Brandee Younger hopes 'Gadabout Season' album spreads joy
Harpist Brandee Younger hopes her new album, "Gadabout Season," inspires listeners to intentionally seek joy, calling it more creative than her previous project. (June 12) (AP interview and production by Gary Gerard Hamilton)
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USA Today
32 minutes ago
- USA Today
Most Americans think Trump's military parade is 'not a good use' of money, poll shows
With hours to go until the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade hits the streets of Washington, D.C., a new poll reveals Americans' opinions about the event. In the poll released June 12 from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a majority of the American adults surveyed said the parade is not a good use of government money. AP-NORC surveyed 1,158 American adults from June 5-8 for the poll, which had a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. The Army Birthday Festival is expected to cost about $40 million, a Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly previously told USA TODAY. The parade, which will coincide with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday on June 14, will feature military demonstrations, equipment displays and live music throughout the day, according to organizers. More than 7,000 troops, two dozen tanks and armored vehicles each and 50 helicopters are set to be part of the event. Here's a look at the results from AP-NORC's poll. More adults approve than disapprove of Trump's military parade Overall, 40% of adults surveyed said they approve of Trump's decision to hold a military parade. About 29% of adults said they disapprove, while 31% chose neither approve or disapprove. When broken down by party affiliation, just 20% of Democrats said they approve of the parade. Half of Democratic respondents said they disapprove and 29% said neither. For Republicans, 67% said they approve, while just 11% said they disapprove. About 21% said neither. Military parade time What time is Trump's DC military parade? See full festival schedule 6 in 10 Americans think military parade is 'not a good use' of money Regarding the parade's hefty price tag, overall, 60% of adults said the parade is not a good use of government funds. About 38% said it is a good use of government funds. 80% of Democrats said it is not a good use of funds, while 19% said the opposite. Of the Republicans in the survey, 65% said it is a good use of funds and 35% disagreed. Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Men who stole $6 million golden toilet from English mansion sentenced to prison terms
LONDON (AP) — Two burglars who plotted the heist of a $6.4 million golden toilet, a fully-functional 18-carat piece of contemporary art that was ripped from the plumbing of an English mansion, were sentenced Friday to more than two years in a British prison. The satirical commentary on consumer culture, titled 'America,' by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, had only been on display for a couple days when five burglars swiped it from Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born — in September 2019. The purloined potty was never recovered and was believed to have been chopped up and sold. 'This bold and brazen heist took no more than 5 1/2 minutes to complete,' Judge Ian Pringle said in Oxford Crown Court. 'America has never been seen again.' James Sheen, 40, a roofer who pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property, was sentenced to four years in prison. Michael Jones, 39, who worked for Sheen and was convicted of burglary at trial, was sentenced to two years and three months. The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was worth more than its weight in gold. The value of the bullion at the time was 2.8 million pounds ($3.5 million), but it was insured for 4.7 million pounds (more than $6 million). The piece by Cattelan, whose work of a banana duct-taped to a wall was sold in 2024 for $6.2 million at auction in New York, poked fun at excessive wealth. It had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. When U.S. President Donald Trump asked the museum to loan him a Van Gogh painting during his first term in office, the Guggenheim cheekily offered the toilet instead. The White House did not accept the offer. The toilet had just gone on display when Jones visited the museum twice, booking a viewing the day before the theft to take photos, check out the lock and have his own private session on the golden throne. He deemed the experience 'splendid' during his testimony. The next morning before dawn the gang of thieves crashed through the wooden gates of the palace in two stolen vehicles and tore across well-tended lawns. They pulled up to the estate's courtyard and smashed a window that Jones had photographed the day before. The thieves used sledgehammers and a crowbar to wrench the toilet from its foundation, causing considerable damage to the 18th-century property, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year. Surveillance footage showed one of the men, whose face was hidden in a black mask, walking from the palace with a golden toilet seat in his hand. Two other men appeared to lift something golden into the trunk of a waiting car and the suspension sagged under the weight. Sheen's DNA was found on a sledgehammer left behind at the scene of the crime indicating he was among the burglars. Investigators also found hundreds of gold fragments on a pair of sweatpants at his home, which had come from cutting up the spoils of the caper. Sheen had sent a relative a photo of 520,000 pounds in cash, which a prosecutor said was for the sale of about a fifth of the gold. None of the gold or money has ever been recovered and no one else was charged with the burglary. Another convict, Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, who tried to help Sheen find a buyer for the gold was spared a jail term when Pringle sentenced him last month to a suspended sentence for conspiracy to transfer criminal property. Pringle said the thieves had taken advantage of him. Both Sheen and Jones had lengthy criminal records, prosecutor Julian Christopher said. At the time of the burglary, Sheen was on parole for a firearms conviction that involved a running gun battle with another car that injured passengers in a third vehicle. He was arrested for additional crimes while on release and has since been sentenced to serve more than 19 years in prison. Jones had a record dating back to the age of 13 that included burglary, several car thefts and robbery. Almost six years ago, on the eve of the heist, Jones did his reconnaissance work testing out the toilet. It was a Friday the 13th, a day many consider unlucky. For several years it appeared the burglars appeared to have gotten away with their crime. They avoided charges for more than four years and several culprits were not caught. But Sheen and Jones ultimately paid a price for their roles — on Friday the 13th.
Atlantic
an hour ago
- Atlantic
Alexandra Petri
Alexandra Petri is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Before joining The Atlantic in 2025, she wrote a humor column for the Washington Post. She won the 2025 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book AP's US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up). She is the author of two other books, Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why: Essays, and A Field Guide to Awkward Silences. Her writing has also appeared in McSweeney's, the N ew Yorker 's Daily Shouts and Murmurs, and elsewhere.
