THE WAR ROOM: In a major breach of the ceasefire, Iran fired missiles and drones at ships being escorted by the US Navy through the Strait of Hormuz in what the Pentagon dubbed “Project Freedom.” The Pentagon says Iran scored no hits while American Apache gunships destroyed six Iranian fast boats that were attacking commercial ships.

  “We’ve now opened a passage through the Strait of Hormuz to allow for the free flow of commerce to proceed,” US Admiral Brad Cooper said on a conference call with reporters. The US is trying to encourage hundreds of ships lying at anchor for more than two months to get moving. There’s no count of how many have or will agree to sail under US protection. Central Command yesterday said two ships made it through.

  The Trump administration is at a stalemate with Iran. Scott Anderson, the author of a book about the Iranian revolution, writes in The NY Times that, “There are now only two outcomes to the conflict: either the kind of wholesale destruction of Iran that Mr. Trump posited, or a settlement that will leave the government intact and empowered, and a blustering American president humiliated.”

THE PILL: The Supreme Court restored nationwide access to a widely used abortion pill, temporarily blocking a lower court order that stopped availability of the pill mifepristone by mail. The pause lasts at least until May 11. 

  The state of Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration to restrict access to mifepristone, saying the availability of the medication by mail allowed abortions to take place in the state despite its near-total ban.

  A two-drug medication in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is now the method used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the US. 

THE HERMIT KING: Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly hiding out in bunkers with tightened personal security amidst heightened fears of assassination and a coup, several media outlets report according to information from a European intelligence agency.

  People working close to Putin are not allowed to have telephones with internet service, the reports say. Cooks, bodyguards and photographers who work with the Putin are banned from traveling on public transport. The president and his family have stopped visiting his grand resort villas.

  Former Russian chess champion Gary Kasparov, who’s now a political activist, reminded viewers on CNN that Russian Regimes from the Czar to the Soviet Union have a history of falling as the result of failed and unpopular wars waged by the Motherland … and Putin is failing in Ukraine.

INFINITE SCROLL:

—  The Trump administration has used a popular public golf course in Washington as the dump for debris containing lead, chromium, and other toxic metals from the demolished White House East Wing, according to the National Park Service.

  Norm Eisen, the executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, said, “We knew that the demolition of the East Wing and the changes to East Potomac  (golf course) were legally toxic; now we know they’re environmentally toxic as well.”  

  The National Park Service says the data shows relatively low levels of the contaminants in the soil at East Potomac Golf Links. But the Trump administration bypassed environmental laws when it dropped piles of rebar, plaster, and other debris in the middle of the public course near the Jefferson Memorial.

  That’s the golf course where you can play a round for $42 dollars, but Trump has plans to turn it into a championship course.

  Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, said, a “thorough process was followed to ensure the transfer was safe for the public.” They did not explain why a golf course in the middle of Washington was used as a dump. 

— Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a campaign to coax Americans off the popular class of antidepressants know as SSRIs. That includes Zoloft, Lexapro, Paxil, and Prozac.

  “Psychiatric medications have a role in care, but we will no longer treat them as the default, we will treat them as one option, to be used when appropriate, with full transparency and with a clear path off when they are no longer needed,” Kennedy said at a Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit organized by the MAHA Institute.

  “MAHA” is a spinoff off President Trump’s MAGA, Make America Great Again, short for “Make America Healthy Again.”

  Nearly 17 percent of US adults take antidepressants.

FASHION FORWARD: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipped the decadently lavish Met Gala. Instead of being seen with the likes of Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, and CBS anchor Gayle King, Mamdani chose to honor a half dozen fashion workers, the seamstresses, tailors, retail employees and delivery drivers  … the people who can’t afford the high fashions they make.

THE SPIN RACK: The White House was briefly locked down yesterday after a Secret Service officer exchanged fire with a gunman not far from the compound. The gunman was wounded and arrested. — Former Washington post photographer Jahi Chikwendiu yesterday won a Pulitzer Prize after taking a buyout in advance of massive layoffs at the paper and the sacking of all staff photographers. The Post is owned by Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, who paid $10 million to be a ceremonial host at last night’s Met Gala fundraiser in New York. — Actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have settled their lawsuit that has fed the tabloids for years. She had accused him of unleashing a smear campaign on her after she claimed sexual harassment on the set of the movie, “It Ends With Us.” The legal drama was better than the movie. — An explosion at a fireworks factory in southern China killed at least 26 people and injured more. President Xi Jinping demanded a quick investigation and punishment of those responsible.

BELOW THE FOLD: At last count California has 34 candidates for governor in the June primary election, 22 Democrats and 12 Republicans. It’s because everyone wants to live in Sacramento.

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