Here are the top stories from Wednesday, March 19.

Pentagon DEI Purge

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s order to remove “diversity” content from all of the Pentagon’s platforms has led to a massive purge of information. Tens of thousands of articles about cancer awareness, the Holocaust, the 9/11 terror attacks, sexual assault and suicide prevention were removed as was content about women, LGBTQ people and people of color — including baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who served in the US military during World War II.

The automated process has led to “a high level of irresponsible collateral damage,” one defense official said. Separately, the Pentagon is considering making significant cuts to the top of the US military, according to a briefing document obtained by CNN and a US defense official. The plans under consideration include consolidating combatant commands, possibly eliminating a directorate that oversees development, training and education for the joint force and halting the expansion of US forces in Japan.

Department of Education

President Donald Trump is poised to sign an executive order today to begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education, two administration officials told CNN. Last week, the DOE announced it was cutting 50% of its workforce, a move decried by unions representing federal workers and teachers.

The department’s civil rights office, which combats antisemitism, islamophobia, racism and discrimination against students with disabilities, was among the hardest hit. Nearly half of its staff was laid off and its regional offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco were closed.

Israel-Gaza Update

The Israeli military launched a new ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in an effort to “expand the security zone and to create a partial buffer between northern and southern Gaza.” The move comes just one day after Israel broke a 2-month-old ceasefire with Hamas by conducting airstrikes in Gaza that killed at least 400 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Hamas described the latest offensive as a “new and dangerous breach,” and said it remains committed to the ceasefire deal signed in January. Additional Israeli airstrikes overnight claimed at least 40 more lives, the European Hospital said.

IRS Taxpayer Data and Deportations

IRS and the Department of Homeland Security are engaged in discussions about sharing highly confidential taxpayer data to help authorities ramp up deportations. Currently, undocumented immigrants can register with the IRS and pay taxes — and the agency is required to keep their private information confidential, except in very specific circumstances specified in the tax code.

Two immigrant rights groups have already filed suit to block the effort, but on Wednesday, a district judge declined to issue an emergency order blocking the IRS from sharing the data.

Trump’s Border Plans

The Trump administration is evaluating plans for the Pentagon to take control of a buffer zone along a sprawling stretch of the southern border and empower active-duty U.S. troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross into the United States illegally, according to five U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.

The effort would enable the most significant use yet of active-duty forces at the border under Trump, though any move to militarize the southern border’s buffer zone is certain to raise questions about whether employing the military in this way runs afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that prohibits active-duty troops from most law enforcement missions.

To date, the Trump administration has addressed such legal considerations by having Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement detain people and move them once in custody, including on U.S. military flights involved in its deportation efforts.

Air Force DEI Compliance

The U.S. Air Force is sending teams to a number of bases to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to a Monday press release. The service will send teams consisting of approximately five reviewers to nine installations to evaluate how such orders are being implemented, an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times on Wednesday.

Those elements include the teams verifying that the Air Force is eliminating sex-based, race-based or ethnicity-based quotas for jobs or admissions; not teaching any subjects related to critical race theory, gender ideology or diversity, equity and inclusion; offering a curriculum that teaches America is the most “powerful force for good in human history”; prohibiting boards and councils from instruction related to DEI subjects; and is not considering sex, race or ethnicity during promotion or selection processes.

French Survival Manuals

“The survival manual aims to encourage citizens to develop their resilience in the face of different crises,” a spokeswoman for Prime Minister François Bayrou told CNN on Wednesday. “This includes natural disasters, technological and cyber incidents, health crises like Covid-19, and security crises like terrorist attacks and armed conflict,” she said.

If approved by Bayrou, the 20-page booklet will be delivered to households before the summer. The French plan follows updates to similar booklets issued to millions of households in Sweden and Finland, which include instructions on how to prepare for the effects of military conflicts, communications outages and power cuts, as well as extreme weather events.

New Pew Research Study

According to a Pew Research Center Survey published Thursday, while teen boys and girls are facing many of the same issues, including school pressure and mental health concerns, they may need different kinds of support. “We’ve been doing a lot of work this year on men and masculinity, and part of that conversation involves what’s happening with boys and girls.”

While the data did show differences among them –– such as girls reporting more of a pressure to fit in socially and look good while boys said they felt they should be strong and good at sports more often –– many of their perspectives were similar. Both girls and boys said it was highly important to find a career they enjoy, making money and cultivating friendships in the future, according to the data.

Alzheimer’s

Scientists examining the brains of people destined to develop Alzheimer’s dementia say there may be a way to keep symptoms at bay in certain patients. A new study published in the journal Lancet Neurology found that the risk of symptoms developing was cut in half if the participants had been taking an amyloid-lowering drug for about eight years.

Beta amyloid plaques are known to collect between neurons in the brain and disrupt cell function. It’s “the first data to suggest that there’s a possibility of a significant delay in the onset of progression to symptoms,” said Dr. Eric McDade, a professor of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis, who led the study.

Snow White in Live Action

In movie news, the Snow White live action remake hits theaters this weekend. Much has been said about Disney's latest live-action remake, Marc Webb's Snow White, in the years and months leading up to its release.

Relentless discourse, the kind only heightened by social media and poor faith readings, has surrounded this movie to the point where it feels like anyone weighing in on its actual quality has to provide some kind of disclaimer about their views.

Many critics praised Rachel Zegler’s performance in the film, while acknowledging many shortcomings, including the CGI-created dwarfs and the lack of a fully developed villain.

NCAA March Madness 2025

The NCAA tournament’s round of 64 officially starts today, so I hope you filled out your brackets. North Carolina, Alabama State, Xavier and Mount St. Marys won their first four games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Boston Celtics Sold

Bill Chisholm agreed to buy the Boston Celtics from the Grousbeck family for $6.1 billion. It marks the largest sale price for a franchise in North American sports history, surpassing the NFL’s Washington Commanders sale for $6.05 billion in 2023.

Tesla Booted from Canadian Auto Show

Tesla booted from Vancouver international auto show, due to safety concerns. The auto show begins Wednesday and last year drew a record-breaking 130,000 visitors.

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