Top 5 US news stories
May 22 2026
Senate GOP Stalls Trump Immigration Bill Over 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund
Trump Administration Pumps $2 Billion Into Quantum Computing for Equity Stakes
DNC Releases Mocked 2024 Autopsy
Israeli Digital Dragnet Tracks Hundreds Tied to Oct 7 Attacks
NASCAR Champion Kyle Busch Dies at 41
Senate GOP Stalls Trump Immigration Bill Over 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans abruptly abandoned plans on Thursday to advance a filibuster-proof bill funding President Trump's immigration crackdown, postponing the vote before a weeklong recess despite Trump's demands. GOP leaders could not overcome internal concerns over the president's proposed "anti-weaponization" fund, which would compensate people who claim political persecution by the federal government. Republicans had already signaled they would jettison $1 billion the White House had requested in the bill for Trump's ballroom project, after a small group of senators refused to advance it. Lawmakers still plan to take up the measure when they return from recess. The delay highlighted strained relations between the White House and the GOP-controlled Congress months before the midterm elections.
NYT
Trump Administration Pumps $2 Billion Into Quantum Computing for Equity Stakes
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is awarding $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies in deals that include U.S. government equity stakes, the Commerce Department announced. IBM will receive $1 billion of the package and is matching that amount with its own cash to establish what it describes as the nation's first specialized quantum chip manufacturing facility. The funding comes from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which earmarks money for earlier-stage technology projects. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has restructured the department's approach, pushing semiconductor firms to expand domestic investment and taking a nearly 10 percent stake in Intel. The government will receive a minority equity stake in each quantum company, mirroring earlier deals with rare-earths firm Vulcan Elements and miner MP Materials. IBM shares rose 12 percent on the news.
WSJ
DNC Releases Mocked 2024 Autopsy
WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee on Thursday released a nearly 200-page draft autopsy of the 2024 campaign, ending months of speculation that had created a public distraction for the party. The report attributes Vice President Kamala Harris's defeat partly to former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s political operation, arguing it failed to position her for success after Biden withdrew from the race. It also faults the Harris campaign for not distancing itself from Biden and for lacking an effective strategy against Trump's rising approval ratings. The document carried red disclaimers on each page noting the DNC was not provided with underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many assertions, and the Executive Summary page was left blank. Particular facts were highlighted in yellow and annotated as unverified or inaccurate, and no list of interviewees, transcriptions, or notes accompanied the draft. The release stepped on a news cycle dominated by Republican opposition to a proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund for those claiming federal government targeting.
NYT
Israeli Digital Dragnet Tracks Hundreds Tied to Oct 7 Attacks
TEL AVIV — An Israeli task force created after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack has been working to kill or capture every person who planned or participated in the assault, according to current and former Israeli officials. Hundreds of names have been struck from a list of thousands in what officials describe as one of the most personal and technically intensive targeting campaigns in the history of warfare. No participant has been deemed too insignificant, including a man who drove a tractor through the border fence and was identified, located, and killed in an airstrike on a Gaza street nearly two years later. The campaign extends from rank-and-file militants to senior Hamas leadership and continues alongside Israel's war with Iran and the cease-fire agreement in Gaza. On Friday, Israel killed Ezzedin al-Haddad, who had served as Hamas's military commander in Gaza since 2025 and was among the last living senior figures from the group's military leadership that planned the Oct. 7 attacks. The original assault left roughly 1,200 people dead and around 250 taken hostage.
WSJ
NASCAR Champion Kyle Busch Dies at 41
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Busch, the most prolific race winner in NASCAR's national series history, died Thursday after being hospitalized this week with an unspecified illness, the organization announced. Busch won 234 races across the Cup Series, O'Reilly Series, and Truck Series — more than any driver in NASCAR history — and captured Cup Series titles in 2015 and 2019. Known by the nickname "Rowdy," he combined elite driving talent with an unapologetic on-track persona that drew passionate fans and critics across more than two decades of competition. He is survived by his wife, Samantha; son Brexton, 11, an emerging racer in his own right; and 4-year-old daughter, Lennix. His older brother, Kurt Busch, won the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series championship and has 34 career race wins.
The Athletic
MAY 22, 1856: SOUTHERN CONGRESSMAN SAVAGELY CANES NORTHERN SENATOR IN THE U.S. CAPITOL
In the wake of the divisive Kansas-Nebraska Act, pro-slavery Representative Preston Brooks brutally attacked abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner at his desk on the Senate floor. Sumner, trapped by his bolted desk, was beaten so severely with a cane that he could not return to the Senate for three years. The assault shocked the nation, turning Brooks into a hero in much of the South and a villain in the North, and it starkly symbolized the deepening sectional hostility that was pushing the country toward civil war.
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