1A

From school board officials and city council members, to decisions over roads and disaster relief budgets, local elections make a direct impact on your day-to-day life.

But state and local elections get less attention, less media coverage, and lower voter turnout. In November’s municipal elections in Dallas, Texas, some 14 council seats were up for the vote but turnout was just 8 percent. And average voter turnout for mayoral elections in the U.S. is 20 percent or less.

What can voters do to stay more informed on a local level?

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Progressive Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed won his Michigan primary this week, sending a strong message to the Democratic party establishment that backed his opponent.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was found in contempt of Congress on Thursday. The vote by the Senate Homeland Security Committee came after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right over 100 times during a recent hearing.

And reports indicate the U.S. missile stockpile is running low. President Trump and the Pentagon have denied the story.

And, in global news, illegal settler activity is expanding across the occupied West Bank. And this week Israeli prosecutors charged a Jewish settler over the killing of a Palestinian community leader – the ⁠first such indictment in nearly three years.

Following a rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, the Spanish prime minister is facing criticism from other European Union leaders over his country’s immigration policy.

And Russia is overhauling its military strategy, taking advantage of Ukraine’s current lack of missile interceptors.

We cover the most important stories from around the world in the News Roundup.

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Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we work, live, and engage with the world. Whether that’s using ChatGPT to do our taxes or spending hours sifting through AI generated images on social media. 

It’s also reshaping our education system. Roughly half of U.S. students said they used AI in some way for school, according to a 2025 survey from the Rand Corporation. But some students aren’t on board.

So, how are students and teachers around the country using this new tool? And what does this mean for the future of school, and how we define what it’s actually for?

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Affording groceries is becoming a struggle for many Americans.

Food prices are up 33 percent since 2019. That’s according to federal data analyzed by the Associated Press. It’s led some people to change their diets or where they shop. Others are taking more drastic measures by dipping into their savings or going into credit card debt.

A 2025 survey from the Urban Institute found that one in four people using credit cards to buy food had trouble paying those bills.

What’s behind the jump in grocery prices? How is it affecting Americans’ financial stability? And how is all of this affecting our economy as a whole?

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Data centers.

They’ve been all over the news. Last month, protesters showed up in 125 cities across the country on a single Saturday to demonstrate against these structures, either proposed or completed.

But are the politicians listening? We sit down for the second part of our data center deep dive. This time, we talk politics. Why have data centers become a political flashpoint so quickly? And who is calling the shots at the local, state, and federal level?

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