Reading archive 2026-04-30

Gun found during fight in Blake High School parking lot, police say: A short time later, a young man was taken to an area hospital with a gunshot wound. Police have not said if that victim is a student or not.

Trump administration seeks access to medical records of millions of federal workers

A D.C. mayoral hopeful’s close ties to unions are drawing new scrutiny: A complaint alleges Janeese Lewis George’s campaign is improperly sharing staff with unions tied to an independent expenditure committee backing her. The campaign denies it.

On chaotic day, Johnson navigates multiple internal revolts in House: Over hours on and around the chamber’s floor, the speaker and fellow Republican leaders cajoled holdouts on a surveillance bill, DHS funding and farm policy.

The invisible force making food less nutritious - "Ultimately, Myers said, the best way to protect human health is for people to stop releasing so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which not only depletes the nutritional value of crops but leads to escalating heat waves, intensifying floods and lengthening droughts that hurt food production around the globe."

Maine Gov. Janet Mills drops out of race to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins: The primary had become a referendum on the Democratic establishment.

The terrible Michael Jackson movie exposes a central cultural question: The film is indefensible. The impulse to see it is deeply human.

An Untapped Energy Goldmine Is Buried Beneath the US—and No, It’s Not Oil: Massive lithium reserves in eastern states could replace 328 years of U.S. imports, according to new research by the U.S. Geological Survey.

As Saudis pull funding, LIV Golf seeks investors to continue: The Saudis spent billions backing the upstart PGA rival and luring top stars, but the league never found its footing. - "The financial scale of LIV’S failed effort was enormous. The PIF’s total investment is projected to surpass $6 billion, according to figures from Money in Sport, with the PIF spending at a rate of roughly $100 million per month in recent years. Tournament purses and bonuses alone are expected to approach $2 billion, while many top players received nine-figure signing deals. LIV’s U.K.-based entity reported losses of $461.8 million in 2024, and the overall venture was widely viewed as losing hundreds of millions annually."

Russia scales back Victory Day plans as Ukraine’s military reach expands: Moscow is reducing the footprint of its foremost annual military parade amid a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia.

The Real Fight for the Smithsonian: Its museums, more than any others, shape the nation’s narrative. No wonder the country argues about it.

‘We Are Learning to Bully Back’: How Europe got Trump to cave on Greenland

The Sports Conspiracy That’s Too Easy to Believe: When the 49ers lost in the playoffs, some fans embraced a theory about electromagnetic waves instead of facing reality.

The Real Reason ICE Agents Wear Masks: Face coverings may work less to protect federal agents from danger than to make it easier for them to do unconstitutional things. - "It is not 'doxxing' federal agents for the public to know who they are. We are supposed to know who they are, because that is how we hold them accountable. This is why police officers wear visible badge numbers and name tags. The responsibilities they are given are not compatible with anonymity.

...

"According to an analysis by Alex Nowrasteh at the Cato Institute based on data from last year, "law enforcement officers who don't work at ICE or Border Patrol have a death rate 6.3 times higher than that of immigration enforcement officers." In fact, the report found, immigration agents are at no greater risk than regular people: 'The chance of an ICE or Border Patrol agent being murdered in the line of duty is about one in 94,549 per year, about 5.5 times less likely than a civilian being murdered.'

...

"On Sunday, ProPublica revealed the names of the two agents involved in the Pretti shooting: Border Patrol officer Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Suffice it to say that two Hispanic Americans killing a white person trying to prevent them from harassing or deporting other Hispanic people, on the orders of Stephen Miller - a Jewish American whose ancestors fled pogroms in Eastern Europe - is a uniquely grotesque expression of the American melting pot in action."

Stop Meeting Students Where They Are: What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.

How America Lost Control of the Seas: Thanks to decades of misguided policy choices, the U.S. has an astonishing lack of maritime capacity.

Feudalism Is Our Future: What the next Dark Ages could look like - "In 2008, desperate for cash, Chicago privatized its parking meters, selling off the rights to all the revenue for 75 years to a group of investors led by Morgan Stanley. A 'true-up' provision in the contract requires the city to compensate investors for lost revenue when meters are taken out of service—a provision that weighs on decision making whenever the city considers projects that would eliminate meters or favor mass transit over cars. The rights to operate toll highways have been sold off by some jurisdictions to private companies, including foreign ones. The fine print in the contracts often prevents improvements to adjacent roads on the grounds that such enhancement would create undue competition. Private prisons generally put a quota clause into their agreements. States and municipalities may be hoping, as a matter of policy, to reduce their prison populations, but the beds in private prisons must be filled regardless."

Reading archive 2026-04-29

An ingenious way to sidestep the dismal Senate filibuster: Restrain the president, revive Congress, honor Madisonian principles. What’s not to like? - "Today’s Senate Republicans are mostly oblivious of — or, worse, indifferent about — how they appear. In 2024, they solemnly warned that if they did not win control of the Senate, 2025-2026, Democrats would degrade it by abolishing the filibuster. In 2025, however, Senate Republicans, in lockstep with House Republicans, crammed most of the president’s agenda into a single bill that they passed on a party-line vote using the parliamentary maneuver called “reconciliation,” which prevents a bill from being filibustered."

Colombians are divided over the fate of hippos linked to Pablo Escobar

The great Black GOP exit from Congress: Republicans squandered Trump’s gains with African Americans in 2024.

Alleged gunman at correspondents’ dinner led Christian group in college: Ex-classmates who knew Cole Tomas Allen, 31, at the California Institute of Technology say they were shocked by a message in which he appeared to use biblical teachings to justify violence.

So Nobody Is Going to Pay Taxes Now?: America actually needs a tax base. - "While tinkering with marginal rates, Democrats have threaded deductions, credits, and exemptions into the tax code, engaging in 'submerged' policy making, as Cornell's Suzanne Mettler describes it. Tax expenditures are easier for Congress to pass than spending programs, and they're easier to target at low-income households. Still, Americans don't really understand these policies. Two in three claimants of the home-mortgage-interest deduction say it doesn't do much for them. (The deduction can reduce a family's tax bill by as much as $15,000 a year.) Two in three people with a 529 college savings plan believe that they have never used a government program. The more tax breaks a person receives, the less likely they are to report that Uncle Sam has improved their quality of life, Mettler has found. Yet such initiatives cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars.

...

"Wages for hourly employees have crawled, while the paychecks of investors and executives have soared. At the same time, the wealth of investors and executives has skyrocketed, with the taxman scarcely tapping these fortunes at all. As the law professor Ray Madoff has observed, Amazon has paid Jeff Bezos a salary of roughly $82,000 a year since the late 1990s, 'low enough to make him eligible to claim the child tax credit (which he did!).' From 2014 to 2018, his net worth climbed by $99 billion, just 0.98 percent of which went to public coffers, whereas many middle-class families fork over 25 percent of their earnings. Plus, again, the cost of living has become brutally high. Even households making six figures are struggling to afford child care, rent, groceries, health insurance, summer camp, and student-loan debt."

A Mediocre Public-School Education for Just $40,000 a Pupil: How New York City’s education budget became an untouchable money pit - "As New York City becomes more expensive to live in, fewer families with children live there. The education budget nonetheless continues to go up, hurting taxpayers and diverting funds from other important services. This makes the city even more expensive to live in, and leaves young families even more squeezed, causing even fewer children to live there. The situation stems from the commendable liberal impulse to devote extensive resources to public education. But what's the point of public education without a public to educate?"

Anthropic’s Little Brother: OpenAI is racing to catch up to its greatest rival.

Why Did Trump Pardon the Former Honduran President? Follow the Tech Bros.: With Roger Stone taking a victory lap for having come up with the idea in the first place.

Untangling the Issue of Circling Roots

Physiology and root development of container-grown urban trees in response to root-shaving, root-washing, and root-slicing at planting - "Among the root modifications examined, root-shaving provided the optimal combination of improved root development while minimizing adverse effects to tree stress and crown dieback. Moreover, our results suggest that trees that are historically known to be difficult to transplant as bare-root stock are poor candidates for extreme root disturbance procedures such as root-washing when produced as container-grown trees."

What Would a Fiscal Crisis Look Like? - "Already, the U.S. is facing consequences from excessive debt. Excessive borrowing was a key driver of the recent surge in inflation and subsequent rise in interest rates, and real incomes are lower today than they otherwise would be as a result of the “crowd out” of past investment. Meanwhile, the cost of interest on the debt grew to roughly $1 trillion last year, which is more than the federal government spent on defense and about as much as it spent on Medicare. These high interest payments leave fewer resources for new spending initiatives and tax cuts. And with debt at 100% of GDP, the U.S. has less fiscal space than any time in history in case of another war, pandemic, or recession. A fiscal crisis would substantially worsen most or all of the costs of debt."

Cato Study: Immigrants Reduced Deficits by $14.5 Trillion Since 1994 - "The best way to balance the budget is to reduce spending—particularly on wealthy retirees—but rather than hinder our efforts to control deficits, immigrants are helping."

Global Trade Is Leaving the US Behind: The US’s retreat from the global economy is likely to make America less influential, less resilient, less secure, and poorer over the long term, as economic integration deepens elsewhere and other governments set new standards in trade agreements.

More Photos Emerge of Meals on Navy Ships As Pentagon Denies Shortages

This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men: A med student says he’s made thousands of dollars selling photos and videos of a young conservative woman he created using generative tools. He’s not alone.

Is the tide turning for Ukraine in war with Russia?: With the EU approving a €90bn loan for Ukraine, a surprise visit from Prince Harry, and data suggesting Russian troops made almost no territorial gains in March – are there reasons for optimism in Kyiv?

Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known: U.S. bases and equipment across the Middle East came under attack — including from an Iranian F-5, despite American air defenses — and repairs could cost billions of dollars.

They Were Michael Jackson's 'Second Family.' Now They Say He Abused Them.: The Cascio siblings are suing Mr. Jackson's estate after standing by him for years as he faced accusations of child molestation.

Farmers are bleeding money under Trump —but are doubling down on their support anyway

Reading archive 2026-04-28

Researchers say remote Lake Superior island’s wolves are thriving as packs prey on moose

Clean energy pushes fossil-fuel power into reverse for ‘first time ever’

An AI trained on 13,000 virtual worlds just projected our renewable energy future: It beat the International Energy Agency's forecasts—and it says 2°C is still on the table

Why Trump’s ballroom can’t host the White House correspondents’ dinner: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an independent celebration of press freedoms. - "Let us also note the irony that the current president has barred Associated Press reporters from White House events and that his Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, threatens the independence of television journalists with metronomic regularity. But now Trump wants to host at the White House a dinner supposedly celebrating the press’s freedom from government coercion."

Ukraine took Russia’s best punch. It wants to teach Europe what it learned.: The country’s fighters gave the continent's defense chiefs a blunt message: You forgot how to fight. We can help.

A Trump-branded nuclear power project thrilled investors. Then came the crash.: Corporate drama and a stock plummet at Fermi America are raising questions about the sustainability of the wider artificial intelligence boom.

UAE to leave OPEC amid Hormuz oil crisis, a blow to Saudi Arabia: The departure weakens the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, long criticized by Trump, as the global economy reels from the Iran war energy shock.

MAHA’s Perfect Villain: Glyphosate highlights the movement’s horseshoe politics and has nothing to do with vaccines.

The Age of American Caesarism: The legal right spent decades empowering the presidency. Now it must reckon with the system it helped create. [ed. note: a conservative attempts and fails to reckon honestly about how the conservative legal movement endangers the republic]

The Pentagon May Not Be Telling Trump the Full Picture About the War: Vice President Vance is worried that the U.S. is running low on weapons. - "Pentagon leaders' positive portrayals present an incomplete picture at best, people familiar with intelligence assessments told us. According to those internal estimates, Iran retains two-thirds of its air force, the bulk of its missile-launching capability, and most of its small, fast boats, which can lay mines and harass traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. At least in terms of resuming stalled maritime commerce, 'those are the real threat,' one person told us."

Reading archive 2026-04-27

Trump officials hire ‘deportation judges’ with less training, experience: The president is remaking courts to clear a backlog of asylum cases. Hires include an attorney for Jan. 6 rioters and a lawyer who championed Minneapolis ICE raids. - "Asylum rejections more than doubled to 82,371 last fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025. The percentage of asylum cases granted by judges plummeted to less than 5 percent in February, compared with 48 percent in the same month in 2024 under Biden, according to TRAC."

Trump steps up a campaign against teaching English to immigrant kids The administration plans to dissolve the office that supports English instruction. - "Regardless of your opinion on illegal immigration, it’s a good idea to help these kids become as proficient in English as possible. Particularly if you support President Donald Trump’s executive order designating English 'the official language of the United States.'" [ed. note: from Jim Geraghty of the National Review]

Mood in Russia turns bleak as war in Ukraine drags on and economy suffers: With the war in its fifth year, talks stalled and sanctions biting deeper, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ratings are falling and citizens are voicing despair.

Idaho lawmakers, deadlocked over ‘rat apocalypse,’ blame city transplants: Lawmakers have spent hours debating a surge in rodents menacing Boise-area gardens and kitchens and threatening agriculture and public health.

Trump’s idea to ‘just buy’ bankrupt Spirit Airlines draws GOP backlash: The president said this week that bailing out the airline would save jobs, but his administration is divided.

The Trump-class battleships are a waste of time and money: The firing of Navy Secretary John Phelan reflects Pentagon tensions. - "It’s unfortunate that the administration is misallocating so many defense resources because U.S. defense needs are urgent — and deserve more funding, if not necessarily 50 percent more."

Democrats are closer than you think to upending the electoral college: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact going into effect is suddenly plausible.

D.C. aims to counter rise in domestic violence amid spate of high-profile cases: Mayor Muriel Bowser and U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro introduced a bill that would boost penalties as women are more likely to experience domestic abuse in D.C. than in any state. - "Experts point to massive amounts of job loss in the region — D.C. has had the highest unemployment rate in the country for months, according to federal data. Intensifying federal immigration enforcement that has contributed to a climate of fear and stress in immigrant communities has also been a factor, with prevalence of guns in the city making matters worse for those already living with abuse."

Walking near a D.C. school raises the chance of being hit by a car, data shows: A Washington Post analysis of accident data shows pedestrians near schools are 24 percent more likely to be hit than elsewhere in the city. - "'We want safe streets across the District of Columbia,' McDuffie said during a recent interview with the 'Dream City' podcast. 

"But, he said, he would eliminate 'predatory' traffic cameras in some lower-income areas that lead to repetitive fines levied against local residents.'"

‘Michael’ Is a Vain Account of the Man in the Mirror: After an overlooked legal settlement spurred extensive reshoots, the new Michael Jackson biopic’s selective memory adheres to its subject’s self-mythologizing

Theft Is Now Progressive Chic: In some left-wing corners of the commentariat, moral rectitude is out. Flagrant disregard of the social contract is in.

Israel Could Have What It Most Wants in Lebanon: It just has to give up territorial ambitions and work with the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.

Texans Will Decide if Jesus Was a Lefty: James Talarico is trying to sell a novel brand of Christian politics in a deep-red state.

How Netanyahu Hurt America’s Jews: The Israeli prime minister’s focus is, as always, on himself and his near-term political needs. The plight of American Jews is simply not his concern. - "Beyond Netanyahu's overt interference in American politics, he's also impeded repeated U.S. diplomatic efforts to resolve the Israel-Palestine question. Although Israeli recalcitrance on moving toward a viable two-state solution has often been matched or exceeded by the Palestinian Authority, there is no question that Netanyahu's continued support for expanding settlements in the West Bank and his lack of serious engagement in peace talks have further alienated Democrats. In the past, even when Israeli leaders disagreed with the United States, they would try to avoid open provocations. Bibi, it seems, goes out of his way to frustrate the U.S. Not surprisingly, every Democratic president who has dealt with Netanyahu directly-Clinton, Obama, Biden-appears to loathe him."

The Iran Talks Are Making India Feel Small: Modi styled himself a global leader but can’t seem to get ahead of events in the Middle East.

Reading archive 2026-04-24

The Post Tries to Regroup: After announcing major cuts, the paper is delaying layoffs and attempting to hire back former staffers.

Trump Started a War With D.C.'s Cyclists. It’s Part of a Bigger Car-Centric Agenda.: The portion of the bike lane is safe for now thanks to court intervention, but it’s emblematic of a broader push against bike infrastructure across the country.

After a GOP loss in Virginia, a push to make D.C. square again: On the heels of a redistricting referendum, a Georgia congressman proposed a bill to return parts of Northern Virginia to the District.

Elon Musk’s near-daily online posts about race are turning off some fans: The billionaire posted 850 times on the topic in recent months, almost triple the rate for the previous two years.

What the Michael Jackson movie leaves out: “Michael” was reshot to exclude scenes that would have addressed the 1993 sexual abuse allegations against Jackson.

Reading archive 2026-04-23

Is the Day of the Data Center About to Be Over?: Marco Arment's Setup as the Canary in the Coal Mine—or, Rather, as the 50 Mac Mini Server Farm Vastly More Efficient than the NVIDIA-Powered Cloud-Bound Hyperscalers...

Three foods you can make in 5 minutes that taste better than stuff in the store: These homemade foods are cheaper and yummier than what you can buy at the supermarket and can reduce the amount of packaging and processed food in your life.

The unflattering secrets revealed so far in Elon Musk’s latest legal feud: Hundreds of court filings have revealed cringey texts, emails or private diary entries of Musk, Sam Altman, other OpenAI founders and other public figures.

Trump team defends redistricting push as GOP faces limited gains: After a Virginia vote pushes seats toward Democrats, Republicans turn to Florida and the courts to claw back an edge. - "'If you’re going to pick a fight, at least win it,' Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary for George W. Bush, said on X. 'The other side will always fight back. All this was foreseeable and avoidable. We should not have started this fight.'"

Bowser, Pirro slam D.C. Council after new delay on emergency youth curfew: While council members advanced a long-term version of a youth curfew, they couldn’t reach consensus on an emergency measure that would allow it to take effect immediately.

D.C. police arrest man in killing that prompted Amber Alert for boy: Authorities were searching for Royce Hawkins after his mother was fatally shot in an alley Tuesday night in Northwest Washington.

After stolen cars from DC ended up in Africa, 6 charged in vehicle-theft ring

Reading archive 2026-04-22

Trump got his regime change in Canada. Now he may regret it.: Canada's prime minister secures a parliamentary majority and a stronger political hand. - "There’s the costly need to satisfy Quebeckers, brilliantly leveraging their inextinguishable separatist inclinations for more and more privilege, and historically standing in the way of an oil pipeline to the east. Add, now, Alberta’s malcontents, a minority (for the time being) that, wishing for a pipeline to anywhere, is pushing its own separatist cause. And, too, the Indigenous who, like Quebeckers, must constantly and expensively be placated but who, note, also play a vital role of opposition in a way that no party in Parliament actually can. First Nations here are able to challenge laws about resources, the environment and, most problematically, property title on the basis of treaties not respected and Indigenous rights that Canada is legally obliged to respect."

Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

The Tech Oligarch's Republic: A look at the Palantir manifesto, a logical conclusion of the War on Terror - "You will notice the summarized thesis of The Technological Republic is one that will line Palantir's pockets while presenting that fleecing as a strategic imperative, even a moral one. That much is par for the course for the military-industrial complex. But because Palantir is talking about AI dominance, embracing its perspective creates a national-security dependency on AI purveyors and on the providers of the interfacing tier between the government and AI, like Palantir's Maven Smart System. That is not par for the course for the military-industrial complex, which has for seven decades operated as a self-dealing partnership, not a dominance battle. The February clash between Anthropic and the Defense Department is the result of the discomfort that goes along with the dawning AI dependency."

D.C. lawmakers punt another vote to extend emergency youth curfew: While council members advanced a long-term version of a youth curfew, they couldn’t reach consensus on an emergency measure that would allow it to take effect immediately.

DC Council passes permanent youth curfew on first vote, sets second vote: An 11 p.m. curfew for those under 18 passed 8-5 in the first vote. It still requires a second vote and congressional review to become law.

2-year-old boy found safe after mother is shot to death in Northwest DC: The child was reported missing after his mother was shot to death in an alley during an argument.

Federal judge’s order allows popular D.C. bike lanes to remain: The Federal Highway Administration argued that the 15th Street lanes should be removed to improve traffic in preparation for celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary.

Is having separate bank accounts hurting your marriage?: Joint accounts are becoming less common. But couples who don’t pool their resources can end up erecting a wall in their relationship.

You’re probably washing your pants wrong. Here’s how to do it right.: Air-drying pants or using a no- or low-heat dryer setting is the best way to make sure they keep looking good and last a long time.

Before cutting off a family member, ask yourself these 9 questions: For some, distance is necessary. For others, the harder — and sometimes more meaningful — work is figuring out how to stay.

Why these treatments for one of the deadliest cancers are stirring such hope: Pancreatic cancer has stymied treatment advances for decades. Data from new clinical trials shows promise.

Campus dinners aim to repair Black-Jewish alliance, frayed by the Gaza war: At the Unity Dinners, students engage in word games and frank talk. Pittsburgh will host a dinner this week, with a tour of civil rights sites also on the menu.

Campus dinners aim to repair Black-Jewish alliance, frayed by the Gaza war: At the Unity Dinners, students engage in word games and frank talk. Pittsburgh will host a dinner this week, with a tour of civil rights sites also on the menu.