“In 2022, the Maine Legislature took a rare step and required municipalities to adjust local zoning rules in an effort to spur housing construction, a move that generated a fierce debate over state growth targets versus local control. Four years later, the State House may have finally worked out the kinks from that experiment. Municipal legal experts and town managers are hoping a new bill, L.D. 2173, signed by Gov. Janet Mills a week ago, is the last word on land use restrictions, a technical but critical piece of the housing puzzle, for a while. The bill marks the second big adjustment lawmakers have made to zoning laws since L.D. 2003, the landmark 2022 legislation that required towns to remove some regulatory barriers in order to encourage housing production. L.D. 2003 aimed to do this by eliminating single-family zoning restrictions and making it easier to build accessory dwelling units while creating support for communities to develop affordable housing.” (04/23/26)
“The latest effort to neuter conservatives and force Republicans to surrender comes from a deceptively titled device called ‘The Dignity Index.’ The ruse is fronted by Kennedy relative Tim Shriver, who appears on Fox News in the guise of a perfectly reasonable moderate Democrat, the type we all wish still existed. His pitch is for politicians to treat their opponents with respect, lower the temperature of public debate and restore civility to public life. Who could be against such laudable goals? But whom does the pitch not remind you of? President Trump, of course, with his bare-knuckled, smash-mouth, macho belligerence. Trump is the antithesis of the gentle tone Shriver is trying to elevate as the core virtue of leadership ahead of the midterms. But the dignity blather is just a fancy way of damning Trump for mean tweets.” (04/22/26)
“Cocaine, cannabis, laughing gas and prescription pills are being offered for sale in mini-marts on UK High Streets, a BBC investigation can reveal. They were readily offered to our undercover researchers who secretly filmed in shops across four neighbouring West Midlands towns. One street we visited was described as ‘lawless’ by an anonymous law enforcement source. Just a few miles away, in a town where we found illegal drugs being sold in shops, legitimate businesses told us they had been intimidated by gangs – and witnessed knife and gun violence. Across the country, shopfronts are being exploited by organised criminal gangs that have gained a foothold pushing illegal drugs, say both the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).” (04/23/26)
“After the Dragon Bravo wildfire incinerated the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park last summer, destroying the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, the visitor center and more than 100 other buildings, a looming question remained: Could the disaster have been prevented? At the center of that query was the initial fire management strategy employed by national park officials. And, confusingly, what park leaders communicated about that strategy conflicted with the park’s own social media posts. Leaders said the park used a ‘full suppression’ strategy from the beginning. But social media posts reported an initial ‘confine and contain strategy,’ which allows a fire to continue burning a defined area. In a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum weighed in on the discrepancy for the first time, affirming the information shared on the park’s social media accounts and undermining the credibility of Grand Canyon’s superintendent and park spokesperson.” (04/23/26)
“Are We Still at War? I’m going to say no, not really, although the ultimate resolution is still to be determined. Donald Trump blinked again on Tuesday, announcing an indefinite extension of the cease-fire until the Iranians ‘can come up with a unified proposal’. Unnamed advisers came out later and told go-to regurgitator Barak Ravid that the open-ended cease-fire isn’t open-ended, but I don’t know who they think they’re convincing. Trump is not going to risk further damage to his rapidly deteriorating political position by greenlighting a full-scale attack. He’s had several opportunities to do so and demurred. That’s of course better than the alternative. But instead, we have an ‘end’ to the indiscriminate bombing part of the war that keeps all the economic consequences intact.” (04/23/26)
“The United States was built on a distrust of concentrated power. It is this fundamental distrust of big government that shaped federalism, defined the separation of powers, and limited each branch to a distinct role. During periods of rapid social change, however, governmental restraint weakens. Reform movements (whether in civil rights, economic regulation, or cultural policy) have not only produced legislation but also expanded judicial authority. Social progressivism brings courts to no longer just interpret the law but also reshape it. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed a clear injustice. It prohibited discrimination in employment and public accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Congress enacted the law through the democratic process, responding to a national failure to enforce equal protection. While many conservatives criticize the Act’s expansion of federal authority, it came through elected representatives.” (04/22/26)
“For the first time since World War II, Japanese combat troops are participating in live-fire, land-and-sea military exercises in an Asian country that was once under the harsh rule of imperial Japan. On Monday, some 1,400 Japanese soldiers joined with the forces of a few other democracies around the Pacific to practice mock battles for 19 days in the northern Philippines – not far from China and the islands it forcibly claims in the South China Sea. … For Japan, this overseas training under real-world conditions marks a historic turning point for its postwar pacifist tradition and its heavy reliance on the United States for external defense. Yet, on a larger scale, it puts on display a long-term effort by many Asian democracies and their Western partners to define the meaning of shared security, preferably the kind that cannot be seen as ganging up on China.” (04/21/26)
“You can credit President Trump with taking extreme risks for the sake of a possible peace, but we fear he’s simply putting off the inevitable by giving Tehran another cease-fire extension. At the least, he should set a deadline of a day or two for the Islamic Republic’s factions to agree on an offer; if they can’t do it fast, they never will. Caveat: The president has access to intelligence he can’t share; that we can’t make clear sense of his decision Tuesday doesn’t remotely mean he was wrong to delay a return to active operations. Still, his stated reasons don’t add up: So what if Pakistan’s leaders asked Washington to hold off until the Iranians ‘can come up with a unified proposal?'” [editor’s note: Anything but declaring “victory” — despite it actually being a fiasco — and knocking off is a stupid idea – TLK] (04/21/26)
“South Korean authorities have found that two fighter jets collided mid-air in 2021 because the pilots were taking pictures and videos. The incident took place while the jets were on a flight mission in the central city of Daegu, according to Seoul’s Board of Audit and Inspection. The pilots survived with no injuries, but the collision damaged the planes, costing the military 880 million won ($596,000; £440,500) in repairs. One of the pilots, who has since left the military, was made to pay a fine of 88 million won. The incident took place because that pilot had wanted to take photos to commemorate his last flight with his military unit.” (04/22/26)
“Researchers working in Turkey say fresh scan data uncovered what appear to be tunnels inside a long-debated landform, bolstering their case that the site may be a manmade object that they believe to be Noah’s Ark. Noah’s Ark Scans researcher Andrew Jones told ‘Fox & Friends First’ on Wednesday that he believes the peculiar formation near Mount Ararat is the real deal. ‘I do believe that this is the real, decayed, buried remains of Noah’s Ark, the famous ship. And we’re doing our best to convince the skeptics and show the world this site,’ he said. Jones said his team’s latest work has revealed tunnels in the landform suggestive of a manmade structure. ‘Our new research has shown that there are tunnels about four meters down and about two meters high, going down the center of the boat and on the inside edge of the hull shape,’ he said.” (04/22/26)
