Meeting up. Raising wages. Paying the piper. It’s Friday (April Fool’s Day!), and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. CAMPAIGN 2016
Campaign manager arrested. Widely-denounced comments on women and abortion. Bad polling news out of Wisconsin. To say it’s been a rough couple of days for the Trump campaign is a little more than an understatement. So that made yesterday the perfect time for the Donald & Co. to roll into D.C. and spend a few hours with RNC leaders. Yes, the same leaders that Trump has feuded with since the start of his campaign. The talk was of delegates and the “state of the race,” which Trump can only hope gets better for him.
2. NUCLEAR WEAPONS
U.S. presidential elections are always closely watched by the world. That’s true this year, especially in Asia, where our allies are dumbfounded by The Donald’s suggestion that Japan and South Korea would be better off if American troops were pulled out of those countries and replaced with nukes. No way, the countries’ leaders say. Folks at the White House — where President Obama is huddling with world leaders at a nuke security summit — could only shake their heads. One Obama aide said it would be “catastrophic” to allow the proliferation of nukes to other countries.
3. MINIMUM WAGE
They say change in the country often starts on the coasts and radiates into the heartland. If that’s true, we all might be in for a raise. That’s because yesterday California became the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 an hour minimum wage. But the Golden State may be getting some company: late last night, New York lawmakers and its governor reached a deal paving the way to eventually do the same in the Empire State. And several efforts to hike the minimum wage are underway in other cities and states.
4. SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT
Looks like Jacob Zuma’s home improvement project is going to cost him big time. The nation’s highest court ruled yesterday the South African President violated the constitution when he used $15 million in public money to upgrade his house. So he must pay back any money used for the upgrades that weren’t related to security. Zuma started renovations shortly after taking office seven years ago. “Zumaville,” as critics call it, includes a swimming pool, cattle pen, visitors center, amphitheater and chicken run.
5. GLOBAL WARMING
If you’re thinking about buying beachfront property as a long-term investment, you might want to slow your roll. According to a pair of new reports, sea levels are rising much faster than previously thought, which will make many coastal areas uninhabitable. Melting sea ice in Antarctica seems to be the main culprit, with the potential to raise the ocean more than 3 feet all by itself by century’s end. Maybe you ought to build that dream beach cottage up in the Rockies, just in case.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Flamboyant, stylish and distinctive
Words used to describe both renowned architect Zaha Hadid and her work. Hadid, who died yesterday at 65, was an inspiration for many female architects.
Doesn’t yoga chill you out?
A man on a United Airlines flight was arrested after he violently refused to follow flight attendants’ orders. He wanted to mediate and do yoga instead.
Cloak of invisibility
The movies have taught us that aliens want to kill us, so two astronomers propose using lasers to hide Earth from the extraterrestrials. No, really.
That’s one way of saving for a home
A Google employee and his wife bought a house — after living in an RV in the tech giant’s parking lot for almost two years. Hey, down payments are huge.
Life after death?
The late rapper Notorious B.I.G. may be headed back to the concert stage — as a hologram. That’s both cool and creepy.
Number of the day
12,000 kilometers
The distance (7,456 miles for non-metric folks) traveled by triathlete Panupong Luangsa-ard to capture scenes from Thailand for Google Street View.