Primaries Unsettled, Notre Dame Dig, & Cat Basketball Court

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Adam Rogers
June 03, 2026

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California's gubernatorial primary remained too close to call Wednesday morning with half the expected vote counted. Steve Hilton (R) led with 27%, narrowly ahead of Xavier Becerra (D) at 26% and Tom Steyer (D) at 20%. In California's all-party primary, the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to November elections.
Several House races also remained uncalled with implications for control of the chamber. In Montana, a competitive Democratic primary could set up a pickup opportunity after Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke retired. In Southern California, two Republican incumbents — Ken Calvert and Young Kim — are competing for two spots after redistricting pushed them into the same district. In Northern California, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who switched from Republican to independent this cycle, is locked in a tight three-way race.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass (D) is projected to advance to a November runoff, but her opponent remains unclear. Spencer Pratt (R), a political newcomer, leads progressive city council member Nithya Raman (D) 29% to 21% with half the vote counted.

President Trump named Bill Pulte acting director of national intelligence Tuesday, succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, who plans to resign at the end of June. The appointment bypasses Senate confirmation. Pulte will hold three simultaneous roles as DNI, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Pulte is a close Trump ally with no intelligence background. While leading the FHFA, he made criminal referrals against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff — both denied the allegations, and both probes stalled or were called baseless.
The director of national intelligence oversees the country's 18 intelligence agencies and receives the president's daily intelligence briefing. It is unclear whether Pulte will be Trump's permanent pick for the role or if the president will nominate someone requiring Senate confirmation.

Beneath the forecourt of Notre Dame Cathedral, archaeologists are digging through 20 centuries of Paris history — Roman, Merovingian, Carolingian, and medieval layers stacked in just 4 meters of earth. The dig is part of Paris's plans to plant 160 trees in the square for shade, but French law requires archaeological excavation before any construction in historic areas.
Among the finds: a fourth-century coin bearing the face of Emperor Constantine, intact medieval jugs pulled from ancient latrines, and shards of pottery painted on the inside with mysterious reddish markings no expert has yet deciphered. A Roman doorstep, repurposed as medieval road paving, showed how each era built on the ruins of the last.
The team hopes to dig deeper past the Romans toward the Gauls, who gave Paris its first name. French media have dubbed it the "dig of the century," and the excavation is expected to continue until the square reopens in 2028.

Trump signed an executive order encouraging AI companies to voluntarily share powerful new models with the government up to 30 days before public release. (More)

The White House Correspondents' Dinner, cut short by a shooting in April, has been rescheduled for July 24 at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington. (More)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked several Navy officers from one-star admiral promotions, targeting those tied to DEI programs. (More)

The EU agreed on rules letting member states deport rejected asylum seekers to detention hubs in third countries, even nations they have no ties to. (More)

Russia launched 656 drones and 73 missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least 13 civilians across multiple cities, including nine in Dnipro, where an apartment building collapsed. (More)

A bear attacked four people in a Fukushima neighborhood, injuring workers at nearby factories and an elderly woman. Japan recorded 13 bear deaths in 2025, its deadliest year on record. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Tuesday (S&P +0.13%, Nasdaq +0.03%, Dow +0.45%) as the S&P notched another intraday high and record close. (More)

US job openings jumped to 7.6 million in April, beating forecasts and hitting a one-year high, but gross hiring still dropped as companies held off on adding new workers. (More)

Short seller Andrew Left was convicted of securities fraud for using his public stock recommendations to move markets while secretly betting against the companies he covered. He faces up to 25 years in prison. (More)

Las Vegas rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Carolina 5-4 in Stanley Cup Final Game 1, with Tomas Hertl scoring the winner in the third period. (More)

Director Martin Scorsese joined AI firm Black Forest Labs as an adviser, saying he'll use its image generation tools to storyboard scenes and communicate his visual ideas to production teams. (More)

Stephen Curry signed a 10-year, $400 million endorsement deal with Chinese sportswear company Li-Ning. (More)

Five of 18 Americans quarantined in Nebraska after hantavirus exposure on a South Atlantic cruise ship are heading home after staying symptom-free for three weeks. (More)

Scientists sequenced a Greenland shark's genome for the first time, finding genetic traits that may explain how the animals resist cancer and live up to 400 years. (More)

Astronomers identified the source of mysterious repeating radio bursts for the first time — a pair of stars orbiting each other, with one pulling material from the other and triggering both radio and X-ray signals. (More)

Allergy medicine mistakes that make your sniffles worse.

The US town that’s been burning underground for years.

Man builds basketball arena for his cats.

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