Fun With the First Pope From the U.S.; Why Cecily Strong May Return to ‘SNL’ This Weekend–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: May 8, 2025

Indy Digest: May 8, 2025

Ladies and gents, we have a new pope. And for the first time, he’s from the United States.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, was born in Chicago, and grew up in the community of Dalton, just south of Chicago, before attending Villanova University. In the hours since the white smoke indicated the conclave had made a selection, there have already been a lot of deep dives into the new pope’s social media, his past statements and his history to determine what kind of pope Leo XIV will be, like this one from The Conversation. (There’s also been a lot of hysterical speculation on social media, but that’s a subject for another time.) Seeing as there are 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, this announcement has a lot of serious repercussions.

However, we will not be discussing any of this today. No, we will not. Instead, we’re treating this announcement as something the United States badly needs right now—a moment when we can all laugh, create memes, and enjoy the whimsy, humor and ridiculousness that comes from finally having a pope who is one of us … an American.

Like, for example, this burning question: He’s from Chicago, so is he a Cubs fan, or is he a White Sox fan? We have an answer, from ABC News via the Chicago Tribune:

When Pope Leo XIV’s election was announced Thursday, ABC News reported Robert Prevost of Dolton was a Cubs fan.

The jokes were flying on social media, many of them suggesting Pope Leo XIV was a perfect choice to heal the world’s suffering, thanks to his allegiance to the Cubs.

That begged the question: Would the Cubs ask the new pope to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field?

A message to the Cubs got a quick response.

“Not only would we welcome Pope Leo XIV to Wrigley Field, he could sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame,’” Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement.

Excellent.

But wait. Is this true? Apparently not! His brother said the opposite to WGN News: “I don’t know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan.”

Ooh, controversy. Even more excellent!

In other new-pope news, Fast Company has this tidbit of note: “You can buy the new pope’s childhood home for $199,000.” Clearly this new pope is not from California.

Meanwhile, Richard Roeper, the Chicago movie reviewer who took over as Roger Ebert’s TV-show partner after Gene Siskel passed away, tweeted this on X:

I repeat: Excellent.

And finally, even though the election of a new pope is a historic moment that will have rather serious consequences … this is the pic, provided by Vatican Media, that some news outlets used to illustrate this momentous occasion:

Fantastic.

—Jimmy Boegle.:

More News

• It’s rare that I come across a news story that makes me exclaim profanities out loud … but this one did. The Associated Press says: “The Trump administration, which has fought to dismantle or hollow out government-run outlets that provide news to other countries, has agreed to use the conservative media network OAN’s feed on Voice of America and other services. Voice of America hasn’t operated since mid-March because of funding cuts ordered by President Donald Trump, who has criticized it and similar services like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as promoting a news agenda with a liberal bias. That has triggered court fights that are still unresolved. But Kari Lake, Trump’s representative at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the funding arm for these services, said she had reached out to OAN, which has offered to provide its news and video free of charge. In an announcement, Lake called it ‘an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer.’” Good god.

• Speaking of conservative news networks … a name familiar to SNL viewers thanks to Cecily Strong’s hilarious impersonation is now Trump’s pick as an interim U.S. attorney. The New York Times explains: “President Trump said on Thursday that he would name the Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro, whose false statements about the 2020 election were part of lawsuit against the network, to be the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, hours after he was forced to pull his first choice. Selecting Ms. Pirro, the former Republican district attorney of Westchester County, N.Y., resolves a thorny dilemma for the president who said hours earlier that he would withdraw his nomination to permanently install the interim U.S. attorney, Ed Martin, under pressure from Senate Republicans. Ms. Pirro, 73, has known the president for decades, has earned his trust and would provide him with a reliable line into one of the country’s most important federal prosecutors offices in the Justice Department. Ms. Pirro has not held a law enforcement job in two decades since stepping down as a district attorney to pursue failed bids for higher office, including an ill-fated run against Hillary Clinton for U.S. Senate before the 2006 election.”

• Los Angeles County is sounding the alarm about a disconcerting rise in hepatitis A cases. The Los Angeles Times reports: “Historically, hepatitis A infections in L.A. County largely have been identified in homeless people, as limited access to toilets and handwashing facilities can help the disease spread more easily, county health officials say. But this year, most infections have been reported among people who aren’t homeless, and who haven’t recently traveled or used illicit drugs, which are other common risk factors. ‘The ongoing increase in hepatitis A cases signals that quick action is needed to protect public health,’ Dr. Muntu Davis, the L.A. County health officer, said in a statement Monday, urging people to get vaccinated against the disease. Over the first three months of this year, 29 cases were reported, double the total seen during the same period last year. The highly contagious virus is found in the stools and blood of infected people, and can be contracted by unknowingly ingesting contaminated food and drinks. Using drugs with, caring for or having sexual contact with an infected person are also common means of infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

• ProPublica writer David Armstrong, in a piece headlined “The Price of Remission,” takes a deep dive—including his personal story—into the reasons why some drugs are so expensive. It’s a long but definitely worthwhile read. A snippet: “That drug I take is called Revlimid. It is a derivative of thalidomide, a slightly tweaked version of the parent compound. Revlimid is now one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. It has extended tens of thousands of lives—including my own. But Revlimid is also, I soon learned, extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each daily pill. (Although, I later discovered, a capsule costs just 25 cents to make.) That steep tab has put the drug’s lifesaving potential out of reach for some cancer patients, who have been forced into debt or simply stopped taking the drug. The price also helps fuel our ballooning insurance premiums.”

• Our partners at Calmatters report on one key children’s program that seems to have been exempted from federal cuts … for now: “Last month, President Donald Trump’s early budget draft called for the elimination of Head Start, the free early-childhood program for low-income families. Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy roadmap, also called for the program’s demise, saying it has ‘little or no academic value.’ That triggered an all-hands-on-deck response from Head Start staff, families and alumni, who touted the program’s success in propelling families out of poverty. The National Head Start Association said advocates sent more than 300,000 letters to Congress, added more than 50,000 signatures to petitions and attended rallies throughout the country. Meanwhile, Head Start advocates took to social media and national TV to plead their case and visited Republican members of Congress to convince them of the program’s value. … It appears to have worked: The latest draft of Trump’s budget proposal, released last week, doesn’t call for any changes to the $12.27 billion program. Still, advocates worry that new cuts may lie ahead.”

• And finally … today’s recall news involves … Volvos! Reuters explains: “Swedish automaker Volvo Cars is recalling 413,151 vehicles in the United States over an issue with the rearview camera, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said. The recall applies to a number of Volvo models including the 2021 to 2025 XC40, as the rearview camera image may not display when the vehicle is placed in reverse, increasing the risk of a crash. The remedy for the Volvo recall will be a software update conducted by a dealer or via over-the-air.”

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