Professor who studies dictatorships helped convince Harvard to stand up to Trump

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the days after Donald Trump’s reelection as president, Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky was despondent. “I was in the fetal position,” he said. “I just wanted to put on sweat pants, eat ice cream and watch hockey.”

Levitsky had spent two decades studying authoritarian regimes in other countries, but during Trump’s first term, he had turned his attention to the United States.

A book he co-authored, “How Democracies Die,” had become a surprise best-seller. It chronicled Trump’s autocratic tendencies — his attacks on the press, the judiciary and the electoral system — and warned that one of the world’s oldest democracies was in peril.

Trump’s reelection “felt like a gut punch,” Levitsky said. “I took it personally. I had been working for eight years to prevent this from happening.” Eventually, Levitsky switched off the hockey and changed out his sweat pants. In recent months, Levitsky has resumed his mantle as a leading public intellectual raising alarm bells about Trump.

—Los Angeles Times

Arson suspect called Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro a ‘monster’ and cited governor’s ‘plans’ for Palestinian people, warrant says

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The man charged with attempted homicide for allegedly setting the Pennsylvania governor’s residence on fire, while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside, called police less than an hour after the incident, telling dispatchers the governor needs to be told he “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” authorities said.

Details of the call were included in a search warrant executed Tuesday, giving new insight into Cody Balmer’s mindset the night of the attack. Officials have not announced a motive in the case.

Balmer, 38, was charged with attempted homicide, terrorism, arson and related crimes for allegedly attempting to kill Shapiro on Sunday morning. Members of Balmer’s family told media outlets that he struggles with mental illness, and that they had called local police in recent weeks after he stopped taking his medication for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and had become “irritable and agitated.”

Authorities said Balmer called 911 at 2:50 a.m., shortly after he allegedly set the fires in the governor’s mansion. Balmer was not apprehended until he turned himself in at state police headquarters Sunday afternoon, after officials declared a manhunt for the perpetrator was underway.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Will global warming impact your life? Results from poll break 28-year record

A record-high share of Americans now consider global warming to be a major concern, according to a new poll.

In the latest Gallup survey, 48% of respondents said global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them or their way of life during their lifetime — the highest share recorded since 1997, when the question was first asked.

It marks a 4-point increase from 2024, when 44% of poll respondents called global warming a serious threat. In the years before that, this figure held steady in the mid-40s after rising from the mid-30s in the 2010s.

Still, 51% said they don’t believe global warming will constitute a major threat in their lifetime, marking the lowest such share on record. The results of the poll — which sampled 1,002 U.S. adults March 3-16 — broke other records as well.

—The Charlotte Observer

Nearly 900,000 fewer people came to the US from Canada last month

The number of people traveling to the United States from Canada plummeted in March.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said nearly 900,000 fewer people entered the U.S. from the north compared with the same period last year. That decline followed weeks of President Donald Trump insulting Canada by referring to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “governor” and suggesting the mineral-rich country should become a U.S. state.

Trump has also threatened to cripple the Canadian economy with tariffs. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) said Canadian visitors spent $20.5 billion in the U.S. last year. Self-described “Hybrid Canadian” and Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta told Canadians that getting Canadians to vacation in the Golden State has become more difficult.

“It’s been devastating culturally, economically,” she admitted. “I’m hurting for what’s going on in your country and I’m hurt being here in California.”

—New York Daily News