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Almanac for April 2, 2026

Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2026. There are 273 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2005, John Paul II, the Polish pope born Karol Józef Wojtyła, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84. The first non-Italian pope in moe than 450 years, John Paul II became one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries while playing a crucial role in the fall of communism in Europe and the former Soviet Union. Also on this date: In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint. In 1865, Confederate ...

Judge blocks Trump order to end NPR, PBS funding

WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing the First Amendment, a federal judge on Tuesday agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing a presidential directive to end federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, two media entities that the White ...

Almanac for April 1, 2026

Today is Wednesday, April 1, the 91st day of 2026. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool's Day. Today in history: In 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces succeeded in capturing the Japanese island on June 22 after a battle in which more than 240,000 died, including as many as 150,000 Okinawan civilians.) Also on this date: In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler would serve just nine months of the sentence, during which time he ...

Lessons from the Vietnam War for Iran

We Americans are an impatient lot. If we must engage in warfare, we would prefer it be wrapped up in weeks, not months, and certainly not years like World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In those wars we had the draft, so more Americans were engaged in fighting and watching their progress, or lack ...

Where is the arc of justice headed?

Former President Barack Obama liked to quote the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s line that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Of course, what was an expression of optimism for the moral reformer King was more in the nature of a victory spike of the football for ...

DOJ sues Minnesota over trans athletes in girls sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration sued Minnesota and its school athletics governing body on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. ...