Happy Saturday! Today’s edition is 1,027 words, a 3 minute read.

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Saturday’s Quick Hits

Arkansas schools will teach AP African American Studies despite state's objections

The Little Rock School District said it will offer AP African American Studies for credit, defying Arkansas state education officials who said students enrolled in the course would not receive credit towards graduation. The course, which was banned in Florida earlier this year, covers themes ranging from early African empires and the transatlantic slave trade to reconstruction and Black power and pride. Opponents of the curriculum insist it’s a form of indoctrination and teaches critical race theory while supporters believe it covers essential and important parts in American history. (More)

Justice Department seeks 33 years in prison for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in Jan. 6 case

The Justice Department hopes to send the former Proud Boys leader, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy, to prison for 33 years. The sentence would be by far the longest punishment that has been given to a participant in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on Jan. 6 because he was arrested two days earlier in a separate case and was told to leave the city. However, prosecutors alleged that he organized and directed the Proud Boys’ attack on the Capitol that day. (More)

Nurse Lucy Letby guilty of murdering seven babies on neonatal unit

Nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies on a neonatal unit at Countess of Chester Hospital in the UK between 2015 and 2016. Letby injected babies with air, force fed others milk, and poisoned two of the infants with insulin. She has also been convicted of trying to kill six other infants. Doctors warned the hospital management about Letby in October 2015 but were ignored or silenced. She went on to attack five more babies, killing two before being arrested. (More)

Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking reached record highs in middle-aged adults

Last year, more middle-aged adults binge drank, used marijuana, or took hallucinogens than ever before. A recent study - conducted to track substance use among adults between 19 and 60 years old - found cannabis use spiked to 28% among adults ages 35 to 50, up from 17% five years ago. Middle-aged adults also consumed hallucinogens like LSD, MDMA, peyote, and mushrooms at a record rate - 4% compared with 1% in 2022. Binge drinking among young adults fell over the past decade but reached its highest level in the older group at 30%. (More)

U.S, Japan, and South Korea pledge close cooperation at historic summit

President Biden and his counterparts from South Korea and Japan said they will strengthen military cooperation after a summit at Camp David on Friday. The summit was meant to be a show of force as the three allied countries grow more concerned with the increasingly aggressive behavior from North Korea. The leaders also agreed to create a trilateral hotline for times of regional crisis. Sources insist that the partnership isn’t against anyone, but instead to ensure the Indo-Pacific is free, open, secure, and prosperous. (More)

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Weekly Dose of Positive

Powerlifter with down syndrome hailed an inspiration after overcoming his challenges to win European gold

Dan MacGualey is a British powerlifter with Down Syndrome who just took first place in the European Bench Press Championship. He was told he’d “never achieve anything” but had already won a world championship, four Commonwealth championships, and a British Championship before his European debut earlier this month. Dan has battled two open-heart surgeries, deafness in his left ear, and a temporary spell in a wheelchair on his championship journey. (More)

Taylor Swift is a hero to food banks across the US at each stop of her Eras Tour 

Along the road, Swift is making big donations to US food banks, allowing them to feed hundreds of thousands of Americans. She gave a check to the Arizona Food Bank Network that was big enough to fill trucks with 40,000 pounds of fresh produce, and strengthen benefit programs for children who rely on school meals. The gifts come during a time when food banks are struggling to get food donations with rising costs and inflation. (More)

Woman reunites with stranger who carried her on his back to evacuate Maui wildfires

Lani Williams and her mother, Sincerity Mirkovich were stranded in their car during the wildfires in Maui. They decided to try and climb over a seawall and into the ocean to escape the flames. The mother couldn’t make it over the wall until Benny Reinicke assisted them. Then he stayed with them in the ocean for eight hours until the fires died down. Williams and her mother were reunited with Reinicke days later, saying they wouldn’t have made it without him. (More)

Family of 7 takes in elderly neighbor as honorary grandpa

A family of seven in Rhode Island has made their 82-year-old neighbor, Paul Callahan, a part of their family. The family feared that their neighbors wouldn’t like them when they moved in, but that thought disappeared after Callahan showed up with a ladder and offered to fix things around their new home. Now, he spends nearly every day at the house, entertaining the kids and sharing stories about life. (More)

The Gaza Strip gets its first cat café, a cozy refuge from life under blockade

A café where people pay to have coffee and hang out with cats has opened in Gaza Strip. The war-torn Palestinian enclave is run by the Hamas militant group and suffers from a 17-year blockade. Owner Naema Mabed said she opened the spot to help residents escape from the pressures of life in Gaza. Psychologist Bahzad al-Akhras said that in places like Gaza, the café can serve as therapy for people scarred by the strip’s constant wars and other hardships. (More)

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Bonus Material

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Treasury secretary Janet Yellen accidently ate hallucinogenic mushrooms in China.

7 tips to retain more of every book you read.

A woman finds a stranger secretly living under her house for months.