Catch up on the day’s stories: Pushing back against book bans, IRS ramps up audits, Kevin Bacon gene
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CNN’s 5 Things PM brings you the stories you might have missed during your busy day.
👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! The Internal Revenue Service plans to ramp up audit rates of wealthy taxpayers and large corporations. The audit rate of people earning more than $10 million will increase by 50%, and the agency intends to triple the audit rates of companies with assets over $250 million. The initiative will be paid for with money provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022. Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day: 1️⃣ Novel idea: Acclaimed author Lauren Groff just opened a new bookstore in Florida. She’s building a community of literary resistance in a state that led the country in attempted book bans last year. Groff said her vision was shaped by what she calls “authoritarian creep.” 2️⃣ TikTok tiff: Ariana Grande, Adele and Rihanna will be back on the popular video platform soon, joining Taylor Swift after a deal with Universal Music Group ended a feud that saw one of the world’s biggest record labels pull its music. 📹 Video: What’s next with the TikTok ban 3️⃣ ‘Toxic positivity’: An author and mental health advocate has built a following by pushing back against a culture of relentless good vibes. Dave Tarnowski, who said he has battled depression and bipolar disorder, wants to help others who are struggling. 4️⃣ Kevin Bacon: The actor inspired the name of a newly identified gene — “dokb” for short — that’s responsible for regulating the structure of social networks in fruit flies. The name is based on the popular game linking celebrities to the “Footloose” star.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.