Good afternoon and liftoff,

An all-women crew — including two scientists, journalist Gayle King, pop star Katy Perry, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sánchez — launched into space on Monday aboard a Blue Origin rocket from Van Horn, Texas. The 11-minute flight briefly crossed the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space located 62 miles above Earth’s surface.

• Joining the Blue Origin’s NS-31 crew were Aisha Bowe, former NASA aerospace engineer; Amanda Nguyen, astronaut trainee and anti-sexual violence activist; and Kerianne Flynn, an independent film producer.

• The flight was Blue Origin’s 11th human mission, and the first all-female space crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight for the Soviet Union in 1963.

Oprah was seen crying from Earth, watching her bestie Gayle King launch to space. If one of my friends were up there, I totally would have been the same 🥹 ❤️ 

Lauren
Producer

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🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

El Salvador Doesn’t Plan To Send Back Man U.S. Accidentally Deported; Trump Also Doesn’t Want Him Back

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said he has no plans to return a Salvadoran migrant who was mistakenly deported back to his home country by the U.S. last month. Bukele made the comments during a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office Monday.

• Bukele responded to a reporter’s question about returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia by asking why he would “smuggle a terrorist” into the U.S., adding that he’s “not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country.”

  • While Abrego Garcia was accused of being in a gang, he has never been convicted of terrorism.

  • The Trump administration is deferring to El Salvador on the case, despite admitting they should not have deported him to the country.

Bukele’s statements are expected to tee-up more legal battles over a case that has already made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled 9-0 that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, due to the fact that the government was never supposed to return him to El Salvador because of threats he faces there. At the same time, the Supreme Court took issue with a lower federal court saying the administration also has to “effectuate” his return to the U.S.

The White House has admitted they made a “clerical error” by deporting him, but said they have no intention or power to return him back to the U.S. 

• Attorney General Pam Bondi emphasized Monday that the administration is interpreting the ruling to mean they only have to “facilitate it, meaning provide a plane” if El Salvador’s government decides to send him back.

• President Trump then punted the question to his Homeland Security Adviser, Stephen Miller, who said, “It’s very arrogant — even for American media — to suggest we would tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”

  • Miller is known as being the mastermind of Trump’s deportation strategy.

Given El Salvador doesn’t intend to release him, and the U.S. government is not requesting his release, this case is likely to escalate to the Supreme Court… again. 

THE CASE
Abrego Garcia first came to the U.S. illegally sometime in 2011, at age 16, after fleeing gang threats in El Salvador. In 2019, an immigration judge deferred to the government, which accused him of being part of the MS-13 gang and rejected his asylum request. But, a judge granted him protected legal status to stay in the U.S. due to the violent threats he faced back home.

• Under the “withholding of removal” statute, he could still be subject to an eventual deportation order, but was given temporary protected status to live and work in the U.S., which he did full-time as a union sheet-metal apprentice.

• Since then, Abrego Garcia has not faced any other legal issues, according to his lawyers. He has a 5-year-old child in the U.S. with his wife, a U.S. citizen.

Abrego Garcia, 29, was taken into custody in March 2025, due to that “clerical error.” He was among more than 200 illegal migrants, also accused of being gang members, who were sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. There, prisoners are not allowed visitations, recreation, or education. The U.S. is paying the country about $6 million dollars to take in the nearly 300 prisoners ($20,000 per person).

On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 10 more alleged gang members were sent there from the U.S.’s detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  

MORE TO COME?
Bukele boasted in the Oval Office that people say he has "imprisoned thousands,” and is open to taking in more prisoners from the U.S. The 43-year-old president has gained widespread popularity in his country for his tough-on-crime approach to gang violence.

• Last year, 1 in every 57 Salvadorans was incarcerated – the highest rate in the world. In part, that came from Bukele’s 2022 state of emergency declaration, which allowed police to arrest any suspected gang members without a warrant.

• Crime rates in El Salvador dropped to a record low of 114 homicides in 2024 — down from 6,656 homicides in 2015. However, human rights groups have criticized Bukele’s approach for circumventing due process, and effectively killing free speech and an independent judiciary.

🚨 ONE THING THAT WE’LL BE WATCHING

Arson Suspect Arrested After Setting Fire To Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence

A suspect accused of throwing homemade incendiary devices and lighting the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion on fire early Sunday morning has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson and terrorism.

Governor Josh Shapiro (D) and his family were sleeping inside the residence at the time, having just finished celebrating the first night of Passover. Thanks to a quick response by state police, the family was safely evacuated and no injuries were reported.

Authorities announced the arrest of a 38-year-old Cody Balmer from Harrisburg on Sunday afternoon. According to law enforcement, he jumped a fence, evaded state troopers, and broke into the home with a hammer, before igniting multiple fires using Molotov cocktails.

MORE ABOUT THE ATTACK
Police report that Balmer made the explosives using beer bottles and lawn mower gasoline. He walked for about an hour from his home to the Governor’s mansion, bypassed guards and was inside the building for about a minute. Balmer told investigators that he planned to beat Shapiro with the hammer if he saw him.

• After fleeing the scene, he later turned himself into police in Harrisburg. Balmer was placed under guard at a hospital due to a physical medical condition.

  • Court records show that Balmer has faced criminal charges ranging from forgery to simple assault in the past decade.

• Just prior to the fire, Shapiro had posted a photo of his Passover seder table on social media.

  • Shapiro, who is openly and devoutly Jewish, rose to national attention during the 2020 election cycle when he was briefly considered as a potential running mate for then-candidate Kamala Harris.

Investigators have not said whether the timing of the fire — on the first night of Passover — was connected to antisemitism, but the circumstances have raised questions. In an emotional press conference outside the Governor’s Mansion Sunday evening, Shapiro acknowledged the gravity of the moment and noted that authorities are considering all possibilities, including hate-based motivations.

Click below for photos the Governor’s Office released of the damage:

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Trump: I hit highest mark on cognitive test after annual physical declares him "fully fit" for presidency (MO NEWS)

📌 5.2-magnitude earthquake strikes San Diego area, jolting Southern California near San Andreas system fault (CBS)

📌 New York plane crash claims lives of high-achieving family celebrating a birthday (USA TODAY)

📌 US Army to control land on Mexico border as part of base, migrants could be detained, officials say (AP)

📌 Harvard rejects Trump administration demands amid threats of funding cuts (NBC)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Iran nuclear talks expected to continue Saturday in Rome (AXIOS)

📌 Trump blames Zelenskyy for 'horrible job' after Russia ballistic missile strike kills dozens in Ukraine (ABC)

📌 Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events, seen as a major blow to rights (AP)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Meta and the FTC face off in court over monopoly claims (NPR)

📌 Nvidia to mass produce AI supercomputers in Texas as part of $500 billion U.S. push (CNBC)

📌 Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from new tariffs (POLITICO)

📌 One of the country's leading Alzheimer's projects is in jeopardy due to a pause to NIH funding (NBC)

📌 Jury selected for Sarah Palin’s libel suit against The New York Times (AP)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood condemns SNL’s ‘mean and unfunny’ sketch (GUARDIAN)

📌 ‘The Breakfast Club’ stars reunite for the first time in 40 years (CNN)

📌 ‘Harry Potter’ HBO series confirms casting for Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Hagrid and more Hogwarts staffers (VARIETY)

📌 Leslie Odom Jr. announces return to ‘Hamilton’ on Broadway (TODAY)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… Rory McIlroy finally broke his Masters curse Sunday. The Irish golfer made history this weekend by dominating at Augusta National, completing his career Grand Slam by winning the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship.

He’s only the sixth golfer ever to achieve the feat and it took him more than a decade to do so. Practice makes perfect 🏌️‍♂️