The drivers of the No. 23 Toyota of Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing did not come to the driver bullpen to speak with reporters on Saturday, May 23. Before taking part in practice laps on Saturday, Wallace walked alone to the grassy area of ​​the infield where Kyle Busch’s No. 8 is printed on his jersey. Wallace knelt down and spent some quiet time alone.

Mr. Bush died Thursday from what his family called complications from severe pneumonia that progressed to sepsis. His shocking death has shocked the motorsport world and left a somber mood in the garage on what would normally be a weekend of celebration of the sport.

Wallace finally spoke publicly about what Bush meant to him in an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith on Sunday, May 24th.

The Orange County Fire Department is working with subject matter experts and state and federal authorities to cool a tank storing methyl methacrylate in Garden Grove, California, which has forced evacuation orders for more than 40,000 residents.

Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern said in a May 24 X update that firefighters were able to “visualize the tank” during overnight operations and discovered cracks that could relieve some of the pressure.

New information could help authorities make “educated decisions” that “could change our trajectory and strategy,” McGovern explained.

According to ComScore estimates released on Sunday, May 24, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first new Star Wars movie since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” grossed $82 million at the domestic box office in its first three days. The film is expected to gross $102 million over four days, factoring in Memorial Day box office receipts.

This is the lowest opening weekend box office gross for a Star Wars movie released by Disney, albeit by a small margin. In 2018, the Han Solo prequel, Solo: A Star Wars Story, similarly opened with $84 million in three days and $103 million by Memorial Day.

For “Han Solo,” these numbers were considered extremely disappointing, and the film ultimately failed as a box office success. However, The Mandalorian & Grogu reportedly has a much lower budget, so it should have an easier path to profitability.

In a conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, May 24, days after the Democratic National Committee released its long-awaited autopsy of the 2024 election, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said the party is “in desperate need of new leadership.”

“We need to focus on the people, and the Democratic Party desperately needs new leadership. That’s what excites me about this cycle,” Booker said. “This is not only a new leadership, but a new vision for our party.”

New leaders and new leaders?

Booker named three Democrats he believes represent the future of the party: Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, and former North Carolina governor and current Senate candidate Roy Cooper.

Pop icon Taylor Swift and her fiancé Travis Kelce attended Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Cavaliers. Kelce, a longtime star for the Kansas City Chiefs, grew up near Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

His hometown team, which lost 2-0 in the East final and fought to avoid a 3-0 deficit, could use this support.

Travis Kelsey chugging beer

With the Cavaliers down 91-82 in the fourth quarter, Kelce appeared on the jumbotron and excited the crowd by chugging what appeared to be an adult beverage. Swift held her hands to her face for a moment, then burst into applause.

“The medical evaluation provided to the Bush family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed to sepsis, causing rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family said in a statement released Saturday morning. “The family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time.”

Here’s what we know about Kyle Busch’s death.

During the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series broadcast, Michael Waltrip and the FOX Sports 1 commentary team took time to reflect on the remarkable career and enduring legacy of Kyle Busch. They highlighted his record-breaking accomplishments, influence and the passion he brought to the sport.

Kyle Busch’s former spotter Derek Kneeland, who is a key team member who acts as the driver’s eyes on the track, monitoring blind spots, traffic, accidents and changing conditions, shared a heartfelt message about the X. He expressed that it would be a tough day, reflecting the emotional weight heading into the Coca-Cola 600, and asked for support and protection for his team.

The McCain Institute said in a statement that the junior, who like his father was a Navy pilot, “will be remembered as a patriot and friend to many alumni of the McCain Institute, his campaign, and the Senate staff.” An online obituary said Doug McCain died “suddenly” last week, but the institute, a nonprofit founded in 2012, did not immediately confirm the cause of his death.

The biological son of Alasdair Swanson and Carol Shep McCain, he was adopted by Sen. McCain in 1966 after the longtime Arizona congressman married Shep McCain the previous year.

Sen. John McCain, America’s “Maverick” Political giant dies at age 81

The younger McCain, a Florida native, grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., and then attended the University of Virginia, where he met his wife of 40 years, Ashley, according to his obituary. He joined the Navy in 1982 and flew A-6 Intruders for six years. He then became a commercial pilot for American Airlines and rose to the rank of captain.

Would you like to have a bridal shower this holiday?

“The Bride” is now available on HBO Max! Fans of Uma Thurman’s vengeful Bride can finally watch Quentin Tarantino’s two-part Kill Bill movie as an uncut feature-length blockbuster on their own Peacock as Jesse Buckley unleashes a wild take on The Bride of Frankenstein. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Hulu have a slew of new movies available for Memorial Day viewing, including John Krasinski’s Jack Ryan movie and a comedy about gender dynamics starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike.

Here are 10 hottest new movies you can stream right now.

“Bride!”

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s wild take on the Frankenstein myth borrows from B-movie horror, crime drama, Broadway musicals, and love stories, combining them in bold and bizarre strokes. Jesse Buckley is a resurrected bride who demands to be heard and starts a revolution along with her partner Frank (Christian Bale).

Where to watch: HBO Max

‘goat’

In this animated, animal-filled hoops comedy, Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) wins the game, but the guy can’t even get into the rolling ball court because the big beast won’t let him. A chance pickup game earns Will a spot on his hometown team, but he must prove himself to a team that includes his idol Jet (Gabriel Union).

What excited the crowd was the praise, or even just the mention, of a common hot topic: artificial intelligence.

“Okay, that touches my heart. Can we call it a day?” real estate development executive Gloria Caulfield said during a May 8 ceremony at the University of Central Florida to loud boos from the audience, the USA TODAY Network in Florida reported. The crowd reaction came after Caulfield called the rise of AI “the next industrial revolution.”

“AI sucks!” someone in the audience can be heard shouting in the video of the incident.

A few minutes later, the audience cheered again, this time after Caulfield said that just a few years ago AI was not part of our lives.

That was the scene at ceremonies at universities in Arizona, Florida and Tennessee this month as graduation season began, with speeches by distinguished speakers from prominent fields invited to impart wisdom to graduates.

Fabrizio Cariani, professor and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Maryland, said today’s college students have mixed feelings about AI. “AI and the human experience. ”

“There is certainly a group of students who are embracing AI, either covertly or openly,” Cariani told USA TODAY. “And some students are worried about the impact of AI on the labor market and entry-level jobs. I think that’s probably what was happening in the examples of these graduates.”

AI causes controversy at graduation ceremony

Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta was also booed when he spoke about AI at Middle Tennessee State University’s graduation ceremony for the school’s College of Media and Entertainment, which is named for him, on May 9, the Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY network, reported.

In his speech, Borchetta emphasized that the pace of technological development over the past decade has exceeded the pace of the past half century.

“Streaming is rewriting the economy, social media is rewriting the discovery model, and AI is rewriting production even as we sit here,” he said.

more: President Trump addresses graduates at Coast Guard ceremony

When the crowd started booing, he pushed back: “I know that. Deal with it.” “As I said earlier, this is a tool.”

At Glendale Community College in Arizona, AI was booed for a different reason. The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY network, reported that AI announcement software mispronounced graduates’ names or skipped them altogether. Hundreds of students were affected.

The school’s president, Tiffany Hernandez, spoke about the issue on stage at a May 15 ceremony, drawing boos from many in the audience.

“What’s going on here? We’re using a new AI system as a leader,” Hernandez said. “That’s a lesson learned for us.”

Many of the students instead had a real person read their names and walk across the stage again.

Wozniak praised the graduates, saying they had “AI, actual intelligence.”

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in his commencement speech that they have “AI, real intelligence,” which drew applause from graduates.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak drew applause and laughter at Grand Valley State University’s graduation ceremony with his irony about AI.

“You have AI,” he said. “Genuine intelligence.”

Why are graduates responding so strongly to AI?

Cariani cautioned that the strong crowd reaction at the graduation ceremony did not mean that all university students and graduates were rejecting AI. At his campus in Maryland, he said, some advocates are more silent about their attitudes because there is some stigma about the use of AI in academics. However, a significant number of students still have very real concerns about AI and its impact on their college experience and beyond.

He said college students tend to have some important concerns about AI. Uncertainty about the impact of AI on the job market, concerns about the ecological impact of large-scale generative AI data centers, questions about academic integrity, and even abstract notions of what trust means in a world with AI.

In Cariani’s AI class, he wanted to implement certain tasks where the use of AI was prohibited, but for others he asked students to collaborate with the AI ​​and brainstorm. Although some students accepted the idea, the majority’s reaction was “an attitude of rejection similar to the booing at graduation ceremonies.”

A recent Quinnipiac poll examining Americans’ thoughts on how AI will impact jobs found that Generation Z, which includes most of today’s college graduates, is the most pessimistic generation on the issue. A whopping 81% believe that advances in AI will reduce job opportunities.

At Marquette University in Wisconsin, AI expert Chris Duffy spoke at an undergraduate ceremony despite backlash from students, the Associated Press reported.

“I thought AI was a little tone-deaf given the growing threat of AI to our jobs, especially to graduates,” recent graduate Sami Wargo told The Associated Press, adding that she joined other students in booing Duffy.

more: She is 72 years old, a grandmother of eight, and just graduated with a bachelor’s degree.

Grace Reimer, who graduated with an associate’s degree in fine arts from Glendale Community College in Arizona, said she felt the school ruined “one of the biggest moments of my life” by failing to announce AI’s name.

“This ceremony was supposed to be something big for me,” Reimer told The Arizona Republic. A photo of Reimer on stage at the graduation ceremony showed the wrong name and degree.

Students also pointed out to the Republic that the course syllabus has strict rules regarding the use of AI in academic work. Reiner said students could be punished or expelled for that.

Although Cariani is interested in AI, he doesn’t think it’s a bad thing for graduates to boo when they mention it. He is pleased to see evidence that students are thinking critically about the topic and hopes that they will go beyond booing and take an active role in shaping policy on the topic, for example.

“I think it’s a good development to have these questions at the front of the conversation,” he said. “Booing is an immediate reaction. I’m guessing there’s some thought behind that immediate reaction, and I’d like to see those thoughts added to the conversation.”

Advances in AI are in some sense inevitable, he said, adding: “The best thing we can do is talk about how to direct these tools towards the betterment of humanity and society.”

Contributor: Stephanie Murray, Arizona Republic. Diana Leyva from Nashville, Tennessee. and Samantha Neely, USA TODAY Network-Florida

According to research by clinical psychologist and sleep expert Dr. Michael Bruce, most people get intimate right before they fall asleep, between 10.30pm and 11.30pm, but the hormonal profile during that time is “literally the opposite” of what makes for successful sex. A clip of him arguing against late-night sex on the podcast Diary of a CEO was viewed nearly 1 million times on X in early May 2026.

“You want estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, adrenaline, cortisol all high and melatonin low,” he said on the podcast. “In fact, having sex in the morning increases sexual connection and improves performance.”

Dart’s short speech drew criticism from one of his teammates, fellow 2025 first-round pick Abdul Carter, who questioned the quarterback’s decision to play in the event.

“I thought this (expletive) was AI,” Carter wrote in a May 23 repost of the darts introduction on social media. “What are we doing?”

Mr. Dart did not immediately respond publicly to Mr. Carter’s social media complaints, and it is not clear whether he will.

In fact, forecasts released May 21 by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center predict widespread above-average temperatures across most regions of the United States, except for the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest.

According to NOAA’s forecast, temperatures in June, July, and August are expected to be “above normal across much of the West, the Great Plains, the lower Mississippi River Basin, and the East.” Specifically, NOAA said the highest confidence in forecasting above-normal temperatures is across the Pacific Northwest.

Temperatures will also be above average across much of Alaska.

Commercial weather forecaster AccuWeather’s summer forecast is in line with NOAA’s forecast: “A hot summer is expected for most of the continental United States in 2026, with few areas expected to experience seasonal temperatures below historical averages,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Rada said in a recent online forecast.

How hot will it get?

Please note that NOAA’s official forecasts do not predict exact temperatures. The probability that temperatures will be higher than normal or lower than normal is shown. However, these odds have increased in most parts of the United States, meaning more frequent heat waves and above-average seasonal temperatures are likely.

The stakes couldn’t have been higher for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the spaceflight company he founded in 2002. Not only is SpaceX rushing to develop its Starship spacecraft for lunar and interplanetary travel, it’s also preparing for a long-awaited initial public offering that will depend heavily on a successful launch.

Additionally, the rocket has been launched 12 times from South Texas since 2023, but the Starship rocket that launched on Friday, May 22, after a series of delays, is the largest and most powerful version launched by SpaceX.

Fortunately for Musk and his rocket company, the unmanned test flight appeared to go off without a hitch, with Starship accomplishing most of its key goals before a fiery finale more than an hour after liftoff.