Top of the Fold

• Bipartisan worry grows over national debt, which now totals $85,210 per person (Just the News)

“The U.S. government has spent around $6 trillion during the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to regular government appropriations. The $6 trillion figure does not count the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that President Biden signed a few weeks ago. The deficit set a record in FY2020 at $3.13 trillion. And the national debt has hit a record $28 trillion. … ‘It’s a cheap time to borrow and some people are using that as a reason to borrow. The problem that comes is our interest rates flow. The U.S. has the ultimate adjustable rate mortgage, which is the rates can change,’ [Senator Angus] King said. ‘And if the rates go back to 4 to 5%, which is where they’ve been historically, we’re in a heap of fiscal trouble. The math is pretty easy. Every 1% is $250 billion a year of interest costs. So 4% is $1 trillion dollars; 5% is $1,250,000,000,000, which happens to be the entire current discretionary federal budget.’”

• We’re shocked — shocked! Cities that foolishly slashed police funding inundated by spike in homicides (Washington Times)

“Portland, Oregon’s, homicide rate soared a staggering 1,900% in 2021, with 20 killings, compared with one during the first three months of 2020. The city carved $16 million, or 7%, out of its police budget last year. Austin, Texas, cut $20 million, or 23%, from its department budget and shifted another $80 million by moving certain services to other departments. Police have reported 19 homicides this year, compared with 14 during the same period last year — a 35% rise. Philadelphia reduced police funding by 5%, or $33 million, and saw homicides climb 25% to 120 in early 2021 from 96 during the same period last year. In Minneapolis, there have been 19 homicides this year, a 46% jump from the 13 in the first quarter of 2020. The city council has shrunk its department’s budget by more than $9 million, or 5%.”

Government & Politics

• Doh! Georgia Democrats stare down a mob of their own making (Examiner) | Donald Trump calls for MLB boycott, warns “woke” corporations after All-Star Game pullout (Fox News) | GOP senators launch effort to end MLB antitrust exemption (Breitbart) | Non compos mentis: Senator Chuck Schumer invites MLB to host All-Star Game in New York despite more restrictive voter laws than Georgia (Disrn)

• For the record: Voter identification requirements are supported by 72% of the public (AP-NORC)

National Security

• A record-setting 19,000 unaccompanied migrant minors crossed into the U.S. in March (PM) | Border Patrol predicts more than one million migrant encounters in 2021 (Hot Air)

• Follower of Louis Farrakhan attacks Capitol Hill, killing Officer William Evans (Breitbart)

• Some 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online (Insider)

• USAID failed to ensure Palestinian aid dollars kept from terrorists (Free Beacon)

Around the Nation

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally bans “vaccine passports” with executive order (PM)

• With lockdowns easing, economy added 916,000 jobs in March as service-sector hiring booms (Fox Business)

• Derek Chauvin trial enters second week, will feature testimony from Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo (UPI)

• Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signs law allowing permitless handgun carry (Des Moines Register)

Other Notables

• Now that his father is president, Hunter Biden finally admits incriminating laptop could “certainly” belong to him (NY Post)

• Keep your powder dry: 4.69 million gun background checks break single-month record in March (AMN)

• What could possibly go wrong? U.S. grant to Wuhan lab to enhance bat-based coronaviruses was never scrutinized by HHS review board (Daily Caller)

• Ukraine says Russia massing troops on border (AFP)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Four reasons gun control can’t solve America’s violence problem (FEE)

• Policy: Fixing Biden’s inhumane border crisis (Rep. Andy Biggs)

• Satire: MLB games to no longer require ID for buying alcoholic beverages (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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