Meanwhile. . .

Just a third of U.S. adults approve of the way Democratic congressional leaders are handling their jobs, and only 29% give Republican leaders positive ratings. President Joe Biden’s approval rating remains low, at 37%. And since last year, the share of Americans who say the country can’t solve many of its important problems has risen sharply, from 41% then to 56% today. 

Pope Francis has praised sex as a “beautiful thing” and said that meeting romantic partners on dating apps is “normal” in a new documentary.

The number of U.S. children and teens under 18 killed by gunfire rose from 1,732 in 2019 to 2,590 in 2021 – the highest annual total since at least 1999. Homicides accounted for most of those deaths, and Black children and teens were roughly five times as likely as their White counterparts to die from gunfire in 2021. Meanwhile, nearly half of U.S. parents worry about their children getting shot.

Ten days after narrowly defeating a bill to provide free school lunches to low-income K-12 students, the North Dakota Senate approved legislation to increase the amount of money lawmakers and other state employees receive in meal reimbursements.