of raising children in America is now officially a matter of political concern.  The mayors of New York and San Francisco, two cities in which large families have become practically an endangered species, have pledged major efforts to make child care free. Last November, New Mexico became the first state in the country to cover child care for all its residents. High-profile Democratic strategists like David Plouffe are encouraging the party to adopt universal child care as an official part of its platform in 2028....

The challenge and cost of caring for children is hardly new for the American family. Since the 1970s, when women began an astonishing three-decade surge into the workplace, individual households have been reinventing the configurations of work and family. Without public assistance, parenting has become increasingly privatized — an expensive, stressful endeavor that many households manage alone. Half a century into this shift, the American family is buckling under the weight. In 2024, the U.S. surgeon general declared parental stress a public health crisis.

The numbers tell an alarming story: In one survey, 48 percent of parents said that most days their stress is completely overwhelming, compared with 26 percent of other adults, a gap that has grown over the last decade. Another poll found that seven in 10 Americans say that raising children is unaffordable, an increase of 20 percent points over the last decade. Indeed, the cost of child care has more than tripled since 1990, far outpacing the rise in wages. To be a parent in America is to race constantly in vain against the clock. In a recent survey of parents of young children under 6, nearly three in four said they wished they had more quality time with their children. Instead, many are working, too crunched financially to contemplate having more hours to enjoy family life.

Middle East

The Guardian - Talks due to take place today between the US ⁠⁠and ​Iran to implement a peace deal were abruptly cancelled. The White House said the US still looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”. Hezbollah-linked media reported Tehran was delaying sending its delegation due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.

The talks had been set to begin in the Swiss village of Obbürgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, while reopening the strait of Hormuz. The centre of the strait is blocked with about 80 mines that will need clearing for normal shipping to resume, the independent tanker owner trade body has said.

What is happening in Lebanon? Hezbollah targeted Israeli forces near Nabatieh with several salvoes of rocket fire after Israeli shelling. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes, killing at least 18 people and injuring 33. Iran has said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon must end as part of any peace deal.

NPR - Vice President Vance is postponing his trip to Switzerland, where he was set to negotiate terms of a peace agreement with Iran. This week, President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum, which offers benefits to Iran but is only a first step toward a comprehensive deal. Yesterday, the U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces lifted their blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas. This action is one of the conditions of a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, as both countries enter the next phase of negotiations over the next 60 days. Read the full text of Trump's preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war here.

 Officials have not explained why the meeting has been delayed, but Israel’s ongoing bombardment of southern Lebanon isn't helping matters, NPR’s Rob Schmitz tells Up First. The first article of the agreement signed by Trump and Iran’s president promises to ensure Lebanon's territorial integrity. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that Israeli forces plan to remain in southern Lebanon. Members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have described this deal as "bad for Israel." For now, Iran’s foreign ministry said that the signing ceremony is off and the White House said that plans for the upcoming technical talks have not yet been finalized. With both the U.S. and Iran threatening to strike each other, this agreement appears to be on very shaky ground, Schmitz says.

Vance is the face of these negotiations, which means that if the U.S. does not achieve its objectives, he might bear a lot of the blame, NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben says. There were early signs of that this week when members of the right pinned their dissatisfaction with the deal on Vance. Kurtzleben adds that the vice president is not a seasoned diplomat, and it is hard to overstate how big a job negotiating this deal will be. Vance's past anti-interventionist positions may lend him some credibility in this role, and he's an aggressive messenger for the administration, Kurtzleben says. Sending the vice president to the negotiations also signals to Iran how significant this deal is to the U.S. Kurtzleben notes it is important to remember that this agreement is not the end of the war, but the start of what might be a challenging process toward that goal.

The Guardian -   Reuters has issued an alert saying Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire starting today at 4pm local time, according to a senior US official. The news agency reported the following:  “Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran.

Trump Regime

National Memo -   Federal workers for the U.S. Department of the Interior are being directed to wear pins promoting the president’s public-private partnership created to celebrate America’s 250th birthday — instead of the congressionally mandated group that was created to organize the events.

According to Mother Jones, National Park Service employees have been ordered to wear the pins, under threat of “professional reprimands.”

“When I asked if I would receive any disciplinary action if I chose not to wear the pin, I was told, ‘Yes,’” one person told Mother Jones. “I chose not to continue the conversation after that.”

Mother Jones reports that the “establishment of Freedom 250 has allowed Trump to more easily plan events that double as campaign rallies, to privately raise funds from corporations seeking influence with the administration, and to avoid disclosing exactly how much all this is costing US taxpayers.”

Health

NPR - The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine advisory committee voted unanimously yesterday to recommend Moderna's new mRNA influenza vaccine for adults 50 and over. This was the first time it reviewed a new vaccine application since 2023.

ICE

NY Times -   The idea was meant to supercharge President Trump’s mass deportation plan.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement would purchase more than a dozen empty warehouses across the United States to massively expand its capacity to detain people deemed to be in the country illegally, which in turn would spike deportations. A year into Mr. Trump’s term, it had bought 11 facilities at a cost of $1 billion.

But in a major turnabout, the agency is planning to offload seven warehouses purchased for more than $700 million by either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

The decision to sharply scale back the warehouse plan is a rejection of a signature initiative under the previous homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, who pushed the boundaries of what the government can do to aggressively round up potential deportees. The new secretary, Markwayne Mullin, who had privately expressed skepticism about the plan, has said publicly that he wants the agency to be quieter about how it carries out immigration enforcement.

“From Day 1, D.H.S. has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” the Homeland Security Department said in a statement for this article. “These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. D.H.S. is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

The Intercept -   Five months. That’s how long The Intercept has been demanding that ICE hand over evidence of its own violence — including the killing of Renee Nicole Good. We just filed our last appeal. Our next step is taking the government to court. ICE is legally required to release these records under the Freedom of Information Act. It’s refusing. The only conclusion is that the agency is embarrassed by what its agents did.

Alternet -   Despite denials by Homeland Security, a letter filed in a court case shows that ICE border agents are creating a database of protesters who rally against immigration policies and operations. It seems a clear attack on First Amendment protections and follows numerous reports about repelling citizen oversight of border agents' actions in the field. In a previously unpublicized letter to Congress in April, recently departed acting ICE director Todd Lyons acknowledged the agency is collecting information on individuals suspected of potential violations of law, including interference with ICE operations or officer safety matters, and maintains records on people who were never arrested.

Donald Trump

The Hill -  President Trump insisted there are “no limits” to his power when asked in a new interview about his takeaways from the Iran war.  The president was pressed by Axios’s Marc Caputo during an interview about whether he learned there are bounds to his power during the Middle East conflict.

“I haven’t learned that lesson yet,” he replied. “I know there are, but there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.”

 

Alternet  -  With the United States' 2026 midterms only four and one-half months away, many GOP strategists are sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's weak approval ratings. And Trump's ceasefire deal with Iran is frustrating hawks in the Republican Party, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) — who declared that "Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave." But Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal, has a message for worried Republicans: "I'm the president, and you're not."  Journalists Brian Schwartz, Natalie Andrews and Alexander Ward, in the Journal, report that Trump used those words with GOP allies who "offered him strategic advice."

Weather

National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for areas including Cumberland County through 7:00pm on June 18th  A Tornado Watch means tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. From NWS: “Review and discuss your emergency plans, take inventory of your supplies and check your safe room. Be ready to act quickly if a warning is issued or you suspect a tornado is approaching. Acting early helps to save lives! Watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center for counties where tornadoes may occur. The watch area is typically large, covering numerous counties or even states.” See more on NWS website

Polls

NPR - Trump's approval ratings continue to fall to record lows, particularly over his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Only one-third of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, which is three points lower than the worst ratings former President Joe Biden received during his term. Just 36% of respondents approve of Trump's overall job performance, while 59% disapprove, marking the widest gap he has faced in either of his terms in office.

Beer

Bloomberg - Beer sales the world over are fizzing out, except for Guinness, that is. Demand for the 269-year-old Irish stout has become so strong that owner Diageo has opened a new brewery in its country of birth, and another is on the way....

• These are sobering times for alcohol companies, which for years counted on steady demand as drinking remained woven into social life and consumer culture. But health concerns and tighter wallets are prompting people to drink less.
• Not so Guinness, which continues to grow. So much so that it’s even triggered periodic shortages, forcing some pubs to ration supplies.

Gas prices fall below $4.00 again

Headline USA -    U.S. gas prices fell below $4 a gallon on average Thursday. It is the first time since March that the average cost for a regular gallon has been that low. Prices fell overnight after President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Iran that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country.

Gas prices are at $3.999 on average in the U.S., according to motor club AAA.

But fluctuations in gas prices remain across the country. In California, gas prices are averaging $5.64 per gallon, while in South Carolina it’s $3.58 per gallon.

Women deserve better than this

Middle East

The Guardian - Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the US – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”.

In extraordinary remarks, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.

In this analysis piece, Andrew Roth notes how the US entered the war with maximalist goals but exits it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite the political cost. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.”

How have US Republicans reacted to the deal? Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the deal after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with the the US special envoy Steve Witkoff. But his fellow senator Ted Cruz, who has backed the war, said: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal.” And Senator Bill Cassidy declared: “Reagan is rolling over in his grave.”

The Full Text of the 14-Point Agreement Between the U.S. and Iran

Julia Jester, MS NOW - The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran — named the Islamabad MOU for the mediator’s host country — is vaguely written and intentionally so, given its clear purpose as a negotiation agenda catering to each side’s domestic audience.

But the agreement’s text, read aloud Wednesday by a senior U.S. official on a call with reporters, provides a preview of the precarious path ahead for U.S. and Iranian negotiators, who have only two months after the MOU’s signing to secure a final deal to forever end Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The MOU, as laid out to reporters, reveals some significant wins for Iran that are likely to raise eyebrows in the U.S., especially among members of Congress, including U.S. support for a $300 billion reconstruction fund and no restrictions on Iran’s missile program.

The focus of the MOU is on economic measures, from ensuring the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to providing Iran with economic incentives for good behavior. Only two of the document’s 14 points mention the country’s nuclear program at all, with the rest revealing concessions the U.S. made to the country that President Donald Trump said have been “largely demolished.” Read the full article here.

Newest research on cannabis and brain effects

Trump regime

Alternet America -   The Trump administration is threatening to cut federal unemployment support to all 50 states for the first time in history. Ohio Republicans let a bill ending child marriage die before summer recess. The Justice Department has joined a lawsuit to kill the nation’s first reparations program for Black residents in a Chicago suburb. And the administration is paying energy companies another $2.6 billion to abandon offshore wind.

Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they know what happens if they don’t. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. This is the news they don’t want you reading.

Supremes narrow gun control law

NY Times -   The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed a federal gun control measure, siding with a marijuana user who had challenged a provision that had banned drug users from owning or possessing guns.

The justices ruled that the government’s use of the law was overbroad, sweeping together recreational drug users with people addicted to drugs who posed a danger to public safety.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote the decision. All of the justices agreed with the outcome, although several wrote separately to explain their decision-making.

“We appreciate that drugs and guns can sometimes make for a dangerous mix,” Justice Gorsuch wrote. However, he wrote, the justices rejected the government’s “expansive theory” in the case and found that a historical analogy the government advanced to laws barring habitual drunkards from owning guns “fails under every measure it asks us to consider.”

House members flailing in primaries for higher office

The Hill -  House members who opted to run for higher office rather than seek reelection have had a poor track record this year and could end up with a higher rate of primary losses than in recent years.  Those losses have come despite members having the perks of a national profile and network, suggesting that congressional experience may be of little value to voters.

Americans to be hit with record-high electricity bills this summer

Independent -   Americans are facing record-high costs to cool their homes this summer as electricity prices climb and temperatures soar.

The average U.S. household will likely spend about $792 on electricity between June and September, up 10.5 percent from the same period last year, when it cost $717, according to new analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

Since 2020, the average summer cooling costs have increased nearly 40 percent due to rising electricity prices and increasingly hot temperatures. Even adjusting for inflation, cooling costs are projected to be about 7 percent higher than they were six years ago.

American households will likely see little relief this summer. Forecasters are predicting record-smashing heat for 2026, meaning more electricity will be used to maintain comfortable and safe indoor conditions.

Judge Orders Restoration of National Park History Displays

Newsworthy News -   A federal court has ordered the Trump administration to put national park history panels back in place, setting off a new fight over who gets to define America’s story.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore removed park exhibits and signs.

The ruling covers materials about slavery, climate change, labor history, civil rights, and other topics.

The court said the removals created a narrow, incomplete version of history.

The administration had said the changes were meant to remove “improper partisan ideology.”

Weather

Axios - Tropical Storm Arthur became the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season this morning. Forecasters are warning of potentially life-threatening flooding in the Southeast. More from Axios' Carlie Kollath Wells.

Read the Full Text of the 14-Point Agreement Between the U.S. and Iran

THE AGREEMENT

Word

Polls

Indpendent -   Just over half of Americans say they are proud of their nationality as the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, according to a series of new studies highlighting a sharp decline in national pride and a widening generational divide.

Data from multiple research groups indicates that traditional patriotism is fractured along partisan and age lines, with younger generations increasingly pessimistic about the country’s economic prospects and the state of its democracy.

A newly released survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 51 percent of respondents were extremely or very proud to be American. This marks a significant drop from 2013, when 82 percent of respondents expressed the same sentiment to the organization.

The decline is most noticeable among young adults. Only 34 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 told PRRI they were proud to be American, compared with 66 percent of those aged 65 and older.

Maine Senate Poll: Wick Research Overall Platner 48% Collins 45% Independents Platner 52% Collins 38% Women Platner 49% Collins 42% Men Platner 46% Collins 49% More In Touch With Working Class Mainers? Platner 50% Collins 41%

NATIONAL POLL By Echelon Insights Pres. Trump Approve: 40% (=) Disapprove: 59% (=) —— Generic Ballot DEM: 50% (-1) GOP: 44% (+1) Pres. Trump Approve: 40% (=) Disapprove: 59% (=) —— Generic Ballot DEM: 50% (-1) GOP: 44% (+1)

Housing

Reuters - The "State of the Nation’s Housing," [is] a report produced every year by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The 2026 edition, out June 17, is sobering.

“Persistent affordability challenges and rising economic uncertainty are hurting housing markets," the report says bluntly. "Weakening labor markets and plummeting immigration have dampened household growth and mobility. Sales of existing homes sit at three-decade lows and inventories are rising in the face of high homebuying costs.”

Only 1.1 million new households were formed in 2025 – a number roughly in line with the depths of the Great Recession over a decade ago – as student debt, a weaker job market, and anemic consumer sentiment made Americans wary of striking out on their own.

Similarly, only 11.2% of Americans relocated in 2024, an all-time low.

• As of 2024, 20.7 million homeowner households (24% of the total) spent more than 30% of their income on housing expenses; 9.6 million spent more than half their income.  Renters may have it worse: roughly half of all households that rent, or 22.7 million, were cost burdened as of 2024, including 12.1 million that were severely burdened.

Benjamin Netanyahu

Reuters -    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes of clinging to power in an election this autumn have long been shaky, but the interim U.S. deal with Iran has added yet another complication.

U.S. President Donald Trump has opted to end the wars in Iran and Lebanon long before Israel's goals were accomplished, and Netanyahu's ?boast in March that "we are changing the face of the Middle East" looks increasingly empty.

Already facing corruption allegations, domestic political controversies and criticism over security failings in the October 7, 2023 Hamas ?attack on Israel, he will now face voters' judgement of his handling of the wars and Israel's relationship with the United States, its most important ally.

Netanyahu, 76, confirmed this week he intends to stand again in an election that must be called by October.

Opinion ?polls put his right-wing coalition on course to lose but, in a parliamentary system he has dominated for long stretches since the 1990s, few Israelis would entirely discount him weaving together a new government.

Trump regime

The Guardian - Trump’s Department of Labor claims without data that states defrauded government,  Keith Sonderling, acting head of the agency, threatens to withhold administrative funds from states for first time in history.

Keith Sonderling sent letters to 53 states and US territories demanding action to “combat waste, fraud, and abuse” within the unemployment insurance program, threatening to withhold administrative funds from states for the first time history.

“We are officially putting governors on notice,” said the acting US secretary of labor. “The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars – no state should allow it either. If states allow it, they will suffer the consequences. This department is no longer afraid to use every lever available to ensure taxpayer money is protected.”

The agency did not provide data on fraud or alleged fraud in unemployment systems, but highlighted three Democrat-led states – California, New York, and Illinois – and made claims about each.

They say California owes $20bn to the federal government for a loan during the Covid-19 pandemic. California has struggled paying off the loan, as they did with a similar federal loan received during the 2008 economic recession, due to the current setup of how employers are taxed to fund unemployment. The unemployment payroll tax system in California has been unchanged since 1984 at a taxable wage ceiling of $7,000 on a workers’ wages and maximum tax rate of 5.4%, leaving the state with insufficient funds to cover its unemployment reserve while legislators on both sides of the political aisle have been working to try to resolve the issue.

The Department of Labor also claimed that New York loses an estimated $2m per day in unemployment insurance fraud and improper payments, but did not differentiate between the two. They also cited that Illinois has improper payments of $320m, at a rate of 14%.

Improper payments are not fraud, rather are most often cited as due to antiquated technology, with an estimated improper payment rate of 14.9% across the US.

Climate

Kiley Price, Inside Climate News -   From sprawling skyscrapers to busy highways, many of the characteristics that make major cities so iconic also put them at risk of severe flooding. When a rainstorm hits, the mostly impermeable materials used to construct roads and sidewalks—such as concrete and asphalt—often wick water into other streets or storm drains. 

“We superimposed what we wanted onto the landscape … and then by doing that, we essentially sealed the surface of the landscape,” Franco Montalto, a civil engineer at Drexel University, told me. 

While these drainage systems may have held up to storms when they were first constructed, many aren’t equipped to withstand the increasingly severe rainfall brought by climate change, he added. 

In New York City, for example, roughly 60 percent of the sewers are part of a centuries-old combined system where stormwater and sewage run through the same pipes to wastewater treatment plants. That means extreme rain events often trigger sewage overflows into key waterways, as my colleague Lauren Dalban reported in 2024. As an NYC resident, I’ve seen (and smelled) this firsthand. 

House passes anti-worker bill

Congressional Insider - A House bill sold as “pro-worker” could let Washington bureaucrats write private labor contracts over the heads of both workers and employers.

• The House passed the Faster Labor Contracts Act, forcing strict timelines and binding arbitration onto first union contracts.
• Critics say it hands unelected government arbitrators power to dictate pay, benefits, and workplace rules for up to two years.
• Supporters claim it stops employers from dragging out talks, but opponents warn it actually strips workers of a real vote on contracts.
• Over 350 groups, including many conservative and business organizations, are urging the Senate to kill the bill as federal overreach.

The grifting of America's 250th celebration

Robert Reich - This year’s 250th anniversary events, commemorating our Founding Fathers saying NO KINGS, were supposed to be planned by a nonpartisan organization created by Congress called “America250.”

But, in king-like fashion, Trump and his MAGA allies went around Congress and created their own party planning committee, confusingly named “Freedom 250.” This new group, which claims to be nonpartisan, is planning competing events all year that do little more than glorify Donald Trump.

Who is paying for these Freedom 250 festivities? You — at least in part.  That’s because Freedom 250 has gained access to taxpayer funds allotted by Congress last year for the 250th anniversary celebrations.

Media

Status -   Behind the scenes, Status has learned that top executives at CNN and CBS News have quietly convened for meetings as Paramount moves closer to acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, uniting the two news operations.

A few weeks ago, as CBS News and CNN inched closer to a corporate marriage, top executives from the two news organizations and their parent companies convened for an introductory meeting. Representing CBS News were Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and President Tom Cibrowski. CNN’s delegation included chief executive Mark Thompson, chief operating officer Alex MacCallum, and Executive Editor Virginia Moseley.  Executives from the companies’ respective parent organizations also attended, including Paramount chief operating officer Andy Gordon.