BRIGHT LIGHTS: A geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere this weekend is making the Northern Lights visible as far south as Florida and Southern California. The storm caused by blasts from the sun hitting the atmosphere’s magnetic field could also cause blinks in power grids, communications, and navigations system.

  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors space weather, issued a storm watch for the first time in 19 years. The agency identified at least five bursts of solar energy heading toward earth.

  It sounds ominous, but observers all over the world were outside overnight watching a spectacular light show in the sky and taking pictures. Usually you have to travel far north to see the Northern Lights. The show should continue tonight for those lucky enough to have clear skies.

SEE NO EVIL:  A new report from the State Department says that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians while waging war in Gaza but has not found specific incidents that would justify withholding of military aid. 

  The State Department arrived at these findings despite 35,000 deaths in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children. Israel has also demolished about 60 percent of the housing in the Gaza strip. Israel has claimed all along that it’s being careful.

  Israel just widened its evacuation order for a portion of Rafah, forcing about 300,000 people to flee. The Biden administration has withheld a shipment of powerful 2,000 and 500 pound bombs to prevent them from being dropped on crowded Rafah. 

  The State Department said in its written report that Israel “has the knowledge, experience and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations.” But it added that “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions” as to whether the Israel Defense Forces are taking sufficient caution.

  The report also did not find that Israel has intentionally obstructed humanitarian aid into Gaza, but at the same time, it did cut off regular commercial supplies of food and fuel.

TRUMP ON TRIAL:  With Donald Trump under a gag order and unable to fight back against public attacks from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, the judge in Trump’s criminal trial asked prosecutors to put a lid on Cohen. They said they’ve tried.

  Expected to testifying in the coming week, Cohen is the one witness who might be able say that Trump falsified the records of payments to Stormy Daniels to affect the outcome of the 2016 election.

  The prosecution is not depending solely on Cohen, who has previously been convicted for lying under oath. They have built a paper trail. In testimony, Trump has been described as a financial micromanager who closely watched the money. Prosecutors introduced evidence of 11 disguised checks, 11 invoices, and 12 ledger entries to cover up payment to Daniels for silence about her 2006 one-night stand with Trump.

RUDY, OH RUDY: WABC radio in New York cancelled former mayor Rudy Giuliani’s daily talk show after the station said he violated its policy against discussing false claims about the 2020 presidential election on the air. 

  John Catsimatidis, the billionaire Republican businessman who owns the station, told The NY Times, “We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election.” Catsimatidis said in what was described as a brief phone interview: “We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Ilon Specht, who rebelled against her male colleagues and wrote a famously feminist L’Oréal hair color ad, has died at age 81.

  While her male colleagues were dreaming of a silent woman sitting before a window with her hair blowing in the wind, Specht said she sat down and took five minutes to write the following: 

   “I use the most expensive hair color in the world. Preference by L’Oréal. It’s not that I care about money. It’s that I care about my hair. It’s not just the color. I expect great color. What’s worth more to me is the way my hair feels. Smooth and silky but with body. It feels good against my neck. Actually, I don’t mind spending more for L’Oréal.”

  It was the last line that put her down in advertising history: “Because I’m worth it.”

THE SPIN RACK: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appearing at a judicial conference denounced the “nastiness and lies” that have following him and his wife the last two or three years. Thomas has accepted lavish gifts of travel and financial help while his wife, Ginni, was part of the effort to overturn the 2020 election. — Brian Wilson, the musical genius and wordsmith behind The Beach Boys, has been placed under a conservatorship following the death of his wife, who had taken care of him. Wilson has a neurocognitive disorder. — Two days after the Florida Republican Party named Barron Trump, 18, to be an at-large delegate for the national convention, Melania Trump’s office said he “regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments.” In other words, “Mom says ‘no.’”

BELOW THE FOLD:  The founder of Bumble, a dating app, said in an interview that your dating concierge, which is an artificial intelligence bot, could date for you with another dating concierge and then you wouldn’t have to talk to 600 people to find a dating match. Just wait in the bar.

  For an audio review of the week in the news, click here.

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