April 26 2024
Trumped up?
1 Trump case likely to be delayed until after election
2 New US economic data suggest slower growth, higher inflation
3 Campuses nationwide face Gaza war protests
4 Bird flu DNA found in 1 in 5 milk samples nationwide
5 US troops kicked out of Chad
Sports
4/26/1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster
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1 Trump case likely to be delayed until after election
The already-slim likelihood that Donald Trump will face a criminal trial brought by special counsel Jack Smith before the 2024 election appeared to dwindle further Thursday in the face of withering scrutiny from the Supreme Court’s conservative majority. One by one, the court’s six Republican-appointed justices — including three nominated by Trump himself — took whacks at Smith’s effort to quickly and cleanly reject Trump’s claim of immunity from criminal prosecution over his attempt to subvert the 2020 election. Instead, during more than 2 1/2 hours of oral argument, the justices forecast a result that could require lower courts to spend months analyzing various aspects of Trump’s election plot, from organizing fraudulent slates of electors to leaning on his Justice Department to sow false doubts about the results. The purpose of those additional lower-court proceedings, several conservative justices suggested, would be to determine if some of the acts alleged in the special counsel’s indictment count as sufficiently “official” presidential duties that they ought to be shielded from criminal charges. Even if Smith were to win those battles, it would virtually ensure that a trial could not happen until after the election. The trial in the case was initially scheduled to begin in March of this year. But the proceedings in the trial court have been frozen for months while Trump has pursued his claim that he enjoys absolute immunity from any charges touching on his official acts. While Smith looked on from a counsel table, the justices repeatedly emphasized the repercussions of their decision for the future of the republic, counseling a slower approach that is almost certain to push a potential trial into 2025 — and potentially foreclose it altogether if Trump wins the election and unravels the case. In fact, the conservatives on the court repeatedly insisted they were not opining on the specific charges against Trump or even particularly concerned about it.
2 New US economic data suggest slower growth, higher inflation
The latest snapshot of the U.S. economy rattled stock and bond markets with two bits of potentially disappointing data: slower economic growth and still-firm inflation. Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.6% seasonally- and inflation-adjusted annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, a pullback from last year’s quick pace. That lagged behind the 2.4% projected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Thursday’s report also suggests inflation, using the Fed’s preferred gauge, was likely firmer than expected in March. That gives investors another reason to give up on the idea that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates in the coming months
3 Campuses nationwide face Gaza war protests
Protests over Israel’s military invasion of Gaza are becoming even more intense on college and university campuses almost seven months after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Clusters of student encampments have spread in recent days at schools including Columbia University. Police have made dozens of arrests after being called in by administrators. “We will be here all day, all night, every day,” said Banan Abdelrahman, co-founder of the Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California, Berkeley, where students set up a half-dozen tents earlier this week on the steps of Sproul Hall, a hot spot for anti-Vietnam War activism 50 years ago. “There is a national movement to take back our campuses.” The events of the past week are the latest crescendo in a movement that has seen more than 8,000 pro-Palestine protests in over 850 cities and towns across the U.S., according to data compiled by researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut.
4 Bird flu DNA found in 1 in 5 milk samples nationwide
Federal regulators have discovered fragments of bird flu virus in roughly 20 percent of retail milk samples tested in a nationally representative study, the Food and Drug Administration said in an online update on Thursday. Samples from parts of the country that are known to have dairy herds infected with the virus were more likely to test positive, the agency said. Regulators said that there is no evidence that this milk poses a danger to consumers or that live virus is present in the milk on store shelves, an assessment public health experts have agreed with. But finding traces of the virus in such a high share of samples from around the country is the strongest signal yet that the bird flu outbreak in dairy cows is more extensive than the official tally of 33 infected herds across eight states.
5 US troops kicked out of Chad
The Pentagon will withdraw dozens of Special Operations forces from Chad in the next few days, the second major blow in a week to American security and counterterrorism policy in a volatile swath of West and Central Africa, U.S. officials said on Thursday. The decision to pull out about 75 Army Special Forces personnel working in Ndjamena, Chad’s capital, comes days after the Biden administration said it would withdraw more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel from Niger in the coming months. The Pentagon is being forced to draw down troops in response to the African governments’ demands to renegotiate the rules and conditions under which U.S. military personnel can operate. Both countries want terms that better favor their interests, analysts say. The decision to withdraw from Niger is final, but U.S. officials said they hoped to resume talks on security cooperation after elections in Chad on May 6. The departure of U.S. military advisers in both countries comes as Niger, as well as Mali and Burkina Faso, is turning away from years of cooperation with the United States and forming partnerships with Russia — or at least exploring closer security ties with Moscow.
Sports
First round of NFL draft complete
Quarterbacks flew off the board Thursday night with six of them going in the first 12 selections. Caleb Williams (Bears, first), Jayden Daniels (Commanders, second), Drake Maye (Patriots, third), Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons, eighth), J.J. McCarthy (Vikings, 10th) and Bo Nix (Broncos, 12th) combined to tie the historic 1983 QB draft class for the most taken in the first round. But never have six gone off the board as fast as they did Thursday night. Some of these quarterbacks will likely start right away. Others may sit for a bit. But for now, they serve as symbols of hope of brighter days ahead for their new franchises.
4/26/1986 The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Soviet Union
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