As RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ways turn toxic to GOP, CDC director is hard to find

As RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ways turn toxic to GOP, CDC director is hard to find

fivenewscrypto    mars 28, 2026   

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't had a director since August, and now it's without even a temporary one after the Trump administration blew through a federal deadline on Wednesday to nominate someone for the permanent role.

According to federal law, there's a 210-day limit on a Senate-confirmed position being filled by someone in an acting capacity. The clock started when anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Susan Monarez from her Senate-confirmed role as CDC director in late August—allegedly after she refused to rubber-stamp changes to CDC vaccine recommendations. Until yesterday, Jay Bhattacharya, who heads the National Institutes of Health, had stepped in to also be the acting director of the CDC. But he can no longer hold the position officially.

The void of leadership comes as the Trump administration is working to restrain Kennedy after finding his relentless anti-vaccine agenda is widely unpopular and potentially harmful to Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

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Netflix raises prices for every subscription tier by up to 12.5 percent

Netflix raises prices for every subscription tier by up to 12.5 percent

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

Netflix isn't preparing for a multibillion acquisition anymore, but it's still raising prices.

As first spotted by Android Authority today, Netflix now lists its ad-supported plan as costing $9 per month, up from $8/month. The Standard, ad-free plan went up from $18/month to $20/month, and the Premium ad-free plan (which supports viewing from four, instead of two, devices simultaneously, 4K, and spatial audio) went from $25/month to $27/month.

For comparison, Disney+ starts at $12/month with commercials and $19/month without.

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You've got $20,000 to spend on an EV: Here are some options

You've got $20,000 to spend on an EV: Here are some options

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

With a new war in the Middle East driving up gas prices, American drivers are once again remembering that electric vehicles are much cheaper to operate and therefore worth considering. Buying a brand-new EV might not be the best way to save money, but the good news is that the used EV market continues to grow, and for the buyer looking to spend between $15,000–$20,000 on something electric, we're starting to hit a real sweet spot.

Over the past few weeks, we've looked at used EVs on a smaller budget. If you don't need much range, even $5,000 will get you behind the wheel of a Nissan Leaf. At $10,000, BMW's interesting i3 becomes affordable, as does the Chevrolet Bolt, although expect examples to have some mileage on them. For $15,000 you can find newer Bolts and bigger-batteried i3s, as well as some of Hyundai and Kia's smaller or older EVs.

Once we jump up into the next (arbitrary) price bracket—$15,000 to $20,000—many of the newer, longer-range EVs that debuted post-pandemic are now affordable.

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The Corvette E-Ray is dead, long live the Grand Sport X

The Corvette E-Ray is dead, long live the Grand Sport X

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

Chevrolet provided flights from Albany, New York, to Las Vegas, Nevada, and accommodation so Ars could check out the new Grand Sport. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Chevrolet has developed something of a modern tradition with recent generations of the Corvette: As a new generation approaches, the company rolls out the Grand Sport. It's intended to be a sort of "sweet spot" version of the ’Vette, pairing the go-fast bits of the higher-spec machines with the entry-level motor found in the Stingray.

If that pattern holds, the mid-engined, eighth-generation Corvette may be nearing the end—because this is the new Grand Sport. This one, though, is different. It comes with an all-new V8 at its heart, one with substantially more power and torque than the current base Stingray. If that's not enough, you can also get it with the ZR1X's electric motor and battery. That model is called the Grand Sport X, and it's the effective replacement for the first all-wheel-drive hybrid Corvette.

Yes, the E-Ray is dead, three years after Chevrolet raised eyebrows by putting a hybrid system where many said it didn't belong. But you can't argue with that system's all-weather capability. It lives on in the new Grand Sport X, which pairs a 186-horsepower (139 kW) electric motor on the front axle with a new V8 at the rear.

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2026's historic snow drought is bad news for the West

2026's historic snow drought is bad news for the West

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

Across much of the Western United States, winter 2026 was the year the snow never came. Many ski resorts got by with snowmaking but shut down their winter operations early. Fire officials and water supply managers are worried about summer.

Where I live in Boise, Idaho, temperatures hit the low 80s Fahrenheit (high-20s Celsius) in mid-March. The same heat dome sent temperatures soaring to 105° F (40° C) in Phoenix.

Ordinarily, water managers and hydrologists like me who study the Western US expect the mountain snowpacks to be at their fullest around April 1. Snowpacks are natural reservoirs of water that farms and communities depend on through the hot, dry summer. Their snow water equivalent, meaning the amount of liquid water in the snowpack, is seen as a bellwether for water supplies.

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We got an audience with the "Lunar Viceroy" to talk how NASA will build a Moon base

We got an audience with the "Lunar Viceroy" to talk how NASA will build a Moon base

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

At the end of a long day on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman looked down at a table littered with microphones and jokingly referred to the space agency's new Moon base manager, Carlos Garcia-Galan, as the "Lunar Viceroy." It was a bit of humor, but it also seemed to represent affection from Isaacman for a long-time NASA employee so willingly taking on a major new challenge.

Garcia-Galan was, in many ways, the emerging star at the daylong Ignition event in Washington, DC. Heretofore he has largely been an anonymous engineer at NASA who has now been thrust into a very public role of leading the agency's ambitious Moon base initiative. (His official title, by the way, is program executive.)

Ars had a chance to speak with Garcia-Galan about NASA's plans and, more importantly, how they might be implemented. Here is a lightly edited (for clarity) transcript of that conversation.

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Meta, YouTube must pay $3M to woman who got hooked on apps as a child

Meta, YouTube must pay $3M to woman who got hooked on apps as a child

fivenewscrypto    mars 27, 2026   

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $3 million in damages to a young woman who successfully argued that the companies' social media apps were designed to addict children.

Meta will pay the majority of the fine, 70 percent, while YouTube-owner Google is on the hook for 30 percent, the jury decided.

During the six-week trial, the jury heard that Meta and Google designed apps with features like auto-play, infinite scroll, and algorithmic recommendations to keep kids online. Feeling trapped in a cycle of constantly using these apps caused the plaintiff, known as K.G.M., "crippling mental distress," CNBC reported. She developed "severe body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal thoughts," and every notification that came through made it harder to stop logging in.

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