All Activity

Fraternal Order of Police latest group to oppose property tax constitutional amendment The Florida chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police is the latest public safety organization to oppose Amendment 3, the proposed constitutional amendment designed to provide property tax relief to homeowners but which critics allege could radically reduce revenues for local government essential services, including public safety. https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/fraternal-order-of-police-latest-group-to-oppose-property-tax-constitutional-amendment/? Attorneys for death row inmates file legal objections to block executions next week Attorneys fighting to prevent two Florida death row inmates from being executed by the state filed a joint lawsuit Friday in federal court. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/24/attorneys-for-death-row-inmates-file-legal-objections-to-block-executions-next-week/? Corruption by Any Other Name (Part I) “Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” – Margaret Atwood https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/18/corruption-by-any-other-name-part-i/ Corruption by Another Name (Part II) In announcing closure of the Everglades immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said the notorious facility — denounced as inhumane by civil rights groups — was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured, and federal officials now have that capacity. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/27/corruption-by-another-name-part-ii/?

CNN Fact-Checker Hits Trump With a Brutal Reality Check The president has been telling “completely made-up” stories that make no sense, according to CNN. CNN’s resident fact-checker tore into Donald Trump for repeatedly asking Americans to “remember” things that never actually happened. The 80-year-old president on Thursday trotted out a fake story he’s been telling for years about how people couldn’t watch his June 27, 2024, debate with Joe Biden because “the wind wasn’t blowing,” leading to a widespread TV blackout in areas that use wind power. The story, however, is completely a figment of his imagination—and its underlying premise makes no sense, reporter Daniel Dale said Sunday. A whopping 51 million people watched the debate on television alone—including in Texas, which leads the nation in wind power production. “The president is making stuff up again,” Dale said. Wind is used as part of a mix of power sources, and batteries store wind-generated power for periods when the wind is blowing. So not only is the story itself “completely made up,” but the idea behind it is also “completely made up by the president of the United States,” he added. The president has harbored an irrational hatred of wind turbines ever since the Scottish government approved a wind project off the coast of Aberdeen within sight of his golf course more than a decade ago. For years, he has pushed bizarre theories about how wind turbines kill whales, cause cancer, and destroy property values, and has tried throughout his second term in office to block offshore wind projects. But the great fake wind blackout of 2024 is not the only made-up event Trump has encouraged people to “remember.” Last year, he reminded people to “remember” that he was at his golf club in Scotland the day of the Brexit vote and correctly predicted the outcome. In fact, he was there a day after the vote when the results had already come in, Dale said. The president also has episodes of “fake history” that he has shared repeatedly throughout his terms in office. One is a bogus story about President George Washington keeping two side-by-side desks in his study, one for his private business and one for the presidency. Another is a repeated claim that 38,000 Americans died building the Panama Canal during the early 20th century. In fact, 5,600 people died total building the canal, more than 5,000 of whom were Black workers from the Caribbean who were poorly treated, Dale said. “So, the president making up numbers, making up anecdotes, and making up things he’s asking people to remember even though he made them up,” Dale said. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-fact-checker-hits-trump-with-a-brutal-reality-check-over-his-wind-power-story/?

Lindsay Clancy goes on trial over whether postpartum psychosis drove her to kill her 3 children PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — In the months after the birth of her third child, Lindsay Clancy ‘s mental health collapsed. Unable to sleep and stricken with thoughts of harming herself, she sought care from experts in postpregnancy mood disorders, was put on multiple psychiatric medications, and when nothing worked, checked in to a psychiatric hospital. https://apnews.com/article/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-postpartum-psychosis-b70bfa592ea1c0fbdc62792e4e7b9be6?

Dissecting Trump’s new tariffs The Trump administration has imposed double-digit tariffs on more than 60 countries that the U.S. says either don't have or don't effectively enforce a forced-labor import ban. But the affected countries, which account for 99% of U.S. imports, have called the Trump administration’s claims unfounded and arbitrary. Read more. Why this matters: Nations with vastly different records on forced labor received the same tariff level. The U.S. spent four months investigating but gave few details on how it arrived at the tariff rates, which are either 10% or 12.5%. The new tariffs announced in recent days take effect just as temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expired, and critics say they are less about cracking down on forced labor than they are a way to replace those tariffs. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump is set to defend his economic policies in Michigan, where new Canadian tariffs may sting Small businesses file lawsuits against Trump’s new sweeping tariffs Trump says the US will investigate EU trade practices, claiming the bloc unfairly fined tech giants Trump’s border czar says vetting of ICE officer is under internal review after Maine shooting As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety practice Biden drops lawsuit seeking to block release of recordings of his interviews with a ghostwriter

Pentagon’s Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 troops killed recently The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty count. They have been placed in a new, separate category Sunday. Read more. Why this matters: It is raising questions about properly counting the impact to U.S. service members as the Trump administration has escalated strikes on Iran in a bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while providing little indication of how it intends to wind down a conflict that is unpopular with many Americans. U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, referred questions to the Pentagon, which, along with the White House, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Mediators see progress in diplomatic efforts to halt Iran war, 2 regional officials say Oil prices sink nearly 7% after pause in Iran attacks Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘fomenting hate’ and calls ICC war-crimes charges ‘bogus’

July 27, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. Hundreds of thousands of people will lose their protected immigration status today. Outside the Supreme Court last month. Kenny Holston/The New York Times Protected no more In 1990, during George H.W. Bush’s presidency, Congress established a humanitarian immigration program called Temporary Protected Status. It was designed to shield from deportation people whose home countries were unsafe to return to because of extraordinary circumstances: an armed conflict, for example, or a natural disaster. Last month, though, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end the program. And today that is happening for some 350,000 immigrants, mainly from Haiti. They are losing their work permits and face the prospect of deportation by the Department of Homeland Security, with T.P.S. holders from a batch of other countries soon to follow. “D.H.S. is upholding the rule of law and getting back to common sense,” a spokesman said. Why is T.P.S. ending? Critics say T.P.S. is a problem because it’s not really temporary. Look at the Salvadorans, they say. They first became eligible for T.P.S. in 1990 because of the violent civil war in their country. Another wave came after two devastating earthquakes in 2001. Decades on, there are about 190,000 of them here, living and working legally. (At least for now — their protected status is slated to end in September.) The Trump administration calls T.P.S. a loophole, a kind of amnesty program. It says that many people now in the program came to the United States unlawfully, or came as students or on tourist visas and transitioned to T.P.S., then stayed for years as previous presidents extended the protections again and again. ‘A very big hit’ Miriam Jordan and Madeleine Ngo cover immigration and have been reporting on the economic impact of the curtailing of T.P.S. They spoke to the director of a nonpartisan research organization who said that “for particular places and particular industries,” having “tens of thousands of workers no longer able to legally work is going to be a very big hit.” Miriam also spoke with the chief executive of Hebrew SeniorLife, a nonprofit in the Boston area that has hired many T.P.S. recipients. Since the start of Trump’s second term, he said, other policy changes have already cost him 60 immigrant workers. Now, the organization is preparing to lose 40 Haitians who have — had — T.P.S. protection. They are housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers and nurses who are among the legions of Haitians who have come into the program since an earthquake devastated their country in 2010. Business organizations, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a bipartisan roster of state and local leaders have mounted a push on Capitol Hill to try to save the program. “Congress can, and should, exercise its plenary authority over immigration policy to prevent significant disruption to America’s work force and avoid an unnecessary humanitarian crisis,” the chamber wrote in a letter to Senate leaders this month. And in South Florida, home to the largest population of Haitians in the United States, the commissioner of Miami-Dade County spoke plainly: “Ending T.P.S. costs America money.” What would you do? The Haitian T.P.S. beneficiaries who lose their work permits today now have to decide whether to stay or to leave the United States. Staying would not be easy. The government knows where they live. But as Miriam and Madeleine note, the alternative’s not great: Haiti has been engulfed in violence since the assassination of its last elected president in 2021. Large swaths of the capital Port-au-Prince are controlled by gangs that have attacked, kidnapped and killed civilians, causing the internal displacement of more than 1 million people. The country’s economy is in ruins, and international aid organizations report widespread food insecurity. The reporters talked about that with a Haitian woman in Florida who works as a nurse and has a toddler who was born in the United States. She said she was scared to be forced to return to a place she hadn’t lived in for more than a decade and where she had no family. She agreed to talk on the condition that she not be identified. She didn’t want to be targeted by federal agents. “The anxiety is indescribable,” she said. Read the whole story here. We’ve removed the paywall to make it free for you. THE LATEST NEWS War in the Middle East Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia, have rapidly spiraled into a conflict that could expand into a full-blown war. Read more about it. The Pentagon is using different webpages to report casualties in the war, making it more difficult to calculate how many people have been killed or wounded overall. Oil prices fell as fighting in the Middle East remained paused. Democratic Party The party is focusing its messaging on affordability as the midterms approach. The Democratic National Committee is so short on cash that it is asking vendors not to send bills until after the elections. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed is trying to show that a progressive can win in a purple state. Around the World Abhijeet Dipke Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times Abhijeet Dipke founded India’s Cockroach Janta Party as a joke after a judge insulted young people. Now it’s a generational movement challenging the country’s leaders. Prosecutors in Germany said that a man suspected of carrying out a fatal attack near a gay Pride celebration in Berlin over the weekend tried to join the Islamic State and was released from detention in May. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, of “fomenting hate” after he called for Netanyahu’s arrest and said the prime minister was a “war criminal.” Ukraine’s attacks on Crimea’s power grid have left hundreds of thousands of people there without electricity or water for days at a time. Other Big Stories A shooting at a Seattle food festival left at least three people dead. The police had one person in custody and were searching for another. A Secret Service agent was charged with taking part in a near-fatal hazing at a fraternity affiliated with the University of Miami. Times Exclusive: A bill in Louisiana started out as a tax rebate for fiber-optic equipment. By the time it became law, it had become applicable to data centers and enabled Meta to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles. OPINIONS Alvin Ng An obsession with mental health is part of the mental health problem, Clay Routledge, a research psychologist, argues. The U.S. has a big technological advantage in the A.I. race. Trump should protect it, the editorial board writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. Squish it! Kids (and adults) are making, trading and hunting for squeezable, malleable blob toys. “I was shocked at how much complete joy a squishy could bring,” one mother said. Can’t sleep? These nuns in California want to feel your pain. They wake up in the middle of the night to pray for people — insomniacs, new moms — who are struggling in the dark. The breakup loop: Post about ending a relationship? Your TikTok algorithm may keep you heartbroken. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about the woman who stands to inherit Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. Metropolitan Diary: No more blueberry bagels. Entrepreneur of the unexplained: Paul Andrews, a believer in the paranormal since childhood, helped found a conference that became known as the Woodstock of U.F.O.s. He died at 77. TODAY’S NUMBER Colonel Sanders in Nashville in 1969. Bob Grannis/Getty Images $2 million — That is how much money two men paid Harland Sanders, the colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, for his company and his likeness in 1964. Seven years later, they sold Kentucky Fried Chicken to the liquor giant Heublein for $285 million. That’s the equivalent of around $3 billion today. Sanders regretted the sale, The Times reports: “He sometimes walked into franchises, berated the manager and threw out food he thought was subpar.” SPORTS Tour de France: Mathieu van der Poel won one of the most captivating final stages the Tour has ever seen, but Tadej Pogacar wrapped up the big prize and became a five-time champion, tying the record. Soccer: The FIFA president Gianni Infantino lashed out at his critics, accusing them of “spreading hate” and telling them to “meditate, pray or watch a football match.” RECIPE OF THE DAY Christopher Testani for The New York Times Here’s a cool summertime meal: pan-fried dumplings from the freezer aisle tossed with fresh tomatoes from the farm stand, in a vinaigrette that relies on a big punch of chile crisp. That combination doesn’t sound as if it should work, I know. But it’s a Hetty Lui McKinnon recipe. So it does, and brilliantly. You’ll be making it through September at least. BRIGHT EYES, STILL The New York Times Conor Oberst has been a rock star of the diffident sort for more than 30 years. At 46, he’s now reckoning with a legacy that he previously didn’t want to confront and nearly opted out of entirely. He talked about that with Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli on “Popcast,” The Times’s culture chat show. Listen in. More on culture Artificial intelligence in pop music? It makes it possible to create all kinds of tunes from scratch, but it also raises questions about who will actually listen — and about what is legal. Like: Can you remix an Ella Langley track at home? Read our F.A.Q. The editors of our Book Review talk on their podcast about the best books of 2026 so far. Join them. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Dana Davis/NYT Wirecutter Pack your carry-on bag like the actor Tracee Ellis Ross. It takes time and close attention. But if your checked luggage gets lost along the way, you’ll be set for a week. Improve your posture. We’ve got exercises for that. Visit the coast of Oregon. You can do it in 36 hours. But, honestly, a month would be nicer. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was catholic. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

🏛️ GOP obtains 1,100+-page Fauci diary Screenshot: Office of Sen. Rand Paul Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, obtained and posted more than 1,100 pages of diary-style contemporaneous notes by Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top government official during COVID who has become a villain of the right. "VERY INTENSE TIMES," Fauci wrote on March 7, 2020 — four days before the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Fauci, 85, who retired in 2022 from his 38-year post as the high-profile director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, will testify before the committee on Wednesday. Previewing the hearing's tone, the senator branded the entries, which include clippings and accounts of Fauci's many media appearances, "Tony's Diary: What He Wrote Privately vs. What He Said Publicly." Paul, long critical of Fauci's statements about the origins of the virus, wrote in posting the document: "Fauci's personal diary reveals that as early as January 31, 2020, he was told by top virologists that the virus's furin cleavage site raised real doubts about a natural origin, with about half the scientists on that initial call believing it looked 'constructed.' Despite this early private uncertainty, Fauci spent the following years publicly and confidently dismissing the lab leak theory while insisting the science was settled." Fauci wrote on Jan. 26, 2020: "GAME ON!!! Things are changing rapidly. ... Remember, early on the Chinese were saying that there is no human to human transmission and all the original 27 cases were from the market. Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier." 🥊 A source close to Dr. Fauci pointed out to me that he used similar language with USA Today's editorial board in February 2020: "Almost certainly, somewhere, somehow a bat infected an intermediate host who infected a human. What epidemiologists feel is that the market was an amplifier of something that was already going on. So it didn't necessarily start in the market, but when people congregated in the market they got infected from each other as opposed to all of them getting infected from whatever animal there was in the market." 1,141-page PDF.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY July 27 1974 House begins impeachment of Nixon On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommends that America’s 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from office. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate. The Watergate scandal first came to light following a break-in on […] read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT Cold War 1953 Armistice ends Korean War hostilities Crime 1996 Bombing at Centennial Olympic Park 1981 Six-year-old Adam Walsh is abducted European History 1794 Robespierre overthrown in France Inventions & Science 1949 First commercial jet makes test flight

Most people stop listening to new music at age 33. A 2015 Spotify study found that overall listening time doesn’t drop as we age — we simply replace current music trends with replaying what we already know. Ok, the little feedblitz experiment (automated emails) didn't do so hot, so I should be resuming this one. A lot of you were having issues subscribing, which is a system fault of theirs. But that's alright. That one is fully automated with new stuff, so you can continue to get it if you like, or unsubscribe. Definitely your choice. James

Police arrest 1 person and search for another after Seattle festival shooting that killed 3 SEATTLE (AP) — Police arrested one suspect and were looking for another after gunfire erupted at a crowded food festival beneath Seattle’s Space Needle, leaving three people dead and four others injured, including a toddler. https://apnews.com/article/seattle-shooting-space-needle-92628a1f1597e32ba44d6a2de3272646? Police make arrest after Seattle festival shooting Police arrested one suspect and were looking for another after gunfire at a crowded food festival beneath Seattle’s Space Needle. The shooting left three people dead. Read more. What to know: Investigators believe the two suspects were shooting at each other. One suspect surrendered at the scene, but the other fled. Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis told a news conference Sunday night that while one suspect remained loose, there was no ongoing threat to the public. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Scenes from the shooting Photos show the aftermath

On a West Bank Eviction Tour, Israeli Settlers Advertise “No Arabs Here” WEST BANK — On a hillside overlooking the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir, a crowd of Israelis and Jewish visitors from abroad gathered for an inside look at how settlement works. They listened intently as Netanel, an Israeli settler-soldier in olive fatigues with a rifle strapped to his back, advertised his group’s impact in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/23/west-bank-israeli-settlers-palestine/? Hegseth Is Pushing Testosterone. The VA Has Already Struggled With the Treatment. Providing continuing hormone-replacement therapy at “the High-T Department of War,” as Secretary Pete Hegseth is calling it, may prove difficult for the federal government because the department in charge of healthcare for veterans has already documented a struggle to manage service members’ hormone therapy, The Intercept has found. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/24/hegseth-testosterone-hormone-therapy-veterans-affairs/? U.S. Website Gave False Approval to Green Card Applicants — Then Blamed Glitch and Took It Away When Jesse Miranda, a U.S. citizen, sponsored an application for a green card for his wife nearly a year ago, he understood the process would take time. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/23/approved-green-cards-uscis-website-glitch/? Trump’s Crypto Corruption Puts Centrist Democrats in Bind The latest version of a sweeping crypto bill exposed a deep divide between progressives and moderate Senate Democrats: whether to accommodate the industry ahead of the fall midterms, or declare open war on it. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/23/trump-crypto-conflict-clarity-act-democrats/? Rubio’s Paranoid Cuba Report Designed to “Justify a Military Attack on Cuba,” Says Democratic Rep. A report published this week by the State Department is the latest weapon employed by the Trump administration in its campaign for aggressive intervention in Cuba, according to members of Congress and experts on the beleaguered Caribbean island nation. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/26/cuba-marco-rubio-state-department-report/? Pete Hegseth’s Crisis of Masculinity On Wednesday at 11:07 p.m. ET, the president went on Truth Social to share an important piece of information with Americans. It wasn’t an update on the sinking U.S. economy, the failing forever war with Iran, a remembrance of the Americans recently killed in that conflict, rising gasoline prices, the more than 800 lawsuits against his administration, a cyclosporiasis outbreak, surging cases of measles, the problems with his Qatari-gifted Air Force One, or comment on any of the swirling crises that typify the day-to-day of Donald Trump’s America. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/25/pete-hegseth-testosterone-military-masculinity/? Leaked Email Reveals New Requirements for ICE Vehicle Stops Less than two weeks ago, following a pair of fatal shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered a halt to vehicle stops nationwide. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/25/trump-ice-vehicle-stops-policy/? Trump’s National Killer Police Force Within the span of a week, federal immigration agents shot and killed two people in Maine and Texas, and another was hit by a truck and killed in Florida after trying to avoid ICE agents. A fourth person recently died in ICE custody after reportedly being denied medication. https://theintercept.com/2026/07/24/trump-ice-deaths-mass-deportation/?

Hobie, Very interesting. Thanks for posting that. The word is used 3 times in the Greek OT: Job 40:20 επελθων δε επ ορος ακροτομον εποιησεν χαρμονην τετραποσιν εν τω ̀ ταρταρὼ Job 40:20 (LXXE) (40:15) And when he has gone up to a steep mountain, he causes joy to the quadrupeds in the deep. ]Job 41:32 (41:24) τον δε ̀ ταρταρον̀ της αβυσσου ωσπερ αιχμαλωτον ελογισατο αβυσσον εις περιπατον Job 41:32 (LXXE) (41:23) and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range. Pr 30:16 αδης και ερως γυναικος και ̀ ταρταρος̀ και γη ουκ εμπιπλαμενη υδατος και υδωρ και πυρ ου μη ειπωσιν αρκει Pr 30:16 (LXXE) The grave, and the love of a woman, and the earth not filled with water; water also and fire will not say, It is enough.

Raúl Castro is absent as Cuba celebrates the anniversary of a key revolutionary attack Cuba held a traditional rally on Sunday to commemorate one of the revolution’s most important anniversaries but former President Raúl Castro was conspicuously absent. Read More.

As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety practice The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminate a foundational safety principle that has for 50 years minimized the radiation people in the United States are exposed to and that has been adopted around the world. Read More. A forced-labor crackdown or an end-run around Congress? Dissecting Trump's new tariffs The Trump administration has imposed double-digit tariffs on more than 60 countries, using a legal justification that permits the president to levy import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. Read More.

Immigration FAQ Immigration is among the most important economic and political issues and a main topic of discourse and debate among policymakers and the public. But misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this crucial topic. https://www.epi.org/publication/immigration-faq/? Social Security FAQ Social Security turns 90 this year. Despite its popularity and exemplary record of never having missed a payment—even after the 9/11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina—misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this universal program. https://www.epi.org/publication/social-security-faq/?

Social Security FAQ Social Security turns 90 this year. Despite its popularity and exemplary record of never having missed a payment—even after the 9/11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina—misperceptions persist about many fundamental aspects of this universal program. https://www.epi.org/publication/social-security-faq/?

Oregon fire looms near town as fourth firefighter dies weeks after Colorado blaze FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — As dry, windy weather fueled a big wildfire near a city in central Oregon, a fourth firefighter died after he and several colleagues last month were overcome by a fast-moving wildfire near the Colorado-Utah border, authorities said Saturday. https://apnews.com/article/wildland-firefighters-death-colorado-utah-41f7f9576a4b65a58709ca7807233a33?

The Greek word Tartarus appears only once in the entire New Testament. 2 Peter 2:4 Young's Literal Translation 4 For if God messengers who sinned did not spare, but with chains of thick gloom, having cast [them] down to Tartarus, did deliver [them] to judgment, having been reserved, Well, this explains a lot.... "There is one word in the New Testament that comes straight from Greek mythology. Not a metaphor. Not a translation choice. The actual name of the abyss where the Titans were imprisoned. It was written by a Jewish fisherman from Galilee. The letter is 2 Peter, composed in Koine Greek for diaspora communities spread across the Roman world in the first century CE. Verse 2:4 is about angels who sinned and what God did with them. Most translations render the passage simply as "cast them into hell." But the Greek word Peter chose was not Hades. Not Gehenna. Not "the pit." The word came directly from "Tartaros," the deepest region of the underworld in Greek mythology, a place so far below Hades that, in Hesiod's Theogony, a bronze anvil dropped from the surface of the earth would fall for nine days before reaching it. The verb Peter used, "tartarosas," appears nowhere else in the entire New Testament. Every other writer who needed a word for the realm of the dead reached for Hades or Gehenna. Only this one verse goes to Tartarus. In Hesiod's account, written roughly seven centuries before this letter, Tartarus is where Zeus imprisoned the Titans after the war for Olympus. Sealed away from the rest of creation. Absolute confinement. Peter placed fallen angels there. He was writing for people who had grown up inside Greek cultural memory. He did not need to explain what Tartarus meant to them. He needed only to use the word, and they would already understand the weight of it. He did not argue against the mythology. He absorbed its cosmological grammar and refilled it. The prison stayed. The inhabitants changed. Scholars call this kind of move a recontextualization: taking the structural logic of a pre-existing concept and fitting it to new theological meaning. It is one of the more quietly stunning word choices in the entire text. A fisherman. A word borrowed from Hesiod. One verse that most readers have never noticed, because every translation made it vanish back into "hell."....

Trump administration admits grants for clean energy were canceled based on politics A forced-labor crackdown or an end-run around Congress? Dissecting Trump’s new tariffs Brazil’s government denies visas to US officials over upcoming elections Sons of man shot and killed by ICE in Houston demand accountability at congressional hearing Trump returns to correspondents’ dinner for a rambling, insult-filled speech 3 months after shooting WATCH: Trump alludes to third term at rescheduled White House correspondents' dinner Maine Democratic delegates choose Troy Jackson as new nominee to face US Sen. Susan Collins Democrats select South Carolina to kick off presidential nominating contest in 2028, leave Iowa out Americans rewire their grocery shopping routines while digesting the biggest price jump in 50 years Trump orders new signs outside Smithsonian saying some exhibits are inaccurate

Airstrikes have paused and talks are pressing forward. But can the US and Iran take the off-ramp? WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has paused its airstrikes on Iran after nearly two weeks of intensifying bombing, while diplomatic efforts have pushed forward to try to avert a return to all-out war. https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-trump-diplomacy-netanyahu-d491158a4c9a1d3429a87a6ed58f2f72?

As Lake Powell shrinks, marinas are having to adapt to dwindling water levels Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the United States, is shrinking. Overuse, drought and climate change have pummeled the lake fed by the imperiled Colorado River to near historic lows, made worse by the driest winter on record and extreme heat. Marinas in this important tourist destination have had to adapt. Boat ramps have closed or moved, new ones have been added and marinas have been temporarily relocated to deeper waters. "The Colorado River is in full-blown crisis mode," said John Berggren, regional policy manager with Western Resource Advocates, an environmental nonprofit. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Water hauling in drought is the new chore no Rockies rancher asked for Virginia study on groundwater, data centers calls for tighter water regulations AI is an energy and water hog, here’s what you can do to counter that

Exclusive: In a Ukrainian bomb shelter, Laura Loomer explains shift on Russia’s war KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Laura Loomer became infamous for spreading conspiracy theories online. Now, as she travels across Ukraine to see the damage inflicted by Russia in its yearslong war, she wants to admit that she fell for some falsehoods of her own. https://apnews.com/article/laura-loomer-trump-ukraine-russia-interview-101852f6deab17e1d8d215fdde675ee5? ps:So now that she's OK with Ukraine, trump is now going to be on there side?? Pathetic!! Exclusive: In a Ukrainian bomb shelter, Laura Loomer explains shift on Russia’s war Laura Loomer became infamous for spreading conspiracy theories online. Now, as she travels across Ukraine to see the damage inflicted by Russia in its yearslong war, she wants to admit that she fell for some falsehoods of her own. A close ally of President Donald Trump, Loomer has completely reversed her longtime criticism of Ukraine and is urging fellow conservatives to be wary of Moscow’s propaganda, which she blames for duping large swaths of the American right. She spoke with The Associated Press in Kyiv from an underground bomb shelter as the city faced another ballistic missile attack. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ 2 dead in Ukraine from Russian attacks, 4 more in Russian-held area hit by Ukrainian drones

🐸 1 for the road: Georgia swamp joins icons An alligator suns itself at the Okefenokee Swamp in 2024. Photo: Megan Varner/Getty Images The latest UNESCO World Heritage site, joining iconic places like the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the Grand Canyon, is a swamp in Georgia — the 407,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. "One of the South's last truly wild places, the Okefenokee is home to an astonishing array of wildlife, including black bears, red-cockaded woodpeckers and thousands of alligators. Its flora includes black gum trees and carnivorous plants with names such as hooded pitcher and golden trumpet," The Washington Post reports (gift link). 🌱 Why it matters: The swamp — one of the world's largest intact freshwater ecosystems — has faced threats from proposed mining projects for decades. As of yesterday, the Okefenokee is a UNESCO World Heritage site, recognized for its "outstanding universal value" to humanity, though the designation alone doesn't prevent future mining proposals. The big picture: The Okefenokee is the only World Heritage site in Georgia and the 27th in the United States. Read the announcement.

🎮 Crisis for video-game industry Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios The video game industry faces an existential crisis, reports Axios' Herb Scribner, an avid gamer. Why it matters: The business has weathered bust-and-boom cycles before. But the current shifting demands — along with the advent of AI — are changing what video games look like, how they're made and if people can afford to play them anymore. Gaming is surviving but not thriving: Sony is cutting physical disc production to save money. Microsoft's Xbox unit recently laid off thousands of workers, dashing the dreams of developers. "Our business today is not healthy," CEO Asha Sharma told staff. Companies are canceling video game production left and right over development costs. 💰 Among the converging pressures: Wall Street expects steady growth, while tentpole games have become more expensive to build. "Grand Theft Auto VI," for example, reportedly cost up to $2 billion to develop. At the same time, the AI boom is driving up hardware costs, and the rise of mobile gaming has supercharged competition for consumers' attention. Read on.