Stop Breathing: The air quality in New York yesterday was so bad it caused the cancellation of three big New York theater productions and two Major League Baseball games as a fog of smoke from Canadian wildfires hangs over as much …

Don’t Breathe: As any as 40 million Americans are under an air quality alert after a blanket of smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted over at least 17 eastern US states, obscuring the sky and filling the air with the smell …

The War Room: A vital hydroelectric dam in the Russian occupied area of Kherson has breached, causing catastrophic flooding. The cause has not been given, but the dam has been under Russian control. Thousands of people are evacuating.   Both the US …

Alert: The Air Force yesterday scrambled fighter jets over Washington to pursue a wayward Cessna business jet on which the pilot had become unresponsive and ultimately crashed in southwest Virginia. The Air Force said it did not shoot down the plane. …

Off the Tracks: In an incident that just beggars the imagination, as least 261 people were killed yesterday and 900 injured in a train wreck in eastern India. Initial reports say that that 10 to 12 coaches of one train derailed …

The Showdown is Over: The Senate voted 63-to-36 last night to end the  political showdown over the national debt and budget that’s been threatening a government shutdown. President Biden said he will sign the bill.   Putting  a winning spin on it, Biden said …

On History: In the end it was the Democrats who provided the votes to pass Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s compromise on budget and debt, with more Democrats voting in favor than Republicans.   Attempting to whip up the vote, McCarthy had …

Internal Revolt: The hardest of the hard right wing Republicans are in revolt over the debt and budget deal agreed to between Speaker Kevin McCarty and President Biden, threatening whether the deal can pass Congress. As many as 30 Republicans have …

On the Money: Congress has until June 5th to approve the budget and debt ceiling deal reached over the weekend before the federal government goes into default on its debts and bills.   It’s not a slam dunk. Party leaders will have to …

The Deal: The House Republican leadership agreed to a two-year lifting of the federal debt ceiling in exchange for a two-year freeze on what’s known as discretionary spending — that’s most of the programs for which Americans depend on the federal government. …