Environment

Washington Post - Throughout March in the West, temperatures surged to unprecedented levels for this time of year, due to a remarkable heat dome.  Then in April, that record-breaking heat shifted east. In D.C., temperatures reached 92 degrees on Thursday, based on temperatures recorded at Dulles International Airport, and the 90s in Baltimore, Philadelphia and near New York.

Inside Climate News - Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act, a move they say threatens both the coastline region and the law designed to protect threatened plants and animals.

....Six lawsuits have been filed against the decision so far, with both the Defenders of Wildlife and a coalition led by the National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association suing this week.

The Trump administration’s decision on March 31 marked the first time in decades the panel nicknamed the “God Squad”—stemming from its ability to decide if a development is worth the potential cost of an endangered species—has met. It followed a request from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that potential litigation in the Gulf of Mexico against oil and gas drilling presented a “national security threat.” 

Endangered species litigation in the Gulf, he wrote, “creates uncertainty and instability that is beginning to chill oil and gas development” in the region and could have “disastrous consequences for our national security” while the country wages war with Iran. 

The Guardian - Our coral reefs are under severe stress. The planet has just experienced the most widespread coral bleaching event ever recorded, lasting 33 months into 2025. Scientists warn that at 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. Ninety per cent....

Even if the world somehow hits its climate targets, reefs are still getting pummeled by plastic pollution, coastal development, agricultural runoff and overfishing. They’re so fragile. And when reefs weaken, coastlines get hit harder by storms and rising seas. Homes and jobs become exposed. Cultures and sacred places are put at risk. And the incredible range of underwater life found only in reefs – once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

The hazards of congressional term limits

Thom Hartmann -  In just the past 48 hours I’ve heard three different commentators on MSNOW and CNN speak of them as if term limits are the “solution” to “elderly” legislators or to the naked corruption that’s so rampant in DC.

This is the wrong issue for Democrats to be promoting now: term limits actually do more damage than good, which is why Republicans and the Heritage Foundation have been pushing them for decades. For example, they’d get rid of good, effective, high-quality legislators like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and Pramila Jayapal, among others.

But the problem with term limits goes far deeper than that.  More 

Pete Hegseff

House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of launching an unauthorized war against Iran without congressional approval while U.S. troops remain in harm’s way.

• Rep. Yassamin Ansari leads impeachment effort citing unauthorized Iran strikes, war crimes, and security breaches
• Six articles charge Hegseth with bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, and mishandling classified information in “Signalgate” incident
• Pentagon dismisses charges as partisan “charade,” claiming military operations successfully fulfilled Trump’s objectives
• Impeachment unlikely to advance in Republican-controlled Congress but signals Democratic strategy to challenge Trump administration

Meanwhile. ..

Of the 7,071 Cybertrucks that Tesla sold in the US in Q4, a whopping 1,279 (18%) went to SpaceX, while another 60 went to other Elon Musk ventures, according to new data. 

Spirit Airlines teeters on the brink of total collapse this week, crushed by skyrocketing jet fuel prices that expose the fragility of America’s deregulated aviation sector and the real costs of global instability on working families.

The Commission of Fine Arts approved early designs for the 250-foot triumphal arch Trump wants to build in Washington, D.C.

A federal judge issued a new order halting construction of the White House ballroom.

Abortions

Deep State Tribunal - Seventy-eight pro-life organizations are demanding that the Trump Justice Department stop defending Biden-era policies that allow abortion pills to be mailed across state lines, exposing a troubling disconnect between the administration’s rhetoric and its actions on protecting unborn life.

Middle East

Patriotwise - Russia is offering to physically take Iran’s near-weapons-grade uranium off the table—yet Washington is signaling it may not trust Moscow to be the custodian of a problem that could trigger the next Middle East escalation.The Kremlin says it is ready to remove and process Iran’s highly enriched uranium as part of a potential nuclear deal tied to ceasefire diplomacy.

....President Trump rejected a similar idea raised by Vladimir Putin in a phone call, reflecting deep mistrust and hard bargaining over verification. Talks remain stuck on Iran’s demand to retain enrichment rights under international oversight versus the U.S. “red line” on enrichment.

Headline USA - The U.S. military has widened its efforts beyond the blockade of Iran’s ports to allow its forces around the world to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons to oil, metals and electronics.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, specifically pointed to operations in the Pacific, saying the U.S. would be targeting vessels that left before the blockade began earlier this week outside the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy and other shipments.

U.S. forces in other areas of responsibility “will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.

NBC News - New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the U.S. war with Iran on Wednesday, saying it has inflated costs in New York City that were already high. “While this war has exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis, that is a crisis that existed from even before the time I was running for mayor, and it’s reflected in the fact that we are the most expensive city in the United States of America,” the mayor told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview clip released Thursday.

The ongoing military operation against Iran should “not just be opposed on political grounds, on moral grounds, but even just on economic grounds,” Mamdani said, pointing to the billions of dollars already spent on the war that he said could be spent on “working-class Americans across this country” instead.

NPR - A 10-day ceasefire to pause fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon begins today. President Trump announced the deal yesterday on social media after he had separate phone calls with leaders of Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah was not involved in the ceasefire discussions. Israel has vowed to keep its forces in southern Lebanon, saying it would attack if threatened by Hezbollah. The current two-week ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran is set to expire in a few days. Iran has said it would not negotiate peace with the U.S. unless Israel entered a ceasefire in Lebanon. 

NPR's Kat Londsorf is in Beirut, where she says things have been relatively quiet since the ceasefire began at midnight. She says there is a little hope among people here. "A ceasefire is always welcome in war," she says. "But people also realize this is temporary, so it's a cautious optimism." About a fifth of Lebanon's population has been displaced by the violence. Both Israel and Hezbollah have told people it's still too dangerous to return home. 

As the end of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran looms, U.S. defense officials say the naval blockade on Iranian ports is firmly in place. The U.S. is blocking ships from exiting or entering Iranian ports — strangling Iran's economy. Meanwhile, Iran has control of the Strait of Hormuz until U.S., European or Asian minesweepers can clear it and possibly escort ships safely through. NPR's Quil Lawrence says that blockades are an act of war, but in this case, it could be part of negotiations

The Guardian -The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, has described the ceasefire with Israel as a “gateway to proceeding with negotiations”, saying he will prioritise the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories in southern Lebanon.

Workers

Newsworthy News - Millions of working Americans face losing their health coverage under new federal rules that penalize the poor for failing to navigate bureaucratic paperwork, not for refusing to work.

• Federal law mandates 80 hours monthly of work or approved activities for Medicaid recipients starting January 2027, threatening 5.2 million with coverage loss
• Middle-aged workers over 50 face disproportionate impact despite 92% of enrollees already meeting activity requirements
• States must implement complex verification systems while some like Arizona propose even stricter 100-hour monthly requirements
• Policy experts warn administrative burdens will cause coverage losses among compliant workers unable to document their activities properly

The Guardian - Workers at the historic first Starbucks store are seeking to unionize as the coffee retail giant and its union appear stalemated over their first contract.  The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the store serves as a tourist site in Seattle.

Nailah Diaz, a Starbucks barista for about five years, three of those at Pike Place, said the Pike Place store can often have lines out the door, with waits up to two hours for tourists to come inside and look around....

“I myself have experienced unfair treatment, favoritism, discrimination and harassment with little to no support from management, and for me, joining this fight is me making sure that no one else has to go through what I have,” said Diaz. “We feel personally empowered by each other’s courage, the encouragement of our fellow union baristas and honestly, the unwavering support from our Pike Place Market community.”

Immigration

NPR - Millions of immigrants are stuck in legal limbo as a growing backlog of immigration applications leaves them vulnerable to deportation. An NPR review of data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the DHS agency that approves immigration applications, shows that nearly 12 million applications await a decision. The number of pending requests ballooned in the first three months of Trump's second administration, leaving immigrants struggling to get confirmation that their applications were received, let alone reviewed.

Money

Elizabeth Warren - The rich are having a field day. Thanks to Donald Trump, corporations paid $65 billion less in taxes last year. Meta alone saved $3 billion. Amazon saved over $4 billion. That $65 billion would have been enough money to extend the ACA tax credits three times over.

Elections

The Guardian  -   A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors.

Every state that has so far enacted the compact has Democratic electoral majorities, including California, New York and Illinois. But legislation has been introduced in enough states to reach the 270-elector threshold, including swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The legislation relies on two provisions of the US constitution, which would face intense legal scrutiny if and when the compact comes into force. Article II, section 1 of the constitution authorizes each state to appoint electors “in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct”. The constitution does not require states to even have a vote for president, never mind delegating those electors as a state’s voters choose.

The second provision, article I, section 10, clause 3 of the US constitution, governs interstate compacts. The text authorizes states to form legally binding agreements governing their relationships to one another. The text requires states to gain the assent of Congress to enact a compact. But longstanding US supreme court precedent holds that states only require congressional approval for a compact if the agreement infringes on federal power. Supporters of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact argue that the delegation of electors is a state power, not a federal power.

A Pew Research Center poll from 2024 showed that 63% of Americans would replace the electoral college with a national popular vote for president, with 35% opposing change.

ICE agent charged in Minnesota case

NBC News - An ICE agent who was part of the federal immigration surge in Minnesota earlier this year was charged with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a state prosecutor announced. The agent, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., is accused of pointing a gun at the heads of two civilians in a vehicle. This is the first case of an ICE agent facing charges related to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which drew national outrage after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration law enforcement.

Donald Trump

The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with a Catholic charity that houses and cares for migrant children amid the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV.  Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has helped provide vital services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years, but could now shut down within a matter of months after the administration canceled an $11 million federal contract.

Republicans Against Trump - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill naming the 125-mile stretch of State Road 80 the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

NY Times - Aboveground construction on President Trump’s White House ballroom must halt until lawmakers authorize the project, a judge ruled Thursday, saying the president appeared intent on skirting a previous order by redefining the ballroom project as a critical national security upgrade.

The ruling escalated the legal standoff over the president’s plan to overhaul the White House grounds, which Judge Richard J. Leon had previously decided exceeded what a president can do at a historic building like the White House without approval from Congress.

Judge Leon said that adding features like bulletproof windows and other standard security features that exist throughout the White House did not exempt the ballroom project from his directives.

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” Judge Leon wrote.

Middle East

No more US military aid to Israel Benjamin Netanyahu rejects President Trump’s ceasefire and says the war will continue against Iran at any time he chooses. Netanyahu says he will achieve his objectives through further military action under his command. “We are ready to resume the fighting at any moment.” The Hill - President Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire after meeting in Washington to try and strike a peace deal. NPR - President Trump has been referring to the war in Iran in the past tense, despite the fact that peace talks in Pakistan stalled out over the weekend. Pakistan sent its interior minister and military chief to Tehran yesterday. Trump has made bold claims about the war nearing its end since just a couple of weeks after it started. Despite his claims that the U.S. has decimated Iran and that the war is almost over, 13 swing voters who participated in two online focus groups on Tuesday said they wouldn't describe the military action as going well.

Trump often uses vague language, which makes him and his objectives hard to pin down. The president's attempts to declare victory are a sign that he wants the conflict to end. Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who served in the George W. Bush administration, [said] that as wars evolve, U.S. presidents often explain to the American people why their missions change. Troy says that Trump's style allows him more flexibility than others have had, but that only goes so far. The bulk of oil and gas exports from the Gulf remain stuck amid the U.S. forces' blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's closing of the crucial waterway. Oil prices have surged by about 40% since the war began... Ellen Wald, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, says there is a severe supply chain crisis affecting fertilizers, aluminum, liquefied natural gas, polymers, plastics and diesel for construction and agriculture. While Americans are currently seeing higher gas prices and haven't felt it in other areas, Wald says that the longer the conflict continues, the more prices across the economy will increase. Airlines are facing rising costs, and Airports Council International Europe, a group representing airport operators, has warned of a potential "systemic jet fuel shortage" if traffic through the Strait doesn't normalize by month’s end.

Pope Leo

The Hill - A bomb threat occurred at the home of the brother of Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday night, police in Illinois confirmed.

The New Lenox Police Department issued a statement acknowledging the threat at the home, but after a comprehensive search, it was determined to be unsubstantiated.

NPR - Popes have historically addressed political issues, historians of religion say. But Trump’s insults towards the pope are unprecedented. Here’s a brief overview of how modern popes have spoken out on politics and how Pope Leo is different.

Ukraine

NBC News - Russia unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight, killing at least 18 people in its most intense attack of the year.

Sport and climate change

The Guardian - All over the globe, extreme weather has wiped out competitions and made grounds unplayable through flooding or storms or wildfires. Increased heat and air pollution puts grassroots and pro athletes at risk – take your pick from heat exhaustion and heatstroke in one hand, asthma and cardiovascular disease in the other. Tennis player Holger Rune summed things up nicely during the Shanghai Masters last year, when he asked an official: “Do you want a player to die on court?” High pollution and crazy temperatures also increase the risk of injury and reduce performance. Officials and spectators suffer too.

Sports in climate-vulnerable countries bear a higher risk. “We have to play on the pitch as it is, not as you would like it,” said Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados. But richer countries and sports bodies look away.

Polls

InteractivePolls
NATIONAL POLL By Quinnipiac 

Pres. Trump 

Approve: 38% (=)

Disapprove: 55% (-1)

——

Trump's approval on key issues 

The Economy 

Approve: 38% (=)

Disapprove: 57% (-1)

Situation with Iran 

Approve: 36% (+2)

Disapprove: 58% (-1)

NPR - A recent NPR/Ipsos survey found just 39% of Americans said America is a moral authority, down from 60% in 2017.

IBM pays $17 million for being too decent

Philip Materra, Dirt Diggers Digest - Normally, my colleagues and I are happy to include a new multi-million-dollar penalty paid by a Fortune 100 company to the Justice Department in our Violation Tracker updates. This month, however, we are reluctantly creating an entry for a $17 million settlement reached with IBM.

...Turning decades of public policy on its head, this administration has decided that those efforts to rectify discrimination are themselves discriminatory and should be the main focus of DOJ’s civil rights enforcement.

What makes the IBM case especially pernicious is that DOJ brought it under the guise of a False Claims Act action. The FCA is normally used against contractors found to have been cheating the federal government. It is most commonly applied against healthcare providers and suppliers to the Pentagon.

IBM was accused of violating its responsibilities as a federal contractor by taking race, color, national origin, or sex into account when making employment decisions....

In a press release announcing the settlement, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward proclaimed: “Merit drives promotion and opportunity. Not someone’s sex or race.” He continued: “Today’s settlement proves this Department’s commitment to ensure companies are not using taxpayer funded work to further woke unconstitutional practices in American workplaces.”

Pete Hegsteth

The Guardian - House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense secretary of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts.  The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran.

Utah passes new law to combat overcharges at dollar stores

The Guardian - Utah lawmakers have voted to stiffen penalties on retailers who chronically overcharge customers. The new state law, which takes effect on 6 May, was introduced in direct response to a Guardian investigation of pricing practices at two national chains, Dollar General and Family Dollar, according to an official who oversees the state’s price-accuracy inspections.

Both dollar-store chains target cost-conscious families, yet their stores often post one price on the shelf and ring up a higher price at the register.

The investigation, published in December, found that Dollar General stores failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states between 2022 and 2025. The smaller Family Dollar chain failed more than 2,100 price-accuracy inspections in 20 states during the same period.

Among the biggest offenders was a Family Dollar store in Provo, Utah, a city of 115,000 people that is home to Brigham Young University. According to state records, the store failed 28 pricing inspections in the four-year span. During one visit, an inspector discovered overcharges for 48% of the items she tested, including baked beans, Ivory soap, frozen pizza and disposable diapers.

Colleges & universities

NY Times - American colleges and universities bear significant responsibility for plunging public trust in higher education, a Yale University committee suggested in a report released on Wednesday.

High costs, murky admissions practices, uneven academic standards and fears about free speech on campuses, the committee said, are among the reasons for widening discontent over higher education’s worthiness.

The findings reflect misgivings that Americans have described across years of polling and interviews. But the report, from a 10-professor panel at one of the nation’s most renowned universities, amounts to a damning depiction of academia’s role in cultivating the political and cultural forces that are reshaping higher education’s place in American life.

“Trust is earned by doing what you say you’re going to do — and, ideally, doing it well,” the committee wrote, describing “widespread uncertainty about the fundamental purpose and mission of higher education.”

Universities have faced pressure to help address societal problems, the committee noted, saying they were “expected to be all things to all people: selective but inclusive, affordable but luxurious, meritocratic but equitable.”

But, the professors added, “without a clear mission and purpose, it becomes difficult to judge whether colleges and universities are living up to their fundamental commitments.”

Most American schools are far removed from places like Yale, where the estimated annual cost of attendance for undergraduates exceeds $90,000 before financial aid. Administrators at many institutions, most of which cost far less and admit far more students, complain that their schools are unfairly tied to selective universities.

But those broad perceptions are driving debates about academic offerings, taxpayer support for universities, and President Trump’s attacks on a higher education system that predates the nation itself.

Friction around colleges is not new. The committee, though, pointed to a congruence of contemporary practices to help explain why academia’s standing has declined so far, so fast. Gallup reported last September that 35 percent of Americans regarded a college education as “very important” — half the number who thought that in 2013.

Polls

Newsweek - In a survey run from January 9 to 14, 2026, YouGov asked Republicans and independents who lean Republican who their ideal choice would be for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination. 

Vance led the field with 41 percent support. The poll surveyed 2,250 U.S. adult citizens and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, adjusted for weighting.

By April, his backing had softened. In a follow-up YouGov survey conducted April 8 to 13, 2026, using a similarly sized sample of 2,189 U.S. adult citizens and the same plus or minus 2.8-point margin of error, Vance’s share fell to 36 percent among the same group of Republican and Republican-leaning voters.

While Vance remains the single most popular option in the question tested, the five-point drop is notable given the relatively short time span and the early stage of the 2028 race. 

Data centers

Washington Post - Data centers house computer servers crucial to the internet, cloud computing and more recently AI. The average newly planned data center uses as much electricity as a city of 500,000, according to a Washington Post analysis, and some supersized facilities now under construction use far more.

11 Electric Cars Worth a Look as Gas Prices Soar

ICE prisons hurt immigrant rights and health

The Guardian - Camp East Montana is the facility with the largest number of immigration-related detainees in the US, with a capacity of 5,000 and an estimated daily average of 2,505 locked up. After just nine months in operation it has become a health and human rights scandal – and also an environmental hazard that affects the inhabitants and the area, while fueling the climate crisis.

Reports of harsh conditions, abuse, sickness and death have accumulated since the camp was erected last summer on the Fort Bliss army base in El Paso. And flying thousands of people often hundreds of miles to be locked up in an encampment run on electricity generators in the desert gobbles energy and produces emissions that are heating the planet.

“I think the environmental impact is pretty apparent,” said Danielle Jefferis, associate professor of law at the University of Nebraska College of Law. “I don’t think it takes an expert to see that if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar building that is properly plumbed and has appropriate medical units and all of the basic infrastructure [relating to] human rights, you’re going to have a serious environmental impact.” 

Pete Hegseth

Axios - House Democrats will introduce five articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday accusing him of abuse of power, war crimes and other serious wrongdoing. Why it matters: The measure has virtually no chance of passing this Congress, but it is the latest sign that Democrats have coalesced around Hegseth as their new top target in Trump's Cabinet.

Another small college closes

NY Times - Hampshire College, a small liberal arts school in Western Massachusetts, has succumbed to years of financial struggle and will close permanently after the fall semester.... More than 300 U.S. colleges and universities closed from 2008 to 2024, according to an analysis by The Hechinger Report.  “I think the reality is that tuition-dependent schools are being buffeted at many levels around a whole bunch of different headwinds,” Hampshire’s president, Jennifer Chrisler, said in an interview.

Democrats Formally File 25th Amendment Bill to Get Rid of Trump

New Republic - Fifty House Democrats have officially filed legislation that would create a commission to jump-start the process to remove President Trump under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.  The bill, introduced Tuesday by House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, would establish a “Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of the Office,” a move that would allow Congress to complete its part in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment process. It also calls for the commission to hold “a medical examination of the President to determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.”

AG Blanche promises to hide Epstein files

New Republic - Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche claims that his department released every single Epstein file—and that if any weren’t released, it’s because they “were not responsive to the law.” “You have the authority to go ahead and release more [of the Epstein files], do you not?” Blanche was asked Tuesday on Fox News. “And you have the authority to go to Congress, perhaps?”

“No, we have released everything,” Blanche replied. “So listen, we reviewed six million pieces of paper. What we released with anything that’s associated with the Epstein file. So we are not sitting on a single piece of paper.”

More newspapers seeking non-profit help

Independent, UK -  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced Tuesday it had prevented an imminent shutdown because a nonprofit journalism operation had agreed to buy the struggling newspaper. It's the latest example of a news outlet turning to the nonprofit sector to avoid closing as advertising and circulation revenues continue to drop....  A few other prominent newspapers that have made similar moves.