22 May 2026, Fri

Today, In Short – The New York Times

I just started the most recent season of “Hacks,” and I’m already mourning the fact that it’s ending soon. I also can’t believe I didn’t get to see Meg Stalter and Paul W. Downs in our studio. They made some pizza and answered some questions.

Watch the Pizza Interview.


  • Midterms: Democrats appear well positioned to take the House in November. But its voters are extremely divided and unhappy with the party, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

  • Cuba: The Justice Department indicted Raúl Castro, the former president of Cuba, on murder and conspiracy charges tied to the fatal downing of two planes in 1996.

  • Ebola: The head of the World Health Organization said the outbreak in central Africa was “not a pandemic emergency.”

  • Transcript: Harvard has capped the number of top grades it can award to undergraduate students. In a class with 100 students, for example, only 24 students could receive A’s.

  • Goodbye! It’s the end of an era (or a Colbert-a). The final episode of “The Late Show” hosted by Stephen Colbert is tonight. Our critic had some thoughts.


Two things you didn’t really need to know but now do:

  • A man trying to go for a swim accidentally crashed a beach fashion show in Sydney. He inadvertently became Australia’s next top model.

  • A co-founder of the E.L.F. cosmetics empire is ditching his Gucci suits and Aston Martin for a much quieter life. He’s becoming a priest.


There’s nothing like a hot dog at a baseball game. But baseball stadiums have a surprisingly lax outside food policy, and fans bring anything from spaghetti to an entire seafood boil in a bag.

Read more.


You all wrote in yesterday, in response to me saying I had a Kid Cuisine for the first time. You told me your favorite processed American foods, and I got hungry and nostalgic reading them:

  • Scooby snacks, both the gummies and graham crackers — Caitlin Fitzgerald, 25, University of Notre Dame.

  • Lunchables and Uncrustables — Zachery Gallmore, 22, University of Michigan.

  • Scrambled eggs with cut up Oscar Meyer sausages, with a side of ketchup (“We called it Tete Ei in my family. Tete was my brother’s made-up word for sausage. The Ei comes from the German word for egg.”) — Aitana Rosas Linhard, 20, University of Chicago.

  • Frozen dinosaur chicken nuggets — Aidan Henderson, 23, University of California, Irvine.

  • Annie’s Mac and Cheese (the white Cheddar version) with lots of butter, and yogurt cups with Oreo and M&M mix-ins — Emma Parker Miller, 25, Cornell University.

  • More on Annie’s: A grilled cheese sandwich or bunny-shaped Annie’s Mac and Cheese — Liesl-Ann Vaz, 18, Providence College.


I made this chicken piccata pasta the other night. I added a handful of spinach and a little extra butter. It’s all about balance, right?

See the recipe.


Thanks for hanging out with me this morning. P.S. — I’m off tomorrow, but my colleague Evan Gorelick will be holding down the fort. You’re in great hands. Be nice to him!

Write to us at inshort@nytimes.com. I’ll see you next week. — Matt

By Mukesh

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