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THE INSIDES SPEAK

The Pulse Beneath the Headlines

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Beyond Borders (International News)

Mississippi Today •

Wicker promotes Childhood Investment Accounts at Jackson event, says Tuesday will be ‘consequential day’ in war with Iran

Flanked by a panel of community leaders, including Jackson Mayor John Horhn, Wicker said he wanted to ensure Mississippians knew about the program with the April 15 deadline for filing income taxes fast approaching. Parents can begin the process of opening an account for their children by completing IRS Form 4547 when filing their 2025 taxes.
Bobby Pulido, Latin Grammy winner and Democratic nominee for the 15th Congressional District, speaks during a Texas Together Rally at Cine El Rey in McAllen on March 9, 2026. Gabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune
Bobby Pulido, Latin Grammy winner and Democratic nominee for the 15th Congressional District, speaks during a Texas Together Rally at Cine El Rey in McAllen on March 9, 2026. Gabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune •

Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido toured with bandmate convicted of child sex crime

“Bobby was never made aware of Caballero’s sex offender registration and would never knowingly associate with anyone with that kind of history,” he said.
An elevated house rests on newly constructed pilings nearly a year after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy, which cost an estimated $70 billion in damages. Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images
An elevated house rests on newly constructed pilings nearly a year after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy, which cost an estimated $70 billion in damages. Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images
Mississippi Today •

Home mitigation bill heads to governor in yearslong effort to improve disaster resilience in Mississippi

After nearly two decades of paralysis on the issue, Mississippi officials are inching closer to establishing a state home mitigation program to protect residents from natural disasters. Storm preparation experts say such a program is vital to building resilience as the dangers from climate change continue to grow.
Emily Scherer for ProPublica. Source images: Getty Images, AP Images and documents obtained by ProPublica | JosephSchwartzPardon-FinalUpdate_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.webp
JosephSchwartzPardon-FinalUpdate_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.webp
ProPublica •

A Nursing Home Owner Got a Trump Pardon. The Families of His Patients Got Nothing.

Schwartz didn’t contest the case, and a judge in 2020 awarded nearly $19 million in damages. Coulson’s family has never been able to collect. Schwartz had by that time relinquished all of his property in Arkansas, so there was nothing left in the state for the family’s lawyer to try to seize, nor was there enough information about assets he may hold in other states.
Aaron Szabo, an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, is leading an effort to loosen rules on methane pollution. Bloomberg/Getty Images | story - 3 - GettyImages-2202864000.webp
Aaron Szabo, an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, is leading an effort to loosen rules on methane pollution. Bloomberg/Getty Images | story - 3 - GettyImages-2202864000.webp
ProPublica •

The Trump EPA Official in Charge of Methane Regulations Helped Write Oil Industry Argument Against Those Rules

Before becoming a top official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Aaron Szabo was a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. Metadata shows he helped draft a trade group’s 2022 letter to the EPA objecting to controls on methane emissions.
Collage by Alex Bandoni/ProPublica. Source images: Jose A. Bernat Bacete, Pictac and skaman306/ Getty Images. | DOJ-Declinations-OG.jpg
Collage by Alex Bandoni/ProPublica. Source images: Jose A. Bernat Bacete, Pictac and skaman306/ Getty Images.
ProPublica •

Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration

In the first days after Pam Bondi was appointed attorney general last year, the Department of Justice began shutting down pending criminal cases at a record pace.

The cases included an investigation into a Virginia nursing home with a recent record of patient abuse; probes of fraud involving several New Jersey labor unions, including one opened after a top official of a national union was accused of embezzlement; and an investigation into a cryptocurrency company suspected of cheating investors...

Health

Shawn Brown (left) and Viktoria Koskenoja are physicians at Marquette Medical Urgent Care in Marquette, Michigan. When the local Planned Parenthood clinic shut down in the spring of 2025, Koskenoja held a community meeting to identify alternative options for providing in-person abortion services. (Kate Wells/KFF Health News)
Shawn Brown (left) and Viktoria Koskenoja are physicians at Marquette Medical Urgent Care in Marquette, Michigan. When the local Planned Parenthood clinic shut down in the spring of 2025, Koskenoja held a community meeting to identify alternative options for providing in-person abortion services. (Kate Wells/KFF Health News)
KFF Health News •

Urgent Care Clinics Move To Fill Abortion Care Gaps in Rural Areas

But she also wasn’t expecting the Planned Parenthood in Marquette to shut down last spring. Roughly 1,100 patients relied on that clinic each year for cancer screenings, IUD insertions, and medication abortions. Now the area has no other in-person resource for abortions. “It’s a 500-mile stretch of no access,” Brown said.
Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, has also been serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since February. (Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News)
Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, has also been serving as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since February. (Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News)
KFF Health News •

CDC’s Acting Chief Promises a Return to Stability in a Tumultuous Moment

President Donald Trump will soon nominate a permanent director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its acting chief, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, told agency employees at a Wednesday staff meeting.
Katelyn Messer is among the researchers at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who have sequenced 1,000 whole genomes of measles viruses that spread in the U.S. between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 20, 2026. The data will help reveal whether the country has lost its measles elimination status. (Amy Maxmen/KFF Health News)
Katelyn Messer is among the researchers at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who have sequenced 1,000 whole genomes of measles viruses that spread in the U.S. between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 20, 2026. The data will help reveal whether the country has lost its measles elimination status. (Amy Maxmen/KFF Health News)
KFF Health News •

US Scientists Sequence 1,000 Genomes From Measles, a Disease Long Eliminated With Vaccines

The CDC withheld the data for months as a team hit hard by mass layoffs and resignations sorted through the information. But now that scientists at the agency have posted their first batch of whole measles genomes — the genetic blueprint of the viruses — the rest should “start flowing more smoothly at a more rapid cadence,” said Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary virologist at the Scripps Research Institute who isn’t involved with the CDC’s effort but is following it.
Eric Tennant with his wife, Becky, and daughter, Amiya.(Becky Tennant)
Eric Tennant with his wife, Becky, and daughter, Amiya.(Becky Tennant)
KFF Health News •

After Man’s Death Following Insurance Denials, West Virginia Tackles Prior Authorization

“This legislation is rooted in a simple principle: if a treatment has already been approved, patients should be able to pursue a medically appropriate alternative without being forced to start the process over again — especially when it does not cost more,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement after signing the bill into law on March 31.
Sports

Echoline

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The Insides Speak Editorial Desk •

The Age of Converging Crises: When the World Simmers on All Fronts

Today, the world does not face storms; it inhabits a climate of turbulence. The present global landscape is less a sequence of events and more a simultaneity of pressures—a boiling cauldron where economic fragility, geopolitical tension, environmental distress, and social inequities rise together, overlap, and amplify one another.
The Insides Speak Editorial Desk •

The World on a Knife’s Edge: Mapping the Fractured Present and the Uncertain Future

At the heart of this recalibration lies the global economy, walking a tightrope between endurance and exhaustion. According to the United Nations’ World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026, global growth is projected at approximately 2.7%, markedly below the pre-pandemic average of 3.2%, signalling a subdued yet persistent recovery (UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)). Similarly, UNCTAD estimates hover around 2.6% growth, reflecting a synchronized slowdown across major economies (UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)). This is not collapse—it is deceleration, a slow-burning fatigue rather than a sudden cardiac arrest.
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The Insides Speak Editorial Desk •

Global Faultline: The Structural Crises Reshaping the 21st Century World

The 21st century has ushered humanity into an age of unprecedented connectivity. Economies interlock, supply chains stretch across oceans, and digital communication dissolves geographical barriers. Yet beneath this intricate lattice of globalization lies a network of fractures—structural faultlines that threaten to destabilize the international order.