📊 Ebola, Rededicate 250, and Parental Leave

Congo outbreak, national prayer, and democracy’s database problem.

May 17, 2026

Greetings! Happy World Hypertension Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

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🌎 GLOBAL NEWS

🇨🇩 Ebola forces a global alarm. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency over Ebola in Congo and Uganda. The outbreak has more than 300 suspected cases. It has caused 88 deaths. WHO said this is not a pandemic emergency like COVID. It also advised against closing international borders. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. That is a rare Ebola variant with no approved vaccines or therapeutics. Congo accounts for all except two reported cases. Both Ugandan cases involved people who had traveled from Congo. One died in Kampala. A confirmed case also reached Kinshasa, about 620 miles from the outbreak’s Ituri epicenter. A case was detected in Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city. Conflict is making containment harder. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has displaced hundreds of thousands. Mining movement also complicates contact tracing. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya said active community cases are a major challenge. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned the outbreak may be larger than detected.

🇦🇪 Drone strike tests nuclear nerves. A drone strike hit the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ only nuclear power plant Sunday. The attack sparked a fire at the Barakah plant. Authorities called it an unprovoked terrorist attack. No injuries were reported, nor was any radiological report released. The UAE Defense Ministry 3 three drones crossed its western border with Saudi Arabia. The ministry said it was investigating who launched them. Iran and allied Shiite militias in Iraq have launched drone attacks against Gulf Arab states during the war. Barakah cost $20B. It was built with South Korean help. It began operating in 2020. It can provide about one-quarter of the UAE’s energy needs. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said one reactor was powered by emergency diesel generators after the strike. IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed grave concern. The nuclear regulator said plant safety was not affected. The Iran ceasefire now has smoke at a reactor fence.

🇺🇸 LOCAL NEWS

🙏 Prayer rally tests America’s civic line. Thousands gathered on the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally Sunday. The event was called Rededicate 250. Organizers billed it as a rededication of America as one nation under God. The setting was not shy. Worship music filled the Mall near the Washington Monument. A stage displayed stained-glass arches and a white cross beside images of American founders. Several speakers celebrated Christianity’s ties to American history. Critics warned the event blurred patriotism, religion, and Christian nationalism. The Rev. Robert Jeffress, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor, embraced the term from the stage. President Trump was expected to address the gathering by video. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and House Speaker Mike Johnson were also on the program. Most listed speakers were Christian. Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was the only non-Christian religious leader listed. The Rev. Adam Russell Taylor of Sojourners criticized the event’s narrow religious frame. The Interfaith Alliance projected protest slogans onto the National Gallery of Art. One said democracy, not theocracy. Another defended separation of church and state.

🗳️ Voter checks raise purge fears. President Trump’s administration is expanding voter-eligibility checks before the midterms. Millions of registrations have been run through federal databases. Critics fear valid voters could be purged. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program is called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE). It was designed to help agencies prevent benefits from going to noncitizens. It is now being used by states to review voter rolls. At least 67M registrations have gone through enhanced checks. Most came from Republican-controlled states. Tens of thousands were flagged as potential noncitizens or dead voters. Some states give voters only a month to prove eligibility. Others suspend eligibility immediately. The administration says the goal is accurate rolls and fraud prevention. Voting-rights advocates say false positives can wrongly target eligible citizens. Anthony Nel, a naturalized citizen, was temporarily canceled in Texas after being flagged. At least six federal lawsuits challenge the checks. Noncitizen voting remains rare. The fight is becoming a midterm stress test for bureaucracy and trust.

🗂️ MISC

👶 NICU parents push for time. Parents of newborns in intensive care are pushing for dedicated leave. Marlon White and Farra Lanzer-White know the gap firsthand. Their daughter Olivia was born at 29 weeks. She weighed about 2 pounds. She was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Marlon, a welder, went back to work the next day. Farra was back working from the hospital two days later. Their choice was brutal but familiar. Many parents save leave for when the baby finally comes home. Colorado became the first American state to adopt paid NICU leave in January. It offers up to 12 weeks on top of existing parental leave. Illinois will soon guarantee 10 to 20 days of unpaid NICU leave. Advocates now want a federal bill. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Colorado Democrat, is drafting one. It would add up to 12 weeks of NICU leave to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). 10 percent of American babies is admitted to a NICU. The smallest patients are forcing a larger policy fight.

🔌 Power bills put utilities on trial. Rising electric bills are putting utility profits under state scrutiny. The AI boom is part of the pressure. Data centers are driving major electricity demand. That demand lifts investment and construction. It has also helped raise prices in some regions. Officials in at least six states are now pushing back. Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are challenging utility rate increases or financing models. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called out monopoly utility profits. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro pressed PECO to withdraw a 12.5% rate hike. That would have added about $20 monthly for average residential customers. The Energy and Policy Institute says profits at 110 for-profit utilities rose from under $39B in 2021 to more than $52B in 2024. Consumer advocates argue regulated returns help pad bills. Utilities say those returns fund grid reliability and modernization. Analysts say affordability is now the sector’s dominant question. AI may be invisible software to users. On the grid, it arrives as a bill.