All posts tagged: springs

Trump’s latest spending defense springs a leak

Trump’s latest spending defense springs a leak

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump is defending the cost of a renovation project at the White House reflecting pool by arguing that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden spent hundreds of millions of dollars on similar work. Available federal records, however, show no evidence of expenditures on that scale. Speaking about the ongoing project during a recent cabinet meeting, Trump took about 8 minutes to point to what he described as costly work undertaken by his Democratic predecessors, suggesting the current renovation is comparable to investments made under previous administrations. But records show a much different picture. The largest recent renovation of the White House reflecting pool occurred during the Obama administration, when a years-long rehabilitation project was completed at a cost of roughly $34 million. The work addressed leaks, aging infrastructure and other maintenance issues at the historic site. The Biden administration did not oversee a comparable renovation project. While federal planning documents examined potential future repairs and modernization efforts that could have carried significant costs, those projects were never implemented. The discrepancy has drawn …

Palm Springs Art Museum Refutes Whistleblower Allegations

Palm Springs Art Museum Refutes Whistleblower Allegations

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Palm Springs Art Museum in California has released a three-page statement saying that an investigation conducted in response to a whistleblower complaint alleging mismanagement and fraud found no wrongdoing by the museum. The museum declined to provide ARTnews a copy of the resulting report, which will not be publicly released. The whistleblower complaint made numerous detailed allegations. Among them are claims that the museum improperly reclassified funds in its endowment to meet cash crunches; that there is a $3 million discrepancy in the balance of the museum’s investment account; and that a former director was improperly forced out to make way to promote an internal hire after a problematic search process. The museum’s statement reveals little in the way of specifics about those allegations, but broadly says there was no wrongdoing and that while there may have been errors, there was no improper intent. Related Articles The museum retained law firm Barnes & Thornburg and forensic accounting firm RSM US to conduct the six-month investigation. Neither firm responded to a request to confirm that …

How the babydoll dress became spring’s most divisive fashion choice

How the babydoll dress became spring’s most divisive fashion choice

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Olivia Rodrigo has won three Grammy Awards. At just 18 years old, the Gen Z pop-rock star was named Time’s 2021 Entertainer of the Year after her first single “Driver’s License” launched her into the stratosphere. This April, with the release of her latest track “Drop Dead”, she became the first artist in history to have the lead singles from her first three albums, Sour, Guts and the forthcoming You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, debut in No 1 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Still, when she walked out to perform at Spotify’s Billions Club show in Barcelona to celebrate securing over a billion streams on the platform, the internet zoomed its gaze in on one thing only: what …

How Painter Akira Ikezoe Became the Spring’s Breakout Star in New York

How Painter Akira Ikezoe Became the Spring’s Breakout Star in New York

Published by José Betancourt

Akira Ikezoe has recently been thinking a lot about all that can be done with milk. It can be obtained from a cow, packaged, sold, and consumed, yes. But what if you could paint with it, or bathe in it, or even become resurrected by drinking it? These are all scenarios that appear in a new painting by Ikezoe that features an array of naked figures (and some skeletons) who are roped into a dairy-centric system that happens to involve a pit of fire and a large mural. In typical Ikezoe fashion, everything is depicted with the sobriety of a diagram in an instruction manual. It’s funny, bizarre, and more than a little terrifying. Related Articles Standing before the painting in his New York studio, Ikezoe pointed to the top of the canvas, where faceless people pull at the udders of two cows. “They are taking milk out of the cow, and they start using the milk as paint,” Ikezoe said, narrating the scene. “But someone kicked the can of paint and stepped on it, …

Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Misconduct at Palm Springs Art Museum

Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Misconduct at Palm Springs Art Museum

Published by José Betancourt

An anonymous whistleblower has raised allegations of misconduct by leadership at California’s Palm Springs Art Museum, claiming violations of the law and institutional best practices.  The whistleblower claims that the museum improperly moved funds between various accounts in order to meet severe cash crunches. The whistleblower alleged that a former director was forced out based on trumped-up staff complaints, and that the museum failed to even interview two qualified candidates to replace him before promoting an internal candidate. Related Articles In resignation letters that were reviewed by ARTnews, two board members said they tried to get financial problems and accounting inconsistencies addressed before being stonewalled by longstanding board members. The whistleblower complaint was forwarded to ARTnews in the form of emails from July 2025 and December 2025, both of which were addressed to, among others, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and United States Attorney for the Southern District of California Adam Gordon.  Gordon’s office did not answer an emailed inquiry from ARTnews. Bonta’s office replied that it is “committed to upholding laws that protect charitable gifts and donations,” but …

300-degree hot springs hiding under the frozen Antarctic sea

300-degree hot springs hiding under the frozen Antarctic sea

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The Antarctic sea, where glaciers drift across the surface. What kind of world lies 1,300 meters below the surface? Scientists have now succeeded in directly observing a realm that had previously been inferred rather than seen. There, hot fluid surged upward from the seafloor, and a unique marine ecosystem unlike any previously documented was thriving. The Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) announced that a team led by Principal Researcher Park Sung-hyun had successfully completed an expedition aboard the icebreaking research vessel Araon in the Antarctic mid-ocean ridge region, roughly 1,200 kilometers from Jangbogo Station. The expedition used an unmanned submersible to directly investigate hydrothermal vents along the Antarctic mid-ocean ridge. The Korea Polar Research Institute described the achievement as a world first. Until now, the extreme conditions of the Antarctic deep sea had made access itself a formidable challenge. Unable to observe the seafloor directly, researchers had to depend entirely on indirect methods — lowering sampling equipment to collect …

The Noughties mini skirt is back: 5 of spring’s biggest denim trends

The Noughties mini skirt is back: 5 of spring’s biggest denim trends

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Denim is rarely out of fashion, but how we wear it is constantly changing. This spring, after years of wide-leg jeans, it seems denim is reverting back to the Noughties. From the return of the mini skirt to the revival of bootcut jeans and low-rise silhouettes, this season’s trends are firmly rooted in the early 2000s – but with a more wearable edge. According to TV stylist and author of Bolder Not Older Nicky Hambleton-Jones, the key is not to replicate past trends, but to reinterpret them. So, here’s a stylist’s guide on how to wear the biggest denim trends of the season. 1. Mini denim skirt It appears that the denim mini skirt is officially back, spotted on countless Paris Fashion Week runways …

A Highway 78 spring road trip through Julian and Borrego Springs

A Highway 78 spring road trip through Julian and Borrego Springs

Published by Sam Flores

In early spring, the California mountain town of Julian sits suspended between seasons. At more than 4,000 feet, up in the Cuyamaca Mountains, it rests among coastal live oak woodlands and Coulter pine forests. Snow sometimes dusts the surrounding slopes, melting by afternoon into damp earth as manzanita and mountain lilac begin to flower. Along Main Street, the mingled scents of woodsmoke and apple pie drift from storefronts. It is here that my journey along State Route 78 begins, following its long eastward descent from the mountain forest into the stark badlands of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, then skirting the southern edge of the Salton Sea, crossing the Algodones Dunes and continuing toward the Colorado River — a 140-mile corridor spanning one of the most dramatic ecological transitions across public lands in the American Southwest. This road trip continues a series exploring California’s overlooked scenic highways, inspired in part by artist Earl Thollander’s “Back Roads of California,” whose sketches and travel notes celebrated a slower way of seeing. After tracing Highway 127 along the edge …

Moreno Valley Springs fire, Riverside County Crown fire contained

Moreno Valley Springs fire, Riverside County Crown fire contained

Published by Sam Flores

The largest wildfire in California this year is no longer growing, fire officials said Saturday. The Riverside County Springs fire, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds up to 50 mph on Friday, did not grow overnight, with firefighters battling the blaze on the ground and aircraft dropping water from above, according to Terra Fernandez, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Riverside. “We have a pretty good hold on it,” said Fernandez. The fire calmed down overnight due to calming winds and increased humidity, which slowed growth. Firefighter hand crews were on the ground cutting fire lines to help contain the blaze. As of Saturday night , the 4,176-acre fire was 95% contained, according to Cal Fire. No people have been injured and no structures have burned, Fernandez said. All evacuations orders and warnings have since been lifted, according to Cal Fire. Fire officials said crews planned to work through the night and into Sunday to monitor and patrol the fire perimeter. In Los Angeles County, the Crown fire, which has …

At Mexican pop-up Hoja Blanca, find the most exciting cooking in Palm Springs

At Mexican pop-up Hoja Blanca, find the most exciting cooking in Palm Springs

Published by Sam Flores

When Omar Limon serves tetelas at Hoja Blanca, a weekly pop-up held midweek at the sleek bar Truss & Twine in Palm Springs, he uses their pointy scalene-triangle shape as a central subject, guiding the viewer’s eye through a series of shapes and colors and contrasts. His plates stun you with their composition before they jolt you with their complex deliciousness. Seriously great Mexican cooking in Palm Springs Earlier this month, he stuffed a tetela made of blue-corn masa with creamy refried Mayocoba beans booming bacon and chorizo. Underneath: a lime-green puree of tomatillos and poblanos smoothed into a silky ring. Over top: a thin, precise square of fried pork belly, glazed with piloncillo and finished with a flurry of cotija. The food arrived on a mottled brown ceramic plate, its inexact edges forming something between a circle and an octagon. It had been chosen with intention to visually complete the layered geometries. Like a little kid touching a finger to a painting when the museum guard isn’t looking, taking knife and fork to this …