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This week with digital coupons at Safeway and Albertsons. Get beef rib roast for $7.97 per pound member price with minimum purchase of $50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See Store for details and Broccoli, cauliflower or Russet potatoes are $0.97 per pound Member price limit 6 pounds plus. Selected sizes and varieties of Lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese are $1.97 each member price. Visit safewayouralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.
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President Donald Trump ousted Pam Bondi as attorney general. That's why we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Izin Akabawu in Fahana jewel. It's Friday, April 3rd. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Trump announced Bondi's removal yesterday in a post on Truth Social, calling her a great American patriot and loyal friend. The move ended a 14 month tenure in which Bondi transformed the Justice Department into a tool for avenging Trump's grievances, but she frustrated him with her struggles to prosecute his enemies and her handling of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi's departure makes her the second cabinet secretary Trump has ousted in the span of a few weeks. Last month, he removed Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary. Trump named Todd Blanche to take over as acting attorney general. He was Bondi's chief deputy and Trump's former personal lawyer. Within minutes of Trump's announcement, names of possible permanent successors began circulating. The Post reported that Trump has discussed Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as a possible replacement. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth asked the army's top officer to step down. That's number two. General Randy George had been expected to hold the job of army chief of staff for more than another year until the fall of 2027. But yesterday defence officials said Hegseth had asked George to retire. Two other army generals were also removed. It was not immediately clear why Hegseth had targeted George, but his removal marks the latest in a series of clashes between Hegseth and the Army's senior leadership, and it was an extraordinary move to make during the ongoing war with Iran. The abrupt dismissal took place as the army has sent a couple thousand soldiers to the Middle east for a possible ground operation. Number three. A panel led by Trump allies approved the White House ballroom yesterday. The National Capital Planning Commission voted to approve the two story, 90,000 square foot addition to the White House with eight votes to one. This wasn't a surprise. Trump had packed the panel with allies to help ensure that his pet project would win approval. Here's William Scharf, who chairs the commission. I believe, too, in time, the ballroom will be celebrated as a crucial and contributing aspect of the White House complex. And as I said previously, I intend to support it. With the vote, the ballroom cleared the final procedural obstacle it faced, but the project's future remains uncertain. This week, a federal judge ruled that the ballroom requires congressional approval and ordered a halt to construction. Congress does not appear eager to authorize the project, which is polling poorly and has attracted public complaints. Regardless, Trump yesterday celebrated the approval of what he called the magnificent White House ballroom. ICE is still arresting many immigrants with no criminal rights record. That's number four. In late January, Trump administration leaders indicated that they wanted to take a more targeted approach to arresting immigrants. The pledge came after officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during immigration operations. But newly released government data shows that officers continued to target large numbers of immigrants with no criminal record in the weeks after fatal shootings in Minneapolis. A post analysis of the data shows that people with no criminal record still make up the largest share of those detained. In all, 42% of those detained in the six weeks after Alex Pretty's death had no criminal record. That's a slight drop from the six weeks before his death, when that figure was 46%. Since Trump's return to office in January 2025, ICE has arrested more than 146,000 immigrants with no charges or convict, compared with more than 127,000 immigrants with a criminal conviction. At number five, the Artemis 2 crew blasted out of Earth's orbit. After very careful checks of their life support systems, the astronauts last night set off on a trajectory that humans haven't traveled for over 50 years. Leaving Earth's orbit is risky. If anything goes wrong, they'll be very far from home. And space travel is tough on the body, too. The astronauts could be exposed to deep space radiation from solar activity or cosmic rays. But if everything goes to plan over the weekend, the crew will break the Apollo distance record on Monday. Here's astronaut Christina Hammock Cook speaking about what she expects to see. Having just experienced incredible views of planet Earth and seeing the entire planet out the window in one pane, knowing that we're about to have some similar views of the moon in that same way is definitely getting me more excited for it. The astronauts will probably get to see parts of the moon that other astronauts haven't. The crew will also be there for an eclipse, which means they will get to see the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere year. If you'd like to track the mission, click the link to our newsletter. You can find that as always in our show. Notes. Number six an extremely unusual weather phenomenon could start to unfold this weekend. Tropical cyclones could form on either side of the equator in the coming days. The storms would mirror each other like twins, and twin cyclones are a weather phenomenon that only happens once every few years. Triplet cyclones are even rarer, but the chances of one are increasing. One of those storms could bring devastation to parts of the remote West Pacific next week with 50 to 100 inches or more of rain, and the impacts could be felt more widely across the planet. Storms would push lots of warm ocean water across the Pacific and boost the chances of a super El Nino later this year. The El Nino weather pattern is known to trigger unusual warmth, floods and drought. And at number seven, scientists revealed the secrets of octopuses sex lives. The octopus is a highly intelligent sea creature. They can solve puzzles, use tools and even escape from sea tanks. Now a new paper has uncovered the details of their most intimate lives. It turns out that the males have a tongue, arm, penis and sperm cell all rolled into one appendage that looks like one of their other seven arms. A receptor in that arm is also highly sensitive to the female hormone but progesterone. As octopuses are solitary creatures, they rarely meet each other in the wild. Their unique equipment means they can mate sight unseen and even in the dark. And scientists have managed to capture some incredible footage which you can see for yourself if you follow the link to our show notes. That's the show for this week. The staff writers of the Seven are Jamie Ross, me and Hannah Jewell. Special thanks to Ted Muldoon, Rena Flores and Lucas Trevor for producing. John Taylor is our editor. Copy editing by Brian Malasix, Kendra Nichols and Victoria Crawl. Mixing and sound design is by Jim Briggs and Justin Gerrish. Our theme music is by Edith Mudge. I'm Izin Akabaung. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. We'll meet you back here on Monday. With Vrbill's last minute deals. You can save over $50 on your spring getaway. So whether it's a mountain escape city break or a week at the beach, there's still time to get great discounts. Book your next day Now. Average savings $72 select homes only this
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week with digital coupons at Safeway and Albertsons. Get beef rib roast for $7.97 per pound member price with minimum purchase of $50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See Store for details and Broccoli, cauliflower or russet potatoes are $0.97 per pound member price limit £6 plus selected sizes and varieties of Lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese are 197. Each member price. Visit safewayeralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.
Podcast Summary: The 7 — The Washington Post
Episode: Pam Bondi; tracking Artemis II; unusual weather phenomenon; and more
Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Hannah Jewell (with Izin Akabawu)
This episode of The 7 dives into the day’s most significant headlines, bringing listeners up to speed with the latest in politics, space exploration, immigration, extreme weather phenomena, and even octopus science. The top stories include the removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, high-profile defense shakeups, a controversial White House ballroom addition, ICE’s arrest practices, the Artemis II mission's historic journey, emerging twin cyclones with El Niño implications, and fascinating new science on octopus reproduction.