In early April, producers are eagerly awaiting or have already started their spring planting. Though other considerations like soil moisture, air temperature, and the weather forecast play important roles, the adage of waiting for morning 4-inch soil temperatures to hit the 50-degree-Fahrenheit mark is important, too. That line is currently crossing into the southern Corn Belt, and the coming forecast should bring that northward throughout the next week.
First, the good news: A ceasefire has been agreed upon in a war threatening a level of devastation unimaginable when President Donald Trump ordered five weeks of bombing and missile strikes in an effort to collapse the Islamic regime in Iran. But while critical questions remain ahead of talks set for Saturday on a longer-term deal -- not least, whether the truce fully takes hold -- the war has left Mr. Trump facing a sobering paradox.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department launched a campaign Friday targeting video gamers for the job, which is crucial for keeping the U.S. skies safe. read more
The rate is down about 1% from 2024 and nearly 20% lower than it was two decades ago. read more
Consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey. read more
Luna moves to oust Swalwell from House over assault allegations
www.newsnationnow.com
... Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) on Saturday said she would file a motion to expel California Rep. Eric Swalwell from office, after the Democrat was hit with sexual assault allegations.
"I am filing a motion to expel Eric Swalwell from Congress," the Republican lawmaker wrote on social platform X. ...
Expulsion is the most serious consequence a member of Congress can face, and it requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House. Only 6 members of the House of Representatives have been expelled in U.S. history -- with former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) being the most recent, after an ethics review found he misused campaign funds and falsified his background. ...
How Orban benefits from Hungary's tailor-made election system
www.france24.com
... Peter Magyar's centre-right Tisza Party might be comfortably ahead in Hungary's parliamentary election polls but he is far from guaranteed victory in Sunday's vote. The country's electoral system has been designed to support ruling Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party -- and any institutions that are working in his favour " every step of the way. ...
But although the populist and nationalist leader, who has ruled Hungary unchallenged for the past 16 years, might appear to be struggling, he also has a number of assets up his sleeve.
The first of these is a mixed electoral system tailor-made to benefit his far-right Fidesz party. In 2011, backed by a two-thirds majority, Orban pushed through a controversial law reducing the number of seats in parliament, as well as redrawing electoral districts designed to maximise the conservative party's chances.
"This gerrymandering has become a bona fide national pastime," said Paul Gradvohl, a Central Europe history professor at Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne University, with a hint of irony.
"The aim is to use the results of previous elections to take from Peter to give to Paul. In constituencies where Fidesz won by a large margin, less supportive districts have been added, and in return, the opposition has been stripped of seats where it had a chance of winning." ...
Jeffries, Pelosi and other Democrats call on Eric Swalwell to end governor campaign
www.politico.com
... House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi headlined a growing list of Democratic lawmakers called on Rep. Eric Swalwell Friday to withdraw his campaign for California governor amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
"This extremely sensitive matter must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability," Pelosi said in a statement. "As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign."
In a joint statement with other elected House Democratic leaders, Jeffries called for a "swift investigation" as well as the end of his pending campaign.
"This is unacceptable of anyone " certainly not an elected official -- and must be taken seriously," the leaders said. ...
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Orbn's Hungary drove a top university campus into exile. JD Vance said it should be a model for the U.S.
www.nbcnews.com
... Its limestone entrance rises above a grand 1820s mansion, its newer additions all hard modern lines and confidence. It has won architecture awards. It was built to suggest a certain kind of Hungary, too: outward-looking, liberal, at ease with the West.
Today it is eerily quiet. ...
Founded by George Soros after the fall of communism, the university says the authoritarian government of Viktor Orbn forced 90% of its teaching operations out of the country in 2019, leaving behind a stark symbol of how far the nation has moved during the prime minister's 16-year regime. ...
"The closest conservatives have ever gotten to successfully dealing with the left-wing domination of universities is Viktor Orbn's approach in Hungary," Vance said in 2024, then a Republican senator from Ohio. "I think his way has to be the model for us " not to eliminate universities, but to give the choice between survival or taking a much less biased approach to teaching." ...
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Bessent, Powell warned bank CEOs about Anthropic model risks
www.reuters.com
... U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent meeting with bank CEOs this week to warn of cyber risks posed by Anthropic's latest AI model, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Anthropic launched the powerful Mythos model earlier this week but stopped short of a broad release, citing concerns it could expose previously unknown cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
The company has said the model is capable of identifying and exploiting weaknesses, opens new tab across "every major operating system and every major web browser".
Last week, Anthropic said it was in ongoing discussions with U.S. government officials about the model's "offensive and defensive cyber capabilities."
A third source close to the matter reiterated Anthropic's outreach, saying the company proactively briefed senior U.S. government officials and key industry stakeholders on Mythos's capabilities ahead of its release. ...
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RFK Jr. rewrites CDC panel's charter, opening door to anti-vaccine quacks
arstechnica.com
... As expected, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has significantly rewritten the charter for a federal vaccine advisory panel. The edits give him more power to appoint his like-minded allies as federal advisors, shift the panel's focus to alleged vaccine injuries and risks, and welcome fringe groups and anti-vaccine organizations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, a notice in the Federal Register indicated Kennedy renewed the charter for the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is done every two years, with the last term having ended April 1. But instead of the usual humdrum renewal process, the notice on Monday indicated big changes were coming to the defining document of the panel, which heavily influences federal vaccine policy that, in turn, influences state requirements and insurance coverage.
The new charter, published Thursday, reveals new responsibilities that redirect advisors toward topics and terms dear to anti-vaccine activists.
For instance, ACIP members will now be responsible for "considering analysis of cumulative effects of vaccines and their constituent components." This wording echoes explicit goals of Kennedy's anti-vaccine allies, who aim to pin complex conditions -- such as allergies, autism, and neurodevelopmental conditions -- on combinations of vaccinations or common ingredients in those shots, such as aluminum adjuvants.
This is a pivot from anti-vaccine activists' earlier attacks that focused on individual vaccines, such as the false, fraudulent claim that the measles vaccine is linked to autism"a claim that has been roundly debunked by dozens of high-quality studies. ...
More on Claude Mythos ...
Why Anthropic believes its latest model is too dangerous to release
www.understandingai.org
... Anthropic safety researcher Sam Bowman was eating a sandwich in a park recently when he got an unexpected email. An AI model had sent him a message saying that it had broken out of its sandbox.[emphasis mine]
The model -- an early snapshot of a new LLM called Claude Mythos Preview -- was not supposed to have access to the Internet.
To ensure safety, Anthropic researchers like to test new models inside a secure container that prevents them from communicating with the outside world. To double-check the security of this container, the researchers asked the model to try to break out and message Bowman.
Unexpectedly, Mythos Preview "developed a moderately sophisticated multi-step exploit" to gain access to the Internet and emailed Bowman.
It also -- unprompted -- posted details about this exploit on public websites.
Mythos Preview is capable of hacking more than its own evaluation environment. It turns out that the model is generally really, really good at finding and exploiting bugs in code. ...
Related...
CDC study shows COVID shot benefits; Trump official blocks release
arstechnica.com
... Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been blocked from publishing a scientifically vetted study finding significant health benefits from this season's COVID-19 vaccines, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
The move adds to longstanding concern among health experts that chaos and political interference under Kennedy -- a staunch anti-vaccine activist who has long falsely maligned COVID-19 vaccines -- is deeply undermining science at federal agencies and beyond. ...
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