Today’s Big Story

Olympic Dreams

As America’s Olympic team is decided, some dreams are realized while others are dashed

We have just about a month until the Olympics kick off in Paris, France. And we’re still deciding who will make the Olympic team. Of course, some disciplines and sports have named their teams, but the big summer sports, from swimming and diving to track and field just started their Olympic trials over the weekend.

As one sports reporter put it: “Before the Olympics even begin, there is always heartbreak. And June may be the hardest month of all.” Caitlin Clark, the ascendant star of women’s basketball, just found out that she won’t be going to Paris. So did Bill May, whose hopes of becoming the first man to compete at the Olympics in the sport of artistic swimming were dashed by the U.S. selection committee.

Over the next few weeks, hundreds more athletes—swimmers and sprinters, divers and tumblers, many of whom have spent years training with the singular goal of representing Team U.S.A. on the planet’s grandest sports stage—will see their lifelong dreams of competing at the Olympics realized … or “pulverized to a fine dust.”

The trials themselves have become quite the event, too. After four straight trials in Omaha, in a basketball arena with a capacity of around 13,000, USA Swimming made the bold decision to move its signature event to Indianapolis and into the cavernous home of the NFL’s Colts, constructing a pool atop the ground where Peyton Manning once threw touchdown passes. Even with half the stadium curtained-off to accommodate a warm-up pool, it will have a capacity of roughly 30,000. Though official attendance records for international swimming don’t exist, anything close to that number probably would represent the largest crowd ever to witness a swim meet.

And, of course, this is not just happening here in the States. The same selection process is currently happening in all 206 countries that will be represented at the 2024 Games. In Australia, pop star-turned-competitive swimmer Cody Simpson had his dream squashed by less than half of a second—failing to secure a spot on the Australian swim team.

Israel Announces ‘Tactical Pause’

Fighting will pause from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily until further notice

Israel’s military announced on Sunday that it would pause fighting during daytime hours along a route in southern Gaza to free up a backlog of humanitarian aid deliveries for desperate Palestinians enduring a humanitarian crisis sparked by the war, now in its ninth month.

The “tactical pause,” which applies to about 7.5 miles of road in the Rafah area, falls far short of a complete cease-fire in the territory that has been sought by the international community, including Israel’s top ally, the United States. It could help address some of the overwhelming needs of Palestinians that have surged in recent weeks with Israel’s incursion into Rafah. The army said the pause would begin at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and remain in effect until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT). It said the pauses would take place every day until further notice.

Reuters reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the military’s plan. “When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an Israeli official said. But it’s clearly needed. According to NPR, the flow of aid in southern Gaza declined just as the humanitarian need grew. More than 1 million Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced, fled Rafah after the invasion, crowding into other parts of southern and central Gaza. Most now languish in ramshackle tent camps.

Epic Heatwave Could Last a Week

The record-breaking, widespread and stubborn heat will blanket millions of Americans

The summer of 2024 is coming in hot. And it’s not even officially summer yet (that’s on Thursday). But millions of Americans from Texas to Maine will face sweltering conditions this week as a heat wave takes hold in the eastern half of the United States, according to forecasters.

By Sunday afternoon, 268 million Americans were forecasted to see air temperatures reach or exceed 90°F, with many of them experiencing heat indexes at or above 100°F. According to CNN, heat-related illness is a concern in severely impacted areas, particularly for the elderly, young children and outdoor workers. Extreme heat is by far the deadliest form of severe weather, killing on average twice as many people a year as tornadoes and hurricanes combined.

The big cities that will be affected by this event include Chicago, Columbus, Albany, Syracuse, Pittsburg, Washington, D.C., New York City, Hartford and Boston. Many will record their hottest temperatures to date. “At this point, it’s almost trivial to say that climate change has intensified heat waves like the one that is about to occur,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist, told the New York Times. During the last 12 months, the average global temperature of earth has been the highest on record for that month. Last month was the hottest May ever. June could bring that number to 13.

TV Watching Has Changed

Is anybody watching the same TV shows anymore?

Not that long ago, when new episodes of “hit” TV shows dropped, fans and critics alike would turn up on Twitter or pony up to the proverbial water cooler to discuss their faves—from Succession and Schitt’s Creek to Ted Lasso and Game of Thrones. Yet somehow, without anyone quite noticing it had happened, the TV shows we watch like that seem to have vanished, reports Vox.

Later this month, The Bear’s third season will drop and we’ll all watch it, right? But maybe at different times. On different days. And it’s one of the few shows that overlaps in the Venn diagram of “critical consensus hits” and “watercooler discourse bait”. In April, New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik labeled our current era of television “the golden age of Mid TV.” Mid TV, he says, is “what you get when you raise TV’s production values and lower its ambitions.”

One reason there aren’t many great watercooler series this year, Vox points out, may be simply that there isn’t as much TV this year as usual. They make a good point: the number of TV shows in production has been dropping since it peaked in 2021, and the 2023 writer’s strike only exacerbated the trend. According to a recent study from FilmLA, television production in the first quarter of 2024 was down by 16.2 percent from the same period last year, and down 32.8 percent from its five-year average. Statista shows a total of 516 scripted TV shows in 2023, down from 600 in 2022. If there’s less television across the board right now, it follows that there would be less good and buzzy TV, too.

Stuck in a Cycle of Negative Thoughts?

Break free with online therapy from BetterHelp

Do you ever feel like your mind is on a hamster wheel of negativity? Worry, self-doubt, and harsh inner criticism can hold you back from experiencing life to the fullest. You're not alone. Millions of people struggle with negative thought patterns, but there is a way to break free. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist skilled in helping clients identify and change unhelpful thinking styles. Through personalized therapy, you can learn to silence your inner critic, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and finally experience the peace of mind you deserve. Take their free five-minute assessment and get matched with a therapist who understands your unique challenges. Start talking anytime, anywhere, with phone, video, or text options. Plus, get $75 off your first month and a risk-free experience with a money-back guarantee.

Start from now.