Glowing Reviews: Cats: The Jellicle Ball Opens on Broadway with Momentum, Buzz, and Critical Praise (New York Times)

After originally premiering at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC), Cats: The Jellicle Ball has now arrived on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it officially opened on April 7.

Critics have embraced the transfer as more than a hit revival: The New York Times called it “merely wonderful” and “exhilarating,” framing the production as a vibrant meditation on “legacy” and intergenerational care. Time Out hailed it as “a thrilling reconception” and a “categorical triumph,” praising the way this version lifts Cats to “unexpected heights.” USA Today was just as enthusiastic, calling it a “miraculous” reinvention and a “galvanic, gag-worthy production.”

Taken together, the reviews make clear that this is far more than a successful transfer — it is a production arriving on Broadway with unmistakable momentum, critical acclaim, and the sense of a show redefining what a revival can be.

Mike Bloomberg and Patti Harris attended the show’s premiere this week alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose original score anchors Cats: The Jellicle Ball and whose support has helped champion the production’s Broadway run.

Extreme Climate

Wildfires Race Across US as Drought Spans Half the Nation (Bloomberg)

An unusually hot, snowless winter has fueled a fast start to the spring fire season across large swaths of the western, central and southeastern US, disrupting businesses and upending daily life.

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Nearly 19,000 have ignited nationwide since Jan. 1, about 6,900 more than normal compared to the past decade. In recent weeks, flames have scorched nearly 1 million acres of cattle grazing land and prairie in the Great Plains and dampened tourism in parts of the Everglades, where air boat operators have struggled to navigate dried-out swamps. Air tankers, frequently deployed over the West, are already in high demand, weeks ahead of schedule.

Heat combined with a dry La Niña winter has helped drive a sprawling drought across the Southeast and central US. It now spans  half the country and roughly 90% of the southern US, leaving ample stores of tinder-dry grass and brush to feed any stray spark.

The early surge underscores how wildfire risk is intensifying as climate change and prolonged drought lengthen fire seasons. The fallout has been costly: Utilities can be held liable when power equipment ignites blazes, and insurers have pulled back from high-risk areas after years of mounting losses. Recent disasters in California and Hawaii have destroyed thousands of homes, killed dozens and saddled companies including PG&E Corp. and Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. with billions in liabilities.

Vanishing Habitat: Emperor Penguins Declared Endangered as Antarctica Loses Ice (Bloomberg)
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Antarctica’s iconic emperor penguin has been deemed an endangered species as the sea ice it depends on shrinks due to rising temperatures.

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The penguins’ population is expected to drop by half by the 2080s because of a loss of sea ice, which the birds use for breeding, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Thursday. The population already fell by about 10% between 2009 and 2018, the equivalent of around 20,000 adult penguins, according to analysis of satellite images.

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Emperor penguins are among the ice-dependent species struggling to survive as the planet warms, IUCN scientists said. The birds breed on ice that is connected to something stable, like the coastline or ocean floor. But since 2016, that sea ice has been retreating to record-low levels, raising the risk of chicks being lost to the ocean before they can safely swim.

What I'm Reading

Mideast Latest: Israel Intensified Lebanon Strikes With Ceasefire in Doubt (Bloomberg)
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Israel launched its largest assault on Lebanon since invading the country last month, escalating the campaign against Iran-aligned Hezbollah in an operation that killed at least 200 people.

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The Israeli military said it targeted more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites within 10 minutes on Wednesday. That included bombing parts of central Beirut, with strikes reported without warning in dense residential and commercial areas across the capital.

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The surge came hours after President Trump announced a nascent truce with Iran, sowing confusion over whether Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah was part of the agreement. Top Iranian officials including Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said the ongoing attacks constitute ceasefire violations, though US Vice President JD Vance said Washington never suggested fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would stop.

Emergency Meeting: Anthropic Model Scare Sparks Urgent Bessent, Powell Warning to Bank CEOs (Bloomberg)
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned Wall Street leaders to an urgent meeting on concerns that the latest artificial intelligence model from Anthropic PBC will usher in an era of greater cyber risk.
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Bessent and Powell assembled the group at Treasury’s headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to make sure banks are aware of possible future risks raised by Anthropic’s Mythos and potential similar models, and are taking precautions to defend their systems.

Win for Free Press: Judge Rebukes Hegseth, Says Pentagon Violated Court Order (Bloomberg)

A Washington federal judge found the Pentagon violated a court order by reinstating restrictions on press access in an opinion that sharply criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for curtailing free speech rights with the nation at war.

Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said on Thursday that the Trump administration’s decision to remove credentialed reporters from the Pentagon in response to his ruling striking down a prior press policy “flouts the Court’s explicit directives and disregards the constitutional principles at the heart” of his March order.

America First? White House Secures Foreign Steel for Ballroom Project (New York Times)
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President Trump has championed the US steel industry, promising to strengthen it and to impose stiff tariffs on foreign metals to shield manufacturers from overseas competitors. Yet the White House has secured tens of millions of dollars' worth of donated foreign steel for Trump’s $400 million ballroom project.

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ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based firm that is the world’s second-largest steel maker, is providing steel for the structure of the ballroom project. They said the steel was produced in Europe, where the bulk of ArcelorMittal’s production is concentrated.
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Trump has boasted that taxpayers are not on the hook for building his ballroom, the cost of which has risen by 100 percent, according to the president’s own estimates. But the use of foreign steel for a ballroom built at the most recognizable building in the United States may anger domestic companies and unions that are trying to promote the US industry.

The president’s comments came just days before the White House made adjustments to its tariffs that could benefit ArcelorMittal, by cutting in half the tariffs applied to exports of automotive steel from its Canadian plant.

A Message from the President of the United States:

President Donald Trump issued the following statement on social media late Thursday:

FLOTUS Speaks: Melania Trump Denies Epstein Ties in Rare Public Statement (Bloomberg)
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First lady Melania Trump denied ties to the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, calling online claims about a supposed relationship “false smears” and threatening retaliation against those making them.

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The first lady delivered the comments Thursday during a rare on-camera statement at the White House, in which she said she was responding to “numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me” on social media, without referring to specific examples.

Read Melania's full statement here. 

Hungary's Election Battle: Viktor Orban Is Fighting for His Political Life (Bloomberg)

Since returning to power 16 years ago, Orban has turned Hungary into the continent’s populist agitator, the country in the European Union and NATO that’s both closest to the Kremlin and feted by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

As well as the love-in with JD Vance, fresh revelations about Budapest’s cozy relations with Moscow have emerged. Bloomberg reported this week  that Orban told Vladimir Putin during a phone call in October that he was willing to assist the Russian president “in any way,” comparing himself to a mouse aiding a lion from a children’s fable. Orban responded by saying he says the same to Trump.

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🔊 New Episode Alert: Tune in to today’s Daily Read Podcast for an AI-powered breakdown of the day’s biggest headlines. We go beyond the scroll with key takeaways, sharp context, and the “why it matters” behind each story—so you can stay ahead in less time. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

DOJ vs NFL: Justice Department Opens Investigation Into NFL (Wall Street Journal)
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The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether the National Football League has engaged in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers. Media companies, regulators and members of Congress have raised concerns in recent months over how difficult it is for consumers to be able to watch their favorite sports games as a result of rights deals in which leagues offer smaller packages of games to streamers. 

Betting Boom: Bank of America Sees a $1.1 Trillion Market for Sports Event Betting in US (Bloomberg)

Bank of America estimates the potential market for US sports-related event contracts at roughly $1.1 trillion in annual volume, as prediction markets boom anew.

Kalshi accounts for about 90% of the activity on all US prediction-market exchanges, and sports bets were 79% of that trading volume in March, the report says. The analysts mainly looked at regulated activity in the US, homing in on Kalshi, and left out most of the trading on the offshore exchange run by its main rival, Polymarket. They estimate that Kalshi’s biggest competitor in the US, Crypto.com, has just 4% of the market.

Weekend Streaming Guide

The Masters (ESPN, CBS)
The Masters, golf’s most iconic spring tradition, returns this weekend to Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, where the world’s best players, past champions and a handful of elite amateurs compete for the sport’s most famous green jacket. You can watch live on ESPN and CBS, with extra streaming coverage on Masters.com, the Masters app, Prime Video and Paramount+.

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The Miniature Wife (Peacock)
The Miniature Wife is a comedy-drama about a scientist who accidentally shrinks his wife to six inches tall, forcing the couple to confront the unhealthy power dynamics in their marriage. The series stars Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks, and uses its absurd premise to explore real relationship tensions.

The Testaments (Hulu)
The Testaments is a dystopian drama set in the world of The Handmaid’s Tale, following Agnes MacKenzie as she begins to resist life inside Gilead and searches for allies in her fight for freedom. The series stars Chase Infiniti, and connects to the original through Agnes’s parents, June Osborne and Luke Bankole, played by Elisabeth Moss and O-T Fagbenle.

Best of Late Night

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On President Trump announcing a "double-sided ceasefire" in the Middle East, just before his previously imposed deadline:

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“Trump announced the deal on social media, calling it a double-sided cease-fire. OK, that is cool, but aren’t all peace deals double-sided? I believe there’s a word for a single-sided cease-fire and it’s ‘murder.’”
-- Stephen Colbert

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“Trump explained that he agreed to the cease-fire because, ‘we have already met and exceeded all military objectives.’ It’s true. This war reached all of its objectives. It’s been a week since anyone mentioned the Epstein files.”
-- Stephen Colbert

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“Trump explained that he agreed to the cease-fire because, ‘we have already met and exceeded all military objectives.’ It’s true. This war reached all of its objectives. It’s been a week since anyone mentioned the Epstein files.”
-- Stephen Colbert

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And on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: No one seems to know if the war against Iran is over, we’re learning more about how Israel’s prime minister convinced President Trump to launch the war, and JD Vance brought his trademark charisma to a rally for Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán. Click the photo below to watch. 
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