Elite M&A Lawyers Fed Massive Insider-Trading Ring, US Says

 

Lawyers from top mergers and acquisitions firms provided tips on some of the biggest deals of the last decade to an insider trading ring that made tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits, federal prosecutors said.

Two indictments charging 30 people were unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Boston. None of the firms from whom information was allegedly stolen were identified by prosecutors, but detailed descriptions of the relevant deals indicate they included Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Latham & Watkins and Goodwin Procter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-06/elite-m-a-lawyers-fed-massive-insider-trading-ring-us-alleges

Cencora misses Q2 estimates, cuts revenue growth outlook but raises EPS guidance

 

Cencora misses Q2 estimates, cuts revenue growth outlook but raises EPS guidance and launches $1B buyback

• Q2 adjusted EPS grew 7.5% to $4.75 on 4% revenue growth to $78.4B.
• Gross margin expanded 45 bps to 4.31%, driven by higher-margin OneOncology MSO acquisition.
• Full-year adjusted EPS guidance raised to $17.65–$17.90 despite reduced revenue growth outlook.
• Consolidated revenue growth guidance cut to 4–6% from 7–9%, mainly due to U.S. softness.
• U.S. revenue pressured by $2B wholesale acquisition cost cuts and faster biosimilar conversions.
• GLP-1 revenue grew $1.9B year over year but is now tracking below prior growth expectations.
• Operating income growth guidance increased to 12–14%, aided by MSOs and MWI reclassification.
• International segment delivering double-digit revenue and operating income growth as logistics rebound continues.
• Company plans to repurchase $1B of stock by calendar year-end under announced buyback program.
• Free cash flow is about $3B, according to management commentary.
• Management reiterates long-term 7–10% organic AOI growth target, viewing revenue headwinds as transitory and margin-neutral.
• Main concern is accelerating revenue headwinds from pricing reforms and biosimilar conversions potentially pressuring future growth.
• Mixed quarter with strong margin and EPS performance offset by reduced revenue growth outlook.

https://finviz.com/quote?t=COR&p=d

Justice Jackson just showed why Democrats are desperate to pack the Supreme Court

 Since her appointment by President Joe Biden, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has quickly developed a radical and chilling jurisprudence. Her frequent sole dissents and accusatory rhetoric have drawn not just the ire of her conservative colleagues but also that of her liberal colleagues. This week, that tension deepened with a stinging rebuke from Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

At issue is the finalization of the court’s opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, where the court ruled 6-3 to bar racial gerrymandering. The court reaffirmed the use of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to ban intentional racial discrimination in the design of voting districts but effectively found many districts to be unconstitutional in their current form.

There is no reason why the decision should not be finalized except for a blatantly partisan effort to protect Democrats from losing seats in the midterm elections. After all, if these districts are unconstitutional, why shouldn’t states guarantee that voters are given representatives chosen free of racially discriminatory preferences?

That question is even more confusing given the long wait for this opinion. Not only was the case reargued, but there were growing complaints about the delay in releasing the opinion.

Complaints increased after a recent book allegedly reported that Justice Elena Kagan had a vocal confrontation with her colleague, retired Justice Stephen Breyer, over his push to release the dissents in Dobbs after the leaking of that opinion. Breyer reportedly agreed with Chief Justice John Roberts that the conservative justices were facing increased death threats due to the delay. Kagan allegedly wanted to further delay the release.

In the Callais decision, the delay was curious since there were six solid votes for the majority and little fracturing among the opinions. Indeed, the majority opinion's references to the Kagan dissent are relatively brief. Nevertheless, the delay has made it very difficult for states to make changes. A few are moving to delay their primaries or draw new maps under extremely tight calendars.

Regardless of the delay, there is no cognizable or principled reason to withhold the opinion to preserve unconstitutional districts. The case has already been on the docket for an unusually long time due to reargument.

In its one-paragraph order, the court acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s clerk normally waits 32 days after a decision to send a copy of the opinion and the judgment to the lower court. However, it noted that the defenders of the challenged districts had "not expressed any intent to ask this Court to reconsider its judgment." Conversely, the other parties raised the need for states to address the impact of the ruling with the approaching elections.

Jackson stood alone in demanding that the unconstitutional districts be effectively preserved for the purposes of this election — guaranteeing Democratic seats in the midterms that could be lost in nonracially discriminatory districts. Neither Kagan nor Justice Sonia Sotomayor would join her in the dissent, despite dissenting from the Callais decision itself.

However, it was her language again that drew the attention of her colleagues.

Justice Jackson lambasted the court’s ruling, stating that it "has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana." In an Orwellian twist, Jackson suggested that others were playing politics as she sought to effectively protect unconstitutional Democratic districts. She suggested that the case exposed "a strong political undercurrent."

In arguably the most insulting line, she lectured her colleagues that this case "unfolds in the midst of an ongoing statewide election, against the backdrop of a pitched redistricting battle among state governments that appear to be acting as proxies for their favored political parties."

She further said that, rather than avoid "the appearance of partiality," the court’s action "is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map."

Justice Alito had finally had enough. He noted that her reliance on the 32-day period was a "trivial" objection that put form above substance since no party had asked for reconsideration. It would be waiting for 32 days for no purpose, while the other parties had stated a reasonable and pressing need to finalize the opinion.

He chastised Jackson for a dissent that "lacks restraint." He denounced the dissent as making "baseless and insulting" claims. He particularly objected to the charge that her colleagues were engaging in "an unprincipled use of power," calling it "a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge."

What is even more chilling than Jackson's jurisprudence is the fact that she is often cited as the model for Democrats seeking to pack the court with an instant majority if they retake power. This and other Jackson judicial dissents show why Democrats are so confident that packing the court will yield lasting control of the government.

Jackson recently told ABC News that "I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do."

For some of her colleagues, that cathartic benefit is coming at too high a cost for the court.

Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.  He is the author of the new book "Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution" (Simon & Schuster, Feb 3, 2026), on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-justice-jackson-showed-democrats-desperate-pack-supreme-court

Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

 

• Since 2012, the percentage of young adults who talk to their neighbors at least a few times per week dropped from 51 percent to 25 percent. Among seniors, the decline was only seven points (63 percent to 56 percent).
• Compared with Americans without a degree, college-educated Americans are more likely to have worked with their neighbors to improve a condition in their community (46 percent vs. 34 percent), spent a social evening with a neighbor (58 percent vs. 46 percent), and exchanged texts or emails with a neighbor (65 percent vs. 45 percent).
• Forty-nine percent of Americans who attend religious services weekly talk to their neighbors regularly, compared with only 31 percent of Americans who never attend religious services.

Executive Summary

The 2025 American Neighbor Survey explores the various ways in which Americans are—and are not—interacting with the people in their immediate communities. In the past decade, the frequency of neighborly interactions has plummeted. This withdrawal has been particularly prevalent among young adults, while seniors have remained more consistently in touch with their neighbors. College-educated Americans also experience stronger neighborhood ties. Compared with Americans who have a high school degree or less, college graduates are more trusting of their neighbors, socialize with them more frequently, and are quicker to rely on them for help in times of need. The report also examines the association between attending religious services and the health of neighborhood ties, finding that more frequent attendees are more engaged neighbors.

Introduction

As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before. Since the pandemic increased opportunities for remote work and flexible schedules, social interactions among neighbors have fallen. Whether because of social media distractions, travel sports commitments, or the rising use of freelance service providers like Taskrabbit, Americans rely far less on close neighbors and venture out less often into their communities. As Marc Dunkelman contends in The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community, less routine interaction with neighbors and others in the “middle ring” of social connections allows us far fewer opportunities to practice constructive debate.1

Neighborhoods vary in size, shape, and character, but one aspect that affects degrees of interpersonal engagement is the educational and class background of the people who live there. Americans with college degrees have a considerable advantage in maintaining close neighborhood connections. College graduates are more trusting of their neighbors—and more likely to socialize with them and work together to solve community problems. Americans with college degrees also express more comfort with leaning on their neighbors for support. For instance, most parents with a college degree say they would feel comfortable asking a neighbor to watch their children in an emergency, while fewer than four in 10 parents without a degree say the same.

It’s not only a class divide. The new American Neighbor Survey reveals evidence of a religious gap as well. Those who attend religious services frequently are much more socially active in their neighborhoods than are those who seldom or never participate in religious services. Americans who regularly attend religious services have stronger social connections with their neighbors and are more inclined to work with them to address community problems and concerns. Religious Americans interact with their communities differently, and their views about what it means to be a good neighbor are distinct. They are more likely to believe that good neighbors should seek opportunities to help those who live around them, even if their neighbors did not ask for help.

The American neighborhood was once a primary place for socialization. It included the critical social and civic infrastructure that educated new generations, taught them values, and provided a testing ground for their emerging sense of themselves and the wider world they were joining. The neighborhood is still important, but it occupies a less central place than it once did. Young adults have experienced one of the most rapid declines in neighborly interaction—only one in four say they talk with their neighbors regularly, a drop of more than half in just over a decade.

[MORE]

https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/strangers-next-door-the-decline-of-neighborhood-socializing-and-the-class-divide-in-belonging/

DC Police Officials Disciplined Over Allegations Of Manipulating Crime Data

 by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

Multiple high-ranking officials in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) are facing termination in connection with allegations about how they handled and possibly manipulated crime statistics in the district.

Breitbart reports that three MPD officials told The Washington Post that “multiple high-ranking” officials—all captains or above, all in leadership—were given “papers saying the department intends to fire them.”

According to a DC Police Union press release, the anticipated terminations are directly related to an investigation into allegations that the officials engaged in direct manipulation of crime data to minimize the level of crime in DC.

The union, which represents 3,000 MPD officers, welcomed the decision to terminate the officials, saying, “These actions, tied directly to the department’s completed Internal Affairs investigation into the deliberate manipulation of crime data, mark a long-overdue step toward justice and the restoration of integrity with MPD.”

The Washington Post reports, “The District has reported a decline in overall crime in recent years after a historic spike in 2023. But some in D.C. police circles have long complained that certain managers routinely reduced the severity of crime classifications to make their police districts appear safer or avoid criticism from top department brass.”

In some districts, armed home invasions were written down as “trespassing” instead, dropping a vioIent felony to a low-level misdemeanor, in order to manipulate the crime stats.

The 13 individuals who were served termination papers have not been fired yet as they are entitled to due process under the department’s general orders.

Interim MPD Chief Jeffrey Carroll said, “The administrative process must be allowed to take its course, and that process is outlined in our MPD general orders.”

Carroll added, “Let me be clear, we have made meaningful progress over the last three years in reducing crime. Homicides, shootings and carjackings have fallen steadily since 2023.”

NBC 4 reports that three of the high-level officials worked very closely with former Chief Pamela Smith, including her second-in-command and at least one assistant chief who oversaw patrol in half of DC.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dc-police-officials-disciplined-over-allegations-manipulating-crime-data

NOAA OKs First Deep-Sea Mining Plan For Critical Minerals In Pacific Ocean

 by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration approved on May 1 its first deep-sea critical minerals exploration application, submitted by North Carolina-based deep-sea mining explorer The Metals Company USA (TMC).

The company expects to find millions of tons of nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese on the sea floor needed in the United States for electric vehicle batteries, infrastructure, and national defense systems.

TMC applied for the 10-year license last year after President Donald Trump ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to expedite the process of reviewing and issuing the deep-sea permits to “unleash America’s offshore critical minerals and resources.”

“NOAA has determined that this application is fully compliant with the applicable application information requirements,” the agency reported May 1.

The application now moves into the certification stage and will undergo an environmental review process and be open for public comment before a license and permit are issued. TMC USA expects the process to conclude sometime in the first three months of 2027.

TMC is a subsidiary of a larger Canadian exploration firm with the same name that holds rights to what it describes as the world’s largest undeveloped resource of battery-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese.

“This determination marks an important step forward in NOAA’s transparent, rules-based process, and brings us ever closer to providing the U.S. with a new, abundant and lower-impact source of critical metals,” parent company TMC CEO Gerard Barron said in a statement.

“It reflects the sheer scale of scientific, environmental, and engineering effort and expertise that have been brought to bear on this project over the last 15 years, which provides us with sufficient information to move efficiently and responsibly into commercial operations under NOAA’s oversight,” Barron said.

NOAA determined that the application for an exploration license and commercial recovery permit under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act was in full compliance.

The Metals Company plans to conduct seabed mining exploration within the area beyond national jurisdiction known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which stretches about 4,500 miles between Hawaii and Mexico in the North Pacific Ocean.

The zone is considered “common heritage of mankind” and is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations (U.N.) body that manages seabed resources.

The ISA, however, has not yet finalized global rules for the zone, and multiple countries view action in the absence of such rules as a violation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Engineers aboard Hidden ​Gem inspect the ​top ​of the 4-kilometer-long ​riser system, ​which ​is used ​to ​transport ​collected nodules ​to the surface on compressed air. The Metals Company

The United States pushed forward this year to issue licenses under its own laws instead of waiting for the ISA, as part of a larger effort to amass a domestic supply of critical minerals for national security after China began to restrict global supplies.

TMC’s application and recovery permit covers a total area of 26,000 square miles in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The exploration areas are even larger, covering nearly 77,220 square miles.

The company believes the exploration areas contain an estimated 17 million tons of nickel, more than 14 million tons of copper, 2.2 million tons of cobalt, and 380 million tons of manganese.

The application received nearly 300 public comments, with some opposing and some supporting the company’s plans.

The ​Allseas-designed collector vehicle gently ​lifts the loose-lying ​polymetallic ​nodules from the seafloor at ​depths of 4 kilometers ​using water jets. The Metals Company

“I oppose deep-sea mining,” said Suzanne Reid, an individual from Florida. “We should not destroy the ocean’s natural oxygen-producing nodules. Please choose a moratorium to protect our future.”

Commenter James Selke said he thought the project was needed.

“While this project may introduce unavoidable impacts to the deep seabed, the relative area of this license (and the CCZ generally) is very small and isolated in comparison to the vastness of the World’s oceans,” Selke wrote. “The United States should deeply consider the national security impacts of such a project, holistically, rather than simply evaluating the unavoidable, yet mitigatable, impacts as the determining factor.”

NOAA accelerated permitting for deep-sea mining companies this year using a 1980s policy that allows U.S. citizens to explore the seabed to mine critical minerals until the international regulatory regime is in place.

The United States controls seabed mineral resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone and its Extended Continental Shelf, covering over 4 million square miles of submerged land around the Pacific islands, Alaska, and the Atlantic coast.

In ​2022, ​TMC and Allseas ​successfully lifted ​over 3,000 metric tonnes of ​nodules from the seafloor and transferred them ​to the hold of the Hidden ​Gem vessel. The Metals Company

Experts estimate that 43 of 60 minerals listed by the U.S. as critical to the economic and national security of America in 2025 can be found on the outer continental shelf, according to Congress.

The agency released the first images of geologic seafloor samples acquired through a survey project to map and characterize more than 30,000 square nautical miles of federal waters in the U.S. exclusive economic zone beyond the territorial waters of American Samoa in April.

“NOAA’s mapping missions serve as a reminder that ocean exploration is a vital piece of our nation’s economic development,” NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement.

The data gathered from the project will enable science-based decision-making to support responsible development, Jacobs said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/noaa-oks-first-deep-sea-mining-plan-critical-minerals-pacific-ocean

FBI Raids Office And Cannabis Dispensary Of Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas

 Federal agents from the FBI executed court-authorized search warrants Wednesday morning at the Portsmouth legislative office of longtime Democratic Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas and at an adjacent cannabis retail business she co-owns, as part of an ongoing federal corruption probe tied to marijuana dispensary operations.

Virginia Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) listens to debate on the state Senate floor in Richmond, Va., on Feb. 17, 2026. Ryan M. Kelly/AP Photo

The raids, which also extended to other unspecified locations across the commonwealth, stunned Virginia political circles given Lucas’s status as one of the state’s most powerful and influential lawmakers. Lucas, 82, who has represented Portsmouth in the Senate since 1992 and serves as President Pro Tempore, was not arrested and returned home by midday, according to her longtime political consultant. No charges have been filed against her or anyone else publicly identified in connection with the searches.

Details of the Operation

The FBI’s Norfolk field office confirmed in a statement that agents were “executing a court-authorized federal search warrant in Portsmouth, Va.” FBI spokeswoman Cassandra Temple told reporters on scene that the bureau was conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity today” but provided no further details on the targets or allegations.

Eyewitness accounts and news footage described a significant law enforcement presence: approximately 8 - 10 agents in marked uniforms at Lucas’s office in the Lucas Professional Center, with staff ordered outside and prevented from re-entering while agents carried out boxes of materials. At the neighboring cannabis dispensary, known as The Cannabis Outlet (or Cannabis Outlet), SWAT team members arrived with weapons drawn, ordered occupants to exit with hands raised, and placed at least three people in handcuffs before taking them into custody. Lucas arrived in the parking lot shortly after the operation began and told a reporter she had “no idea” what was happening.

A person close to the senator told CNN that agents seized electronics and other items. The investigation, which sources described as having opened during the Biden administration and continuing under the current administration, focuses on possible corruption and bribery related to marijuana dispensary businesses.

Political Context: Redistricting Champion

The timing of the raids has fueled speculation and partisan debate because of Lucas’s prominent role in Virginia’s recent congressional redistricting battle. Last month, Virginia voters approved—by a margin of more than 100,000 votes - a referendum allowing mid-decade redrawing of congressional district lines under certain conditions. Lucas was a leading architect of the effort, which produced new maps that could shift Virginia’s congressional delegation from its current 6–5 Democratic edge to as many as 10 Democratic seats out of 11.

Democrats framed the redistricting as a necessary counter to Republican-led gerrymandering efforts in other states ahead of the 2026 midterms. Lucas was characteristically blunt in public exchanges, responding on social media to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s criticism of the maps as a Democratic gerrymander with the words: “You all started it and we fucking finished it.”

"While we await the full facts of the investigation, it must be acknowledged that this FBI raid occurs in the broader context of President [Donald] Trump’s repeated abuse of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political opponents," Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) posted on X. 

The FBI has not publicly linked the searches to redistricting. Official statements emphasize only that the probe is ongoing and that there is no threat to public safety.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-raids-office-and-cannabis-dispensary-virginia-state-sen-l-louise-lucas