Today’s Big Story

Pope Francis Dies at 88

The first Latin American pope emphasized inclusion and care for the marginalized over doctrinal purity

On Easter Sunday, Pope Francis appeared in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for an Easter blessing, after a brief earlier meeting with Vice President JD Vance. The previously unannounced meeting came one day after the Vatican said Vance had “an exchange of opinions” during a meeting with its top officials on matters including “countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations,” in particular immigration and prisoners. It might be considered the pontiff’s last call for compassion and inclusion.

Francis died early Monday at the age of 88, the Vatican announced. No cause of death was included in the statement. In February, after a bout with bronchitis, he had been hospitalized in Rome with what Vatican officials called a “complex clinical picture” that included a diagnosis of double pneumonia. Over recent years, he had suffered recurring respiratory infections, undergone colon and abdominal surgery, and experienced increasing mobility problems, requiring the use of a cane and wheelchair.

From the beginning it was clear that he’d be a different kind of pope. Regal living was always part of the papal mystique. Yet after receiving the nod in 2013, Pope Francis—born Jorge Mario Bergoglio—eschewed the opulent 10-room apartment overlooking St. Peter’s Square where previous popes lived. Francis’ chosen quarters, a boardinghouse plunked behind a gas station, remained his home as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

As the New York Times obituary points out, “Francis reached out to migrants, the poor and the destitute, to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members, and to alienated gay Catholics. He traveled to often-forgotten and far-flung countries and sought to improve relations with an antagonistic Chinese government, Muslim clerics and leaders from across the fragmented Christian world.” The Argentine Jesuit assumed the mantle of a church dazed by the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI and wounded by revelations of rampant abuse in the priesthood and financial scandal.

He made few changes to official Catholic doctrine, but his inclusive style inspired adoration and often provoked criticism. And his death now sets in motion the centuries-old process of electing a new Pope. The new pontiff has to be chosen by the Catholic Church's most senior officials, known as the College of Cardinals. All men, they are appointed directly by the Pope, and are usually ordained bishops. The election is held in strict secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel, famously painted by Michelangelo. The only clue about how the election is proceeding is the smoke that emerges twice a day from burning the cardinals' ballot papers. Black signals failure. The traditional white smoke means the new Pope has been chosen.

The Government’s Sloppy Messaging

Sensitive documents, including White House floor plans, improperly shared with thousands

So much for security clearance. Government officials under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump improperly shared sensitive documents with thousands of federal workers, including potentially classified floor plans of the White House, according to internal records reviewed by the Washington Post.

Career employees at the General Services Administration (which provides administrative and technological support for much of the federal bureaucracy and manages the government’s real estate portfolio) were responsible for the oversharing. It not only spurred a cybersecurity incident report but an official investigation last week. The records show that the employees inadvertently shared a Google Drive folder containing the sensitive documents with the entire GSA staff, which totals more than 11,200 people, according to the agency’s online directory.

The news comes on top of an update on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s loose texting of information ahead of Yemen strikes in a Signal chat. It turns out, he also sent the information—which included attack plans and the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen—in a second Signal chat with his wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, and his brother. Sean Parnell, the chief Defense Department spokesman, denied that Hegseth had shared classified information. “There was no classified information in any Signal chat,” he said on X. And Anna Kelly, a White House deputy press secretary, played down the significance of the second group chat.

Promising Treatments for Parkinson’s?

Stem cells and a new drug to combat motor symptoms are “very encouraging”

For decades, treating Parkinson’s disease with medication has posed the challenge of how to maximize motor symptom relief while minimizing adverse effects that can attend dopaminergic drugs. Parkinson's is a brain disease that attacks neurons that make dopamine. As those neurons die, patients can develop a range of disabling symptoms, including tremors, rigidity, fatigue, difficulty walking and cognitive problems.

But a new drug has shown promise in combating the disease while minimizing unwanted side effects. The once-daily pill, tavapadon, was found to relieve symptoms—everything from stiffness and coordination, to tremors and movement—for a longer period of time for patients who were also taking at least 400 mg of levodopa a day and were experiencing “motor fluctuations”, which are periods of time when the medication wears off and symptoms return, according to the study. The drug works by essentially mimicking dopamine in the body.

And in other promising news, patients with Parkinson’s may soon benefit from another powerful treatment option: stem-cell transplants. In a set of small studies designed primarily to test safety, researchers found that stem cells transplanted into the brains of Parkinson’s patients began producing dopamine and appeared to ease symptoms like tremors, reports NPR. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared one of the stem-cell treatments for a Phase 3 study, the last hurdle before approval.

NIL Contracts Raise Big Money (and Questions)

‘Change and chaos’ could be next for college sports after NIL contract holdouts

College athletes used to get full ride scholarships. Until a few years ago, big endorsement deals for students were unheard of … until 2021 when the NCAA changed rules to allow students to profit from their name, image and likeness—otherwise known as NIL. It refers to a person's legal right to control how their image is used, including commercially. And suddenly, it’s become big business for these athletes.

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava made waves over the weekend, by committing to UCLA after leaving the Volunteers as a result of a reported NIL pay dispute. According to multiple reports, Iamaleava was attempting to renegotiate the roughly $2 million he received annually in name, image and likeness payments to around $4 million when news of the discussions erupted into public view.

Iamaleava issued an Instagram post of himself in a UCLA uniform Sunday, a decision that been rumored in the days since he entered the transfer portal. Meanwhile, basketball player PJ Haggerty knows the transfer portal well. The 6-foot-3 guard from Crosby, Texas has entered his third journey through the portal in order to score a bigger and better contract.

The Long Read

‘Kareem Rahma’s show is a hit not because of the celebrities, but his ability to connect with strangers

Keep these in mind.