Supercharged seaweed, condo cracks, inside a company in crisis: Catch up on the day’s stories
By Daniel Wine, CNN
👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! A Texas mother is accused of buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son, despite repeated warnings about violent plans at his middle school. The boy’s grandmother alerted police.
Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day:
5 things
1️⃣ Toxic bloom: At least 31 million tons of supercharged seaweed are moving toward Florida and around the Caribbean, threatening a putrid invasion of idyllic beaches. As the sargassum rots on shore, it emits gases and produces an awful stench that repels tourists during the busy travel season.
2️⃣ Red flags: Hurricane preparations at the Federal Emergency Management Agency have slowed to a crawl, and the disaster relief agency “is not ready” for the June 1 start to the season, according to an internal review. The document outlines FEMA’s struggles and raises a number of concerns.
3️⃣ Company in crisis: UnitedHealth Group, one of America’s biggest corporations, is unraveling. The CEO stepped down abruptly for “personal reasons,” and then came news that the health care giant is under criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud.
4️⃣ Buyer beware: Apartment owners at a luxury New York skyscraper are suing the building’s developers over alleged structural defects — including thousands of severe cracks on the super-skinny Park Avenue tower’s facade.
5️⃣ Mysterious disappearance: A star-studded field of golfers is converging on North Carolina this week for the PGA Championship, and the winner will receive the famed Wanamaker Trophy. It went missing decades ago under curious circumstances.
Watch this
🥣 Color crackdown: Marion Nestle has an impressive collection of cereal boxes dating back 100 years. The nutrition professor at New York University explains why she thinks the Food and Drug Administration needs to do more to eliminate dyes from the breakfast table.
Top headlines
• Inside the Supreme Court arguments on Trump’s birthright citizenship order
• First on CNN: Dangerously high levels of arsenic and cadmium found in store-bought rice
• Defense questions Cassie Ventura during sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
25%
💸 That’s how much of a pay cut Harvard University President Alan Garber volunteered to take to help absorb some of the financial impacts of the Trump administration’s freeze on $2.7 billion in federal funding.
Check this out
🧳 Hidden oasis: Visitors to Morocco are probably familiar with Marrakech, which gets packed during peak season. But there’s another charming town that most tourists don’t know about.
Quotable
💬 Ethical concerns: The Trump family’s plans for luxury skyscrapers, golf courses and cryptocurrency deals in the Middle East have prompted questions from government watchdogs.
Quiz time
🇲🇽 YouTube personality MrBeast is in hot water for doing what in Mexico?
A. Being drunk and disorderly
B. Evading border security agents
C. Filming at restricted archaeological sites
D. Bathing in a public fountain
⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.
Good vibes
💺 Touchy topic: A lot of people have strong feelings about whether it’s appropriate to recline your seat when flying on a plane. Air New Zealand, which ranks among the best airlines in the world, came up with a solution to the debate.
Thanks for reading
👋 We’ll see you tomorrow.
🧠 Quiz answer: C. MrBeast sparked controversy by posting videos from some of Mexico’s most important archaeological sites.
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5 Things PM is produced by CNN’s Chris Good, Meghan Pryce, Kimberly Richardson and Morgan Severson.
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