2026.03.30

[lsanderson]

A GOP state lawmaker from Lino Lakes who is also running for state auditor was arrested on suspicion of DWI late last week, reports WCCO-TV. One of Elliot Engen’s X posts came back to bite him after the news broke. Via MinnPost
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/elliott-engen-minnesota-house-gop-dwi-state-auditor/

Forty-two train cars, including two with hazardous materials, derailed near Warroad over the weekend, reports FOX 9. An evacuation order was in place, but it’s unclear how many people were temporarily displaced. Via MinnPost
https://www.fox9.com/news/train-derailment-warroad-area-evacuation-order-march-29

‘Battle of the titans’: Trump’s distorted reality on Iran war runs into a brick wall
War is testing operating principle that has guided Trump for decades: construct a narrative, declare it to be true and relentlessly force the world to submit to it
David Smith in Washington
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/trump-iran-war-reality

Trump to revoke protections for endangered species in Gulf of Mexico
President is convening so-called ‘God squad’ to override provisions of Endangered Species Act for ‘national security’
Tom Perkins
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/trump-protections-endangered-species-gulf-of-mexico

College Republicans director made racist and sexist remarks on live streams
Review of Kai Schwemmer’s broadcasts undermines claim ‘process of growth’ had led him to abandon bigoted views
Jason Wilson
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/kai-schwemmer-college-republicans-livestream

Florida space coast cities abuzz before Nasa’s Artemis launch: ‘At the doorstep of the future’
Cape Canaveral and Titusville, long ghost towns after 1969 moon landing, have witnessed space industry ‘renaissance’
Richard Luscombe in Cape Canaveral
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/nasa-artemis-launch-florida

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann review – a Hungarian epic from a 22-year-old author
The fortunes of a single family are entwined with the turmoil of the 20th century in this ambitious, gothic-inflected debut
Marcel Theroux
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/30/lazar-by-nelio-biedermann-review-a-hungarian-epic-from-a-22-year-old-author

Painting considered workshop copy is in fact by Rembrandt, expert says
Exclusive: UK owner’s version of Old Man with a Gold Chain reunited in Chicago with undisputed work by Dutch master
Dalya Alberge
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/mar/30/rembrandt-old-man-with-a-gold-chain-painting-copy-art-institute-chicago

Thieves steal Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings worth millions from Italian museum
Four masked men entered Magnani Rocca Foundation villa, near Parma in northern Italy, and made off with artworks
Agence France-Presse
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/mar/30/paintings-stolen-museum-italy-renoir-cezanne-matisse

Chesney the kangaroo found three days after hopping away from farm
Marsupial escaped from enclosure at Wisconsin’s Sunshine Farm on Wednesday after he was spooked by stray dogs
Associated Press
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/29/chesney-missing-kangaroo-found-wisconsin

Sarah Lee captures the wonders of spring – in pictures
As the clocks go forward and the UK enters British summer time, the Guardian photographer Sarah Lee has been trying to distract herself from gloomy world news by focusing on the miracles of springtime and coming of longer days
Sarah Lee
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2026/mar/30/sarah-lee-captures-wonders-of-spring-in-pictures

Mary Beth Hurt, star of Interiors and The World According to Garp, dies aged 79
The actor, who was nominated for three Tony awards, made her film debut in Woody Allen’s Interiors and worked into the 2010s including in films made by her second husband, Paul Schrader
Catherine Shoard
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/30/mary-beth-hurt-interiors-world-according-to-garp-dies-aged-79