Program

• Booz Allen Hamilton invested in NODA AI's Series A, selecting it as sole orchestrator for a Department of War autonomy initiative. • The investment aligns with DoW's $55 billion funding plan for autonomous systems including orchestration tech. • NODA joins Booz Allen's $300 million portfolio of startups advancing mission-ready autonomy for defense.

• The acting Attorney General announced charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center alleging fraud in its informant program. • Authorities assert that the SPLC's informant program paid sources to "stoke racial hatred," suggesting deliberate misuse of funds and inflammatory activities. • The investigation remains ongoing with the possibility of future indictments naming SPLC executives as defendants.

• Treehub launched on April 22, 2026, as a Stanford-adjacent residency program in Los Altos, California, backed by the AI Health Fund and investors including Tim Draper and 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki. • The program functions as a venture studio, incubator, and fund, offering scientist-founders proprietary medical data, mentorship from exited startup operators, and programming with payers and investors. • It targets precision outcomes like genomic risk stratification, care efficiency via ambient intelligence, and frontier science including robotic surgery and digital twins.

Nadia Fall calls for bold thinking as she announces new shows including anti-Trump version of Thelma & LouiseTheatres facing financial difficulty can only prosper by “programming their way out of it”, according to the Young Vic artistic director, Nadia Fall, who has announces her new slate of shows, including an anti-Trump musical version of Thelma & Louise.Fall, who took the helm at the Young Vic in 2025 and oversaw staff cuts after a £500,000 deficit in the last financial year, said theatres must put on unmissable productions in order to balance the books. Continue reading...

• A dialysis unit in rural Nebraska closed after operating at a financial loss, leaving patients without local treatment access despite the state receiving $219 million in federal rural health transformation funding. • The closure highlights the challenges rural healthcare facilities face in maintaining operations even with substantial federal support aimed at rural health infrastructure. • The facility's closure upends the lives of dialysis patients who must now travel for treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of federal rural health programs in sustaining critical services.

Iranian sources, however, blame ‘excessive’ demands from Washington for breakdown of talks in Islamabad to resolve US-Iran conflictMiddle East crisis – liveThe US vice-president, JD Vance, has blamed the failure of marathon negotiations with Iran on the country’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, while Iranian sources have hit back at “excessive” demands from Washington.Vance, who left Islamabad on Sunday morning after 21 hours of talks with Iranian officials in the Pakistani capital, said his team had been very clear on its red lines, as hopes faded of a quick end to the conflict that began on 28 February. Continue reading...

• University of Alabama announced Nick Saban's hiring as interim football program director, a newly created role overseeing recruitment and player development. • Saban, 74, brings his 17 years of Alabama head coaching experience and seven national championships to the athletic department position. • The move aims to stabilize the program following recent coaching changes and NCAA compliance investigations.