April 13, 2026

Now, on to the news…

Photo credit: Anadolu / Contributor / Anadolu via Getty Images

Last month, Chicago’s city council approved hiking the city hotel tax from 17.5 percent to 19 percent—the highest in the nation. The move is expected to generate $50 million each year.

This may seem like a good way to bring in funds, Ravi Mishra writes, given that the burden mostly falls on tourists. But supporters of the policy overlook a key problem: travel demand isn’t fixed.

“Visitors, event planners, and businesses respond to prices,” he observes. “When the cost of staying in a city rises, some will choose to go elsewhere.” Indeed, hotel tax rates are much lower in other cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, and Miami. All three compete for big events and have seen a spike in tourism in recent years. Chicago has historically benefited from being relatively affordable compared with cities like New York and Los Angeles; its higher hotel taxes could change that.

“To maintain its position as one of the nation’s primary destinations for business, culture, and events, Chicago needs to stay competitive,” Mishra argues. “Rather than raise the hotel tax, the city should focus on practical steps to make itself more attractive to tourists and conventions.”

Read more here.

Last year, a survey found that 72 percent of teenagers had used an “AI companion” at least once, while a third used the chatbots for social connection—including for romance. 

This dynamic is about to intensify. AI labs around the globe are creating sex robots—silicone bodies that simulate physical intimacy. One developer advertises a bot that can satisfy anyone’s “wildest sexual fantasies.”

These products not only strain personal relationships but also influence our social behavior—with ramifications extending even to national security. “Technologies that diminish young adults’ willingness or ability to form partnerships, marry, and raise children threaten the demographic foundation of America’s long‑term economic strength and military readiness,” Tim Rosenberger and Vilda Westh Blanc write. “With the new wave of AI and future sex robots, policymakers still have a brief window to act before these technologies become normalized and effectively irreversible.”

Read more. 

It wasn’t long ago that hatred toward police officers felt widespread. Even the animated series Paw Patrol was criticized in 2020 for being too “pro-cop.”

But the mood seems to be changing, Yael Bar Tur writes. During a recent New York Knicks game, the crowd gave NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards a standing ovation for his response to the attempted terrorist attack at Gracie Mansion. Last month, Madison Square Garden hosted a “Thank You, NYPD” event. Meantime, the documentary series Homicide: New York is in Netflix’s Top Ten in the U.S.

What’s driving the shift?

“Our crime concerns and activism fatigue naturally translate into renewed affection for the people who keep us safe,” Bar Tur points out. “Some cops I spoke with feel like the increased support may be partly a response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s hospital visits to perpetrators of violence against police and his dismissal of assaults on officers as just ‘kids who got out of hand.’”

Read her take.

“Programs for gifted (superior) students do a pretty good job with those children having IQs somewhat higher than the average.

But the truly brilliant ones will extricate themselves from public education at an early age, sometimes barely completing their first semester in college, and go on to build amazingly successful businesses.

In other words, the very best (superior) children don't need the rest of us. We're just in the way, no matter how good our intentions.”

—

David C., commenting on gifted admissions