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Here’s what’s making headlines today: Taylor Swift’s new tracks draw backlash, Tennessee moves toward a rare execution, and more.
Today’s estimated reading time is 3 minutes and 24 seconds.
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**On this day in 1954, what was commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered submarine? **(answer revealed below!)
(hint: named after Jules Verne's vessel)
In today’s issue:
Taylor Swift facesbacklash over Encore. 🎤Tennessee preparesto execute Christa Pike. ⚖️Senate passesbill overhauling NCAA rules. 📜
Plus, take ** today’s poll** and check out the
Taylor Swift’s new deluxe album, “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,” is drawing sharp criticism from fans and critics.
The backlash extends beyond the music into a broader critique of Swift’s wealth and political silence, a tension that has grown since she became a billionaire in 2023 despite periodic political statements, including endorsements in 2018, 2020 and 2024.
**The reception:**Pitchfork scored the new tracks 4.0 of 10, with the Telegraph and Guardian similarly unimpressed. The most-debated track, “Cleveland!,” addresses her critics and her relationship with Travis Kelce, but detractors say it sidesteps deeper criticism of her artistry and politics.
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Christa Pike, now 50, is scheduled for lethal injection in Tennessee, which would be the state’s first execution of a woman in over 200 years. She was 18 when she and boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, then 17, killed Colleen Slemmer in 1995, a fellow Knoxville Job Corps student. Shipp got life in prison. Pike got the death penalty.
Pike’s case has drawn attention because women make up around 2% of death row inmates, and researchers found 96% of women on death row suffered sexual abuse or domestic violence before their arrest.
**The dispute:**Pike’s lawyers cite childhood sexual abuse and mental illness in seeking clemency. Slemmer’s mother, traveling from Florida to witness the execution, says coverage has favored Pike. Governor Bill Lee denied clemency.
:📈
Today’s Poll:Clemency ClashChrista Pike is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years for a 1995 murder committed when she was 18. Her attorneys argue her death sentence should be commuted because of an abusive childhood and untreated mental illness, while the victim’s family says the execution is long overdue justice.
How should states weigh a defendant’s childhood trauma and mental illness in death penalty sentencing and clemency decisions?
The Senate passed a sweeping bill, 77-22, that would overhaul NCAA governance, granting the organization a limited antitrust exemption while capping conferences at 20 schools to prevent a Big Ten and SEC “super league.”
The bill also raises the total pool colleges can pay athletes from $21.5 million to about $49 million and caps agent fees on name, image and likeness deals at 5%, while tightening transfer and eligibility rules.
**The pushback:**Critics warn that more than doubling the pay cap while delaying conference realignment until 2031 could spark a spending war among Big 12 and ACC schools chasing power-conference slots. The bill still needs House approval, and House action isn't expected until after the November midterms.
🔭 Astronomy: Neptune takes about 165 Earth years to circle the Sun, so it only finished its first full orbit since its 1846 discovery back in 2011. One Neptune year, one human lifetime.
🦂 **Animals: **Scorpions glow blue-green under ultraviolet light, thanks to fluorescent compounds baked into their exoskeleton. Built-in rave gear.
🎡 Entertainment: Ferris wheels were originally built to rival the Eiffel Tower. Someone looked at Paris and thought, “I can spin that.”
🤨 **WTF: **Sharks don't have a single bone in their bodies. They're made entirely of cartilage and still somehow became the ocean's final boss.
TODAY’S QUIZ ANSWER:
USS Nautilus
The USS Nautilus became the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine when it was commissioned in 1954. It could stay submerged for weeks at a time, a first for any submarine. The ship was named after the vessel in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In 1958, it became the first vessel to reach the geographic North Pole, submerged under the ice.
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