President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education took a major step forward this month after the White House reassigned the agency’s special education and civil rights programs to other federal agencies. His administration says the adjustments will maximize efficiency. But critics claim the reassignments are an illegal effort to circumvent congressional funding challenges and will harm children and their educational prospects.

What did the commentators say?
At the center of this latest episode is the Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which protects the “rights of children with disabilities,” and its Office for Civil Rights, which works with students who “experience discrimination based on race, sex or religion,” said The Associated Press. Those offices will now be operationally reassigned to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department, respectively.

By relocating the department’s programming now, critics say the White House is “weakening oversight after already drastically reducing staffing” in the affected offices, said The New York Times. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon (pictured above) has stated that using interagency agreements will “help build the case for skeptical lawmakers” to “support abolishing the Department of Education as an independent agency” at large, said Education Week. But lawmakers “across both parties” seem “reluctant to affirmatively endorse this plan.”

What next? 
Per the text of the agreement between the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services obtained by NPR, Health and Human Services “would do much of the work of administering formula grant programs” mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, said NPR’s “All Things Considered.” The plan is “likely to garner some pushback” from legislators, “including among Republican lawmakers” who want to ensure the government meets its “legal obligations to students with disabilities,” said Politico.

The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights will similarly “refer cases to the Department of Justice for evaluation and resolution” but will “continue to decide whether to pursue administrative enforcement action,” said Education Week. Critics fear this “partnership could lead the Office of Civil Rights to become more like the DOJ,” said Inside Higher Ed, by “picking and choosing which cases it will address based on political priorities.”

Though the Trump administration’s $14 million attempt to change the color of Washington, D.C.’s Reflecting Pool has backfired, something positive that can be said about its algae bloom is that it’s not toxic. But toxic algal blooms are a worldwide phenomenon that can harm humans and devastate marine life. And as the climate crisis warms the water, the problem is intensifying.

‘Underwater bushfire’
“Algal blooms are a rapid, explosive growth of algae,” said pharmacology researcher Ian Musgrave at The Conversation. Blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria, naturally occur in inland waters, estuaries and the sea. They can “suffocate fish” and produce toxins that cause nausea, skin irritation and even liver failure in humans.

Algae have “flared at hot spots” along the South Australian coastline, causing “stinging eyes, coughing, rashes, headaches and breathing difficulties” among surfers, said ABC. And beachgoers are “horrified by the dead animals washing ashore,” said The New York Times. 

A crowdsourced platform has recorded more than 100,000 instances of dead sea life in the Australian region since February last year. It was “literally just like an underwater bushfire,” said a recreational fisherman.

‘Visible from space’
Harmful algal blooms stalk shores far beyond Australia. In Southern California, an “unprecedented multi-toxin event” last year killed hundreds of seabirds, sea lions and dolphins, said the Public Policy Institute of California. And the U.K.’s largest freshwater lake, Lough Neagh (pictured above) in Northern Ireland, has also been “choking on recurring toxic algal blooms” for years, said The Guardian. 

The algae feed on high levels of nutrients in the water, mainly from agricultural runoff, fertilizer and livestock waste, as well as “inadequate wastewater treatment.” Global warming has also increased water temperature, encouraging the abundant blooms.

In some places, an algal bloom is “so widespread it’s visible from space,” said The Guardian. The blooms “coat the surface, kill wildlife, unleash stenches” and make the water “unusable,” and the impact on wildlife and tourism is “incalculable.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his resignation as leader of the governing Labour Party outside 10 Downing in London following months of mounting political pressure. Leaving office nearly two years after being elected in a landslide, Starmer is the sixth PM in a decade to depart prematurely.
Kin Cheung / AP Photo

It’s the season of known quantities in theater-land. A beloved tearjerker moves from screen to stage. Simba is crowned king of beasts once again. And the semi-fictionalized life of Alicia Keys storms across the stage to the tune of her hits and new songs. Over the next few months, the motto is “go with what you know.”

‘Hell’s Kitchen’
Keys took her hit songs and life story and melded them into the vibrant musical “Hell’s Kitchen.” Her stand-in protagonist, Ali, is a 17-year-old growing up in the show’s namesake neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan. Expect to catch “No One,” “Fallin’” and “Empire State of Mind,” along with new songs written for the show. It’s “thrilling from beginning to end,” said Elisabeth Vincentelli at The New York Times. (through Aug. 15, 2027)

‘The Lion King’
The Disney behemoth just will not quit — nor should it. Because 29 years after its Broadway debut, director-designer Julie Taymor’s singular vision of “The Lion King” (pictured above) made a good movie into a startling, inspired piece of live theater. (through May 30, 2027)

‘The Notebook’
The book-to-movie-to-musical pipeline hits its heartstring-tugging zenith with the Broadway-ification of “The Notebook.” In an attempt to breathe fresh life into the romantic tale of Allie and Noah, three pairs of actors play the characters across different time periods in their lives. The adjustment is novel, but the resulting version of the story hasn’t “lost its romantic magic,” said Gloria Oladipo in The Guardian. Brace yourself for Alysha Deslorieux’s barn-burning Act One number, “My Days,” as Middle Allie. (through May 16, 2027)