Latest news with #LSAT
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
The NextGen Bar Exam is DEI in action, dangerously lowering standards
The American legal profession is in crisis, and the NextGen Bar Exam is the latest symptom of a disease that's rapidly metastasizing: the abandonment of merit in favor of ideological box-checking. For decades, the bar exam was the last line of defense — a rigorous filter ensuring that only those with real legal chops could represent the public. Today, that filter is being shredded, sacrificed on the altar of equity and inclusion. The result? A collapse in standards, the death of meritocracy, and a profession on the brink of irrelevance. The NextGen Bar Exam, set to roll out in 2026, is not about modernizing legal education or making better lawyers. It is about making the exam easier to pass. Out go the demanding essays and complex legal analysis; in come more multiple-choice questions and 'practical' scenarios that test little more than common sense and the ability to regurgitate buzzwords. The new mantra is 'minimal competence,' a phrase so hollow as to be meaningless. The new system benefits neither clients, who deserve skilled and well-prepared advocates, nor the public, who depend on lawyers to guide them through a complex legal system. The only winners are bureaucrats and activists obsessed with 'equity.' And even then, this is not to say that the new bar somehow guarantees equality of opportunity. Rather, it tries to force equality of outcome, no matter how much the universal bar must be lowered in the process. In truth, the NextGen Bar Exam is DEI ideology in action. By blaming the bar exam itself, rather than differences in preparation or effort, for unequal pass rates among various groups, the legal establishment has chosen to lower the standards until everyone passes. This is neither fairness nor justice, but the soft bigotry of low expectations, institutionalized. DEI has become a Trojan horse, smuggling mediocrity into the heart of the legal profession. Instead of demanding that all aspiring lawyers rise to meet high standards, the system now bends over backward to ensure that the standards themselves are erased. The message is clear: merit is out, identity is in. The legal profession was once a meritocracy. It didn't matter where you came from or what you looked like — if you could master the law, you could make it. That's what made American law great — it consisted of the best and brightest, tested and proven. Now, that ideal is being tossed aside. The NextGen Bar Exam is just the latest example, following major formatting changes to the LSAT to ' reduce anxiety ' and the proliferation of alternative 'pathways' to licensure that bypass rigorous testing altogether. This isn't just a legal education problem. It is a societal problem. When we stop rewarding excellence and start rewarding box-checking, we get a weaker, less competent, and less trustworthy profession. As a result, we end up with lawyers who lack essential skills in writing, reasoning, and effective advocacy, in turn, undermining the credibility of our justice system. If this trend continues, the outcome is inevitable: Clients will find themselves represented by lawyers who only managed to pass a watered-down exam. Our courts will be overwhelmed by incompetence, and the already fragile reputation of the legal profession will deteriorate further. Those who will suffer most are everyday Americans — people who need legal help, not just a participation trophy. The legal profession must wake up before it's too late. Reform is acceptable and necessary when things are made better. But what's happening now is not reform, it is surrender. Surrender to ideology and mediocrity. Surrender to the idea that the only way to achieve 'equity' is to undermine true merit. The NextGen Bar Exam is a disaster in the making. It is time for lawyers, judges, educators, and the public to speak out and demand a return to merit, rigor, and excellence. The fate of the legal profession and the trust of those it serves now hang in the balance.
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jordon Hudson, Kash Patel and MJ's fax machine: Pablo Torre's ‘terminal content brain' battles the algorithm
He remembers the sweat trickling down his forehead, feeling the weight of his ambitions and the future he'd mapped out. Pablo Torre could see it: a spot in an esteemed law school, a summer clerkship for a Supreme Court justice, a corner office for a corporate law firm in midtown Manhattan. It wasn't the path his parents had pushed for — both were doctors and badly wanted him to attend medical school — but it would certainly suffice. Advertisement He was an honors student at Harvard, the sociology major who edited The Crimson and won an award for his 114-page thesis, 'Sympathy for the Devil: Child Homicide, Victim Characteristics and the Sentencing Preferences of the American Conscience.' Next up was law school. Torre spent the summer holed up in the library, studying for the test that would open the door to the rest of his life. 'If a genie had appeared to me and said you have three wishes, I would've used one on a perfect score on the LSAT,' he says now. 'It was the thing standing between me and the dream.' A panic attack wasn't a part of the dream. But while he sat at his desk and started the test, the angst, the pressure — all of it — began crashing into him. I'm ruining my life, he told himself. He bombed the test. Everything swerved that day, and Torre still wonders what life would look like if it hadn't. 'Failing that test ended up being the thing I am most thankful for in my entire life,' he says. Because without it, the 39-year-old isn't the busiest man in sports media and having the moment he is. There's no fact-checking job at Sports Illustrated, no 11-year run at ESPN, no chance to start his own show, 'Pablo Torre Finds Out.' There's no Edward R. Murrow award, nor Peabody nomination, nor headline-generating investigation into Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson, Belichick's girlfriend and business manager. There's no recurring seat on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' either, with the possibility of bigger things on the horizon. None of it happens if Torre doesn't bomb the LSAT his senior year of college. He retook the test and passed. But a year passed — then another, then another — and Torre never got around to applying for law school. 'By the time my LSAT score expired, I had realized something,' he says. 'I was a journalist.' He remembers feeling like a fraud, mostly because he was. He was a year out of college and sitting across from Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' top-rated show, trying to make a salient point about Michael Phelps' historic haul at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It didn't go well. O'Reilly barely let him get in a word. But for Torre, it opened a door. Advertisement He was doing two things at once: honing his journalistic chops at Sports Illustrated by going line by line through work from some of the best writers in the business: Gary Smith, S.L. Price, Tom Verducci — the 'f—ing lions of literary sports journalism,' Torre calls them — and simultaneously inching his way into debate television. Whenever a network booking agent asked for someone from the magazine to fill a seat and dish on the day's sports news, most writers shrugged. Torre jumped, credentials be damned. In time, he admits, he became 'radicalized by the drug of television.' He'd pre-write arguments and rehearse lines in private. He'd anticipate rebuttals and memorize witticisms, then pounce on the air when he sniffed an opening. Within a few years, the grunt from the fact-checking department had found his voice. He also was climbing the ranks at the magazine. Torre's 2009 investigation, 'How (And Why) Athletes Go Broke' started as mere curiosity. He spent months reporting and writing the story on his days off, not telling anyone. After publication, it would become one of the most-read stories in SI's online history and later the inspiration behind the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, 'Broke.' The road wasn't as smooth as it sounds. Torre is a first-generation American — both parents are from the Philippines — whose athletic career failed to extend beyond seventh-grade CYO basketball. When it came to sports television, especially in the early 2010s, he didn't look like most on set. Didn't sound like them, either. He recalls telling a few friends at a barbecue in 2012 that he'd just taken a job at ESPN. 'So, like, in IT?' he remembers someone asking. 'Because he's not a former professional athlete and because he's Asian-American and because he uses big words, it makes him different. It can be scary to people,' says Mina Kimes, an NFL analyst at ESPN of Korean descent. 'It can make people question you in ways that other people aren't questioned.' Advertisement But, Kimes says, there are advantages, even if they're hard to see. 'It makes you stand out,' she says. 'It makes a different set of people who haven't been able to see themselves on TV excited to watch. I think Pablo's always recognized that, which is something I admire about him. He's never tried to be anything other than who he is.' What he became at ESPN was a Swiss Army knife, capable of writing 5,000-word profiles for the magazine while holding his own on shows like 'Around the Horn' and PTI. In 2016, Torre was rumored to be in the running to fill the chair opposite Stephen A. Smith on 'First Take.' Would he fit? Depends on who you ask. Torre's 'schtick,' as he calls it, doesn't always land, and his high-brow vocabulary turned off some viewers. 'Smug, condescending, arrogant,' New York Daily News media critic Bob Raissman wrote in a stinging assessment at the time. 'In other words, a perfect fit for ('First Take'). Looking down from Mt. Pablo, he delivers highfalutin sports edicts designed to make the rest of us schlubs look like idiots. Overnight, he would turn (Smith) into a man of the people.' Torre didn't get the job, but in 2018 he got the chance to co-host his own show alongside Bomani Jones. 'High Noon' was canceled after two years, with ESPN citing poor ratings. That led to Torre's initial pivot into podcasting, but hosting 'ESPN Daily' left him largely unfulfilled. Five days a week, he was essentially interviewing other reporters about their reporting. Privately, he never felt the buy-in from the bosses. 'I got the sense they really didn't care,' he says now. He felt stuck, a pinch-hitter in a bottomless lineup capable of holding his own on whatever show they threw him on but rarely doing something distinct. Part of Torre loved being a fill-in, riding the wave of success that others had built. It was safe. It was easy. 'I was a coward for a long time,' he admits. But something was gnawing at him. The more he became a bona fide talking head, the more his visibility grew and his paycheck fattened, the less he picked up the phone. He used to love picking up the phone. It went back to his first job in the business, the job that made him forget about law school. At SI, Torre was constantly calling sources, double- and triple-checking details gleaned by the likes of Smith, Price and Verducci, and offering him a glimpse into how great stories come together. 'It was like taking an MRI to art,' Torre says. It's what made him fall in love with journalism. Advertisement 'Pablo never actually left reporting,' says Erik Rydholm, a Torre friend and the producer behind PTI and 'Around the Horn.' 'It's part of his essence as a human being.' But that essence, Torre felt, needed a new outlet. When he surveyed sports media, he felt the industry had lost a sense of curiosity. Gone were the days he'd pick up a magazine eager to be wowed by what was inside. He knew he was as guilty as any. So much of his world was former jocks yelling at each other about LeBron or the Cowboys. He wanted to pick up the phone again. So he decided to leave ESPN. 'I tell my wife this show is our second child,' Torre says of 'Pablo Torre Finds Out,' his show for Meadowlark Media that launched in 2023. He's been accused of having 'terminal content brain,' which means he can't turn it off. Every interaction, no matter how trivial, could end up being a bit. 'When your job is professional curiosity,' he says, 'it's all-consuming.' Some of Torre's closest friends had a running joke after his daughter was born: How long until she shows up in an episode? To their surprise — and relief — it hasn't happened yet. 'He's shown great restraint not turning his daughter into a content mill,' jokes pal and regular PTFO guest Katie Nolan. Torre is still part-time at ESPN, filling in on PTI and 'Around the Horn' — until its 23-year run ended this month — while his presence on MSNBC continues to grow. He's a regular on 'Morning Joe' and recently guest-hosted for a full week. MSNBC producers were so impressed when Torre came on to talk sports that they decided he should be talking politics, too. It took longtime host Joe Scarborough all of five minutes to recognize the budding talent. 'Oh,' Scarborough mouthed to a producer during Torre's first appearance, 'this guy's good.' 'We really think we've found somebody,' Scarborough says. 'He jumps on a few times with us and we immediately start hearing from people all over the company, 'This guy's great!' Management seems to love him up and down.' Advertisement All those reps Torre logged debating Dak and the Cowboys and LeBron and the Lakers helped ease the transition. He's become an incisive voice on the network, whether discussing the downfall of Twitter — 'It's like Elon Musk moved into my phone and I have to leave,' he said on air — or the country's immigration crisis. 'Pablo makes TV look easy,' Scarborough says. 'I can promise you, it's not.' Despite two high-profile television roles, it's 'Pablo Torre Finds Out' that doubles as both a passion project and the biggest bet of his career. One of the reasons Torre had to leave ESPN, he realized, 'was that I wanted to take on subjects and investigate stories I didn't think I had the green light to do there.' At PTFO, he says, 'adversarial journalism is something I strategize around.' The reason? Fewer and fewer were doing it. Torre felt that too many sports podcasts were built on the same premise: tackle the day's news, interview some big names, churn out takes of varying temperatures. 'This is something Pablo and I have talked a lot about,' Kimes says. 'These days everybody just talks about what's trending on the internet instead of opening up a magazine or a newspaper and being led to stories they never expected to read, stories that are incredibly well done and fascinating.' What Torre wanted, he says, was a show 'that would cut through the noise in a way people were not used to in this medium.' It all went back to a lesson he learned at Sports Illustrated. 'When you're reporting a story,' he says, 'the best stuff you get is the s— you don't predict.' PTFO wouldn't traffic in typical sports fare, even though he knew that's what the metrics told him audiences wanted. 'The algorithm rewards the biggest headlines and the biggest characters and the biggest stories,' Torre concedes. But where was the surprise in that? Advertisement 'I look at all the races being run,' he continues. 'I'm not a former professional athlete. I can't sit around and tell stories about my decades-long career. I'm not going to do f—ing pizza reviews. I'm not going to sing karaoke in cars. I'm not gonna eat hot wings across from celebrities.' So he hired a staff of around a dozen producers and editors, added a rotating cast of correspondents and sought to find stories everyone else was missing. 'I knew it'd be good,' says Meadowlark Media co-founder and longtime sportswriter-turned-radio host Dan Le Batard. 'I knew it was going to surprise me. I could trust that I would follow him on a journey that would end up with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.' In the 19 months since its launch, PTFO has interviewed a Cowboys fan on death row in a Texas supermax prison (the episode that earned the show a Peabody nomination). It uncovered how Russian oligarchs were quietly puppeteering the world of Olympic saber fencing. It interviewed Ember Zelch, a transgender athlete at the heart of one of the country's stickiest debates (the episode that won an Edward R. Murrow award). 'Pablo could be doing anything he f—ing wants, which is why he's hosting four hours a day on MSNBC,' says Ezra Edelman, a Torre friend and the Academy Award-winning director of 'O.J.: Made in America.' 'He's got a huge brain. He just chose the toy department as his lane because he wanted to use sports as a way to explore bigger issues.' Current and former colleagues like Le Batard, former ESPN president and Meadowlark co-founder John Skipper, Kimes and Nolan are staples of the show. One episode featured Torre and a few friends sampling every brand of athlete-sponsored cannabis they could find, complete with reviews. For another, they tried to track down the fax machine Michael Jordan used to send his world-shaking 'I'm Back' memo in 1995. Another featured a tongue-in-cheek inquiry into whether Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was deliberately missing fourth-quarter free throws to gift the home crowd free Chick-Fil-A. 'The hardest thing to do these days at the algorithm trough we're all feeding at is to constantly produce the things that people say, 'Oh, I wish I had thought of that,'' Le Batard says. 'That's being friends with Pablo,' Nolan adds. 'He'll tell you a story idea he has and you'll whisper to yourself, 'Why can't I think of stuff like that?'' The show has its detractors. Marcus Jordan, son of Michael, and Larsa Pippen, ex-wife of Scottie, bristled at the way they were portrayed in an October 2023 episode of PTFO. 'It was very one-sided,' Pippen said on an episode of the couple's podcast. 'It was a hit piece.' PTFO has been threatened in the form of nasty emails and phone calls but has yet to be sued. Torre calls this a win considering some of the subject material covered. A recent episode dug into how and why a Venezuelan soccer goalie — a man with no criminal history — disappeared amid the Trump administration's anti-immigration efforts. Another centered on FBI director Kash Patel and his relationship with Wayne Gretzky. Advertisement 'This is a famously vindictive guy who has pledged to investigate journalists and seek retribution against the deep state and their enablers in the media,' Torre says of Patel, before half-jokingly adding, 'He might be listening to this call right now!' No story has generated more traction than his reporting into Belichick, 73, and Hudson, 24. After 'The Jordon Rules' was released on May 9, Torre appeared on dozens of shows to discuss the findings and the fallout, a media car wash of sorts that catapulted PTFO into the mainstream. The University of North Carolina refuted some of his reporting, including the allegation that Hudson was banned from the UNC football facility. Hudson called Torre's reporting 'slanderous, defamatory and targeted' on Instagram before deleting the post. The attacks on his credibility have irked him — 'I'd be lying if I said that didn't bother me,' he explains — but Torre says he stands by his reporting 'in totality and in specific.' He won't apologize for the tabloid nature of the stories, nor will he hide from the fact that he genuinely enjoyed uncovering what he did. 'It's both highbrow and lowbrow,' he says, 'a study of power that's rarely this unvarnished and this embarrassing.' PTFO, it seems, is straddling an ever-graying line in modern journalism, balancing the need to attract and maintain an audience without compromising its ethical backbone along the way. Torre knows he's playing the game. He believes for his show to survive, he must. 'I would love it if the Jordon Hudson story was not 10 times more popular than the thing that got us nominated for a Peabody,' he says. 'But I also know that the hardest thing in podcasting and digital media is people literally being aware that you even exist.' Thus, the unifying premise of the show remains unchanged: uncover something surprising. Mix the silly — even the salacious — with the smart. 'All I want people to know is we do three of these a week, and if you think this one's a little too lowbrow for you, A.) my mom agrees and B.) we're doing stuff that I think proves we are defined by, more than anything, our range,' he says. 'I just want (the Belichick/Hudson story) to be a reason people click on the other stuff. Advertisement 'To me, that's the joy of trying to navigate the algorithm in 2025 … as well as the torture of it.' For Torre, the greatest affirmation comes when someone tells him they listened to an entire episode of PTFO after initially having no interest in the topic. He hopes to ask — and answer — enough questions to keep them coming back. 'It occurred to me that the show's name was the perfect title because it embodied what it meant to be a reporter and discover and be surprised,' he says. 'But it will also be the perfect epitaph if all of this goes horribly wrong.' (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; photo courtesy of Meadowlark Media)
Tom's Guide
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
I rewatched ‘Legally Blonde' on Prime Video — here's why Elle Woods is more relevant than ever
In a world full of mean girls, be an Elle Woods — not a Regina George. As the upcoming "Elle" series on Prime Video prepares to take us back to Elle's high school days, it's worth remembering why "Legally Blonde" remains a standout in the crowded field of '90s and early 2000s It Girls. Cher Horowitz, Summer Roberts, Blair Waldorf, Elle Woods: These teen and young adult queens strutted through pop culture hallways with glossy hair and to-die-for wardrobes. But only one of them climbed the hallowed Harvard Law steps ("What, like it's hard?") Now, you can revisit Elle's story by streaming "Legally Blonde" before the TV prequel series premieres. It's currently available on Prime Video, but not for long, so don't wait or you'll miss out. Sure, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has privilege and lots of it. But unlike her pop culture peers, she wields it as a tool, not a weapon. While Cher and Blair perfected the art of the 'frenemy,' Elle breaks the mold from the very first scene. She's not just popular, she's smart, compassionate and fiercely self-aware — traits rare enough in teen rom-coms that pigeonhole women into 'popular,' 'nerd,' or 'weirdo.' Elle is all three at once. The film's only truly sharp barb? 'When I dress up as a frigid b---h, I try not to look so constipated.' Honestly, the recipient of that quote, Vivian (Selma Blair), deserved worse after the relentless bullying she dishes out. But Elle balances that with generosity, like pretending to be Awkward David's jilted ex just to help him score a date and championing Paulette (Jennifer Coolidge), the unsung nail tech queen. The early Elle-Vivian rivalry fizzles quickly; instead of tearing each other down, they team up to take down Warner (Matthew Davis) and the patriarchy. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Elle's story isn't the typical Popular Girl vs. Nerd showdown. It's a reminder that sometimes, the real enemy is the system, not each other. Unlike Blair Waldorf or Regina George, who cling to power by controlling others, Elle genuinely supports her friends and uplifts those around her. She embodies benevolence where most It Girls wield their status like a weapon. At its core, "Legally Blonde" is a rom-com about Elle and ... herself. She initially chases Warner to Harvard Law, but quickly realizes she's too complex, too capable and yes, too blonde for anyone's narrow expectations. When Warner dismisses her, Elle quietly flips him off with a near-perfect 179 on the LSAT and a revelation that self-love beats dependence. Even 24 years later, "Legally Blonde" still resonates. It's not just a nostalgia trip; it inspired young women to challenge expectations, pursue law, and fight for causes. The sequel spotlighted animal rights before cruelty-free beauty was mainstream, arguably helping kickstart a cultural shift. Elle's influence even extends into Broadway and pop culture, with Ariana Grande's '7 Rings' tipping a pinky to the iconic film. The rumored "Legally Blonde 3" movie has lingered for years, but now the wait is over for fresh Elle Woods content. Prime Video's prequel series, "Elle," set for 2026, promises to introduce a new generation to the confident, kind and unstoppable Elle Woods—Lexi Minetree has big heels to fill. And honestly, who better to remind us all: In a world of Regina Georges, be an Elle Woods.
Business Insider
05-05-2025
- General
- Business Insider
A career coach went viral for suggesting people be 'professionally mean' at work. This is her advice on how to do it.
Career coach Em Rezkalla advises being "professionally mean" to advance at work. Her TikTok on the subject has been viewed 2.8 million times. She gave BI advice on putting it into practice. When career coach Em Rezkalla made a TikTok suggesting people be "professionally mean" at work, it was viewed 2.8 million times. "I'm going to say this once, and I'm going to say this with love: You need to be meaner at work this year because you, my friend, were way too nice and people pleasing in 2024," Rezkalla said in the video, which she put out in January. "Don't get me wrong, when I say mean, I mean assertive, direct, opinionated." She gave examples such as, if you want a colleague to change their behavior to improve their work or use their time more efficiently, tell them. Or if they're doing something that is slowing you down or making your working life difficult, you ask them to stop. "The definition that people use for mean at work, especially women, is not actually mean," Rezkalla told Business Insider. She told BI she learned what she calls "professional meanness" after being a "pushover" and learning "the hard way that that doesn't make you successful." Rezkalla recommended practicing what you say when you want to set a clear boundary at work. She also suggested trying it first with a trusted coworker rather than a manager, "and then work your way up." If a colleague takes issue, you should ask them questions about what they don't like. Rezkalla said that asking questions invites more engagement than statements. Asking the person to explain why it bothers them can help you understand whether their frustrations reflect their own personal preferences for how people should act, she added. Rezkalla said women in particular can question themselves when they become more assertive, which is why getting to the root of any problems is key. She suggested questions like "Is this something you notice particularly with me as a pattern you don't like?" and "Or do you feel like I'm taking over the meeting? " "Try to take it as a conversation with a human and not necessarily as something affecting your ego," Rezkalla said. Some viewers agreed with Rezkalla's advice, saying that the moment they started being "meaner," they were promoted more frequently. In her video, she said that when you start laying out your boundaries and standing up for yourself more, some people will think you're being difficult. Others, however, thought it could damage your career. Rezkalla told BI her advice is subjective and won't work for everyone. She said people should still be "emotionally aware." "I try not to make people something that they're not," Rezkalla said. "You have to just take it and mold it in a way where you're not changing who you are, but you're elevating yourself to be more open to new opportunities through new methods." Rezkalla originally wanted to be a lawyer, so she studied political science and completed the LSAT. Then, she decided against the legal route and did a master's degree in public and international affairs instead. After that, she went into consulting and also worked in accounting, marketing, and policy writing for the Canadian government before becoming a career coach around four years ago.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Afternoon Briefing: Advocates press funding for college test prep support program
Good afternoon, Chicago. Supporters of a state program providing free test preparation to students at public universities and some community colleges said the effort has saved students over $8 million in just two months, but needs $10 million in state funding to remain in operation. Illinois launched the program in late February, becoming the first state to offer free comprehensive test preparation for college students and already serving more than 200,000 students statewide. The program, a collaboration between the Illinois Student Assistance Commission and the educational service company Kaplan, allows students free access to more than 40 prep courses including graduate-level admissions exams such as the LSAT for law school, as well as courses in data analytics, cybersecurity and real estate. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Hundreds of marchers and demonstrators gathered at Union Park in the West Loop Thursday morning for a rally on May Day, a celebration commemorating the labor movement. Read more here. More top news stories: What to know about May Day, including its Chicago origins and how it has grown over the years Bilingual science teacher at East Leyden High School named Illinois Teacher of the Year The new land-based Hollywood casinos coming to Joliet and Aurora are betting that the way to a gambler's heart is through their stomach. Read more here. More top business stories: Baxter International expects tariff impact of $60 to $70 million this year Conagra sells Chef Boyardee to private equity-owned Hometown Food Company The guard will play her first preseason minutes with the Chicago Sky tomorrow in an exhibition game against Brazil in a familiar setting — the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where she spent the toughest year of her collegiate career with LSU. More top sports stories: Chicago baseball report: Division play heats up for 18-13 Cubs and 7-23 White Sox Man who fell from 21-foot Clemente Wall at PNC Park during Cubs-Pirates game in critical condition Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company woke up this morning to boffo Tony Award news as plaudits landed on its world premiere production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' drama, 'Purpose,' a bold play very loosely based on the family of political activist Jesse Jackson Jr. and now playing on Broadway. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: David Cerda put some of his own story into 'Scary Town.' It's not an easy story. 'The Four Seasons' review: Tina Fey is no Alan Alda, but at least there's the Vivaldi Across continents, tens of thousands turned out for today's rallies marking International Workers' Day, many citing President Donald Trump's agenda — from aggressive tariffs spurring fears of global economic turmoil to immigration crackdowns — as a central concern. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: Kohl's ousts CEO Ashley Buchanan after investigation into some vendor transactions President Donald Trump's health agency urges therapy for transgender youth, not broader gender-affirming health care President Donald Trump names Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting national security adviser, taps Mike Waltz for UN envoy
