Your Weekly Brief: Politics, War & Business Updates
Headlines
Virginia Redistricting Referendum Hands Democrats Huge Win
Democrats passed a redistricting referendum in Virginia that eliminates four Republican seats and flips the commonwealth’s Congressional map from a 6-5 Democratic advantage to a 10-1 Democratic advantage. Source
Judge Blocks New Virginia Congressional Map
A Virginia judge blocked a new Congressional Map Democrats passed through a ballot referendum that redrew the commonwealth’s map to give Democrats the advantage in 10 of 11 House seats. Read More
Labor Secretary Resigns
President Trump’s Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer resigned amid allegations of an extramarital affair with a member of her security detail and drinking on the job. Find out More
U.S. Soldier Arrested on Charges of Insider Trading for Maduro Raid
A U.S. soldier involved in the raid that captured Nicolas Maduro was arrested on charges he used classified information about the raid to win $400,000 by betting on Maduro’s capture on Polymarket. Find out More
Louisiana gunman kills 8 children, including 7 of his own, in domestic dispute horror. Source
Florida’s Attorney General announced a criminal investigation into OpenAI after ChatGPT allegedly advised a shooter who struck on the Florida State campus when and how to carry out his act of madness. Read More
Politics
The Department of Justice announced an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center for secretly funding extremist political groups in the U.S. Read More
Internal divisions among House and Senate Republicans leave FISA renewal in limbo. Many conservatives oppose extending FISA without reforms that end warrantless surveillance of Americans. See Details
Republican Senators Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell. Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski joined Democrats in rejecting a bid to attach the SAVE Act to the reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol. Source
House Republicans struggle to agree on a plan to extend Section 702 of the FISA Act as conservatives insist on more protections to safeguard American citizens from warrantless surveillance. Source
U.S. News
Tick bites are sending Americans to the emergency room at the highest rate in a decade. Read More
Los Angeles became the first school district in the United States to limit screen time on laptops and tablets in classrooms and to require more pen-and-paper assignments. Source
A Minneapolis public school built foot washing stations and a prayer room for Muslim students. Source
Police are searching for a motive as to why a father allegedly killed eight children, including his own seven. Source
11th dead scientist leads to new questions about the spate of dead or missing officials with access to UFO secrets. Read More
Artemis II shows jaw-dropping footage of the Earth setting behind the moon. Source
Business
Tesla’s first-quarter earnings report beat Wall Street’s expectations. Find out More
Meta announces it wil layoff 10$ of its workforce as AI spending ramps up. See Details
Meta plans its first wave of 8,000 layoffs on May 20. Source
A federal judge blocked Nexstar’s merger with Tegna. The proposed deal, greenlit by the Trump administration, would give Nexstar control over 256 local affiliates in 44 states. Find out More
World News
Tsunami alert issued after massive 7.5 earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan. Find out More
International outrage erupts after the Israeli Defense Force confirms the authenticity of a photo showing one of its soldiers smashing a statue of Christ on the cross with a sledgehammer. Source
Two US officials died in Mexico in a clandestine operation targeting a drug lab. Mexico’s President says the operation took place without her knowledge. Source
A Palestinian school boy was among two killed by Israeli settlers in an attack in the West Bank. Read More
Entertainment
‘Dancing with the Stars’ revealed ‘Traitors’ star Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller of ‘Summer House’ are the first contestants for season 35. See Details
Netflix premiered a documentary on the late wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, featuring a never-before-seen look at the WWE icon. Source
Police arrested an unnamed celebrity who has met with the British Royal family on rape charges as he attended Tyson Fury’s heavyweight boxing fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov in London. Source
Former UFC heavyweight and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar appeared to retire after dropping the fall to Oba Femi to open night two of Wrestlemania in Las Vegas. Find out More
Sports
The San Diego Padres were sold for a Major League Baseball record $3.9 billion. Source
Here are the winners and losers from the first round of the 2026 NFL draft. Source
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel addressed the media after new photos surfaced from 2020 showing him out in New York City with reporter Diana Russini. Source
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel addressed photographs of himself and former Athletic reporter Diana Russini. Both are married, and Vrabel admitted to having “difficult conversations” with his family. See Details
Off the Wall
Researchers discovered underground tunnels in Turkey that match the Biblical blueprint laid out in the story of Noah’s Ark. Read More
Former University of Alabama football player Luther Davis was arrested on charges that he used wigs and makeup to impersonate NFL players in a multi-million dollar loan fraud scheme. Source
An archeologist believes new technology shows the Ark of the Covenant is located beneath the City of David in Jerusalem. Find out More
A study shows that salmon that ingest cocaine swim farther upstream than salmon that aren’t exposed to the drug. Find out More
