Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. It's Thursday, May seventh. The time is two a-m Central. I'm Keli, joined by Hast.

HAST Hey Keli. Good morning to you.

KELI We're starting this hour with an update on the questioning of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Capitol Hill. Lutnick testified before House lawmakers about his documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The secretary said last year he'd ended contact with Epstein back in 2005, when they were neighbors. But documents released from the Epstein files show the two had contact years after that—including what's described as a lunch together on Epstein's private island in 2012. Lawmakers pressed him on the discrepancy during the hearing.

HAST Moving to the courts now, and an ongoing split among federal appeals judges over gun regulations. The First and Tenth Circuit courts have conflicting rulings on so-called cooling-off periods—waiting periods before someone can buy a firearm. One court says those periods violate the plain text of the Second Amendment. The other disagrees. Legal experts say this kind of split often moves cases toward the Supreme Court eventually.

KELI The FIFA World Cup in 2026 now has its full schedule. The tournament will be spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—the first time three countries are hosting together. All the groups, match dates, and kickoff times are now official, and fans can start planning how they'll follow their teams through the tournament.

HAST In Australia, vigils are being held across the country following the death of a five-year-old girl in Alice Springs. Kumanjayi Little Baby went missing from an Aboriginal community camp in the Outback and was found dead. The death is being investigated as a homicide, and her family and community members are gathering to remember her.

KELI One more on the Lutnick story, Hast. The temptation here is to read this story a certain way. What should listeners watch for?

HAST Right. The simple read is going to be that a cabinet official was caught in a false statement about when he ended contact with someone now understood to have committed crimes. The structural reality is that the Epstein files have created a rolling disclosure process—new documents become public, existing timelines shift, and people who said they'd cut ties years ago sometimes get caught with contact records dated later. Watch for whether Congress or the administration pursues any further investigation into what happened during that 2012 lunch, who else was present, and what they discussed. If that detail stays background noise and the story moves to just the contradictory testimony, the simple read holds. If new documentary evidence surfaces about the substance of their later contact, the frame changes.

KELI So the key is whether this stays about the misstatement or whether the inquiry widens.

HAST Exactly.

KELI On this day in 1992, Michigan became the last state needed to ratify a constitutional amendment that had been proposed two hundred and three years earlier. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment bars Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise—any change to congressional salaries takes effect only after the next election of representatives.

HAST A long road for that one.

KELI That's the Independent News Drop. We'll be back next hour. From Inkwell.