After Annunciation, Inaction - Racket Plus Duluth library is cool as hell, homes for LGBTQ+ youth, and X marks the Wild fan in today's Flyover news roundup.

Eight months after the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis, it's looking increasingly unlikely that any gun-reform measures will make their way through the Legislature this session.

RIGHT NOW -- Veterans are being arrested in #washingtondc after peacefully demanding an end to the War on Iran. @vetsaboutface

Sad to share that today is my last as investigative editor at ITT, following layoffs that affected about half the staff. For the immediate future I’ll be finishing a book about the Catholic right. Not sure what comes after that, but am open for job leads, freelancing, editing gigs, rich patrons, etc

How Did Black Music Take Over the World? Ask Melvin Gibbs. - Racket The avant-garde jazz bassist, now a part-time Minneapolis resident, combines memoir, history, and musicology in his first book.

"How Black Music Took Over the World" connects an enormous number of dots—sometimes literally, as when Gibbs utilizes clocklike circular figures to denote the many rhythmic workings under discussion.

A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers An initiative aimed at boosting Democrats online offers influencers up to $8,000 a month to push the party line. All they have to do is keep it secret—and agree to restrictions on their content.

Just leaving this here, and observing that some of the same influencers dunking on Mehdi Hasan right now are mentioned in this Wired article:

The Deal That Could Destroy Hollywood - The American Prospect Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. would be a huge blow to filmmakers and film lovers alike.

Hollywood has organized around blocking the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger. Harold Meyerson writes that putting a film treasure up for sale was unwarranted and reveals the eclipse of enterprise capitalism by shareholder capitalism.
prospect.org/2026/04/20/d...

Contributor name Recipient State Employer Receipt date Amount SULLIVAN, RICHARD DCCC NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 02/26/2026 $2,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD FOUSHEE FOR CONGRESS NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 02/06/2026 $1,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD SCHOLTEN FOR CONGRESS NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 01/22/2026 $1,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD DCCC NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 01/08/2026 $25,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD CHRIS PAPPAS FOR SENATE NC CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP 12/30/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD MALINOWSKI FOR NEW JERSEY NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 12/30/2025 $500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD GRANITE VALUES PAC NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 12/29/2025 $2,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD BLACK BEAR PAC, INC. NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 11/12/2025 $5,208.65 SULLIVAN, RICHARD MALINOWSKI FOR NEW JERSEY NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 11/12/2025 $1,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD TEAM MORRISEY NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 11/12/2025 $5,208.65 SULLIVAN, RICHARD MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE - FED FUND NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 11/04/2025 $1,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD MILLS FOR MAINE NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 10/14/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD SCHOLTEN FOR CONGRESS NC CAPTIOL COUNCIL 07/30/2025 $1,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD LYLES JR COOPER VICTORY FUND NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 07/27/2025 $7,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD LYLES JR COOPER FOR NORTH CAROLINA NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 07/27/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD LYLES JR COOPER FOR NORTH CAROLINA NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 07/27/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD STEFANY SHAHEEN FOR CONGRESS NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 06/30/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD CHRIS PAPPAS FOR SENATE NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 03/31/2025 $3,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD NEVADANS FOR STEVEN HORSFORD NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 03/26/2025 $1,000.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD DEBORAH ROSS FOR CONGRESS NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 03/09/2025 $2,500.00 SULLIVAN, RICHARD DEBORAH ROSS FOR CONGRESS NC STATE FEDERAL STRATEGIES 02/21/2025 $1,000.00

GEO Group's top D lobbyist Richard Lyles Sullivan has been showering Democrats across the country with Trump concentration-camp cash

The Helium Crisis That Won’t Go Away The U.S. sold off a critical helium reserve despite decades of warnings — now, the war in Iran has exposed the consequences.

INVESTIGATION: How the U.S. government ignored warnings & shut down America's helium reserve - just before the Iran War has now cut off foreign helium supplies for everything from medical equipment to computer chips.

Shortages are on the horizon as prices skyrocket.

A news headline with the following text: The Slick As Prices Climb, California Imports More Gasoline Made From Russian Oil The state’s failure to reduce driving and to stockpile fuel led to dependence on sanctioned oil refined elsewhere. A photo of tankers in the Port of LA is the featured image.

NEW STORY!

As a heat wave hit the West and the price of a gasoline gallon rose sharply, California faced the pain of dependence on climate-warming oil priced by the global market.

As refineries close, the state is getting a lifeline from a surprising source: Fuel imports made from Russian oil. 🧵:

Aerial view of large scale devastation inflicted on the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, with an Israeli tank parked in the center of the photo.

This is what Israel has done to Bint Jbeil, my hometown in southern Lebanon

In the same manifesto, Palantir's owners argued that we need a national military draft, that soft power is over, and that we were too hard on Germany and Japan after World War II. I don't think that company should be allowed to exist anymore.

A difficult concept to navigate properly is that *testing* is itself a major problem in education (most exemplified by the No Child Left Behind testing regimes. This can mean that the very tests revealing declines in learning are themselves part of what is causing the decline.

Screenshot of an X post from @clashreport: Trump posted a video of Frank Sinatra performing “My Way”. “And now, the end is near / And so I face the final curtain… 
Regrets, I’ve had a few / But then again, too few to mention… 
I did it my way.”

I do AV work for a funeral home and this is one of the most common song choices. It seems to be one of those songs that elderly boomers and silent generation folks turn to as they’re thinking about death.

sorry, meant to say the reduction in workforce. re the poll, it's weird that there doesn't appear to be any English-language reporting on prior iterations of the survey (as it relates to this specific question.) so the big question I have is if there was a methodology change.

sorry, do we know the educational level? I'm asking because I'm guessing that a big portion were managers and highly skilled workers. As in the reduction could be explained by displacement and not a reduction in interest

what were the demographics of the Taiwanese migrant worker population on the mainland in the peak years?

highly recommend this book by Adam Johnson of @citationspod.bsky.social, which soberly lays out the hard data of the discourse that center-left media has decided is acceptable, in which Palestinians are not allowed humanity

Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters.

In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of accounts have emerged on social media featuring A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace. Several accounts have already amassed thousands followers. Some of the posts have more than half a million views.

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

Explosive & really outrageous revelations in here about a billionaire's private surveillance network completely run amok.

If we can't stop Dolan from spying on us at MSG, let's at least cancel his sweetheart tax break. (1/2)

Guards Beat Up Immigrants Detained at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ After They Complained About Losing Phone Access, Lawyer Claims An attorney for an immigrants’ rights firm representing detainees at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz detention center alleged in a court filing that inmates reported that guards severely beat detainees, ...

Shoutout to @people.com, which covered horrific abuses at the Everglades camp that the administration refers to as "Alligator Alcatraz," citing several folks (including me) who call it a concentration camp.

4/17, Northampton MA: local middle-schoolers organized a 3-mi march from JFK school to a De-ICE Citizens Bank rally on King St where they spoke beautifully.

An inspiration.

@maddow.bsky.social @in-slwm.bsky.social #northamptonma @johnmajercak.bsky.social

Spirit’s Bankruptcy Exit in Flux as Jet Fuel Prices Surge Discussions with creditors include possible liquidation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Whenever we hear about Spirit troubles, corporate shills say it's Lina Khan's fault for blocking the JetBlue merger. But:
1-DOJ Antitrust challenged that merger, not Lina
2-Spirit could've said at trial they'd fail w/o a merger & they didn't
3-The problems are due to high jet fuel, aka Trump's war

Mike Johnson Has a FISA Fiasco on His Hands - The American Prospect The House Speaker’s surprise five-year extension and bogus warrant provision backfired, but it was enough to get a gaggle of Democrats to break ranks.

Good summary of last night's ultimately failed shenanigans on FISA from @jamesjbaratta.bsky.social. Reform advocates are in the best position they've been maybe ever.

prospect.org/2026/04/17/m...

Cookies, deodorant, socks. Iran war puts military packages in limbo Thousands of boxes sent to service members in Middle East are stuck in limbo. The Postal Service has indefinitely suspended delivery amid Iran war.

Trillion dollar military, headed to $1.5 trillion. This is what a meal looks like on a naval ship.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

3 members of Ironworkers Local 401 died on the job recently in a catastrophic construction accident in Philadelphia. This is my union’s statement on their passing.

Statement from the PASNAP Staff Union on the passing of Ironworkers Local 401 members:

Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South Texas Airport The state’s only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years.

Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

On Tax Day, Mamdani Taxed the Rich - The American Prospect The mayor, his supporters, and public opinion convinced their previously reluctant governor to agree to a tax on the second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc.) homes of their city’s nonresident rich.

Zohran Mamdani getting Kathy Hochul to agree to a pied-a-terre tax breaks the stone wall against taxing the rich that Hochul had been building since Mamdani's election. It's a critical moment, writes @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social.
prospect.org/2026/04/16/m...

In about 20 minutes I'll be moderating a panel on health care in America with Wendell Potter and others. You can watch live here.
t.co/04WhiuDHCW

Dear Strib: Tired of Minneapolis City Hall Drama? Focus on Something Else. - Racket The Star Tribune's obsession with a supposedly dysfunctional Minneapolis City Council overplays minor issues, lets the mayor off the hook, and obscures what the city has accomplished.

For the Star Tribune, it's always city council's fault.