UNDERNEWS

Money

2026-04-16T15:21:00.005-04:00

Elizabeth Warren - The rich are having a field day. Thanks to Donald Trump, corporations paid $65 billion less in taxes last year. Meta alone saved $3 billion. Amazon saved over $4 billion. That $65 billion would have been enough money to extend the ACA tax credits three times over.

Elections

2026-04-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

The Guardian - A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors.

Every state that has so far enacted the compact has Democratic electoral majorities, including California, New York and Illinois. But legislation has been introduced in enough states to reach the 270-elector threshold, including swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The legislation relies on two provisions of the US constitution, which would face intense legal scrutiny if and when the compact comes into force. Article II, section 1 of the constitution authorizes each state to appoint electors “in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct”. The constitution does not require states to even have a vote for president, never mind delegating those electors as a state’s voters choose.

The second provision, article I, section 10, clause 3 of the US constitution, governs interstate compacts. The text authorizes states to form legally binding agreements governing their relationships to one another. The text requires states to gain the assent of Congress to enact a compact. But longstanding US supreme court precedent holds that states only require congressional approval for a compact if the agreement infringes on federal power. Supporters of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact argue that the delegation of electors is a state power, not a federal power.

A Pew Research Center poll from 2024 showed that 63% of Americans would replace the electoral college with a national popular vote for president, with 35% opposing change.

ICE agent charged in Minnesota case

2026-04-16T14:49:00.004-04:00

NBC News - An ICE agent who was part of the federal immigration surge in Minnesota earlier this year was charged with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a state prosecutor announced. The agent, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., is accused of pointing a gun at the heads of two civilians in a vehicle. This is the first case of an ICE agent facing charges related to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which drew national outrage after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration law enforcement.

Donald Trump

2026-04-16T13:51:00.006-04:00

The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with a Catholic charity that houses and cares for migrant children amid the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has helped provide vital services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years, but could now shut down within a matter of months after the administration canceled an $11 million federal contract.

Republicans Against Trump - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill naming the 125-mile stretch of State Road 80 the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

NY Times - Aboveground construction on President Trump’s White House ballroom must halt until lawmakers authorize the project, a judge ruled Thursday, saying the president appeared intent on skirting a previous order by redefining the ballroom project as a critical national security upgrade.

The ruling escalated the legal standoff over the president’s plan to overhaul the White House grounds, which Judge Richard J. Leon had previously decided exceeded what a president can do at a historic building like the White House without approval from Congress.

Judge Leon said that adding features like bulletproof windows and other standard security features that exist throughout the White House did not exempt the ballroom project from his directives.

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” Judge Leon wrote.

Middle East

2026-04-16T13:34:00.002-04:00

No more US military aid to Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu rejects President Trump’s ceasefire and says the war will continue against Iran at any time he chooses. Netanyahu says he will achieve his objectives through further military action under his command. “We are ready to resume the fighting at any moment.”

The Hill - President Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire after meeting in Washington to try and strike a peace deal.

NPR - President Trump has been referring to the war in Iran in the past tense, despite the fact that peace talks in Pakistan stalled out over the weekend. Pakistan sent its interior minister and military chief to Tehran yesterday. Trump has made bold claims about the war nearing its end since just a couple of weeks after it started. Despite his claims that the U.S. has decimated Iran and that the war is almost over, 13 swing voters who participated in two online focus groups on Tuesday said they wouldn't describe the military action as going well.

Trump often uses vague language, which makes him and his objectives hard to pin down. The president's attempts to declare victory are a sign that he wants the conflict to end. Tevi Troy, a presidential historian who served in the George W. Bush administration, [said] that as wars evolve, U.S. presidents often explain to the American people why their missions change. Troy says that Trump's style allows him more flexibility than others have had, but that only goes so far.

The bulk of oil and gas exports from the Gulf remain stuck amid the U.S. forces' blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's closing of the crucial waterway. Oil prices have surged by about 40% since the war began... Ellen Wald, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, says there is a severe supply chain crisis affecting fertilizers, aluminum, liquefied natural gas, polymers, plastics and diesel for construction and agriculture. While Americans are currently seeing higher gas prices and haven't felt it in other areas, Wald says that the longer the conflict continues, the more prices across the economy will increase.

Airlines are facing rising costs, and Airports Council International Europe, a group representing airport operators, has warned of a potential "systemic jet fuel shortage" if traffic through the Strait doesn't normalize by month’s end.

Pope Leo

2026-04-16T10:49:00.000-04:00

The Hill - A bomb threat occurred at the home of the brother of Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday night, police in Illinois confirmed.

The New Lenox Police Department issued a statement acknowledging the threat at the home, but after a comprehensive search, it was determined to be unsubstantiated.

NPR - Popes have historically addressed political issues, historians of religion say. But Trump’s insults towards the pope are unprecedented. Here’s a brief overview of how modern popes have spoken out on politics and how Pope Leo is different.

Ukraine

2026-04-16T09:59:00.006-04:00

NBC News - Russia unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight, killing at least 18 people in its most intense attack of the year.

Sport and climate change

2026-04-16T09:50:00.004-04:00

The Guardian - All over the globe, extreme weather has wiped out competitions and made grounds unplayable through flooding or storms or wildfires. Increased heat and air pollution puts grassroots and pro athletes at risk – take your pick from heat exhaustion and heatstroke in one hand, asthma and cardiovascular disease in the other. Tennis player Holger Rune summed things up nicely during the Shanghai Masters last year, when he asked an official: “Do you want a player to die on court?” High pollution and crazy temperatures also increase the risk of injury and reduce performance. Officials and spectators suffer too.

Sports in climate-vulnerable countries bear a higher risk. “We have to play on the pitch as it is, not as you would like it,” said Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados. But richer countries and sports bodies look away.

Polls

2026-04-16T09:29:00.003-04:00

InteractivePolls
NATIONAL POLL By Quinnipiac

Pres. Trump

Approve: 38% (=)

Disapprove: 55% (-1)

——

Trump's approval on key issues

The Economy

Approve: 38% (=)

Disapprove: 57% (-1)

Situation with Iran

Approve: 36% (+2)

Disapprove: 58% (-1)

NPR - A recent NPR/Ipsos survey found just 39% of Americans said America is a moral authority, down from 60% in 2017.

IBM pays $17 million for being too decent

2026-04-16T09:08:00.000-04:00

Philip Materra, Dirt Diggers Digest - Normally, my colleagues and I are happy to include a new multi-million-dollar penalty paid by a Fortune 100 company to the Justice Department in our Violation Tracker updates. This month, however, we are reluctantly creating an entry for a $17 million settlement reached with IBM.

...Turning decades of public policy on its head, this administration has decided that those efforts to rectify discrimination are themselves discriminatory and should be the main focus of DOJ’s civil rights enforcement.

What makes the IBM case especially pernicious is that DOJ brought it under the guise of a False Claims Act action. The FCA is normally used against contractors found to have been cheating the federal government. It is most commonly applied against healthcare providers and suppliers to the Pentagon.

IBM was accused of violating its responsibilities as a federal contractor by taking race, color, national origin, or sex into account when making employment decisions....

In a press release announcing the settlement, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward proclaimed: “Merit drives promotion and opportunity. Not someone’s sex or race.” He continued: “Today’s settlement proves this Department’s commitment to ensure companies are not using taxpayer funded work to further woke unconstitutional practices in American workplaces.”

Pete Hegsteth

2026-04-16T08:52:00.000-04:00

The Guardian - House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense secretary of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts. The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran.

Utah passes new law to combat overcharges at dollar stores

2026-04-16T08:28:00.001-04:00

The Guardian - Utah lawmakers have voted to stiffen penalties on retailers who chronically overcharge customers. The new state law, which takes effect on 6 May, was introduced in direct response to a Guardian investigation of pricing practices at two national chains, Dollar General and Family Dollar, according to an official who oversees the state’s price-accuracy inspections.

Both dollar-store chains target cost-conscious families, yet their stores often post one price on the shelf and ring up a higher price at the register.

The investigation, published in December, found that Dollar General stores failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states between 2022 and 2025. The smaller Family Dollar chain failed more than 2,100 price-accuracy inspections in 20 states during the same period.

Among the biggest offenders was a Family Dollar store in Provo, Utah, a city of 115,000 people that is home to Brigham Young University. According to state records, the store failed 28 pricing inspections in the four-year span. During one visit, an inspector discovered overcharges for 48% of the items she tested, including baked beans, Ivory soap, frozen pizza and disposable diapers.

Colleges & universities

2026-04-16T08:23:00.000-04:00

NY Times - American colleges and universities bear significant responsibility for plunging public trust in higher education, a Yale University committee suggested in a report released on Wednesday.

High costs, murky admissions practices, uneven academic standards and fears about free speech on campuses, the committee said, are among the reasons for widening discontent over higher education’s worthiness.

The findings reflect misgivings that Americans have described across years of polling and interviews. But the report, from a 10-professor panel at one of the nation’s most renowned universities, amounts to a damning depiction of academia’s role in cultivating the political and cultural forces that are reshaping higher education’s place in American life.

“Trust is earned by doing what you say you’re going to do — and, ideally, doing it well,” the committee wrote, describing “widespread uncertainty about the fundamental purpose and mission of higher education.”

Universities have faced pressure to help address societal problems, the committee noted, saying they were “expected to be all things to all people: selective but inclusive, affordable but luxurious, meritocratic but equitable.”

But, the professors added, “without a clear mission and purpose, it becomes difficult to judge whether colleges and universities are living up to their fundamental commitments.”

Most American schools are far removed from places like Yale, where the estimated annual cost of attendance for undergraduates exceeds $90,000 before financial aid. Administrators at many institutions, most of which cost far less and admit far more students, complain that their schools are unfairly tied to selective universities.

But those broad perceptions are driving debates about academic offerings, taxpayer support for universities, and President Trump’s attacks on a higher education system that predates the nation itself.

Friction around colleges is not new. The committee, though, pointed to a congruence of contemporary practices to help explain why academia’s standing has declined so far, so fast. Gallup reported last September that 35 percent of Americans regarded a college education as “very important” — half the number who thought that in 2013.

Polls

2026-04-15T13:38:00.000-04:00

Newsweek - In a survey run from January 9 to 14, 2026, YouGov asked Republicans and independents who lean Republican who their ideal choice would be for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination.

Vance led the field with 41 percent support. The poll surveyed 2,250 U.S. adult citizens and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, adjusted for weighting.

By April, his backing had softened. In a follow-up YouGov survey conducted April 8 to 13, 2026, using a similarly sized sample of 2,189 U.S. adult citizens and the same plus or minus 2.8-point margin of error, Vance’s share fell to 36 percent among the same group of Republican and Republican-leaning voters.

While Vance remains the single most popular option in the question tested, the five-point drop is notable given the relatively short time span and the early stage of the 2028 race.

Data centers

2026-04-15T13:33:00.006-04:00

Washington Post - Data centers house computer servers crucial to the internet, cloud computing and more recently AI. The average newly planned data center uses as much electricity as a city of 500,000, according to a Washington Post analysis, and some supersized facilities now under construction use far more.

2026-04-15T13:26:00.003-04:00

11 Electric Cars Worth a Look as Gas Prices Soar

ICE prisons hurt immigrant rights and health

2026-04-15T13:19:00.000-04:00

The Guardian - Camp East Montana is the facility with the largest number of immigration-related detainees in the US, with a capacity of 5,000 and an estimated daily average of 2,505 locked up. After just nine months in operation it has become a health and human rights scandal – and also an environmental hazard that affects the inhabitants and the area, while fueling the climate crisis.

Reports of harsh conditions, abuse, sickness and death have accumulated since the camp was erected last summer on the Fort Bliss army base in El Paso. And flying thousands of people often hundreds of miles to be locked up in an encampment run on electricity generators in the desert gobbles energy and produces emissions that are heating the planet.

“I think the environmental impact is pretty apparent,” said Danielle Jefferis, associate professor of law at the University of Nebraska College of Law. “I don’t think it takes an expert to see that if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar building that is properly plumbed and has appropriate medical units and all of the basic infrastructure [relating to] human rights, you’re going to have a serious environmental impact.”

Pete Hegseth

2026-04-15T12:50:00.002-04:00

Axios - House Democrats will introduce five articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday accusing him of abuse of power, war crimes and other serious wrongdoing. Why it matters: The measure has virtually no chance of passing this Congress, but it is the latest sign that Democrats have coalesced around Hegseth as their new top target in Trump's Cabinet.

Another small college closes

2026-04-15T12:10:00.003-04:00

NY Times - Hampshire College, a small liberal arts school in Western Massachusetts, has succumbed to years of financial struggle and will close permanently after the fall semester.... More than 300 U.S. colleges and universities closed from 2008 to 2024, according to an analysis by The Hechinger Report. “I think the reality is that tuition-dependent schools are being buffeted at many levels around a whole bunch of different headwinds,” Hampshire’s president, Jennifer Chrisler, said in an interview.

Democrats Formally File 25th Amendment Bill to Get Rid of Trump

2026-04-15T11:59:00.008-04:00

New Republic - Fifty House Democrats have officially filed legislation that would create a commission to jump-start the process to remove President Trump under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. The bill, introduced Tuesday by House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, would establish a “Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of the Office,” a move that would allow Congress to complete its part in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment process. It also calls for the commission to hold “a medical examination of the President to determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.”

AG Blanche promises to hide Epstein files

2026-04-15T11:57:00.003-04:00

New Republic - Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche claims that his department released every single Epstein file—and that if any weren’t released, it’s because they “were not responsive to the law.” “You have the authority to go ahead and release more [of the Epstein files], do you not?” Blanche was asked Tuesday on Fox News. “And you have the authority to go to Congress, perhaps?”

“No, we have released everything,” Blanche replied. “So listen, we reviewed six million pieces of paper. What we released with anything that’s associated with the Epstein file. So we are not sitting on a single piece of paper.”

More newspapers seeking non-profit help

2026-04-15T11:11:00.005-04:00

Independent, UK - The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced Tuesday it had prevented an imminent shutdown because a nonprofit journalism operation had agreed to buy the struggling newspaper. It's the latest example of a news outlet turning to the nonprofit sector to avoid closing as advertising and circulation revenues continue to drop.... A few other prominent newspapers that have made similar moves.

Trump Executive Order Could Debank Millions of Americans

2026-04-15T11:07:00.001-04:00

Newsweek - A Trump administration executive order that would require banks to collect citizenship information from customers is in "process," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, as experts warn it could leave millions of Americans without access to a bank account.

In an interview at the Semafor World Economy’s inaugural Treasury Secretary Dinner at the Library of Congress, Bessent said he didn't think the order would be "unreasonable."

"Why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system? I have a place in the U.K.; they want to know who lives in every apartment—and how do we know that it’s not part of a foreign terrorist organization?" he said.

Trump Executive Order Could Debank Millions of Americans

2026-04-15T11:03:31.671-04:00

In an interview at the Semafor World Economy’s inaugural Treasury Secretary Dinner at the Library of Congress, Bessent said he didn't think the order would be "unreasonable."

White House spokesman Kush Desai has previously said: "Any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation."

2026-04-15T11:01:00.002-04:00

The Top 10 Most Common US Last Names — and the Fastest-Growing Ones

Elections

2026-04-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

Independent, UK - A massive U.S. Postal Service union has launched a national television advertising campaign advocating for voting by mail, entering a politically charged debate fueled by skepticism from President Donald Trump and others regarding mail-in ballots.The 30-second advertisement features a diverse group of voters, including a busy farmer and a flight attendant, explaining their reasons for casting ballots via mail.

Sponsored by the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the campaign, announced on Tuesday, is set to begin airing this week in Ohio. The state holds historical significance as the location where Union Army soldiers cast the first mail ballots during the Civil War in 1864. The campaign will subsequently expand to other states.

The ad concludes with the message: "Vote by mail — keep it, protect it, expand it." This initiative comes just two weeks after President Trump signed an executive order aiming to establish a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and subsequently prohibit postal workers from sending absentee ballots to individuals not on each state’s approved roster. President Trump’s order was swiftly met with lawsuits and opposition from postal workers.

NPR - Virginia has become the latest state to join a movement to make the winner of the popular vote the president. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill this week to join the National Popular Vote Compact, a coalition of states committed to awarding their electoral votes to the popular vote winner. Eighteen states plus the District of Columbia now support the compact, totaling 222 electoral votes. But it won't take effect until enough states have signed up to reach the required 270 electoral votes needed to elect a president. If that happens, legal challenges would likely await.

States with the hottest March on record

2026-04-15T10:51:00.007-04:00

An Accuweather map of the states with the hottest March on record. | Photo courtesy of Accuweather

How much taxpayers are paying for the Trump military and its war

2026-04-15T10:48:00.006-04:00

Common Dreams - In a new report for the Institute for Policy Studies, we broke down last year’s typical tax bill and what each household actually spent, on average, for different programs and priorities in 2025.

We learned, for example, that the average taxpayer paid $4,049 for weapons and war last year—a huge sum in a time of rising costs of living and stagnant wages. That’s far, far more than any other program funded by income tax dollars. Medicaid, the next highest item on our income tax receipt, ran a little under $2,500—and that funds healthcare for 1 in 5 Americans. School lunches and other nutrition programs, by comparison, ran just $124. The Postal Service? $19. (Big programs like Social Security and Medicare have their own dedicated funding streams, and aren’t as significant for your income taxes.)

More than half of the Pentagon’s sum went to private, for-profit military contractors—the top CEOs of which now make over $25 million a year on average. Put another way, you spent about 50 days working and paying taxes last year just to feed the war machine—and 23 days working to pay those Pentagon contractors and their millionaire CEOs.

Health

2026-04-15T10:10:00.002-04:00

Axios - State efforts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers are colliding with federal law, reviving a power struggle over who can police the companies that manage drug benefits for most Americans. Why it matters: The states are trying to rein in the middlemen that negotiate drug prices and pay pharmacies, but they're running into a federal law that has the final say over employer health plans. More

Middle East

2026-04-15T10:02:00.000-04:00

The Hill - China is breaking from its mostly quiet stance on the Iran war amid the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, placing a strain on relations just weeks ahead of a planned meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi railed against the breaking of the international rule of law Tuesday during a reception in Beijing with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of the war himself, saying their two countries should work together to “oppose the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.”

“Maintaining the authority of international rule of law means not using it when it suits us and abandoning it when it doesn’t,” Xi said during a meeting with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, also on Tuesday.

The comments are the most direct that the Chinese leader has offered about the U.S.-Iran war since it began at the end of February. China is a major importer of Iranian oil, which the U.S. is seeking to cut off with the blockade that began on Monday.

NPR - President Trump announced that U.S. talks with Iran might resume within the next two days. This comes as Israel conducts negotiations for other Middle East wars. In Washington, D.C., yesterday, Israel and Lebanon held historic direct diplomatic talks — the first of this kind since 1993. Lebanon wants a ceasefire, but Israel won't agree until the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah disarms. Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire during the talks. Both sides agreed to more talks in a few weeks in Washington.

The U.S. is currently one week into a two-week ceasefire. The chances of a resolution are complicated by the fact that Iran wants the peace deal to include an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells Up First. Today, the U.S. military’s Central Command announced its completion of the blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. says about 90% of Iran’s economy relies on international trade by sea, and now that pathway is completely cut off. Estrin says a question remains as to whether this form of economic pressure on Iran is enough to bridge the very wide gaps between the U.S. and Iran.

The International Monetary Fund warns that the global economy is at risk of a recession amid the ongoing conflict in Iran. The IMF singled out the United Kingdom as one of the hardest-hit economies because it imports so much gas and oil, says NPR’s Fatima Al-Kassab. U.K. households will already be $500 worse off this year due to the war, according to the think tank The Resolution Foundation. Some analysts say that even if peace is achieved tomorrow, the shock to the system could take weeks or even months to recover from

The Guardian - Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days. The US president was speaking on Tuesday to a New York Post reporter who had gone to Islamabad for the first round of ceasefire talks over the weekend. She said Trump called her back, saying: “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there.” He also said Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing a “great job” in arranging the talks.