Religion is not dead in America. It is seeing a resurgence, particularly in the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church in the United States is experiencing significant growth in new members in 2026. According to data from Hallow—the world’s largest prayer app—the average diocese is seeing a 38% growth in new members entering the church this Easter compared with 2025 numbers.

The U.S. Treasury says the national debt is roughly $39 trillion, but a nonpartisan accounting group estimates that the true number is $170.3 trillion. Unlike the Treasury’s calculations, Truth in Accounting included all of the federal government’s unfunded obligations in its debt assessment, including unfunded promises like Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Critical minerals are mined all over the world but the majority of the supply ends up passing through China. For a broad range of key metals and minerals, China is either the largest miner, the dominant refiner, or both. This is true for rare earths, lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, and many other metals and minerals that are essential to defense, energy and high-tech applications. It is less about where ores are dug out of the ground and more about where they are turned into usable components. In other words, Chinese processing plants are essentially the gatekeepers of global supply. Australia and South America host much of the world’s lithium, while Congo supplies the lion’s share of cobalt and copper. But the rocks themselves can’t become a battery or magnet without intensive downstream processing and refining. China built those downstream industries at scale over decades through state support and investment. The result is clear — China has effectively monopolized refining for most critical minerals while the rest of the world depends on it for much-needed supply. China is listed as the dominant refiner for 19 of 20 minerals analyzed by the IEA in their Global Critical Minerals Outlook for 2025, making up roughly 70% of the global processing capacity overall.

In an exclusive interview Friday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Dr. Omar Hamada shared a compelling perspective on longevity that goes beyond diet and exercise and focuses on improving how the brain performs in real time. “This is really incredible stuff,” Hamada said as he introduced his philosophy. “When we look at health, most people just consider physical health, but there's actually a triad of health.”

The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in March, exceeding expectations, after one month of conflict between the United States and Iran. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%, according to a new report from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. The March job's report shows a significant uptick from Februrary's "dismal" loss of 133,000 jobs. The healthcare, construction, transportation and warehousing industries drove most of the increases in March.

A man accused of fatally striking a 73-year-old pedestrian while driving in Sevierville, then fleeing the scene of the accident to Knoxville, is reportedly being held by the Sevier County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  According to the Sevierville Police Department, 34-year-old Enrique Estrada Martinez was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death and driving without a license. He is accused of fleeing from the scene of the accident that killed Henry Smith, a 73-year-old man reported to be from Kentucky, who was found deceased in the street by police that morning. 

The Tennessee State House will vote on a bill next week that would help local law enforcement agencies combat illegal immigration. State representatives will debate House Bill (HB) 2018, which was introduced by State Representative Mark Cochran (R-Englewood).

Supreme Court Associated Justice Samuel Alito was brought to a hospital in March after falling ill during a Philadelphia event, CNN reported, citing "people with knowledge" of the matter. Alito, 76, is one of the court's most conservative-leaning justices. He reportedly became ill at a March 20 dinner for the Federalist Society. Alito was taken to the hospital, but returned to his home in Virginia the same evening.

Metro Nashville this week began conducting a "language access survey" to determine how the city's government agencies interact with non-English speaking residents, polling residents in a total of 10 languages, including three dialects of Kurdish. Building off a 2017 study that found 73 percent of Metro departments report encountering residents who speak at least one foreign language, the 2025 Language Access Study seeks to examine "current language access practices" throughout the city, determine existing "barriers" to non-English speaking residents living in the city, and then create "actionable strategies for equitable access to Metro services."

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it would seek to remove microplastics and pharmaceuticals from drinking water as part of its effort to improve water standards. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, along with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, unveiled the Sixth Contaminant Candidate List, which identifies substances that may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The move is in tandem with the announcement of the Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics (STOMP) program, which aims to crack down on microplastics and pharmaceutical drugs found in drinking water.