Good Morning!

It's Wednesday, May 21, and in today’s edition of Rise & Recap, we look at:

• Trump on Medicaid cuts in the ‘big, beautiful bill’.

• Google’s AI makeover set to evolve how we search.

• U.S. debt on path to break records.

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Spill The News

Trump Pushes GOP’s Megabill

President Trump issued a blunt warning to congressional Republicans on Tuesday: don't “f— around” with Medicaid. In a sharp rebuke to conservatives demanding deeper cuts, he insisted reductions should focus only on “waste, fraud, and abuse”. Despite the pushback, some conservatives still want steeper Medicaid cuts to balance the bill’s tax breaks.

At a closed-door GOP meeting, Trump urged lawmakers to rally behind the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, framing it as a loyalty test. “I’ve been a cheerleader for this party,” he said, warning that any holdouts “wouldn’t be a Republican much longer”. But his pressure campaign didn’t break the stalemate. Despite the push, many Republicans left the meeting unconvinced, signaling they still wanted changes before throwing their support behind the bill. Watch what Trump said.

A new CBO analysis backs Democrats’ criticism of the bill, finding that its tax cuts would boost assets for the wealthy while reducing support for low-income Americans through Medicaid and food aid cuts.

Google’s AI Makeover To Dominate Search

Google is rolling out its AI Mode search experience across the US starting today. The new chatbot-style feature delivers full responses to longer queries using Google’s AI model, pulling from and linking back to open web sources. It’s a direct response to rising competition from AI-powered search engines like OpenAI and Perplexity.

As it integrates AI into search, Google is also trying to reassure investors that its ad and search businesses won’t be disrupted. For power users, it’s launching Google AI Ultra — a $250/month subscription offering deeper access to its top AI models.

Shortly after the announcement, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says that Google’s long-term goal is AGI. Reaching that, he says, means evolving beyond current chatbots by expanding the capabilities already emerging in Google’s Gemini models. “The way we've ended up working with today's chatbots is, I think, a transitory period,” Hassabis said to WIRED.

New Orleans Jail Break An Inside Job

A 33-year-old maintenance worker has been arrested for aiding the escape of 10 inmates from a New Orleans jail last week, reinforcing investigators' belief that the breakout required inside help. 

Sterling Williams was charged on Monday after allegedly shutting off water to a cell, enabling inmates to remove a metal toilet and sink, the Louisiana attorney general’s office said. According to an arrest affidavit, Williams told investigators an inmate “threatened to shank him if he did not turn the water off”. He identified the inmate as “Massey,” later confirmed to be Antoine Massey. 

The inmates cut through steel bars behind the sink using an unidentified tool, crawled through the wall, and left behind a taunt: “too easy LOL”. They exited via a loading dock, scaled a wall using blankets to bypass barbed wire, and fled across Interstate 10. At the time, the lone employee monitoring security in that section had stepped away to get food, officials said.

Click-Worthy

🧠 Modern science transforms how we evaluate brain injuries. 

🤦‍♀️ A big blunder: This is what Kristi Noem thinks Habeas Corpus means.

💰 U.S. debt could soon hit its highest point since 1790.

😊 2025’s happiest cities list just dropped. How has the U.S. fared?

💸 ‘Done enough’: Elon Musk retreats from political spending.

🤖 For real, is AI more persuasive than humans in an argument?

💉 New FDA rules restrict COVID boosters for senior citizens. 

🥒 Cucumbers recalled after over 20 get sick in 15 states.

🌍 Israel’s Gaza mission might turn it into a global pariah. 

🥩 That red meat research you read, might be lying.

Biz & Beyond

🧠 People are working longer, harder, and burning out faster. How to switch off before your brain hits meltdown mode?

📱Gen Z's financial advisors: influencers and algorithms. Is this the future of investing or a viral disaster?

House to Home

🍳 Your kitchen’s tiny, not tragic. With clever kitchen upgrades, you don’t need square footage to cook, entertain, and impress.

🎨 Picking a paint color for your home? Forget trends. This is about making it feel like you. The right shade won’t just match the vibe — it makes it.

The Fame Frame

 🦁 Carey Mulligan joins Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’.

💖 Inside Hailey Bieber's world: love, business, and baby Jack.

🏆 Lady Gaga's Emmy win brings her closer to EGOT status.

⚖️ Diddy trial: Rapper Kid Cudi expected to testify soon.

🍽️ ‘The Bear’ Season 4 to bring weddings, drama, and more culinary chaos.

Go. See. Do.

✈️ Travel | The next ‘it’ destination — Nicaragua.

🔮 Tune in | Perfect podcasts as per your zodiac!

🍝 Cook | Quick vegetarian pasta that might become your summer staple. 

♻️ How to | Safely (and wisely) pick out furniture off the curb. 

“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”

— Ayn Rand