“Southern California’s waters appear to be teeming this spring with white sharks, drawing the attention of fishers, surfers and biologists. A reportedly aggressive 10-foot shark off Huntington Beach led to a partial ocean closure and the postponement of a professional surf competition on Thursday. State experts explain that the extreme marine heat wave baking the Pacific Ocean likely prompted baby white sharks to arrive in February, at least a month earlier than normal, and that older and bigger sharks are now starting to follow. ‘Every year about this time, females are coming back from their open ocean migrations to give birth somewhere in Southern California, and then those baby white sharks show up at our beaches,’ Chris Lowe, the director of Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab, told SFGATE.” (04/27/26)
“The executive order President Trump signed in February protecting and encouraging the production of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, is a major victory for Bayer AG, the German biotech giant that produces the notorious herbicide. The company has been aggressively implementing its five-point plan to thwart the ability of cancer patients to sue over claims that it failed to warn them about the link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But Bayer is not resting on its laurels, and is pushing for a more permanent win in the Supreme Court this spring — and eventually in Congress. By the time Bayer introduced its plan to stem a flood of Roundup-related lawsuits in 2021, the company already owed billions in verdicts and settlements.” (04/27/26)
“Iran has put forward a fresh proposal to the United States that focuses on easing tensions at sea first, while pushing nuclear talks to a later stage, Axios reported. According to reports, Tehran is offering a deal that would help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and reduce conflict, but only if discussions on its nuclear programme are postponed for now. Trump said negotiations would continue over phone calls after Iran declined direct talks with American negotiators amid tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is heading to Russia and is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss the status of ongoing negotiations.” (04/27/26)
“In a manifesto attributed to Cole Allen, the 31-year-old suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting, he identifies as a ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ who had a ‘real opportunity’ [to] kill ‘Administration officials.’ Allen remains in federal custody. ‘What my representatives do reflects on me,’ Allen allegedly wrote in a manifesto released by the New York Post on Sunday. ‘And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.’ Allen, of Torrance, California, was arrested at the scene Saturday night after he allegedly charged a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives.” (04/26/26)
“Washington is gearing up to crack down on ‘Big Medicine,’ with populist Sens. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA] and Josh Hawley, [R-MO] leading the charge. Over the past decade, America’s healthcare system has become increasingly consolidated, leaving patients with higher prices, fewer choices, and more bureaucratic frustration. But before lawmakers swing a scythe through the healthcare sector, they should ask how it became so consolidated in the first place. Insurance and hospital behemoths didn’t emerge by accident. They’re the predictable result of federal health policy — especially the Affordable Care Act — which has made size a prerequisite for survival. Obamacare’s rules have made it far harder for smaller insurers and independent healthcare providers to compete — while giving larger firms a decisive advantage. The law’s many mandates increase costs, complexity, and financial risk, all of which are easier to absorb at scale.” (04/25/26)
“More than three weeks ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) agreed to Democratic terms to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), except for its immigration enforcement agencies. That bill has still not become a law, prolonging the longest shutdown of any government agency in history. Nobody has even thought about the DHS shutdown for a while, because President Trump signed executive orders to first pay airport security agents on March 27, and then all other agency personnel on April 3, under the guise of emergency action. It should be said plainly: This is illegal, it has always been illegal, and the precedent it sets pushes Congress, the branch of government with the power of the purse, into total irrelevance.” (04/24/26)
“Expect the fight against fraud to dominate the Republican agenda in Congress and on the campaign trail in the months ahead: It’s past time to stop the theft of tens and even hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars from programs meant to help the sick, needy and otherwise vulnerable. Wednesday saw Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) unveil the Protecting American Taxpayers Act, a major package of legislation produced by the DOGE Caucus, a group of senators aiming to continue the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, the executive branch agency spearheaded by Elon Musk that targeted fraud and waste.” (04/25/26)
“Amid a spate of cellphone and social media bans for young people around the world, there’s a parallel, quieter shift taking place in education. It is away from the ubiquity of digital technology and back to the analog tools of paper, pen, and pencils. And, in an interesting twist, this change is being led by the Scandinavian nations that pioneered the shift to ed tech learning more than a decade ago. Today, they are grappling with restoring – or, rather, redefining – what contributes to meaningful and enduring education.” (04/24/26)
“An explosive new indictment was handed down against the Southern Poverty Law Center this week, accusing the storied civil rights organization of 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and money laundering. The Department of Justice is alleging that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled over $3 million from donors to leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, Unite the Right, and the Nazi Party, among other extremist organizations. … Paying millions of dollars to Nazis and Klansmen would be bad enough. But the indictment alleges that the SPLC went beyond that, actually underwriting the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, providing material support and supervision to what the Left turned into the symbol of Right-wing hate.” [editor’s note: Ungar-Sargon does have a little credibility on Charlottesville — on the “right” she was one of the few who didn’t try to perpetrate the “Charlottesville Hoax” Hoax – TLK] (04/26/26)
“Explosions and sustained gunfire have been reported in Mali’s capital, Bamako, as armed groups launched co-ordinated attacks across the country. Mali’s military said on Saturday evening that efforts to repel the attacks were under way, and some militants had already fled. Fighting has also been reported around Kati, home to a major military base outside the capital, as well as in Gao and Kidal in the north, and the central cities of Sevare and Mopti. One analyst described it as the largest jihadist attack in years. Mali has for years been plagued by insurgencies by groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist movement in the country’s north.” (04/26/26)
