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Stories of interest
PBS weekend newscasts shut down due to funding cuts, replaced by single-topic programs (AP)
By David Bauder
AP Media Writer
PBS will premiere separate programs on science and foreign affairs next weekend after shutting the doors on its Saturday and Sunday breaking newscasts because of the federal government’s cut of $1.1 billion in funding to public broadcasting.
“PBS News Weekend” signed off Sunday, “at least for the foreseeable future,” anchor John Yang said. The weekend sister of “PBS NewsHour” began broadcasting in 2013 from New York, and moved to Washington in 2022.
Starting Saturday, PBS will air the weekly show “Horizons” on science and technology issues. The new show “Compass Points” will focus on foreign affairs Sunday. Both programs will be taped in advance during the week, enabling PBS to save money by cutting back on weekend staff, said Sara Just, senior executive producer for “NewsHour.”
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The MAGA Plan to Take Over TV Is Just Beginning (The New York Times Magazine)
By Jim Rutenberg
On a Wednesday morning in mid-December, Senator Ted Cruz, chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, faced off with a potentially hostile witness — Brendan Carr, the conservative Republican who heads the Federal Communications Commission.
Cruz called Carr to testify before the committee in October, days after Carr very publicly demanded that ABC suspend the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, citing a monologue about Charlie Kirk’s killer that inflamed the MAGA right. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr had said on a right-wing podcast. Disney, ABC’s parent company, took Kimmel off the air for a week.
In the run-up to the hearing, Fox News and CNN commentators anticipated a “grilling.” Divisions within Trump’s movement were becoming more common, with fights breaking out over the Epstein files, Israel and even the place of neo-Nazis in the Republican big tent. The F.C.C. attack on network television had thrust free speech into the mix, with a few Republicans saying things had gone too far and others saying they needed to go further still. JD Vance, the expected Trump standard-bearer in 2028, dismissed Carr’s threats as “a joke on social media.” But Cruz, whose own undisguised presidential ambitions rested in part on maintaining his reputation as a free-speech warrior, had said they were “dangerous as hell,” and likened Carr to a mobster “right out of ‘Goodfellas.’” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, which agreed, called it Cruz’s “finest hour.”
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Washington’s New Lobbyists: Paid Online Influencers With Few Rules (The Wall Street Journal)
By Maggie Severns, Natalie Andrews, Josh Dawsey and Eliza Collins
Last summer, Donald Trump’s 28-year-old former campaign aide Alex Bruesewitz had some new advice for the president: reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. “Nearly 70% of Republican voters support Trump on this. No brainer!,” he said to more than 640,000 followers on X.
What Bruesewitz left out of the post: A political-action committee funded by legal marijuana’s biggest players had just paid him $300,000.
Trump’s return to the White House has transformed the federal government and upended the business of lobbying, creating a new class of Washington operatives that blur the lines between consulting, advocacy and journalism.
Corporate and foreign interests that used to rely primarily on paid lobbyists to pitch their case to lawmakers and administration officials are instead pouring money into trying to get their cause promoted by a group of young, conservative influencers known to be close to Trump’s staff.
A camera-ready pack of Gen-Z social-media natives—many of whom were too young to vote when Trump announced his first run for office—are reaping the rewards. They don’t work for traditional news outlets and are thus unshackled from newsroom ethics rules, such as the typical ban on accepting gifts worth more than $25. They don’t have to follow the disclosure laws that apply to big-money super PACs or lobbyists. And they have large followings eager to hear pro-Trump views, a gold mine for those looking to sway both Washington and the public.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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Meta names former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chairman (AP)
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook owner Meta has named Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump administration adviser and longtime finance executive, as president and vice chairman of the tech giant.
Powell McCormick previously served on Meta’s board of directors — where, the company notes, she was “deeply engaged” in accelerating its artificial intelligence push across platforms. In her new management role, Meta says Powell McCormick will help guide its overall strategy, including the execution of multi-billion-dollar investments.
The news, announced Monday, quickly gained the applause of U.S. President Donald Trump. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, the Republican president said the move was a “great choice” by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — and noted that Powell McCormick had “served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction.”
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Hong Kong court hears arguments on sentencing of former publisher Jimmy Lai; no decision yet (AP)
By Kanis Leung
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court heard arguments Monday about the sentencing of democracy advocate and onetime-media magnate Jimmy Lai, whose conviction under a national security law could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
Lai founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper and was an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party. He was arrested in 2020 under the law imposed by Beijing following massive anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong the year before.
In December, he was found guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish seditious articles.
Lai, alongside other co-defendants, appeared in court for the four-day mitigation hearings. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Sentencing will come later.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
The Final Word
The three key ages your brain declines dramatically – and what you can do about it (The Guardian)
By Kate Spicer
Cognitive decline is natural: it starts to subtly set in by our 40s, and by your mid-50s it’s perfectly normal to find yourself standing in the middle of a room, scratching your head, saying, “Now why the hell did I come in here?”
While the odd midlife memory lapse is a normal part of the ageing process, a 2025 study found that there are three distinct peaks, when cognitive decline is more evident in all of us. However, these clear spikes seen at 57, 70 and 78 are significantly more pronounced in some people, and the reason for that is simple: lifestyle.
Prof Barbara J Sahakian, of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, is the co-author of Brain Boost, a book about the multiple physical and mental actions that support lifelong healthy cognitive function.
She explains the study in its simplest terms: “These key ages in the study are when we begin to see substantial brain changes. At 57, it’s about how well we have managed the physical changes that come with middle age and menopause; at 70, it’s about how well we have kept our brains stimulated in the run up to and post-retirement, and at 78, it’s related to levels of those ‘cognitive reserves’ we have built up by challenging ourselves to do hard things.
Read more here. Shared by Doug Pizac.
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