CULTURE: Lady Gaga Appointed Co-Chair of Presidential Arts Advisory Board
According to reporting done by the “National Public Radio” (NPR), Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta) was recently appointed co-chair of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and Humanities, a west-wing advisory group formed by former President Ronald Regan in 1982. While the committee was disbanded under the Trump Administration, it was recently brought back under new leadership. President Biden, who made the decision to re-open the committee, cited how arts were “essential to the well-being, health, vitality, and democracy of our Nation.”, and that bringing back the committee was the right choice. According to Tsione Wolde-Micheal, the committee’s Executive Director, the focus of the committee as it reopens is on how the arts and humanities could be a vehicle for positive social change.
HEALTH: Supreme Court blocks Federal Judge’s order banning abortion pill access nationwide
In the first instance of the Supreme Court weighing in on abortion policy since overturning Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, the Court issued an “administrative stay” on an order given by a previous Federal Judge banning the use of a certain abortion pill across the United States, according to the “Supreme Court Blog.” Matthew Kacsmaryk, was the Texan Federal Judge who initially blocked the sale and purchase of Mifeprex, a leading abortion pill nationwide, citing a 19th-century trade regulation enacted by Congress. The Supreme Court is expected to release a decision on the legality of the Judges order later this month, according to NBC News.
CONFLICT: Massachusetts Air National Guardsman leaks confidential Pentagon Papers
Following the leak of various military documents pertaining to the war in Ukraine and other U.S. military intelligence sources, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has arrested Jack Tierxeria, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman serving as a “cyber transport systems journeyman”, according to the United States Air Force. The Department of Justice, the United States federal agency responsible for the investigation and prosecution of federal crimes, commented on the case, mentioning how there didn’t appear to be any ideological or political motives for the leak.
U.S. POLITICS: Donald J. Trump, former President of the United States indicted in New York City this past Tuesday
This past Tuesday, former President Donald J. Trump made history as the first former President ever to be indicted and arrested. According to “USA Today”, Trump was arrested on 34 felony counts of falsifying official business records by the Manhattan District Attorney, the local prosecutor for the City of New York. Unlike most arrests, Trump was not forced to give his fingerprints, nor submit for a mugshot. He was brought in alongside his protective detail, and brought forth before a Judge for arraignment, the proceeding where he would formally enter his plea of Not Guilty. After the arraignment, he was released on his own recognizance and returned to his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
