Oil prices spiked on Wednesday, with Brent crude climbing over $100 per barrel, after President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran. A second ceasefire extension likely caused worry for investors that negotiations are not progressing, which would account for the spike. Additionally, the U.S. benchmark — West Texas Intermediate crude — rose by more than 2% to above $90 a barrel. The national average for gas prices remains near $4 per gallon, which is the highest rate since 2022.  The lack of progress in negotiations means that repeated Iranian attacks — in addition to the ongoing U.S. blockade of all ships heading to or from Iranian ports — continue to impact oil prices by limiting the amount of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Also on Wednesday, Iran attacked both a container ship and a cargo ship as they traveled through the strait. Iran claimed the ships had “entered the area without proper authorization and allegedly tampered with their navigation systems.” Iran has stated that it will not tolerate any disruption to the “order and safety of the Strait of Hormuz.” U.S. indices stayed relatively flat in response, with the S&P 500 rising just below 1%. The Nasdaq is up 1.2%, and the Dow Jones up 0.7%. Oil futures continued to signal that within the next six months, oil could drop back down not only to the double-digits but could possibly even dip below pre-war prices. Late-2026 futures are trading near $40 per barrel, and expectations point to oil prices easing to the mid-$70s by the end of the year. Most industries are feeling the impact of higher prices, but the global aviation sector in particular is experiencing significant disruption. Alaska Air and American Airlines have raised checked bag fees, and Alaska Air has withdrawn its profit forecast due to rising jet fuel costs. Still, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Congress on Wednesday he suspects oil prices will be down soon. “Future prices are much lower than we are at present. I think the conflict will end. I think gasoline prices will come back to where they were, or perhaps lower.”

Political activist George Clooney and his wife, Amal, were major donors to the ultra-left nonprofit advocacy group, Southern Poverty Law Center, which was just indicted on suspicion of funding the same white nationalists it claimed to be fighting against.  Clooney has not made a public statement in the wake of the bombshell allegations against SPLC.  In an indictment made public on Tuesday, the SPLC stands accused of secretly using donated funds to pay leaders within racist groups. One of the SPLC’s informants was a member of the leadership team of a white supremacist group that planned the rally in Charlottesville, according to the Justice Department. The informant was paid more than $270,000 by the SPLC between 2015 and 2023 and was part of a group chat created for those who were planning the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 — which included neo-Nazis and Klansmen.  That rally in Charlottesville has long been used as proof that white supremacy is still rampant in the United States — and was even cited by former President Joe Biden as the reason he felt compelled to run for president in 2020 — but the indictment spurs questions about how much of the “threat” was actually bought and paid for by the very people claiming to fight against it. Clooney donated a whopping $1 million through his Clooney Foundation for Justice in an effort “to combat hate groups” in the wake of the Charlottesville incident, SPLC noted at the time. “We are proud to support the Southern Poverty Law Center in its efforts to prevent violent extremism in the United States. What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate,” the Clooneys said in a statement in 2017. “Like George and Amal Clooney, we were shocked by the size, ugliness, and ferocity of the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville,” SPLC President Richard Cohen echoed in a news release at the same time. “It was a reflection of just how much Trump’s incendiary campaign and presidency has energized the radical right. We are deeply grateful to the Clooney Foundation for standing with us at this critical moment in our country’s fight against hate.” The SPLC is charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

When I texted my grandmother in southern Virginia last week to make sure she got out and voted “No” on the state’s redistricting referendum, and implored her to get her nursing home friends to do the same, I joked with some colleagues that I was whipping more votes than the RNC. It turns out, I was basically right. From top to bottom, the entire Republican apparatus was too inept to even flail as Democrats gerrymandered themselves 91% of the Congressional seats in a 55-45 state, at best. It was entirely asleep at the wheel. There are nights when the electorate fails the country, certainly, but last night the movement failed the voters. Let’s start with the RNC, which I’ll use as a stand-in for the national Republican apparatus writ-large, including the D.C. power-levers and donor class. National Republicans simply did not put anything into this race. They reached a consensus early on that this battle would be lost after Abigail Spanberger beat Winsome Sears by 15 points, so they didn’t bother trying. Almost no money was spent by national Republicans — a reality made worse by the fact that flacks for the RNC and NRCC were fellating themselves the day before for how much more money they were raising than Democrats. FEC: CASH ON HAND

The FBI returned a 10-year-old Utah boy to his mother after he was kidnapped and taken to Cuba by his transgender-identifying father and his family feared the child would undergo transgender procedures, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.  Authorities charged 42 -year-old Inessa-Ethington, who goes by “Rose,” and 32-year-old “Blue” Inessa-Ethington with international parental kidnapping after the gender-confused boy was taken to Cuba. The boy has since been safely returned to his mother. The child, a boy who identifies as a girl, split time with his divorced parents, who share custody in Cache County, Utah. The boy was supposed to go on a camping trip to Canada with his father — a man who identifies as a woman — and his partner, Blue, but instead ended up in Cuba, according to court documents.  Family members told authorities they feared the boy’s father, Rose, intended to force his son to undergo transgender surgery abroad against the mother’s wishes. They feared the boy “was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty,” according to a criminal complaint.  The two kidnappers were deported from Cuba on Monday, and the child was returned home safe to Utah.  FBI Director Kash Patel told The Daily Wire the rescue was another example of the bureau protecting children.  “Each and every day this FBI is stepping up to protect kids in America at levels never seen before – identifying and rescuing 6200 child victims just last year alone,” he said. “This case is no different. We are proud of our agents, Intel analysts, and partners who acted quickly and saved a young child from what could have been a horrific kidnapping. Let it be a message to any criminal actor who would try the same — this FBI will find you, no matter where you try to hide.” Court documents say the group left Utah on March 28, 2026, telling the boy’s mother they were heading to Alberta, Canada.  The child later called and said they had arrived, but the group could not be reached afterward.  On March 29, the group crossed into British Columbia at the Douglas Port of Entry, then flew to Mexico the same day before arriving in Havana, Cuba, on April 1, 2026, according to investigators.  A search of the pair’s residence found a to-do list that included “learn Spanish,” along with travel plans, an intent to withdraw $10,000 in cash, and indications they planned to empty a bank account, according to the FBI.  “Recovered notes include instruction from a mental health therapist located in Washington D.C. including instruction to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender affirming medical care for children,” the criminal complaint says.  On April 13, a Utah judge granted the boy’s mother full custody of the boy and ordered him returned to her. Rose and Blue were located by Cuban authorities on April 16, according to the Justice Department.  Lawyers for the defendants have not been identified. They are expected to be arraigned in Virginia before being transferred to Utah for further proceedings. 

Sheridan Gorman’s father is decrying the sanctuary policies that resulted in his daughter’s alleged killer being out on the streets. Venezuelan national Jose Medina, 25, allegedly gunned down the 18-year-old Loyola University freshman in Chicago last month. At the time, Gorman was walking with her friends around 1 a.m. to look for the northern lights near the Chicago lakefront. Before that, Medina had crossed the border illegally in May of 2023 and was subsequently released into the country. He was caught allegedly shoplifting from a Chicago Macy’s that June, according to the Chicago Tribune. When the illegal immigrant failed to appear for his hearing in the case, a warrant was sworn out for his arrest. Sheridan’s father is now arguing that local authorities should have handed Medina over to federal authorities at the time due to his lack of immigration status. “There needs to be some cooperation between state and local government and federal officials. When someone commits a crime and they’ve been here illegally, there needs to be cooperation,” Sheridan’s father, Thomas Gorman, told CBS News in an interview that aired Wednesday. “He was arrested for, yes, a nonviolent crime, but he was also here illegally. In our mind, he should’ve been handed over to the feds at that point,” the grieving father added. Sheridan’s mother said they were told their daughter likely saved her friends’ lives the night of her murder. “He, like, moved towards her threateningly,” Jessica Gorman, Sheridan’s mother, told CBS News of Medina’s actions that night. “She turned around and she warned her friends that there was a man with a gun, and you need to run. And they ran.” Sheridan was able to run about 40 feet before she was shot in the back and neck, Thomas said. “They say it was a senseless tragedy. It wasn’t. It was a murder. It was a preventable murder,” Jessica said. Medina was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder in the first degree, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer with local authorities, but it is not likely to force any action due to sanctuary laws in Illinois. Before he was released into the country after crossing the border, Border Patrol agents said that Medina was “likely to abscond,” according to federal documents that were recently obtained by House Judiciary Committee Republicans. The agents also noted that Medina didn’t make any asylum claims, writing that he did not “fear harm or persecution” if returned to Venezuela. Meanwhile, Medina’s defense has argued that the Venezuelan national is developmentally delayed and can’t read or write after being shot in the head during a 2018 robbery in Colombia, according to WGN.