US-Iran ceasefire; VA redistricting; ACA: NPR

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Today’s top stories

Two ships caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday morningHours after President Trump announced he was extending the ceasefire with Iran. The attacks have jeopardized the prospects for peace talks. Trump extended the ceasefire just hours before it was set to expire, but did not say how long it would continue. Instead of flying to Islamabad yesterday as planned, Vice President Vance, who led the US delegation, stayed in Washington.

• 🎧 The extension of the ceasefire is not surprising, because despite its significant threatsAs NPR’s Franco Ordonez points out, Trump’s actions have made it clear he’s very interested in ending the war. first up. The President said the US military would maintain its presence in the Middle East and its naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue. Ordonez says Tehran is stay aggressive. One adviser posted on social media that the extension made no sense and that the losing side could not dictate the terms. The adviser also accused the US of using the extension as a strategy to buy time for a possible surprise attack.

Virginia voters gave victory to Democrats yesterday by approving a ballot measure by a narrow margin Which allows lawmakers to draw a new congressional map. The change could give Democrats four additional seats in Congress, bringing their total in the state to 10 out of 11.

• 🎧 NPR’s Ashley Lopez says even with this win in VirginiaThe national redistricting battle ends in a wash — or with a slight edge for Democrats for now. Basically, California Democrats were able to offset potential Republican gains in Texas, while Virginia neutralized new GOP-friendly seats in states like North Carolina and Missouri. Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is calling a special session this month to try take out more seats For his party. Trump kicked off the fight last year by urging Texas to help Republicans gain more seats in Congress. Lopez says he believes the GOP underestimated the Democrats’ response. The efforts have been massive, with millions of dollars in advertising spending in Virginia elections alone, as well as special elections and sessions ranging from redrawing maps.

Public colleges, K-12 schools, local governments and other public institutions now have an additional year According to the US Department of Justice, to ensure that their digital content is fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. For at least two years, many institutions have been racing toward a Friday deadline to comply with new federal accessibility guidelines updating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Four days before that deadline, the Justice Department reversed the original rule and said public entities serving 50,000 or more people now have until April 26, 2027, to comply. Smaller institutions have until that 2028 date. The Justice Department said it “overestimated the abilities” covered entities had to comply with the rule by the deadline. Several disability rights organizations have condemned the delay and pushed for the last-minute change.

live a better life

What makes someone keep playing video slot machines? Some similar characteristics force children to stay on social media apps or video games for too long.

Paige Stamptori for NPR

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Paige Stamptori for NPR

living a better life is one special series About what it takes to stay healthy in America.

In two landmark cases, courts found Meta and Google liable for endangering children with their products. Social media companies are appealing the decision and refuting claims that they are addictive. During the California trial, a lawyer accused Meta and Google of creating apps that function like “digital casinos.” This comparison is supported by cultural anthropologist Natasha Dow Shull’s research on what makes video slot machines so addictive. Through his research, he discovered four key characteristics that, when combined, help people get a grip on gambling devices. These characteristics trigger a trancelike or dissociative state in which people lose track of time and space. On social media apps, these features can create a kind of superglue that keeps you scrolling:

• 📱 Loneliness: Shull says that when the relationship is only between the person and the machine, it eliminates the social cues needed to stop. Studies have shown that children who regularly use screens alone in their bedrooms have a higher risk of developing psychological problematic use.
• 📱 immeasurable: Apps provide endless content that plays automatically, leaving you wanting more.
• 📱 pace: The faster people play slots, the longer they gamble. Speed ​​has a similar effect on social media. Fast scrolling and easy access to “new” content makes it difficult for people to disengage. Technological advancements like infinite scroll have accelerated the discovery of more content.
• 📱 Tease: Apps usually select content for you by using artificial intelligence to understand your interests. But they hold that content back and give you exactly what you want. It lures you with the promise that you will soon find what you are looking for.

behind the story

By Nick Schonfeld, freelance journalist

Very few people would have heard of Tristan da Cunha. Even fewer have gone there. But if one describes it as the world’s most remote inhabited island in the middle of the wild South Atlantic Ocean, it evokes an imagination, a feeling, an idea of ​​what such a place must be like. Julia Gunther, the photographer for this piece, and I were no exception.

We stretch our imaginations too far because it’s so different from life for most of us. Remote islands have long served as a canvas on which we project our discontents and desires. Tristan is further away than the others, which makes the launch more powerful.

For many, the island promises freedom from hassle, commute, and social media algorithms. Others imagine it as a nature paradise, where food comes from the land and sea, untouched by hormones or pesticides. Still more people are drawn to its stormy history of shipwrecked sailors and two centuries of isolation at the edge of the world.

All those thoughts contain the element of truth. However, none of them, Capture what it’s really like to live there. Neither contains much information about the islanders.

Tristan is a community almost in constant motion. The fishermen go out before dawn. Families butcher meat in refrigerated lockers. Road workers are removing landslide debris. Pensioners go to the lobster factory for the night shift. In the sixteen months he spent on Tristan, no one involved found anything extraordinary about it. It was just life.

Julia and I hope so This immersive multimedia feature Will give readers a real sense of Tristan – its history, its isolation, the collaborative spirit on which it runs – and an equally real sense of what the people who live there and what their lives really entail. Tristan is not an isolated fantasy. It is a society where people work very hard to survive their lifestyle.

3 things to know before you go

Fans wearing Brazil jerseys walk onto the South Station platform to board an event train headed to Gillette Stadium.

Katie Cole/WBUR

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Katie Cole/WBUR

1. World Cup sticker shock extends beyond tickets. Going to Northeastern games, especially in Boston and New York, can be expensive. here is one cost breakdownFrom parking to bus rides. (via WBUR)
2. Fans from around the world gathered at Prince’s Paisley Park studio yesterday to remember the iconic pop singer on the 10th anniversary of his sudden death from a fentanyl overdose.
3. The American Library Association has released its annual list of the most challenged books in American libraries, stating that 31% of the challenges came from elected officials.

Who edited this newspaper? Suzanne Nuyen.