What happened
Prosecutors in Ithaca, New York, yesterday announced the reopening of an investigation into an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University. The decision to send the case to a grand jury came two weeks after a former student filed a lawsuit against Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity, seven Chi Phi members she said assaulted her, and others.

Who said what
The lawsuit “contains harrowing details of the alleged assaults, as well as a screenshot of a lewd Snapchat conversation in which one fraternity member appears to invite many others to join in,” The New York Times said. It “sparked anger” in Ithaca and beyond over how Cornell and local prosecutors “handled the woman’s initial allegations.” Cornell said it supported reopening the case and defended its handling of the allegations.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News that his office didn’t “independently investigate” the allegations. But he said the woman’s initial statement, given to campus police, “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual.” The woman’s lawyer said the 2024 statement was not materially different than the lawsuit’s allegations.

What next?
A grand jury “will review the case to see if any charges are warranted,” considering the “testimony of the former student” and “any new evidence raised by the allegations of the civil complaint,” CNN said. 

What happened
The Senate yesterday approved sweeping bipartisan legislation aimed at bringing stability to college sports by codifying a series of rulings and agreements, notably a landmark 2025 settlement that allowed colleges to directly pay players for their name, image and likeness. The Protect Student Sports Act, which passed 77-22, sets national caps on total compensation for student athletes, limits them to one penalty-free transfer and fixes their eligibility at five years, among other changes. It would “give the NCAA new authority over those rules and limited antitrust protections to enforce them,” The Associated Press said. 

Who said what
The bill’s backers argue it will “curtail constant litigation and uncertainty across college sports” and “rein in the runaway costs for colleges,” said the AP. Critics say it tips power to the NCAA and “doesn’t do enough to protect athletes or curtail the enormous sums of money flowing to coaches, colleges and conferences.” Resistance to the legislation “was no match for the major sports conferences, state schools, big-name coaches and other powerful interest groups that got behind it,” The New York Times said.

What next?
Last night’s vote was a “major legislative victory shared by members of both parties and President Donald Trump, who wants to sign the package as soon as possible,” Politico said. But its prospects in the House are “murky.”

Dementia research has reached a major milestone: Alzheimer’s disease is no longer untreatable, according to a landmark global report. The growing range of treatment options marks a shift from seeking a cure to focusing on slowing the disease or avoiding it altogether.

The Alzheimer’s research field is “witnessing a period of remarkable scientific momentum,” said the 2026 World Alzheimer Report, which is coauthored by Alzheimer's Disease International and health journalist Paul Gallagher. The ADI is a global federation of dementia associations associated with the World Health Organization.

Hundreds of clinical trials are investigating “medicines, diagnostics, lifestyle interventions, digital technologies, rehabilitation programs” and new care models for the disease, said the report. During the past five years alone, novel drugs such as donanemab (brand name Kisunla) and lecanemab (brand name Leqembi) have been shown to “modestly slow decline in early Alzheimer’s,” said ScienceAlert, and growing evidence suggests “some dementia cases could potentially be delayed or prevented through risk reduction.”

There are also drugs that “millions of people are taking right now for other reasons” that might help with Alzheimer’s disease, with GLP-1s being “the big ones,” said Vox. The link between the popular weight-loss drugs and dementia is still “sort of theoretical,” but the Alzheimer’s Association is “putting $100 million behind some research projects” to investigate the possibility. Years from now, when “millions of people are now on these GLP-1 drugs,” we may “start to see Alzheimer’s less often,” Vox said. That’s “another reason to be optimistic” that the “future for this disease is looking brighter.”