- The Manitoba government is increasing annual operating funding for school divisions, roughly on par with inflation, as well as lifting the freeze on education property taxes imposed by the previous government.
- Since the reinstatement of security measures at Winnipeg's Millennium Library following a homicide in 2022, there has been a decrease in serious incidents, but also a decrease in overall library attendance. While some of this may be due to things like remote work, I don't doubt that in some cases it probably is a deterrent for people from communities with a history of overpolicing to go to the library. On the other hand, one could argue that attendance, per se, is not the best measure - I'd be interested to know if the actual borrowing of books from the branch (i.e. people using the library as a library) has decreased or increased. And one thing is clear - the staff at the branch feel safer with the security measures than without, and if it becomes hard to staff the branch because of safety concerns it will lead to reduced hours, which isn't going to be good for anyone. "Millennium for all" is a nice slogan but not if it actually leads to "Millennium for none".
- Republicans in the US Senate had long insisted that Joe Biden's funding for Ukraine's war effort be tied to changes to secure the US-Mexico border. But when a bipartisan plan to address both issues came up, many Republicans got cold feet - because Trump doesn't want anything that might make Biden look good (for certain values of "good", of course).
- Apparently some MAGA types are claiming that Alina Habba, a lawyer representing Donald Trump in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, is a deep state plant rather than simply, you know, incompetent. But really, if you were a good, competent lawyer, would you want to take on a Trump case?
- SpaceX and Trader Joe's are arguing in court that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional; meanwhile Meta is making the same argument about the Federal Trade Commission. Because protecting workers and consumers is un-American, dammit!
- The possibility of a "contingent election" for the US president and VP exists. According to the US constitution, this happens if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the electoral college. This is a rarity (it hasn't happened since 1837) but it could happen if either Trump or Biden were to die or be incapacitated between the general election and the Electoral College meeting, or if a third party candidate such as the "No Labels" group is trying to put forward were to win a state or two. In such a case, each state delegation in the House of Representatives gets one vote for president; this would tend to heavily favour the Republicans and create an even bigger crisis of legitimacy for the winner.
- Catalonia's regional government has declared a drought emergency and imposed strict water conservation measures.
- A pigeon captured in India was found with bands on its legs with Chinese writing; authorities feared that the pigeon might be connected to espionage but it was eventually determined to be an ordinary racing pigeon from Taiwan and was released.
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