In Idaho, we don’t shy away from tough questions. Right now, we’re asking one that’s overdue: Is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — “SNAP,” or “food stamps” as it was once known — still fulfilling its original purpose?
Our legislature has just passed a bill
that would direct Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare to seek a federal waiver to forbid food stamps from being used to buy soda and candy. This isn’t about soft drinks or sweets — it’s about the integrity of a public program and whether it’s still delivering on its mission.
Food stamps exist to help low-income families put meals on the table. That is a goal we all stand behind. But its purpose goes beyond just filling grocery bags.
The federal law that established SNAP
some six decades ago states clearly that the program is designed “to alleviate … hunger and malnutrition” by enabling families to afford a more nutritious diet. That’s not an optional benchmark — it’s the standard.
So, we need to ask: Are we meeting it? If we are, that’s good news. If not, we have a responsibility to address it.
This isn’t about penalizing anyone. It’s about accountability. Like any taxpayer-funded program, food stamps should be judged by their outcomes. If they’re straying from their intent, we can’t just look the other way — we have to fix it. That’s basic stewardship.
The data tell the whole story. Obesity has tripled since the 1960s. More than 40 percent of adults and one in five children are obese. One in three adults is diabetic or prediabetic. And sugary drinks alone account for nearly $4 billion in annual food stamp spending.
These aren’t criticisms of the folks using food stamps. Rather, they are signals about the program’s direction. If 20 percent of food stamp dollars are going toward soda, candy and snack foods, are we truly advancing the goal of a “more nutritious diet”?
That’s a question every legislator must confront. House Bill 109 is Idaho’s attempt to do just that and to spark a broader conversation.
The bill is straightforward. It defines soda and candy using our existing tax code. It then directs our health department to request a U.S. Department of Agriculture waiver excluding those items from food stamp purchases and mandates that we keep asking annually until it’s approved.
Critics have called this overreach. But food stamps already exclude some items — for example, alcohol, tobacco and hot prepared meals. Programs like the Women, Infants and Children program already prohibit soda and candy entirely, prioritizing nutrition over convenience.
So setting limits is not novel or radical. It is already common in such programs, and in this case it is consistent with the program’s roots.
This should be a routine discussion. When a public program drifts from its initial aims, we owe it to those it serves — and to those who fund it — to ask why. Yet Washington has been dodging this debate for years. Lobbyists for Big Soda and Big Sugar have stifled reform, and even under administrations pledging change, the federal Department of Agriculture has refused to budge. Maine’s waiver request, for instance, was drafted and rejected in 2018
.
That is why states like Idaho are now taking the lead.
This idea isn’t on the fringes anymore. A dozen states are exploring similar measures. Bipartisan voices in Congress are raising the issue of nutrition reform. Figures such as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are pressing for change from outside the system. But that momentum wouldn’t exist if not for states driving it.
Idaho has a chance to set an example — not just by tweaking food stamps, but by realigning them with their founding purpose.
We’re not here to dictate anyone’s grocery list. We are here to ensure that a major federal program stays true to its goal of fighting hunger and malnutrition through better nutrition.
If Congress meant what it wrote in the law — if SNAP’s mission is genuinely about healthier diets — then we should measure it against that standard. And if we’re falling short, we should act. House Bill 109 is one practical step toward that accountability.
Government programs, like the people they serve, thrive when they stay focused. It’s time we made sure SNAP stays focused, too.
Jordan Redman, a Republican, represents Idaho’s third legislative district in the state House of Representatives.
A slate of candidates that received endorsements from a local caucus, an educator union and a support staff union appears poised to win seats on the Glenbrook School District 225 Board of Education.
With all 62 precincts reporting Tuesday night, April 1, unofficial results showed incumbents Peter Glowacki and Matthew O’Hara and newcomers John “Jack” Downing and Beth Hope receiving a majority of the vote over opponents, and newcomers, Julian Cheng, Lowell Paul Eisenstadt and Lisa Kane.
District 225’s two high schools serve students in Glenview, Northbrook and Northfield Township, or portions thereof.
Glowacki, O’Hara, Downing and Hope ran together for four open seats on the seven-member school board after receiving an October endorsement from the newly created District 225 Board of Education Caucus. The candidates were later endorsed by the Glenbrook Education Association, the union representing District 225 teachers, as well as the union representing District 225 support staff.
Slate members identified mental health support, teacher and staff shortages, school safety, rising costs and providing an education that does not “adversely impact any student” as key issues facing the district.
“We feel good. We feel like our message was positive and well-received,” Downing said on election night.
A graduate of Glenbrook South, Downing said his high school years were influenced by what he called a “kids first culture,” in which educators helped students to find their successes and the confidence to pursue them.
“I’m really looking forward to refocusing on that and building on the standard of excellence [District 225] has had for so long,” Downing said, noting that the district last year was ranked second out of 12,192 schools in the nation by Niche, a school research company.
Glowacki, a resident of Glenview for more than 20 years and an attorney, currently serves as vice president of the board. This will be his third term.
“I’m proud of the race we ran and look forward to serving all the children and families in Glenbrook,” Glowacki said Tuesday. “Additionally, I’m excited to continue to support the strategic plan we developed and all the fruits it will bear for our families and children in the coming years.”
Matthew O’Hara is a Glenview native and a retired attorney who is completing his first term on the board.
Hope is a 14-year Northbrook resident and a licensed clinical social worker.
The four candidates were the first to be endorsed by the District 225 Board of Education Caucus, which identifies itself as a non-partisan group comprised of school board presidents and board members from five elementary feeder districts in Northfield Township.
Last night’s elections caused some shakeups in the suburbs.
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, facing his first hometown election since losing his 2022 gubernatorial bid, conceded to challenger Ald. John Laesch
. “We fought hard. We fought long. Unfortunately, we came up short,” Irvin said on stage at his campaign’s watch party.
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau also conceded in his bid for another term
to challenger Jim Dodge. Pekau thanked supporters, telling them “I got shellacked” but that “we ran a great campaign.”
Other incumbents held on to their seats.
Following an unusually contentious and at times personal race, preliminary results show Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman
received more than 6,000 votes to the 3,705 ballots cast for challenger Ravi Parakkat.
And in Waukegan, former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham is set to return to the role after declaring victory last night
in his bid to regain the office he lost four years ago.
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford waves during her election night party after winning the election, April 1, 2025, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
The Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court defeated a challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk yesterday, cementing a liberal majority for at least three more years.
Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power and abortion rights and to oppose voter ID, defeated Republican-backed Brad Schimel in a race that broke records for spending, was on pace to be the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever and became a proxy fight for the nation’s political battles.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening, saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” It wasn’t until more than 25 hours later that the 55-year-old senator, a former football tight end, finished speaking and walked off the floor. It set the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history, though Booker was assisted by fellow Democrats who gave him a break from speaking by asking him questions on the Senate floor.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul at the City Club of Chicago on April 1, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Hours after joining 22 other states in filing a lawsuit aimed at President Donald Trump’s cuts to health services, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told a City Club of Chicago crowd Tuesday that the legal community needs to stand up against what he described as intimidation and unlawful acts by the White House.
“If people think they’re being safe by being silent, by being complicit, you’re wrong,” Raoul said, after referencing recent executive actions taken by the Trump administration against the law firm Perkins Coie and others.
The stairwell leading to the basement and hardwood flooring is all that is left recognizable on June 22, 2021, following a tornado that hit DuPage County. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
While homeowners’ insurance premiums have been rising sharply in the post-pandemic landscape across the U.S. — from wildfire-ravaged California to hurricane-flooded North Carolina — rates are increasing faster in Illinois than all but one other state.
But beyond the extreme weather coastal hotspots that garner so much attention, rates in Illinois went up 50% between 2021 and 2024, second only to Utah, which saw a 59% increase, according to a new report released by the Consumer Federation of America.
A Chicago Police evidence technician processes a scene in the 400 block of North City Front Plaza Drive where a 15-year-old boy was shot on March 28, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Brandon Johnson has resisted calls in the past for an earlier curfew, including last summer after a group of teens attacked a couple in Streeterville. He told reporters yesterday he was more interested in how to “invest in young people and create more healthy safe spaces for them.”
Despite Johnson’s resistance, some aldermen are convinced a stricter teen curfew is needed.
A pedestrian crosses East Ontario Street at North Fairbanks Court in Chicago in 2018. The building at left contains 620 N. Fairbanks Ct., where cannabis store Guaranteed Dispensary is planned. (Jośe M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
A lawsuit is challenging the city of Chicago’s approval of a proposed cannabis dispensary in the Streeterville neighborhood, objecting that the store would be too close to a nearby school.
The Equity Clinic in Champaign on May 21, 2023. (Shanna Madison/Chicago Tribune)
An Indiana abortion patient has accused a Champaign physician of perforating her uterus during the procedure and leaving half of a fetus inside her body, requiring emergency surgery afterward, according to a recent lawsuit.
The Indiana Statehouse appears on May 5, 2017, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A bill that would ban transgender women from collegiate sports passed on second reading in the Senate, with amendments proposed by Democrats voted down by the Republican supermajority.
Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) drives on Toronto Raptors guard Jamal Shead (23) in the second half of a game at the United Center in Chicago on April 1, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Bulls punched their ticket to a third consecutive play-in tournament yesterday with a 137-118 win over the Toronto Raptors, snapping a two-game losing streak to improve their home record to 15-23 at the United Center.
Memorabilia fils the Turovitz Family Apartment at the National Public Housing Museum at the former Jane Addams Homes on March 27, 2025. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)
The museum’s new space offers a permanent home for its roving presentations — now free of charge to visitors — which trace the history of public housing from its origins in the New Deal to the present day. But unlike the typical museum, the National Public Housing Museum offers a deeper, more personal engagement through $25 tours of its recreated apartment spaces.
In this Jan. 9, 2014 photo, Val Kilmer poses for a portrait in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor who tasted leading-man stardom as Jim Morrison and Batman, but whose protean gifts and elusive personality also made him a high-profile supporting player, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 65.
The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she said.
George Freeman performs at the Green Mill, April 12, 2019, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
You could recognize George Freeman’s playing anywhere. When tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons and his sextet appeared as guests on WTTW in 1970, most members of the band generally hewed to the backing progressions. Then there was Freeman, daringly traipsing around their harmonic fringes in hard-rocking, blazing solos.
That was typical for the ever-adventurous Freeman, who died in Chicago yesterday. He was 97 years old. His death was confirmed by his nephew, Mark Freeman.
In the couple of months since his second term began, President Trump’s attacks on the Canadian economy and sovereignty have given rise to a fair bit of anger from Canadians. Yes, we are nice, but we have our limits. Trump’s tariffs, and promises of more, despite having signed onto a new free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico near the end of his first term, and his threats to make Canada the 51st state, have enraged Canadians to the point that these issues are top of mind for nearly everyone here.
The response is taking several forms. Certainly the Canadian government has been clear it will retaliate with tariffs of its own and has signalled a willingness to pursue other economic measures such as export taxes on energy to the the U.S. Canadian politicians from all parties have loudly rejected challenges to our sovereignty.
The people of Canada have also signalled what they think as they cancel trips to the United States either as a political statement or because they have concerns about how non-citizens might be treated. The New York Times has reported
that Canadian airlines are “eliminating tens of thousands of seats to the United States this April, a peak period when Canadians travel to warmer destinations.” There is considerable community effort to encourage Canadians to avoid buying goods made in America, and all sorts of social media activity encouraging Canadians to keep their “elbows up,” a hockey reference essentially calling on Canadians to remain strong in the face of threats made by Trump and his administration.
For many of us, the single most interesting development is what it has done to our electoral politics. Prior to the beginning of Trump’s second term, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, was trailing his main opponent Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party by as much as 25 points in the polls. Trudeau stepped down and Mark Carney, former head of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, was chosen as new leader of the Liberal Party, becoming prime minister in the process. Whether or not Trudeau would have been able to close the gap with Poilievre in the face of Trump’s aggressive actions is a moot point as his leadership had become untenable.
Mark Carney has closed the gap and more, erasing Poilievre’s lead in the polls, going ahead by 5 points according to an aggregation of polls. This change is based on the simple fact that Canadians have decided Carney is in the best position stand to to Trump.
“Mark Carney is thought to be the best federal party leader to help Canada navigate challenges associated with the Donald Trump Presidency, performing well ahead of Justin Trudeau on the same measures. By contrast, Pierre Poilievre is the candidate chosen by Canadians as most likely to roll over and accept whatever President Trump demands…”
If you have any doubt how serious Canada is about the threat Donald Trump poses, know that a more than 30 point swing in the polls has taken place based upon the belief that the incumbent Liberal Party and it’s leader will do a better job on this one question. The general election will take place on April 28th.
Earlier this week, Carney had a phone call with Trump which was characterized by both parties as positive. According to reports, Trump signalled more respect for Canadian sovereignty in discussions with Carney and may even have suggested that new world-wide tariffs to be announced on Wednesday will not fall as heavily on Canada as previously thought. Perhaps a good signal but we also know things can change in an instant.
It should be noted that all of the above is within the realm of fairly normal politics. There is much unpleasantness, but these things can, let us hope, be managed. The other side is what might happen if Donald Trump decides he no longer wishes to play by the rules of the game either at home or abroad. What can we possibly say about this very real possibility other than a call to work together to make it unbearably costly for him to go that route? Canadians have so far refused to capitulate and been clear that it will respond to Trump’s bullying in any and all ways proportionate to the challenge.
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who acts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”
With the appropriate adjustment to the world of international relations, Canada never considered obeying in advance and it may have caught Trump by surprise.
Growing up in the United States as I did, I can say that most Americans know very little about Canada but they are learning, especially the president and those around him.
If you think Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will save the Democratic Party, think again.
Hitching their wagon to such a leftist firebrand will take Democrats even farther away from the American mainstream to which they must return. It would be the biggest mistake Democrats could make and the biggest gift they could give Republicans.
Since last November, Democrats have struggled to find a strategy, message and messenger. Trump’s executive-power blitz has only added to party frustration that they lack the legislative leverage with which to counter it.
Democrats’ fury peaked in the last fight over annual funding. House Democrats held almost completely united against the Republicans’ spending bill
. They believed such unity set the stage for a successful stand in the Senate, where the filibuster gave them the means to shut down the government, blocking Republicans’ spending bill and momentum.
Initially, it looked like Democrats would indeed use the filibuster’s leverage
. Then, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reversed himself
. He and nine other Democrats voted to end the filibuster and support
the Republicans’ spending bill.
Leftist Democrats were apoplectic at Senate Democrats’ betrayal, and Ocasio-Cortez was among the most vocal
. “There is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” she said. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board — the entire party.”
She is also among the most vocal as a possible future party leader.
Ocasio-Cortez sets leftist hearts aflutter
. She is perfectly placed
, residing in Schumer’s state — he is up for re-election in 2028
. She’s the perfect contrast to Schumer: her young to his old; her ultra-left to his Democratic establishment; her woman to his man. She could also raise big money
and garner high-profile endorsements
.
However, Ocasio-Cortez also has personal issues. Her diva-ing down in a designer dress for the $35,000-per-ticket
Met gala a few years ago raised ethics questions
— and even bigger ones about her level of attention-seeking and her personal judgment. Her latest foible is a notable $4,500 expended from her office budget
for dance classes.
And of course, there were the accusations about her faking an accent
at her 2024 Democratic National Convention appearance, a prime political opportunity that she would have slam-dunked by just being her usual left-wing self.
There is also her district, known for high crime
and described as akin to a “Third World
” country, yet Ocasio-Cortez has been light on her attention to its needs
. Do you think political bases can’t be a liability? Ask Gov. Gavin Newsom about California, or Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about San Francisco.
And finally, there are her positions on issues. One need look no further than the Green New Deal
(which would cost from $52 trillion to $93 trillion
) and past membership in the Democratic Socialists of America
to tag her with extremism that won’t, as they say, “play in Peoria” — or virtually anywhere between America’s two left coasts.
Deeper still, but so far unexplored, is Ocasio-Cortez’s decision-making. This may be the most damning problem of all for someone touted as a future party leader.
Recall that just a short time ago, she was demanding that the Senate get rid of the filibuster
. But with the recent spending bill in the Senate, Ocasio-Cortez was all for using the filibuster
. So, which is it?
Peering even more deeply into the recent funding fight, Ocasio-Cortez would have had Democrats vote against the Republican bill, thereby shutting down the government. It would have been a purely Democrat-triggered shutdown — no ambiguity at all about which party did it.
The House had already passed the funding bill. President Trump was ready to sign it. Senate Republicans were ready to send it to him, with only Ocasio-Cortez’s desired filibuster potentially standing in their way.
What would her exit plan have been — in real time — for getting out of that? Could she have explained this to America?
What would Ocasio-Cortez have done if the nine Democrats
who ultimately voted for the bill had still desired to do so? Would she have thrown them under the bus? Threatened them with primaries? Would she have tried to force them to toe her ultra-left line?
Look at where those senators were from: Five come from swing states
, and their seats could potentially go Republican.
Leadership is about real, hard decisions, not just red-hot rhetoric. Being a leader means making decisions, not just for yourself, but for those you lead. Is Ocasio-Cortez ready to make such decisions? More importantly, are Democrats ready for her to be making decisions for them?
Democrats need less Ocasio-Cortez, not more. Liberals are America’s smallest ideological group (just 23 percent of 2024 voters
, according to Gallup
), yet they make up more than half (54 percent) of Democrats. The party’s problem is that its majority is a tiny ideological minority — a recipe for electoral failure.
Yet Democrats keep doubling down on their most extreme positions, even to the point of fighting against stronger immigration enforcement
and promoting transgenderism
.
Not only are liberals taking over the Democratic Party, but their liberals are also moving more and more to the left. Choosing their most leftist members, such as Ocasio-Cortez, to lead their party would be Democrats’ biggest mistake and Republicans’ biggest windfall.
J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, “Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left” from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.
TAMPA, Fla. — Paige Bueckers, Hailey Van Lith and Azzi Fudd all have reached out to a mental health professional for help at one point, seeking assistance to cope with the increasing pressure on college basketball players.
That pressure can come from high expectations, social media attention, sports bettors, the transfer portal or the grueling solitude when rehabbing from an injury. One major difference in today’s sports world is a willingness to ignore the stigma attached to seeking professional help and acceptance of psychologists.
“I would say it’s grown with an increased demand for services and how many student athletes are using it,” said Ashley Harmon, who is the director of Clinical Behavioral Health at Texas. “This generation is a lot more open for seeking mental health. Athletes come in because of anxiety, depression, relationships, navigating things with coaches and teammates.”
It is unclear how many athletes are meeting with a mental health professional, but several have been willing to talk openly about their experiences.
Coaches, teammates and family members can be a critical source of support for athletes, though sometimes more is needed, especially from someone not directly involved with their day-to-day lives.
Bueckers and Fudd, who both have come back from season-ending injuries during their UConn careers, have said that sports psychologists have helped them.
“It’s just a grounding point of a person who you can go to and there’s no judgments, it’s a judgement-free zone, and they can just talk to you about anything,” Bueckers said. “Just ease your nerves, calm you down, get you to focus on everything but what’s going on in the present and just trying to be, I mean, the best version of yourself.”
Rori Harmon: ‘Not something you can do alone’
TCU guard Hailey Van Lith dribbles around Texas guard Rori Harmon during the first half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, March 31, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Van Lith said she first decided she needed to get help and get serious about her well-being after seeing the story about Katie Meyer, the Stanford goalie who died by suicide at her campus residence in March 2022.
The TCU guard said she personally invested in a sports psychologist “who kind of doubles as like a normal therapist at the same time.”
“And also, I think I’ve matured a lot,” Van Lith said. “I’m older than I was. When I was going through a lot of my issues, I was like 19. So I was really young and I didn’t know how to handle a lot of things.”
Van Lith began her career at Louisville and then transferred to LSU before landing at TCU.
Like the UConn backcourt, Texas guard Rori Harmon — who is not related to Ashley Harmon — had to rebound from a season-ending injury. Rori Harmon tore her ACL in December 2023.
“It is very mentally taxing,” she said of rehab, adding that while she didn’t speak with a sports psychologist, “it’s just not something you can do alone.”
Professional help can be a confidential space for the athletes
Ashley Harmon’s group at Texas deals with common areas such as returning from an injury, or getting over a mental block on the court, but she said there has been a lot more time recently spent dealing with off-the-court issues.
UCLA star Lauren Betts is one of those athletes. The 6-foot-7 center, who has led the Bruins to their first Final Four, has opened up in the past about her mental health issues.
“It does seem like mental health awareness has increased with social media, politics, COVID, all that wrapped into one,” said Ashley Harmon, who has been with Texas for nearly nine years.
Another stress point she has seen grow over the past few years is the transfer portal. Athletes feel they can talk in a safe place about transferring schools.
“We’re a space they can come to before they make any decisions,” she said. “The transfer portal is stressful, when to go or not go. Do you leave a place you’re familiar with to start over?”
As more players seek out professional help, some schools are offering more services.
Ashley Harmon said she was the first full-time staffer in the department for Texas. It’s grown now to eight or nine people in the department. UConn has several mental health professionals such as counselors, mental health clinicians and psychologists on staff for all of its student-athletes to utilize.
Joe Whitney has been at Tennessee for over two decades in charge of Mental Training at the school. He said the school has a separate group to deal with mental health, but the two groups work hand in hand. Whitney’s group offers more help for between-the-lines problems.
“We were one of the first to start going into it with a part-time mental health practitioner,” he said. “Having people dedicated to student athletes when they feel those stresses and challenges is important.”
Talking with a mental health professional is also a confidential space for the athletes — and those spaces can be hard to find on college campuses.
“They are in the spotlight and everyone knows what they are doing and when they are doing it since their lives are so hectic,” Ashley Harmon said. “This is confidential from coaches, teammates, academics and parents.”
AP Sports Writers Alanis Thames and Anne M. Peterson contributed to this story.
