3 days ago
1
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: Plans to build the first major U.S. nuclear power plant in over 15 years have been announced in New York.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and the New York Power Authority.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The announcement was made on Monday, June 23, 2025, by Hochul in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I’m going to lean into making sure that every company that wants to come to New York and everyone who wants to live here will never have to worry about reliability and affordability when it comes to their utility costs,” Gov. Hochul said in the interview.
🎯IMPACT: The new nuclear power plant will produce enough electricity to power one million homes as part of Gov. Hochul’s plan to add at least one gigawatt of electrical power generation to New York’s nuclear energy capacity.
IN FULL
New York has announced plans to build the first major U.S. nuclear power plant in more than a decade and a half. The plans for the plant’s construction were revealed by Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) during an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
“I’m going to lean into making sure that every company that wants to come to New York and everyone who wants to live here will never have to worry about reliability and affordability when it comes to their utility costs,” Gov. Hochul said, suggesting that she is pursuing assistance from the Trump White House and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to streamline and reduce regulatory hurdles at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“Why does it take a decade?” the New York Democrat asked regarding federal nuclear power regulations. “That’s why no one is doing it; the barriers are too high.”
Notably, the United States has not constructed a new nuclear power facility in over 15 years, and only a total of five new nuclear reactors have been built since 1991. The lack of new construction means that the rate of nuclear power plant retirements has far outpaced new construction.
The closure of nuclear power facilities across the United States has resulted in an increase in reliance on fossil fuels to meet increasing electrical power demands. This situation has been exacerbated in recent years by the explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which requires the use of power-intensive data centers.
New nuclear power plant construction has faced opposition from far-left environmentalist groups who use fears surrounding incidents like the earthquake damage and meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant to generate public and political resistance. Notably, a number of these “green agenda” groups receive financial backing from China, Russia, and other energy industry interests opposed to nuclear power.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: At least 145 people, including young girls, were stabbed with syringes at a music festival in France.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: 145 victims, over a dozen alleged attackers, French police.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The attacks occurred at the Fête de la Musique festival on June 21.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Some victims were taken to the hospital for toxicological tests.” — French Interior Ministry.
🎯IMPACT: The attacks may have been linked to a call on social media and further increase the danger of rsape and sexual assault for young women and girls in France.
IN FULL
At least 12 people have been arrested for stabbing people with syringes in France, with as many as 145 people reporting being stabbed. The attacks took place at the Fête de la Musique festival on June 21, which takes place across France and draws millions of attendees annually.
According to the French Interior Ministry, the victims were targeted at outdoor music events, and at least 13 of those attacked were in Paris. French authorities refused to say if the stabbings were linked to any drugs commonly used to aid in the sexual assault or rape of victims. “Some victims were taken to the hospital for toxicological tests,” the Ministry said, however.
According to French media, some of those arrested in connection with the attacks were illegal immigrants, including a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man arrested in Montpellier who is also subject to a deportation order. In Metz, several of those stabbed were minors, with the youngest victim just 14 years old. Police arrested two men in connection with the attacks.
According to French media reports, the attacks may have been either called for or coordinated on social media, with one father claiming that his young daughter refused to attend the festival after seeing TikTok videos calling for people to stab young girls with needles at the festival.
Overall, 370 people were arrested across France during the music festival, 90 of them in the Paris area. At least 14 people were seriously injured. One man was found on the street with severe stab wounds to the abdomen, and 13 police officers were injured as well.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former White House physician to Joe Biden, will testify before the House Oversight Committee after being subpoenaed.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Neera Tanden, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams, Annie Tomasini, and the House Oversight Committee.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Scheduled for July 9 before the House Oversight Committee.
🎯IMPACT: The investigation seeks to determine whether Biden’s cognitive decline influenced decision-making in his administration.
IN FULL
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the former White House physician who treated then-President Joe Biden, is set to appear for a deposition before the House Oversight Committee on July 9. This was confirmed by a source familiar with the committee’s schedule. O’Connor agreed to testify following a subpoena issued by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the committee’s chairman.
Comer is leading an investigation into allegations that Democrat staffers in the White House worked to cover up Biden’s cognitive decline while in office. The inquiry also focuses on Biden’s use of an autopen for official government business.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) previously ruled in 2005 that autopen use is legal, and a federal appeals court upheld this in 2024. However, questions have arisen as to whether Biden was aware of certain orders being signed via autopen in his name. Notably, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has publicly spoken about an incident where the octogenarian Democrat appeared unaware that he had issued an executive order halting liquid natural gas exports.
In addition to O’Connor, the Oversight Committee has scheduled interviews with former Biden White House aides Neera Tanden, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams, and Annie Tomasini. Unlike O’Connor, these aides agreed to interviews without being subpoenaed.
A former Biden official, speaking anonymously with the media, denied allegations that decisions were made without Biden’s involvement, stating: “Any accusation that President Biden was not making decisions is false. President Biden made the decisions about the pardons and the executive orders he issued, and the legislation he signed into law.”
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has also shown interest in Biden’s mental fitness. Its first public hearing on the matter did not include witnesses with direct knowledge of Biden’s decision-making process.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump’s Justice Department secured a landmark criminal antitrust conviction against a home healthcare staffing executive for orchestrating a wage-fixing scheme aimed at suppressing the wages of home healthcare nurses in the Las Vegas area.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Abigail A. Slater, federal prosecutors, defendant Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez, Las Vegas area home healthcare companies, and home healthcare nurses.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The criminal conviction was issued in April 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Wage-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers.” — Assistant Attorney General Abigail A. Slater.
🎯IMPACT: The jury verdict marks the first successful criminal conviction against individuals accused of wage-fixing and labor market collusion.
IN FULL
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) secured a historic antitrust jury verdict against a home healthcare executive over a wage-fixing scheme in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In April this year, federal prosecutors secured the criminal conviction of Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez—a home healthcare staffing executive who served with three separate home healthcare agencies—for conspiring with a number of healthcare staffing agencies to suppress the wages of home health nurses in the Las Vegas area and defrauding buyers of his staffing services by concealing the ongoing federal antitrust investigation against him.
Notably, the case marks a significant legal landmark for the DOJ, affirming its legal authority to pursue criminal charges against individuals accused of wage-fixing and labor market collusion. Prior attempts at criminal prosecution on similar charges had failed to secure a conviction.
At trial, DOJ prosecutors revealed that Lopez had orchestrated, between 2016 and 2019, a wage-fixing conspiracy aimed at artificially suppressing the wages of home health nurses in the Las Vegas area. The scheme saw Lopez and several other home healthcare executives enter into a covert agreement to set the hourly wages for nurses, insulating their companies from labor market forces. Federal prosecutors successfully argued that the wage-fixing scheme was akin to price-fixing in labor markets and that each incidence of wage suppression should be treated as per se violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Lopez’s communications with the executives of other area home healthcare agencies proved pivotal. In one message shown to jurors, Lopez wrote to an executive at an ostensibly competing agency, “We all have a mutual agreement that with the pay increase, all 3 companies will stay within the same hourly rate.” The April verdict saw Lopez convicted on five criminal counts, including one antitrust charge and four wire fraud charges.
Assistant Attorney General Abigail A. Slater, who leads the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, praised the conviction: “Wage-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers.” She added that the “verdict highlights what should be a clear message with antitrust crimes: the agreement is the crime. The Antitrust Division will zealously prosecute those who seek to unjustly profit off their employees. The nurses here deserved better and, under President Trump’s leadership, they will be protected.”
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: Britain’s Home Secretary, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, announced plans to proscribe the group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Palestine Action, and its members.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The announcement followed an incident on June 20 at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action.” – Yvette Cooper
🎯IMPACT: Membership and support for Palestine Action will be made illegal under the Terrorism Act 2000.
IN FULL
Britain’s Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has announced plans to proscribe the far-left extremist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. This decision follows an incident on June 20, where members of the group broke into the Royal Air Force (RAF) base RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to sabotage two RAF Voyager aircraft.
In a written statement, Cooper said, “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action.” She added, “The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this Government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”
The Home Secretary plans to lay an order before Parliament next week that will make membership and support for the group illegal under the Terrorism Act of 2000. Cooper emphasized that this decision is specific to Palestine Action and does not affect lawful protest groups or other organizations campaigning on Palestinian-related issues.
BREAKING: Palestine Action break into RAF Brize Norton and damage two military aircrafts.
Flights depart daily from the base to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
From Cyprus, British planes collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/zzmFqGKW8N
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) June 20, 2025
Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for the incident, stating that they used red paint to symbolize Palestinian blood and caused additional damage with crowbars. The group alleges that the planes are used to “collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets, and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the incident, stating, “The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us.”
Palestine Action has previously engaged in other acts of sabotage, targeting a defence firm facility in August of last year and smashing it up with sledgehammers. The group also violently attacked security staff on site, as well as two police officers, with their sledgehammers.
Video of heavily armed Palestine Action saboteurs using a (stolen?) prison van to smash their way into the headquarters of a firm supplying the British military and destroy equipment. They later injured two cops with a sledgehammer. Clearly terrorism but no Keir press conference? https://t.co/bQwvq8bN3L pic.twitter.com/0wdwxNUl0r
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) August 7, 2024
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
English (US) · 