TRUCE HOLDING:  Another 12 hostages including two Thai nationals were released by Hamas yesterday in exchange for 30 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. That brings the total of released hostages to 81 out of the 220-240 who were taken by Hamas during the October 7^th attacks.

  The released hostages included three women members of one family and other Israeli women ranging in age from 36 to 84. Israel has expressed concern that some children are being released without their mothers. Thirty-one children have been released, but nine are still being held. 

  The release of another 10 Israeli women and children is expected today. Talks about continuing the truce continue in Qatar.

  The cease fire to allow exchanges has generally held since Friday. Yesterday the Israeli military said there were three explosions near its troops in two locations in Northern Gaza and militants opened fire at soldiers at one of those locations. Hamas said they had engaged in a “field clash” provoked by Israel.

IT’S POLITICAL: The influential Koch network founded by the right wing billionaires Charles and David Koch has endorsed Nikki Haley for the Republican presidential nomination in a move to push the party beyond Donald Trump. It’s a big financial and political boost for Haley, who’s been fighting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a distant second place to Trump.

  The Morning Consult poll issued yesterday has Trump at 64 percent of the Republican vote, DeSantis, 14, and Haley, 10.

  A memo on the Koch endorsement says, “In sharp contrast to recent elections that were dominated by the negative baggage of Donald Trump and in which good candidates lost races that should have been won, Nikki Haley, at the top of the ticket, would boost candidates up and down the ballot

SCHISM: In a rare internal dispute gone public, Pope Francis has stripped the critical and outspoken American Bishop Raymond Burke of his retirement salary and decided to throw him out of his Vatican-subsidized apartment.

  The news was first published in an Italian newspaper with connections to Burke.  This comes only weeks after Francis fired another outspoken conservative critic, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, after a Vatican investigation into the governance of his diocese.

  Almost from the moment Francis was installed, Burke became his leading critic within the church, becoming the voice of frustrated traditionalists who believe Francis was diluting Catholic doctrine, the blessing of same-sex unions among their complaints.  Francis made the move because Burke had become a force for “disunity” with the church, according to the Associated Press.

DEDICATION: Former President Jimmy Carter, who’s been under hospice care since February, yesterday attended the funeral of his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, in a wheelchair with his legs covered by a blanket. The 99-year-old former president was slack jawed and seemingly unaware of people around him, but he was there.

  With Carter unable to speak, his daughter Amy read a love letter her father had written to her mother while he was away in the Navy. It said: “While I’m away, I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be, as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again.”

  President and Mrs. Biden, former President Bill Clinton, and all the former first ladies attended. 

AIRCRAFT DOWN: A US military Osprey vertical takeoff aircraft with six people on board crashed into the sea near southern Japan, the Japanese Coast Guard reports. One person is confirmed dead but the coast guard says fishermen recovered at least three bodies. 

    Witnesses said the aircraft’s left engine appeared to be on fire as it descended. 

 The Osprey has a shaky safety record with multiple crashes in the past 10 years.

THE OBIT PAGE: Charles Munger, the lesser known partner of Warren Buffett who helped transform a struggling New England textile company into the huge investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died yesterday in Santa Barbara, California at age 99.

  Buffet credited Munger with creating the company’s investment strategy of buying “wonderful businesses at fair prices” rather than “fair businesses at wonderful prices.”

  Berkshire is currently valued at $786 billion and Munger died with a $2.6 billion fortune.  

THE SPIN RACK: Ukrainian officials say the wife of the country’s spy chief is recovering from having been poisoned. Intelligence officials said they believe Russia is stepping up efforts to target Ukraine’s senior leadership. — New York Mayor Eric Adams initially said he had “full confidence” in his chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, after her home was searched by the FBI and the opening of a federal investigation into campaign finances. But word broke yesterday that the 25-year-old Suggs has been fired. — Challenges are growing across the country to the federal law that prohibits marijuana users from buying or owning guns. — A vote is set for tomorrow on removing the indicted New York Rep. George Santos from Congress. One fellow member described him as “toast.”

BELOW THE FOLD: As the old joke goes, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” Last night a brutally played game between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators broke devolved into a brawl that involved all 10 players on the ice. The referees were forced to wrestle with players who kept returning to the bout. 

  Eventually all 10 players were given 10-minute misconduct penalties with seven minutes left to play. The combatants went to their locker rooms and the game continued with barely enough players. The Panthers won, 5-0.

  Senators captain Brady Tkachuk told the Associated Press after the game, “I mean, I don’t think it’s bad to play with emotion.” 

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