Youth

Newsweek -   Rising prices and broader economic pressures are reshaping young Americans’ appetite for romance, with date-night inflation forcing many to step back from the scene altogether. According to the BMO Real Financial Progress Index, released in February, nearly half (47 percent) of singles in the U.S. say dating is no longer worth the price. This comes as the average “all-in” cost of a date has risen 12.5 percent from $168 in 2025 to now $189.  Separate research from the financial services firm JG Wentworth, based on a March survey of 1,538 U.S. adults, found that 86 percent have put off dating due to financial concerns, while 87 percent have gone as far as canceling a date due to cost pressures.

Weather

Newsweek -   Nearly two-thirds of the United States is now in drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data, with dry conditions stretching across all but two states and affecting more than 150 million people nationwide. A growing drought spanning much of the country raises concerns about water supplies, agriculture, and wildfire risk for millions of Americans. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, released on Thursday, showed that almost 62 percent of the U.S. is experiencing some level of drought.

Newsweek -  Unusually cool temperatures will be felt across the southern U.S. later this week, with National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts indicating that East Texas could break a 123-year record with the chilly weather.  The plunging temperatures follow several days of severe weather that raged across Texas and surrounding states, creating numerous tornadoes and other hazards such as large hail and severe thunderstorms. With the incoming cold spell, some parts of the South will drop as much as 30 degrees below average for this time of year, AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.

Trump's sexual abuse case

Independent, UK - A New York federal appeals court denied President Donald Trump’s attempt to have a court rehear his challenges to magazine writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse case – the latest in a years-long saga over the multi-million dollar jury award.

Trump had asked the court to replace his name, listed as the defendant in the case, with the United States because he made defamatory comments about Carroll within the scope of his first presidency – for which he has some immunity.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the president’s appeal, declining to hear his latest arguments. It comes months after the president unsuccessfully tried to claim he had immunity from litigation as a result of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.

For years, Trump has been trying to challenge the outcome of two cases that stem from Carroll’s 2019 accusations that Trump lied about assaulting her in a department store during the 1990s. Trump has consistently denied her accusations and accused her of fabricating the allegations.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told The Independent that it planned to appeal the decision.

Writer E. Jean Carroll was awarded $83.3 million by a jury in 2024 who determined President Trump defamed her when he denied sexually abusing her. Now, a request by Donald Trump for a new trial in the case has been tossed

.

Writer E. Jean Carroll was awarded $83.3 million by a jury in 2024 who determined President Trump defamed her when he denied sexually abusing her. Now, a request by Donald Trump for a new trial in the case has been tossed (AFP/Getty)

“The American People stand with President Trump in demanding an immediate end to the unlawful, radical weaponization of our justice system, and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the illegal, Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes—the defense of which the Attorney General has determined is legally required to be taken over by the Department of Justice because Carroll based her false claims on the President’s official acts,” the spokesperson added.

In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, and thus had defamed Carroll. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million.

Bipartisan challenge to FBI spying

Time - Alaw that has allowed federal law enforcement and national security agencies to access the private  communications of American citizens without a warrant for years is facing a bipartisan challenge in Congress. A key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), set to expire on April 30, has been used by investigators to intentionally access Americans’ data for domestic investigations through "backdoor queries," without judicial sign-off and with little transparency. According to a recently declassified report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI increased its searches on Americans in 2025 by 34% from the previous year, to more than 7,000. 

Appeals court rules again mass deportations

Newsbreak-   A federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s bidto lock up the majority of people it is seeking to deport without an opportunity for release on bond — even if they have no criminal records and have resided in the country for decades.

In a 3-0 ruling, a panel of the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found that ICE’s policy was based on a flawed, implausible and unprecedented interpretation of decades-old laws. But more fundamentally, the panel said the Trump administration’s position would raise acute constitutional concerns by instituting “the broadest mass detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation’s history for millions of noncitizens.”

“The government’s interpretation … would send a seismic shock through our immigration detention system and society, straining our already overcrowded detention infrastructure, incarcerating millions, separating families, and disrupting communities,” Judge Joseph Bianco, a Trump appointee, wrote for the panel. “If Congress meant to achieve such a radical break from the past, it would not have done so in such an indirect and ambiguous way.”

Bianco was joined by Clinton appointee Jose Cabranes and Biden appointee Alison Nathan. It’s the first appellate court ruling rejecting the Trump administration’s view, even though district court judges across the country have widely concluded that ICE’s policy is illegal and unconstitutional.

The ruling also puts the 2nd Circuit at odds with the Louisiana-based 5th Circuit andthe Missouri-based 8th Circuit, which sided with the Trump administration’s view, a split that could put the long-simmering dispute on a trajectory to the Supreme Court. Both circuit panels were divided 2-1 in favor of the administration.

Climate

Inside Climate News -  Drought and fire are a dangerous duo. The Southeastern United States is witnessing this firsthand as several major blazes burn tens of thousands of acres across the parched region, destroying homes and prompting evacuations in some areas. Florida and Georgia have been particularly hard hit, and strong winds and unusually low humidity have made it difficult to combat the flames. 

With much of the Southeast in a long-standing drought since July 2025, dried-out vegetation has provided ample fuel for wildfires to spread the minute they spark. That can even be something as small as a balloon hitting a power line, which is likely what ignited one of the largest fires tearing through Georgia this month, officials say. 

Typically, forest managers ignite planned, controlled fires known as prescribed burns earlier in the season to clear this brittle brush. But this technique was on hold in certain areas amid the drought over concerns that small burns could quickly get out of control. Among this dried-out vegetation are the felled trees and branches left behind by Hurricane Helene in 2024, showing the lingering and compounding risks of climate disasters, experts say. 

Trump's ballroom

Robert Reich  - 400M for Trump's ballroom?

On top of:

-$1.5T for the Pentagon

-$170B for ICE and Border Patrol

-$1B to refurbish Trump's Qatar jet

-$496M to send National Guard into cities

-$230M for Trump's DOJ "compensation"

-$100M for Trump's golf outings

But nothing for working people

The Hill -  Senate Republicans aren’t in the mood to vote on legislation to greenlight President Trump’s controversial plan to build a 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom, as some GOP lawmakers see it as a bad political move in the current political climate, especially if it would require taxpayer funding.

Republican senators generally support Trump’s call for the construction of a ballroom where the historic East Wing once stood, but some of them are warning that spending any taxpayer money on the project would be politically “tone-deaf.”

“Is it good politics to spend taxpayer dollars on a ballroom right before the election? Absolutely not,” said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss the internal debate within the Senate GOP conference.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday that legislation sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, to authorize $400 million for the construction of a ballroom and underground security complex will have to wait — despite Graham’s pressure on the GOP leader to hold a vote immediately.

“Right now, our goal is to get DHS funded and get the reconciliation bill done as quickly as possible. We’ll have, I’m sure, that conversation with our colleagues about that,” Thune said.

86 45

Robert Hubbell  - The use of the number “86” to refer to impeachment has been in use on both the right and left sides of the political spectrum over the last decade. Gretchen Whitmer wore a “86 45” pin during Trump’s first term, conservative commentator Jack Posobiec posted “86 46” to call for the impeachment of Joe Biden, and former Rep. Matt Gaetz used “86’d” to refer to the removal of Kevin McCarthy from his position as Speaker of the House. No part of [former FBI director] Comey’s message suggests political violence in general or directed at Trump in particular....

The indictment of Comey for posting an Instagram picture with “86 47” is a bad-faith action by every DOJ attorney who signed or filed the indictment or approved the effort to secure it. The relevant bar associations should immediately open disciplinary investigations into each attorney noted above to determine what evidence, if any, supports the allegation in the indictment that Comey’s seashell message communicated an intent to harm the president.

The obvious answer to that question is that no such evidence exists, and the indictment was sought to placate Trump as Todd Blanche grovels before Trump in an effort to secure a nomination as Attorney General.

The indictment is so flimsy that Fox News legal analyst mocked the indictment in an op-ed in the National Review. See Mediaite, Andy McCarthy Slams Trump DOJ’s ‘Absurd’ Comey Prosecution.  McCarthy said,


If it’s possible, the Trump Justice Department’s new indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is even more absurd than the previous indictment. That one failed to state a crime. This one fabricates a crime.

Shortly after the DOJ indicted Comey, the FCC ordered early license renewal examinations for ABC affiliates after Melania Trump demanded that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel for saying that Melania had “a glow like an expectant widow.” See NPR, Following Kimmel’s Melania Trump joke, FCC orders early license renewal for 8 ABC stations. The FCC’s early renewal action against ABC was unprecedented and was clearly intended to exact retribution against ABC.

....The actions by the DOJ and FCC are merely the latest maneuvers by Trump in his attempt to intimidate the media. He has been using the same playbook for nearly a decade.

...The indictment against Comey is a joke, whose sole purpose is to force Comey to spend money on legal defense. The licenses of ABC’s affiliates will all be renewed because there is no ground for revocation. Again, Trump is merely looking for ways to force his enemies to incur costs.

Elections

Robert Reich - Last week, I listed the top four potential Democratic candidates by current name recognition: Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Out of the 7,174 of you who voted on these four, only 6 percent chose Kamala Harris; 12 percent were for Gavin Newsom; 26 percent of you chose Pete Buttigieg; and 6 percent were for AOC. The rest of you — 49 percent — wanted someone else.

So today we’re going to focus on the top “someone else” options in current polls: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. (That still leaves a “third tier” comprising California Congressman Ro Khanna, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and former congressman and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel — all of whom we’ll get to soon.)

Here’s a summary of the current second tier’s pros and cons.

The Congressional Insider - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just dropped a bombshell congressional map that could hand Republicans four extra House seats, supercharging GOP control just in time for the 2026 midterms.

DeSantis unveiled the map hours before a special legislative session, aiming to shift Florida’s delegation from 20-8 Republican to potentially 24-4.

The plan corrects Florida’s “shortchanged” representation from the 2020 Census amid massive population growth and a 1.5 million Republican registration edge.

..... Initiated at President Trump’s urging, this mid-decade redistricting counters Virginia’s recent Democratic gains and tests Florida’s anti-gerrymandering rules.

Supreme Court strikes Louisiana's reform that added a majority black congressional district

The Guardian - A devastating blow': NAACP says supreme court ruling is 'a major setback for our nation' Meanwhile, Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s oldest civil rights group, said the high court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais delivers “a devastating blow to what remains of the Voting Rights Act”.

The ruling is “a license for corrupt politicians who want to rig the system by silencing entire communities,” Johnson said in a statement today.

He went on:

"The Supreme Court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy.This ruling is a major setback for our nation and threatens to erode the hard-won victories we’ve fought, bled, and died for. But the people still can fight back. Our democracy is crying for help."

The Hill -   The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines struck down Louisiana’s congressional map on Wednesday that added a second majority-Black district, a decision that carries seismic implications for the future of the Voting Rights Act. 

Louisiana’s legal saga thrust the state into the center of conservatives’ push to weaken a central provision of the 1965 law that has long enabled advocacy groups to force new majority-minority districts. 

The decision does not strike down the provision entirely. Justice Samuel Alito cast it as an “update” to the framework that has governed Voting Rights Act cases for decades, saying lower courts had stretched it too far.

And under that proper framework, Alito agreed the Constitution does not tolerate Louisiana’s new majority-Black district, which the state intentionally added after a lower court ruled a design with only one violated the landmark law.

“That map is an unconstitutional gerrymander, and its use would violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights,” Alito wrote. 

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prevents election practices that deny equal access to the political process based on race. 

For decades, groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed Section 2 lawsuits to prompt states to redraw their maps with new boundaries that boost minority voting power. 

The Supreme Court’s decision claws back their ability to do so by limiting court-ordered redistricting that intentionally uses race as a factor. 

The Hill -  The Supreme Court’s liberal justices called their colleagues’ decision clawing back race-based redistricting on Wednesday a “now-completed demolition” of the Voting Rights Act. In a 48-page dissent, Justice Elena Kagan held up the landmark 1965 law as helpful to the nation’s progress on racial discrimination. 

“At this last stage, the Court’s gutting of Section 2 puts that achievement in peril,” Kagan wrote.  “I dissent because Congress elected otherwise,” she continued. “I dissent because the Court betrays its duty to faithfully implement the great statute Congress wrote. I dissent because the Court’s decision will set back the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity. I dissent.” 

She read her dissent aloud from the bench, a rare move the justices reserve for when they want to express their strong disagreements in a case. 

Kagan’s opinion was joined by her two fellow liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. It came as the Supreme Court declared Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The 6-3 decision along ideological lines stands to claw back advocacy groups’ ability to force new districts over claims that minority voting power is being diluted. 

As Justice Samuel Alito cast the conservative majority’s decision as merely an “update” to the Voting Rights Act framework that would ensure judges don’t stretch the law too far, Kagan said he was understating the impact. “Even antiseptic,” she wrote. 

States with the biggest drug problems

WalletHub - With National Prevention Week around the corner and the U.S. having spent over a trillion dollars on the “war on drugs” since the 1970s, the personal-finance company WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Biggest Drug Problems, to highlight the areas that stand to be most affected by drug addictions.

This study compares the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of 20 key metrics, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescription use and employee drug testing laws. You can find some highlights below.
 

States with the Biggest Drug Problems
1. New Mexico		11. Wyoming
2. Arkansas		12. Maine
3. Alaska		13. Montana
4. Nevada		14. Louisiana
5. Missouri		15. Vermont
6. West Virginia		16. Washington
7. Colorado		17. Michigan
8. District of Columbia		18. Oregon
9. Oklahoma		19. South Carolina
10. Mississippi		20. Alabama

 
Key Stats

• Arkansas has the highest retail opioid pain reliever prescriptions per 100 residents, leading the nation. On the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii has the lowest.
   
• West Virginia has the most drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, which is six times more than in Nebraska, the state with the fewest.
   
• New Mexico has the highest share of teens who used illicit drugs in the past month, which is 2.5 times higher than in Utah, the state with the lowest. 
   
• Vermont has the highest share of adults who used illicit drugs in the past month, which is 2.4 times higher than in Utah, the state with the lowest.

To view the full report and learn about drug abuse in your state
  

Columbia's president on the climate crisis

The Guardian -  The world is threatened by a “suicidal” model of capitalism that is leading to war, fascism and the potential extinction of humanity, Colombia’s president has said, as he convened 57 governments to address the climate crisis.

Gustavo Petro blamed fossil fuel interests for taking ever more desperate measures to prevent a transition to green energy. “There is inertia in the power and the economy of this archaic form of energy – fossil fuels – that lead to death. Undoubtedly, that form of capital can commit suicide, taking with it humanity and [other] life,” he said. “The question that needs to be asked is whether capitalism can truly adapt to a non-fossil energy model.”

A different electric service story

Covington Electric serves more than 25,600 meters across 2,800 miles of power lines in six Alabama  counties.

NCBA CLUUSA - EC’s story began in 1944, when rural families and farmers in south Alabama banded together to bring electricity to their homes and communities that commercial power companies had left behind. The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 provided low-interest federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas of the United States, so these communities took this opportunity to come together to build the infrastructure they needed.

Today, CEC continues to reflect the cooperative spirit that made rural electrification possible. This is evident in their commitment to their communities, which extends well beyond delivering reliable, affordable power. CEC invests in local schools and families through Bright Ideas Teacher Grants and student scholarships, and supports charitable causes that members care about.

.Recently, CEC contributed a combined $15,000 to two organizations dedicated to supporting and protecting children across Covington County: Covington County Child Advocacy Center and Covington County Children’s Policy Council. Through matching funds provided by CoBank, a national cooperative bank serving electric cooperatives and other rural infrastructure providers, these contributions were doubled for a total of $30,000 to enhance the impact of their work.

During National Co-op Month each October, CEC hosts Member Appreciation Days at its two offices, offering members a free employee-prepared lunch, information on benefits and services, and opportunities to share feedback directly with cooperative staff. As a cooperative, CEC uses these events to remind members that they are the owners of the business, and CEC staff are here to serve in their best interests.

CEC helps members save energy and money through an energy efficiency loan program, heat pump rebates, discounted water heaters, electric vehicle rebates, and an educational solar demonstration project that provides real-time solar output data online. CEC not only helps save energy and money, but also puts money back in members’ pockets. Fundamental to the cooperative business model, CEC returns excess revenue to members through capital credits, based on each member’s kilowatt-hour usage from the previous year.

Polls

Newsweek -  President Donald Trump's job approval rating is underwater on all key issues including the economy, foreign policy and immigration, according to a new poll.Th e survey, conducted by The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll between April 23 and 26, found that Trump's approval rating is weakest on handling inflation on 37 percent, followed by managing the Iran conflict on 39 percent.

New Republic  -   Only 18 percent of Americans strongly approve of Trump’s job performance, down from 34 percent at the start of his second term, according to an Economist/YouGov poll published Tuesday.   The polls found that just 37 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat approved of Trump’s job handling, while a whopping 59 percent disapproved, matching Trump’s disapproval rating from the beginning of March, which was his highest ever during his second term. Trump’s net approval rating was -22 points, just above the previous low of -23 points at the end of March.

Tariffs

Alternet -   Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Phil Gramm and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute Michael Solon assert that Trump’s “obsession” with tariffs has destroyed any hope of the “golden age” he promised on the campaign trail. While Trump “insists that other countries are eating the cost of tariffs,” Gramm and Solon point out that this is a “myth.” Instead, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis finds that “there is 100 percent pass-through from tariffs to import prices, and therefore on U.S. consumers and firms.” And the majority is paid by individuals, as the Congressional Budget Office “estimates that businesses are absorbing 30 percent of the tariffs’ cost while consumers are paying 70 percent.”

The result is that American consumers ended up paying roughly $195 billion in new tariffs, versus the $188 billion reduction in federal tax liability they received from Trump’s tax cuts. In other words, the tariffs cost more than the tax cuts relieve.

Social Security

Alternet -  Over a dozen Social Security offices around the country are currently closed due to lack of staff. It simply isn’t possible to run Social Security properly without the dedicated, experienced staff that Musk forced out.

The three Ohio Social Security field offices I visited were in Painesville, Middleburg Heights, and Columbus. Each of these areas is represented by a Republican congressman who is helping to decimate Social Security.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are wrecking our Social Security system so they can rob it. And every Republican in Congress is complicit. They’ve all voted for budgets that underfund Social Security, while cheering on DOGE’s cuts.

How the Trump regime may be cheating on Congress

The Congressional Insider -   House and Senate appropriators used recent hearings with Trump administration officials to probe a sensitive issue: whether agencies are withholding or delaying congressionally approved funds while pursuing aggressive efficiency changes. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is described as accusing the administration of illegal impoundment and preferential treatment for Republican priorities. Administration officials, including Lee Zeldin, faced pointed questions about whether their plans comply with spending law through the rest of the fiscal year.

Immigration

The Congressional Insider -   Obama-appointed judges are blocking President Trump’s efforts to end Biden-era mass parole programs, shielding hundreds of thousands of migrants from deportation and undermining national security priorities.

Judges Indira Talwani and Allison Burroughs halted Trump’s termination of CHNV and CBP One parole programs affecting over 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Rulings require case-by-case reviews instead of blanket revocations, delaying deportations and restoring work permits.

These actions echo past judicial interventions against Trump’s 2017 travel bans, frustrating conservative efforts to enforce immigration law.

Federal Appeals court hands Pentagon a significant victory

Congressional Insider -   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit delivered a split decision that temporarily reinstates Pentagon restrictions on journalists. Judges Justin Walker and Bradley Garcia formed the majority, determining the Defense Department would likely succeed in proving its escort requirement legally valid for security purposes. Judge J. Michelle Childs dissented from the 2-1 ruling. This decision directly suspends U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman’s April 9 order, which had found the Pentagon in violation of constitutional protections after implementing new rules requiring reporter escorts and removing workspace access for seven New York Times journalists.

When life gets boring as you get older

(Issue raised on Aging with an Attitude)

Marci Meroz, retired psychologist -- There is something called “radical acceptance” in the practice of psychology. Simply stated, it is a complete and nonjudgmental acceptance of reality, and it sounds easier than it is. The goal of radical acceptance is to reduce suffering by shifting your focus away from fighting against reality, to accepting it. It is worth the effort.

The truth is that life gets boring with age. Some people don’t experience boredom and appear well equipped to keep life interesting. But everyone experiences loss, and losses add up with age. Many losses are beyond your control, but boredom isn’t one of them. Boredom means that things are going well generally, but there is a lack of excitement or challenge. Being sick and tired of being sick and tired could tip the balance. That is radical acceptance.

Health

Health.com  - Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is recalling a number of powdered beverage mixtures, such as hot cocoa mix, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. The products may contain Salmonella, bacteria that can cause severe or potentially life-threatening foodborne illness. So far, no illnesses have been reported in connection to the recall.1

CEOs of US’s top energy firms received average pay raise of $12.3m

The Guardian -   The US’s top utilities’ CEOs enjoyed a 16% pay raise last year – to an average of $12.3m – even as consumers shoulder the pain from high bills spurred by continuing inflation, the Iran war and datacenter growth, a new review of industry financial documents shows.

Utility bills are up as much as 40% in some regions since 2021, and, nationwide, utilities shut off power to customers 13m times last year, federal data shows.

Amid the difficulties, CEO pay increased at 38 of 51 top utilities, industry watchdog Energy and Policy Institute (EPI) found in its review of companies’ financial records.

EPI also detailed how some executives received pay raises despite failing to meet performance standards, including for outages. Many executives were also provided private jets, condominiums and other perks for which customers often paid the costs.

.The issues “feel unjust at face value”, said Jonathan Kim, a research associate with EPI, who authored the report. “It’s the idea that we should be footing the bill for these people’s grotesquely large salaries,” Kim added.

Word

Artificial Intelligence

NY Times -   In Brooklyn, an artificial intelligence program helps public school students pronounce words. In Queens, high school students ask Google Gemini how to improve their essays. And in the Bronx, students in a robotics lab consult an A.I. tool before building parts on a 3-D printer.

As teachers and students in New York City and across the United States have increasingly embraced artificial intelligence in the classroom, school leaders in the nation’s largest school system were set to make one of their biggest splashes yet — the opening of an A.I.-focused high school in Manhattan next school year.

But on Monday, the new schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, abruptly halted the creation of the school amid a groundswell of opposition to the rapid adoption of the technology and its potential harms.

In an interview, Mr. Samuels said that he understood the concerns and questions parents have about artificial intelligence in the classroom and its safety and impact on critical thinking. “I want to be able to think about the technology in a very thoughtful way,” Mr. Samuels said.

Despite the decision not to proceed, school leaders in New York City and beyond remain bullish on the future of artificial intelligence in education and its potential benefits. They argue that it could transform teaching and learning, a claim also promoted by companies that sell the tools, and that it would be irresponsible to ignore or restrict the technology.

But New York parents have expressed concern about the artificial intelligence programs used in schools or accessible on students’ computers, as well as the lack of information about the applications and data they collect. Some families recently delivered to Mayor Zohran Mamdani a petition with thousands of signatures calling for a two-year moratorium on generative A.I., such as chatbots.

“The intense outrage among parents in New York City is as great as I’ve seen it on any education issue that I’ve been working on for 25 years,” said Leonie Haimson, an education advocate in New York City and member of the Coalition for an A.I. Moratorium.

Food stamps

Independent, UK - Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins boasted Tuesday that more than 4 million Americans had lost food stamps benefits in a crackdown on “fraud” – but federal data indicates participation dropped after the administration made funding cuts to the program and implemented work requirements.

...Between January 2025 and January 2026, roughly 4.2 million people stopped receiving food stamps, otherwise known as SNAP, benefits, according to data collected by the Department of Agriculture. The most significant decline in participation occurred after July 2025 with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which added more restrictions to SNAP.

Experts had warned that the federal government’s large funding cuts to the program, combined with stricter work requirements for able-bodied people between 18 and 64, and immigration status restrictions, would lead to more people losing SNAP benefits.

Polls

InteractivePolls

Harvard Harris: Dem Primary Crosstabs Black Dems Harris: 71% (+8) Newsom: 15% (-8) Pritzker: 5% Shapiro: 4% AOC: 3% —— White Dems Harris: 41% (+10) Newsom: 26% (-6) Shapiro: 11% Pritzker: 10% AOC: 7% —— Hispanic Dems Harris: 50% (+13) Newsom: 23% (+2) AOC: 11% (-13) Shapiro: 8% Pritzker: 5% —— Asian Dems Harris: 50% (-4) Shapiro: 16% (+1) Newsom: 12% (-7) AOC: 9% Pritzker: 0% Harvard/Harris | 4/23-26 |

Reuters 

Reuters/Ipsos poll | 4/24-4/27

President Trump approval

Disapprove 64% (+2)

Approve 34% (-2)

(Shift from 4/15-4/20)

Do you approve of Trump's handling of the cost of living?

No 69%

Yes 22%

Axios -   The share of Americans who say their financial situation is getting worse is higher now than at any point in the past 25 years, per new Gallup data out Tuesday morning. Americans are struggling after years of higher inflation and a recent surge in gas prices due to the Iran war — a major challenge for President Trump and Republicans as the midterm elections come into view. By the numbers: 55% of respondents to a poll conducted April 1-15 said their financial situation is getting worse; that's up from 53% last year and 47% in 2024.  The number is higher than at any point since 2001, even compared with recessions during the pandemic or in the wake of the financial crisis.