Remnants of an Iranian missile are seen near the border between the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria

(The Center Square) - Politicians, school officials and union leaders are applauding tentative agreements between Los Angeles Unified School District and Big Labor.

But associations of parents and taxpayers are concerned about the costs.

(The Center Square) – Agriculture economists and transportation analysts say a proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern could lower shipping costs and ease long-standing bottlenecks for American farmers.

The Surface Transportation Board, which oversees railroad mergers, rejected the companies’ initial application as incomplete. The railroads plan to refile by the end of April.

Industry analysts say the merger would connect two rail systems that operate in different parts of the country rather than eliminate competition.

Paul Prentice, a former chief macro-economist for the United States Department of Agriculture, said the deal combines two complementary networks.

“This is not really a merger of competitors,” Prentice said. “It is a merger of cooperators – a merger between a western railroad and an eastern railroad.”

Prentice said the split between eastern and western rail networks has created delays and higher costs, especially for agricultural shipments.

Farm and food products make up about 20% of total rail tonnage, according to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Roughly half of all U.S. grain moves by rail. About 80% of wheat bound for export is shipped by rail.

Shipments moving across the country often switch railroads at interchange points such as Chicago. Those transfers add days and increase costs. A combined system would allow single-line service from coast to coast, proponents say.

“Farmers will have better choices of what ports to take product to,” Prentice said. “They’ll have easy access to not just Baltimore and the East Coast, but the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Lakes. It just brings more efficiencies and more choices.”

“The data is just very clear,” Prentice said. “What appeared to be a potentially dangerous concentration of power turned out not to be the case.”

Michael Gorman, the Niehaus Chair of Operations and Analytics at the University of Dayton, said the deal’s structure avoids the typical loss of competition because the railroads operate in different regions.

“There are very few shippers on both UP and Norfolk Southern, because they operate on opposite ends of the country,” Gorman said.

Gorman said eliminating interchange delays would help rail compete with trucking on long-distance shipments.

“Getting stuff off the roads and on the rail is good for all of us,” Gorman said. “Rail just wins on every single count – safety, congestion, pollution.”

Michael Toth, research director at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, said the merger could cut coast-to-coast shipping times by about two days.

Ashley Baker, executive director of the Committee for Justice, said regulators should focus on how the deal affects consumers and competition.

“How does this affect competition? How does it affect the consumer?” Baker said. “The benefits far outweigh the costs.”

The companies’ shareholders have already approved the deal. 

When asked about the deal, President Donald Trump previously said it “sounds good.” Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern plan to refile their application by April 30.

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration’s Justice Department released a report Tuesday that it says details the Biden administration’s uneven enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to target anti-abortion groups.

The report claims that the Biden Department of Justice unlawfully favored abortion-rights groups and their security over anti-abortion groups in its communications, activities and prosecutions. The department collaborated with abortion-rights groups to “track pro-life activists’ First Amendment activity,” withheld evidence requested by defense attorneys, “tried to screen out jurors based on religion” and pursued harsher sentences for anti-abortion defendants than for abortion-rights defendants, according to the report.

The First Liberty Institute, a legal organization that focuses on defending religious liberty, called the report by the department’s Weaponization Working Group “explosive.”

“The Biden administration’s selective, politically-motivated enforcement of the FACE Act was an unconscionable abuse of power,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for the institute, in a statement. 

The FACE Act was enacted in 1994 under President Bill Clinton and created civil and criminal penalties for anyone who interferes with or intimidates people providing or seeking reproductive health services or attending places of worship. It also protects the property or reproductive health clinics or centers and places of worship. Anyone convicted of interference or intimidation in those settings may face fines, probation or imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense.

The report cited an internal email that said the Biden DOJ charged “more than 45” anti-abortion defendants in “over 20” cases. In contrast, though there was a noticeable uptick in violence against pregnancy resource centers after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the report claims that the “Biden DOJ largely ignored attacks on pro-life pregnancy resource centers, only charging five people for vandalism and attacks” against anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers.

For 21 nonviolent anti-abortion defendants who were convicted of obstructing the entrances of reproductive health clinics, the average requested sentencing from the Biden DOJ was 26.8 months, or roughly 2 years and 3 months, according to the department’s report. These defendants and two others were later pardoned by President Donald Trump within the first few days of his second term.

For six abortion-rights activists who were convicted of vandalism for graffitiing pregnancy help centers, the department requested an average sentence of 12.3 months, or just over one year. 

The report also describes how abortion-rights groups sent information on some anti-abortion activists to the Biden DOJ, which the department used to “monitor’ pro-life activists years before charging them,” and how assistant United States attorneys “looked for ways to screen possible jurors based on their conservative or religious views, while not inquiring about liberal counterviews.”

In response, besides the president’s pardons and in addition to other efforts, the Trump DOJ has dismissed three civil lawsuits against anti-abortion activists and issued guidance directing department prosecutors to only bring abortion-related civil actions under the FACE Act in “extraordinary circumstances or in cases presenting significant aggravating factors.”

US President Donald Trump's choice for central bank chair is set to face a confirmation hearing next Tuesday, in a nomination some have criticized as an attempt to take over the Federal Reserve.

The Senate Banking Committee released the April 21 date on Tuesday, after weeks of delays in former Fed official Kevin Warsh's confirmation process.

Trump picked Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell when his term at the helm ends in May, but his confirmation in the Senate faces challenges as a key lawmaker pushes back against the president's attempt to control the independent institution.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis -- who sits on the Banking Committee -- has vowed to block all Fed nominees, including Warsh, until a Justice Department probe into Powell and the Fed over renovations at the bank is resolved. 

Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement Tuesday: "There should be no hearing or vote in the Senate on Kevin Warsh's nomination while the President continues his attempt to take over the Fed."

Calling Warsh a "Trump sock puppet," she added that his confirmation by the Senate "would be a mistake."

The Republican-led panel is expected to quiz Warsh at his April 21 appearance on his vast wealth and his past ties to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his views on interest rates and other economic issues.

- 'As soon as possible' -

The Trump administration wants Warsh in place as the new Fed chairman "as soon as possible," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a roundtable Tuesday.

On Tillis' plan to block the confirmation process until the Justice Department probe is resolved, Bessent added: "I think we're going to let this play out."

Bessent added that he believes Tillis is ultimately "a reasonable man," speaking on the sidelines of an Institute of International Finance event in Washington.

Asked if he has been in talks to drop the Justice Department investigation, Bessent added: "I don't control the DOJ probe."

But he maintained: "I am confident that (Warsh) will be the Fed chair."

Previously, a federal judge quashed subpoenas issued to the Fed as part of the Justice Department probe, with the court saying there was "a mountain of evidence" to suggest the investigation was a pressure tactic.

- Waiting for clarity -

Asked about the Fed's path on interest rates as war in the Middle East plays out, Bessent added: "They could observe before they cut rates."

"I believe rates should be cut," he maintained.

But he added: "If they want to wait for some clarity, I understand that."

He added that Fed policymakers should also wait for Warsh to be in place "and let him lead the next cycle" of rate adjustments.

Trump has been pushing for the Fed to lower the benchmark lending rate since he returned to the White House in January 2025, and repeatedly lashed out at Powell for not slashing more aggressively.

But US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran on February 28, which sparked Tehran's retaliation and plunged the region into war, have triggered a surge in energy and fertilizer prices.

Tehran has mostly blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for such shipments.

The move has caused gasoline and other price hikes in the United States, fanning fears of more persistent inflation.

The Fed typically raises interest rates to rein in inflation, and lowers them to spur economic activity.

bys/md

(The Center Square) – Ahead of a scheduled House floor vote Wednesday, dozens of U.S. lawmakers are demanding that any extension of the federal government’s electronic surveillance powers include privacy protections for Americans.

Echoing some of the concerns of Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 53 Democratic lawmakers wrote to congressional leaders Tuesday, arguing that Congress “cannot hand this administration, or any administration, a blank check for warrantless surveillance.”

At issue is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows federal intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on foreign nationals of suspicion.

In practice, however, the electronic data of American citizens – including emails, text messages, and phone calls – are routinely collected as well. 

Not only can intelligence agencies collect and store that data for up to five years, but intelligence agents routinely search that data without obtaining a warrant, known as “backdoor searches.” 

“The threat is not hypothetical — agencies are already exploiting gaps in our outdated privacy laws,” the lawmakers wrote. “There is broad bipartisan, bicameral consensus that our laws must be modernized to meet this moment.”

Another privacy loophole the lawmakers want closed is the ability of federal agencies to purchase Americans’ location records and internet metadata from commercial data brokers – data that is normally protected under the Fourth Amendment.

“[C]ompanies barred from selling data directly to the government simply sell it to a data broker first, thereby circumventing protections for constitutionally protected information through a middleman,” the lawmakers pointed out. 

FISA Section 702 expires April 20. The House Rules Committee will mark up a clean, 18-month extension in a meeting Tuesday afternoon, where multiple lawmakers are sure to object.

The White House, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other higher-ups have urged Congress to go along with a renewal of the status quo. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday that he supports a clean extension due to the Department of Justice loosening restrictions on congressional oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. 

Though these promised changes do not address the main concern of Fourth Amendment violations, Grassley concluded the steps taken have “proven” the administration’s “commitment to transparency and the protection of civil liberties.” 

“Section 702 is one of our nation’s most valuable national security tools. Especially given the current threat environment, it’s imperative Congress doesn’t allow this critical authority to lapse,” Grassley stated. “We must ensure American lives aren’t put at risk by a potential Section 702 expiration on April 20. The best path forward is for the House to pass a clean, 18-month FISA extension."

President Donald Trump also weighed in on his Truth Social account just hours before the Rules committee hearing, telling Republicans to "UNIFY" around a clean extension even while dubbing himself "a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA."

"While parts of FISA were illegally and unfortunately used against me in the Democrats’ disgraceful Witch Hunt and Attack in the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA Hoax, and perhaps would be used against me in the future, I am willing to risk that as a Citizen in order to do what is right for our Country," Trump wrote.

"Since the first day of my already Historic Second Term, my Administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these FISA Reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting our sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution," he added.

"With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country. The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our Military."

Michigan measles outbreak shows high cost of stopping even a small number of infections from spreading

The small measles outbreak that health officials are combating in Michigan began last month with an unvaccinated young woman returning home from visiting Florida, a state where there have been more than 140 cases this year.

Her first symptoms around March 7 seemed like a cold. By the time the telltale measles rash appeared a few days later, she had exposed her family and scores of other people in public settings, according to health officials in Washtenaw County, near Detroit.

The Michigan outbreak is one of 17 new outbreaks nationwide reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since January. There have been 1,671 confirmed cases of measles reported this year across 32 states, according to CDC data.

Most of this year’s cases (94%) have involved outbreaks. Some — like those in Texas and Florida — involve more than 100 infections. In a few, cases have surged into the hundreds, as is the case in the outbreak in Utah, which is still growing, and the outbreak in South Carolina, which appears to be ending.

Many of the outbreaks are small — just a few cases. But as public health officials in Washtenaw County, Michigan, are learning, the resources required to keep them that way can be enormous.

Staffing costs for managing a handful of measles cases: $45,000

“We’re still at seven cases,” Beth Ann Hamilton, communications coordinator for the Washtenaw County Health Department, told Healthbeat this week. “We’re definitely not out of the woods yet.”

Meanwhile, another measles case announced on April 2 in neighboring Monroe County has state health officials concerned that measles may be silently spreading in the community. No definitive link has been established to the cases in Washtenaw County, but the timing and location of the new case are concerning, officials at the state health department said.

Because of this risk, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is recommending young children receive their first measles shot early — at 6 to 11 months of age.

Yet even with just a handful of known measles cases, the containment workload is already taking its toll.

At the Washtenaw County Health Department, measles control is taking priority over many other health department services as staff have been needed to help track down and counsel hundreds of exposed people, test them for immunity to measles when they don’t have vaccination records, and monitor those in quarantine.

“Seven cases may not seem like a lot, but it is, and it’s hundreds and hundreds of contacts that our staff have to follow up on and monitor,” Jimena Loveluck, the department’s health officer, told the Washtenaw County Board of Health on March 27.

“We’re not able to get other work done,” she said. “We just don’t have the capacity to respond and then continue all our regular level of services. The expense also is tremendous.”

Exposures have occurred at a popular mall in Ann Arbor, a community college, a hospital, urgent care clinics, several stores, and a restaurant.

Investigating and managing the exposures of just the initial three or four cases cost $45,000 in staff time, Ruth Kraut, the department’s deputy health officer, told the board. Other health department staff noted that $100,000 in funding from the state to help with the outbreak had been largely spent.

“It’s been a huge effort,” Dr. Juan Luis Marquez, the department’s medical director, told the board. “We get lists of students or patients or whatnot. We don’t have much information to go by other than their name and date of birth. So that basically means our team of nurses and other folks calling everybody to verify their immunization status.”

Because two doses of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is 97% effective at preventing the disease, public health officials are mostly trying to identify those who aren’t protected so they can be advised to quarantine at home and not spread the disease to others.

But people often don’t remember whether they’ve been vaccinated or don’t have access to their immunization records, Marquez said. So then they need to come to the health department clinic to have a blood test to check to see if they have measles immunity from past vaccination or infection.

The result is that the health department’s clinic is largely focused on measles and vaccine response, he said, and communicable disease efforts are being limited to measles and other high-risk cases.

Like forest fires, measles outbreaks are ‘sending out sparks’

A significant challenge for public health officials is that it’s difficult to know which small measles outbreaks can be quickly and easily contained, and which ones will spread to hundreds of people.

Dr. William Moss, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the school’s International Vaccine Access Center, compared the measles landscape across the United States to a map of forest fires.

“You’ve got these bigger outbreaks, they’re kind of sending out sparks,” Moss said. “If that spark lands in a county or a community with high vaccine coverage, you don’t get much spread. And so you see one of these small outbreaks. But if it does land in a community with a large number of individuals who are under vaccinated or unvaccinated, then you get these larger outbreaks.”

It would be helpful to overlay measles cases onto maps with detailed vaccination coverage data, he said. But sources of vaccination data are limited and fragmented, and while school vaccination data can be helpful, it doesn’t include information about adults in the community.

“We and many other groups have been trying to develop ways to predict or forecast, as best we can, where the hotspots are. It’s just very difficult with measles,” Moss said.

Moss said that to know how easily measles will spread requires having detailed information about the coverage levels of vaccination and immunity within very localized communities where people socialize. But such data isn’t readily available, he said.

The places Moss and his team are watching closely are those where cases have been increasing the most in the past few weeks. That includes Hudspeth County, Texas, where the Johns Hopkins U.S. Measles Tracker has tallied 31 cases in recent weeks, and several counties in Utah, which are in the midst of a surge in their outbreak. Many of the cases in Hudspeth County, Texas, involve a federal detention facility.

Since it began last year, Utah’s measles outbreak has sickened 559 people, 362 since January. South Carolina’s measles outbreak, the largest in the United States in decades, has had 997 known cases since October — more than 660 of them since January.

The good news: South Carolina health officials haven’t had a measles case reported to them in more than two weeks. If that trend continues for 42 consecutive days — which is two incubation cycles for the measles virus — that outbreak will be declared over after April 26.

As of early March, the South Carolina Department of Public Health told Healthbeat it had spent $1.6 million on its response to the outbreak.

This story was produced by Healthbeat and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Javier Mascherano announced on Tuesday that he was leaving his role as head coach of Inter Miami, the MLS club spearheaded on the field by his compatriot Lionel Messi.

The 41-year-old Argentinian, who guided Miami to the club's first MLS Cup title, said his surprise departure was due to "personal reasons".

"I want to let everyone know that, for personal reasons, I have decided to end my tenure as head coach of Inter Miami CF," Mascherano said in a statement released by the club.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank the Club for the trust they placed in me, every employee who is part of the organization for the collective effort, but especially the players, who made it possible for us to experience unforgettable moments."

The former Barcelona and Liverpool midfielder took over at Miami in January 2025 and oversaw 67 matches, including the franchise's run to the round of 16 at the Club World Cup, where they were defeated by UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain.

"Javier will forever be part of this Club's history and will always hold a special place in the Inter Miami CF family," managing owner Jorge Mas said.

"We respect his decision and are deeply grateful for everything he contributed, wishing him nothing but the very best in his professional and personal future."

Argentinian Guillermo Hoyos will take charge of the team for the "upcoming matches", the club said.

After seven rounds this season, Inter Miami sit third in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Messi, a 2022 World Cup winner and eight-time Ballon d'Or laureate, is the jewel in the crown of Miami's squad, which also includes Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul.

bur-nf/bc

French carmaker Renault said Tuesday that it plans to reduce its number of engineers by 15 to 20 percent in the coming two years as it seeks to remain competitive.

A company spokesman said the reductions, out of a total of some 12,000 engineering posts worldwide, would be made without forced layoffs. 

The carmaker, which has made a push into battery electric vehicles, has sought to reduce costs by speeding up development.

Renault developed its recently launched electric Twingo subcompact in two years, half the normal time, by working with its Chinese partners.

The company said last month it aims to lower the costs of its electric cars by 10 to 30 percent, with much of this by reducing development costs.

The spokesman said development of new technologies and fundamental design work would remain in France.

Engineering centres in other countries such as Brazil, India, Morocco, Romania, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey will also be reducing the number of engineering posts.

leb/rl/yad

(The Center Square) – U.S. Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, will retain taxpayer-funded benefits after leaving their positions in Congress.

Swalwell and Gonzales are leaving Congress amid allegations that both men sexually harassed female staffers. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., said they planned to lead a resolution to expel both Swalwell and Gonzales if they did not resign.

“There is no such thing as consent when the imbalance of power is this profound,” Leger Fernandez said. “That power can never be separated from the harm inflicted in these sexual abuse cases.”

Despite leaving Congress before completing their terms, both men can receive taxpayer-funded Congressional pensions as they meet the minimum amount of time served in the legislative body to receive a pension. Members of Congress with at least five years of service can be eligible for a pension plan at age 62 that rivals jobs of similar pay in the private sector, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

The amount of pension benefits are determined by a formula that accounts for a member’s length of service, average of the three years of highest salary and initial election to office.

On average, lawmakers receive an annual annuity of $45,276. This rate can be substantially more or less depending on the lawmaker’s time of service.

Demian Brady, vice president of research at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, estimated Swalwell’s pension would start at just over $22,000 once he turns 62 in 2042. This estimate assumes his final day is May 1 and he took all the steps possible to increase his pension amount.

Gonzales’ pension will be lower, since he was sworn into office in 2021. Brady estimated his pension would start at just over $8,900 in 2042. Despite lower rates, pensions can increase substantially year over year. 

Most recently, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., drew backlash after she announced she would resign just in time to recieve a congressional pension. NTUF estimated Greene would start with a pension of $8,717 annually at age 62, which could total more than $265,000 over her lifetime. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Coretz, D-N.Y., criticized the timing of Greene's departure at the time. She pointed to the timing of her resignation and expected pension benefits. 

"She's carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks and after making millions of dollars insider trading stocks for weapons manufacturers and others while in office," Ocasio Cortez wrote on social media. 

Annual pension benefits for members of Congress cost taxpayers $38 million per year to pay out.

Russian strikes killed seven people, including a child, and wounded dozens across Ukraine on Tuesday, regional authorities said.

Moscow has pummelled its neighbour with hundreds of drones almost nightly since the beginning of the four-year war, but recently had expanded daytime strikes. 

A morning attack on the central Dnipropetrovsk region claimed the lives of five and wounded 27, said local governor Oleksandr Ganzha. 

"The enemy attacked four districts of the region more than 30 times with missiles, drones, and artillery," Ganzha said. 

In the afternoon, a Russian drone killed an elderly woman in the frontline city of Kherson in the south, said regional prosecutors. 

Later in the evening, another drone killed an eight-year-old boy and wounded nine in the central Cherkasy region, said its military administration. 

Separately, authorities in the port city of Odesa said Russian drones hit two civilian vessels and the harbour infrastructure. 

The industrial hub of Dnipropetrovsk lies more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the front line, which snakes through eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russian troops have captured a sliver of territory in the wider Dnipropetrovsk region, which is not one of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to have annexed after its invasion.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022.

US-brokered talks on the conflict have failed to push the sides closer to a deal, with negotiations frozen for weeks.

bur/rmb