Pope urges Cameroon authorities to examine 'conscience'

(The Center Square) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is postponing a vote on a clean extension of the federal government’s electronic surveillance powers due to member pushback.

That leaves Congress four days at most to renew the expiring Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows federal intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on foreign nationals of suspicion.

After the 18-month extension passed out of committee Tuesday evening, Johnson scheduled a floor vote for Wednesday evening. The vote is now stalled until further notice due to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle objecting to the lack of privacy protections, endangering the legislation’s passage.

With the current U.S.-Iran conflict heightening global tensions and domestic security risks, supporters of Section 702 reauthorization say that foreign intelligence gathering is needed now more than ever.

Opponents of the extension argue that Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights are at stake, given that foreign actors of suspicion are not the only individuals whose private electronic data is collected.

The electronic data of American citizens – including emails, text messages, and phone calls – is often swept up as well, and intelligence agents routinely search through that collected data without obtaining a warrant.

Declassified government documents and oversight reports show that federal intelligence agencies have performed millions of these so-called “backdoor searches” since FISA Section 702 was created, including 57,000 in 2023 alone.

Section 702 of FISA was enacted in 2008 to retroactively justify NSA secretly gathering personal electronic communications between U.S. and Afghanistan individuals for years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

(The Center Square) – California’s Assembly Republican Caucus on Wednesday called for a special legislative session to investigate an estimated $180 billion in fraud in taxpayer-funded programs.

“Fraud absolutely is linked to the cost-of-living crisis,” Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, said during a news conference at the Capitol. “Every dollar, every penny of fraud is money that should be going to needy families in the form of government services that they are now seeing cuts in. Every dollar that’s given out to a fraudster is a dollar that should be given back to a taxpayer.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Assembly Minority Leader Health Flora and caucus members sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, pointing to a new estimate that California may have lost at least $180 billion to fraud across state programs. Flora said the estimate was based on audits, public records and prior investigations. He called on Newsom to call a special session to determine the extent of fraud and improper payments and "advance reforms to strengthen oversight and recover taxpayer funds."

Republican lawmakers at the press conference said they were particularly concerned about fraud and waste in programs meant to help California’s homeless population, money being spent on fraudulent hospice programs and sober living facilities.

“Many sober living homes are unlicensed and unregulated,” Assemblymember Laurie Davies, R-Oceanside, told reporters. “They operate in a legal gray area that protects the predator, not the patient. California’s pathetic excuse of patient protection laws are quite literally encouraging this type of rampant fraud and abuse of our health insurance market.”

The comments followed raids by the FBI in Los Angeles on April 2, in an effort to find and arrest those suspected of fraudulently receiving Medicaid dollars as reimbursements for providing hospice care to dying patients. Federal agents arrested 15 people who are accused of defrauding $60 million health care expenditures, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.

During another investigation conducted this year, Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, reported finding that roughly 300 hospice care businesses were tied to a small number of addresses in the Los Angeles area. All those businesses received Medicaid reimbursements, according to Macedo’s investigation.

When she drove out to the addresses those hospice care businesses were supposed to be located, she found dilapidated buildings that she told The Center Square were obviously not the location of a hospice care facility. Some phone numbers for those businesses listed on public records were disconnected, or the person who answered the phone when Macedo called hung up when she identified herself as a politician conducting an investigation.

The Center Square reached out to eight Democrats in the California Legislature who have authored anti-fraud legislation in the past or authored homelessness-related legislation. The only Democratic state lawmaker who responded before press time on Wednesday sent a text message through his communications director.

“Nothing but political theater,” Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, told The Center Square in that text. “They are clearly performing for Trump.”

A US jury on Wednesday found that entertainment giant Live Nation wielded monopoly power at its Ticketmaster business, violating federal and state antitrust laws, according to California's attorney general.

A verdict that could have profound repercussions in the concert world came after four days of deliberations, and remedies could include breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for anticompetitive conduct that harmed the music industry and included overcharging consumers, according to California attorney general Rob Bonta.

"This is a historic and resounding victory for artists, fans, and the venues that support them," Bonta said in a release.

"In the face of dwindling antitrust enforcement by the Trump Administration, this verdict shows just how far states can go to protect our residents from big corporations that are using their power to illegally raise prices and rip-off Americans.

"We are incredibly proud of today's outcome -- and especially proud of our coalition made up of red and blue states alike who understood we needed to come together to protect our consumers, businesses, and state economies from Live Nation's illegal conduct."

The jury found that Live Nation overcharged for tickets sold to consumers from May 2020 through 2024, according to Bonta.

- DOJ settlement -

US judge Arun Subramaniam is to determine monetary damages to impose on Live Nation, along with conditions meant to prevent it from abusing its power in the live event ticket market.

The case was initiated under former president Joe Biden in May 2024, when the Department of Justice (DOJ) labeled Live Nation a monopolist that controlled virtually all live entertainment in the United States.

The California-based company is a behemoth in its industry: in 2025, it organized more than 55,000 events worldwide, drawing 159 million attendees. 

Beyond promotion, it holds stakes in 460 venues and has controlled Ticketmaster, the world's leading ticket seller, since 2010.

The US government accused Live Nation of abusing its dominant position to pressure artists and venues into signing with it, stifling competition, and imposing excessive fees on fans. 

It called for Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster and take other corrective measures.

Live Nation reached a tentative settlement with the US Justice Department just days after the trial started in New York, but an alliance of states that had signed on to the case continued to press it in court.

The settlement requires Live Nation to open up the ticketing platform to competitors and to allow other promoters to stage events at certain Live Nation venues, Justice Department officials said.

Live Nation will divest up to 13 amphitheaters and pay $280 million in damages to the nearly 40 states that were parties to the antitrust lawsuit against the California-based company.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the settlement in a post on X at the time.

"Donald Trump just betrayed every fan who's been exploited by Ticketmaster," Warren said. "This fine is less than one percent of Live Nation's revenue last year. We need to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation."

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(The Center Square) – Two more members of Congress may be forced to resign next week or face votes for their expulsion, U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, says. 

She, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, and others have called for the expulsion of four members of Congress: Democrats Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Eric Swalwell and Republicans Tony Gonzales and Cory Mills. 

Slalwell and Gonzales have resigned; Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills have not.  

Luna and Mace have led the charge for the entire Jeffrey Epstein files to be released, for transparency of taxpayer money used by members of Congress to settle sexual harassment claims, and for those who’ve engaged in sexual harassment of staff to be expelled from Congress, The Center Square has reported.

Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat, was found guilty of 25 ethics charges. She also is accused of stealing $5 million in FEMA funds from taxpayers. Mills, a Florida Republican, has been accused of assaulting women, profiting off federal contracts and inflating or falsifying his military service record. 

Luna said expulsion votes for the two Floridians could happen as early as next week. “I don’t think the Democrats are going to vote to protect her,” she said of McCormick. “In fact, I know they won’t. The votes are there.”

She also referred to a House Ethics Committee report “that I’m finding is pretty alarming” the she said is before House Speaker Mike Johnson about Mills. 

Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini said the House Ethic Committee is “about to drop the hammer on Cory Mills – the guy who fabricated his entire military record, was ordered by a judge to stop stalking a young girl 4 months ago, & is currently under investigation for 3 other violations.” Mills denies the allegations.

Last fall, Mace forced a censure vote against Mills, which failed by a vote of 310-103. Mills has said Mace’s claims are “baseless, recycled, and already publicly disproven. I fully deny them, just as I always have. This is not oversight, it’s attention-seeking dressed up as accountability.”

“No member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, is above accountability. No exceptions,” Mace said. "We don't care what party you're in. Stealing millions in taxpayer dollars, sexually assaulting your staff, lying about your service record, none of it is acceptable and none of it goes unnoticed.” 

“Dropping out of a race is not accountability,” she said, referring to Swalwell and Gonzales. “The American people deserve a Congress worthy of their trust. The House needs to be cleaned out, and it starts with these four," again demanding the remaining two resign or be removed from office.

On Tuesday, Swalwell resigned from Congress and dropped his gubernatorial bid after the San Francisco Chronicle reported he was accused of sexually assaulting a former staffer. 

Gonzales also resigned from Congress on Tuesday ahead of an expected vote in the House to expel him. This was after the San Antonio Express News reported on a second sexual harassment allegation made by his campaign staffer. The first allegation Gonzales denied for months but ultimately acknowledged it was true, resulting in House leadership demanding he drop out of his race but not resign, The Center Square reported. A House Ethics Committee investigation had also been launched into Gonzales. He resigned before it was published.

(The Center Square) – The NAACP filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against Elon Musk’s xAI, saying the company is illegally operating 27 methane gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 data center complex across the state line in Memphis.

In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, the NAACP says emissions from the gas turbines violate the Clean Air Act. The Colossus 2 data center near Memphis is the primary training facility for Grok-4, xAI’s next generation chatbot.

The NAACP says between August and December, xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech, operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Miss., “without an air permit or regard for the health and safety of people living nearby.”

Represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, the NAACP is suing to halt xAI’s operations until the company obtains permits, installs the most effective pollution controls available, and pays financial penalties for every day that air quality violations occurred.

In response to the legal action, xAI confirmed commitment to environmental standards.

"The temporary power generation units are operating in compliance with all applicable laws," a company statement said.

“A data center should not be a potential death sentence for a community's health,” said Abre' Conner, NAACP director of environmental and climate justice. “By looking to evade clean air laws to operate dirty turbines that emit pollution and known carcinogens, these companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern: asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation.’”

The Southern Environmental Law Center says xAI’s failure to obtain a permit for the power generation plant created health risks for families in northern Mississippi and Memphis in violation of the Clean Air Act, which requires major sources of pollution to obtain air permits before beginning construction or operations.

The plaintiffs contend the gas turbines emit pollutants like formaldehyde and nitrogen oxides into predominantly Black communities already overburdened by industrial pollution.

The NAACP says in the lawsuit that the gas turbines on the Colossus 2 site could potentially emit over 1,700 tons of nitrogen oxides annually, which would make it the largest industrial source of the pollutant in the 11-county Memphis metropolitan area.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday by the NAACP follows a legal fight in 2025 over xAI’s use of gas turbines without permits to power the Colossus 1 data center. In 2024, Mississippi and Tennessee officials allowed xAI to operate gas turbines without a permit because they were classified as "temporary" and "mobile" units intended to run for less than a year. Under this "temporary-mobile" exemption, no official tracking of toxic releases was required.

In June 2025, after the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center issued a formal notice of intent to sue, xAI removed 20 turbines from the Colossus 1 site and eventually obtained permits for the remaining 15 units.

The Colossus 2 data center will host 555,000 Nvidia GPUs and that potentially require 2 gigawatts of generation capacity, according to xAI. At the Colossus 2 site, the company plans to train chatbots with improvements over previous versions that include advanced reasoning abilities, faster data processing, and near-instant response times for end users.

To help manage the massive power load, xAI reports it has deployed about 600 industrial-grade batteries with approximately 2.3 gigawatt-hours of storage designed to provide energy buffer at times of high energy usage by the Colossus data center while also capable of supplying the local grid during peak demand.

According to the NAACP, the gas turbines at the site still pose a significant risk, with potential annual emissions of 180 tons of fine particulate matter, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, and 19 tons of formaldehyde – a toxic, cancer-causing chemical.

“xAI’s continued operation of these turbines without a permit and without adequate pollution controls is not only illegal, it’s an insult to families living nearby who for months have expressed serious concerns about how air pollution from the company’s personal power plant could impact their health and well-being,” said Ben Grillot, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, a party in the lawsuit.

(The Center Square) – For the second time in the U.S. Senate, Republicans tanked a War Powers Resolution that would have halted the ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran.

The 47-52 vote saw all Democrats except for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., supporting the measure and all Republicans except Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., opposing it.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats “will continue to force votes on these resolutions every week until this war ends or Republicans finally find the courage to stand up to Donald Trump.”

Congress never approved the military action in Iran. A few key members of Congress had received advance notice of the strikes but did not vote to authorize them.

“This is a war the administration initiated not only without approval but with shifting reasons for the provocation of us going to war itself,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told lawmakers prior to the vote Wednesday.

“And the thing that makes this all worse is the enabling Congress is doing of this war, their failure to ask for accountability,” he added. “This body was designed just for that purpose – to provide a check and a balance, to provide oversight. And what we have done is nothing of any substance to play that critical role.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. has eliminated Iran's comprehensive air defense system, the defense industrial base and the majority of Iran's naval forces.

But seizing Iran’s uranium resources and implementing actual Iranian regime change appear out of reach in the near future. The first joint coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes in February killed Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. One of his sons, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has succeeded him.

Since the conflict began, the federal government has spent tens of billions of dollars and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

Some Republicans have expressed concerns over the length of the operation and how it is spiking gas prices.

The fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire expires April 21, but despite exhaustive negotiations, the Trump administration is no closer to a deal with Iran.

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is "prepared" to nominate another Supreme Court justice to the bench, should a vacancy arise.

No justice has publicly announced plans to step down. However, speculation about Justice Samuel Alito, 76, who was hospitalized in March, persists.

Trump said he had a short list of candidates ready to go, but wasn't sure whether there would be any changes to the nine members of the court before the end of the year.

"I don't know," the president told Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo in an interview that aired Wednesday. "Justice Alito is in very good physical health, as you mentioned his name."

Trump said the Democrats made a mistake with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"You make the case at a certain time that you give it up so you can have a justice ... [with] your ideology, your policies ... but it's probably not easy to give up for people. Ginsburg could not do it."

Trump said that, in theory, he could have up to three more picks before the end of his term.

"It could be two, could be three, could be one. I don’t know, I'm prepared to do it," Trump said.

Trump went on to praise Alito's leadership on the court.

Trump appointed three justices in his first term: Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 after Ginsburg's death. Ginsburg died 46 days before the November 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won.

The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority, but as Trump has repeatedly noted, they don't always vote together on key issues.

Trump was frustrated with the high court's decision in the tariffs case. In February, a divided court found the president exceeded his authority by imposing billions of dollars in tariffs.

Conservative Justices Barrett and Gorsuch joined liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Kentanji Brown Jackson, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Alito dissented.

After that ruling, Trump publicly ridiculed Gorsuch and Coney Barrett.

"Two of the people that voted for that, I appointed, and they sicken me," Trump said. "They sicken me because they're bad for our country."

Hours after the high court's tariff ruling, Trump imposed a 10% global entry tariff, which states and small businesses have since challenged.

Trump has also publicly fretted about how the Supreme Court will rule on a case involving his executive order on birthright citizenship.

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. unless a parent is a U.S. citizen or green card holder. Several states challenged the order, and four federal judges have blocked it.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in that case on April 1. A ruling is expected by summer and could significantly impact U.S. immigration.

It's been dubbed the "Arc de Trump." But now President Donald Trump's latest building project has an official name -- the "United States Triumphal Arch."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed the formal title on Wednesday, saying the giant structure was being built to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.

"In honor of this historic occasion, President Trump and the Department of Interior will submit plans for the United States Triumphal Arch," Leavitt told reporters.

Showing off a picture that she initially held upside down, Leavitt said the "monumental" arch would stand 250 feet (76.2 meters) tall "in honor of 250 years."

Its colossal height, including a huge golden Lady Liberty statue on top, means it will dwarf perhaps its most famous predecessor, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which stands at 164 feet.

In fact it is set to be the largest structure of its kind in the world, pipping Mexico City's Monument to the Revolution and knocking Pyongyang's Arch of Triumph to third place.

Plans for the arch were first revealed in October when AFP journalists spotted a model on Trump's desk in the Oval Office, after which it was quickly dubbed the "Arc de Trump" by US media.

Trump revealed the first full renderings for the structure last Friday.

The arch is one of several architectural projects -- including the construction of a gigantic White House ballroom and renovations to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts -- that Trump has undertaken to leave a mark on Washington in his second term.

Critics say the gold-accented arch, which will tower over the 99-foot-tall Lincoln Memorial, is a monument to the 79-year-old Trump's vanity.

The arch will partly be funded by US taxpayers, getting $2 million in special funds from the US National Endowment for the Humanities, with up to $13 million in funds to match any donations, ABC News reported.

But Leavitt said it was aimed at celebrating US national pride.

"Long after everyone in this room is gone, our children and grandchildren will remain inspired by this national monument," she told reporters.

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(The Center Square) - A woman at the center of the detransition movement is waiting to find out if a North Carolina appeals court will let her case proceed as she seeks to reinstate medical malpractice claims that could dramatically change accountability standards in gender medicine.

Independent Women ambassador Prisha Mosley, 28, sued her healthcare providers who took part in her gender transition starting when she was just 17. The lawsuit, first filed in 2023, includes claims for medical malpractice, negligence and fraud.

Her case was dismissed on a procedural basis, with the trial court ruling that her claims came too late. The statute of limitations had expired.

In mid-2025, North Carolina enacted legislation extending the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims regarding gender-affirming care. Affected individuals now have up to 10 years to bring a claim after discovering the injury. 

The appeal could determine whether individuals harmed by so-called “gender-affirming care” are allowed to seek justice once they fully understand the extent of their injuries, often years later when they are young adults.

In a Tuesday interview with The Center Square, Mosley shared that sexual trauma in her childhood started her down the road to being manipulated by trans activists, therapists and doctors.

“I was sexually assaulted and became pregnant when I was fourteen and miscarried,” said Mosley sharing that she was already struggling with mental health issues at the time.

Mosley got on the social media site Tumblr and connected with trans identifying adults.

“They started telling me that my suffering was because I was trans and that this stuff wouldn't happen to me if I was a boy and that's what I just needed to do," she said. "I believed them. I felt validated and not alone."

Soon after, the medical interventions began.

“I was quickly put on testosterone at 17," Mosley said. "And about a year later, I had both of my breasts amputated at 18."

After posting videos about her transition, she was contacted by Partners for Ethical Care and started learning about detransitioners and others who regretted mutilating their bodies in the name of gender affirming care.

Being very public about her journey has taken a toll.

“It does come at a great cost. You know, I have lost privacy and I've been harassed and even doxed. But I honestly think it's worse and more scary to do nothing and just watch my peers who are being lied to by the same industry and even the same doctors that harmed me,” Mosley said. “Not one of them have lost their jobs or have been fired. They're still hurting other people, so I’m willing to be a public case study, so other people know what's coming.”

Mosley and other detransitioners have new momentum on their side, thanks to the recent $2 million Fox Varian detransitioner verdict. A jury in White Plains, New York, ruled on Jan. 30 that two doctors committed medical malpractice by approving and performing a double mastectomy on 16-year-old Fox. The verdict found both professionals legally responsible for violating the standard of care, including by failure to obtain meaningful, informed consent to perform the surgery.

“If successful, Mosley’s case could set a national precedent—ensuring detransitioners are not barred from seeking justice simply because it took time to fully grasp their injuries and the extent of side effects from the chemical and surgical mutilation,” wrote Independent Women in an Apr 13 press release.

Mosley told The Center Square medical professionals encouraging life-altering interventions on juveniles are “selling a lie and a scam.

“I thought that I was having the magical surgery that turned my girl chest into a boy chest because that's what was sold to me……I didn't turn into a boy," she said. "But they're selling these things. They don't tell you that you're getting a double mastectomy and possibly leaving in breast tissues and grafting your nipples and taking everything apart. They don't tell you that. They say we're going to make you a boy and it’s such a lie.”

Despite ongoing health complications because of the medications and surgeries Mosley went through, she was able to get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby boy nearly two years ago.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the highly indebted Argentine government as it reviews the country's financial reforms, paving the way for a $1 billion dollar disbursement.

"Policy momentum has strengthened in recent months," the IMF said, noting that its monetary and exchange rate policies are "improving Argentina's capacity to manage shocks."

This new tranche of funds -- the third planned under a 20-billion-dollar program announced in April 2025 -- must still be approved by the Fund’s Executive Board.

This new disbursement would bring the total money already allocated to Argentina by the IMF to $15 billion.

The South American country has managed "to weather well spillovers from the Middle East war," the Fund said, in no small part because it is an energy exporter.

Nevertheless, the Fund anticipates lower growth this year than in 2025 -- 3.5 percent compared to 4.4 percent a year earlier.

However, inflation – which has long plagued Argentina – is expected to continue slowing, down to 30.4 percent year-on-year at the end of this year compared to almost 42 percent at the end of 2025.

As large as those inflation figures are, they are a far cry from the 220 percent inflation Argentina experienced at one point.

The Fund said that it had agreed with Argentina on a series of additional reforms "to entrench the impressive stabilization gains and sustained reductions in poverty levels since end-2023."

Argentina's economy expanded last year, after two years of contraction. 

However, the growth was uneven, with some sectors -- such as financial services, agriculture and mining -- expanding, while others -- like manufacturing and retail trade -- slowing.

Unemployment remains concerning, increasing by 1.1 percentage points to 7.5 percent over the past year, not including the large number of people informally employed across the country.

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