Indy Digest: Oct. 5, 2026
Seven years ago, a headline like “Russia Moves to Tamp Down Speculation About Plague in Siberia” would prompt most of us to say something to the effect of, “Hmm. Interesting.”
Today, this actual New York Times headline is prompting may of us to sigh and exclaim, “Dear Lord, not again!”
Here’s the lede of that New York Times piece (gift link):
The rumors have been swirling for days. That a young lab worker died of suspected plague in Siberia. That the authorities feared an epidemic might spread and had quarantined hundreds of people.
While concrete information is scant, conflicting reports abound. The name of the lab worker. Her age. If she died or what she may have died from.
Russia’s consumer watchdog, which oversees disease control, has said only that “an employee of an anti-plague institute in the Irkutsk Region” was “diagnosed with pneumonia” of unknown origin.
That has not stopped the rumors — fueled in part by contradictory statements from local officials as well as by a widespread distrust of the Russian authorities, who have in the past concealed emergencies, like the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s — from making international headlines.
Chances are this incident, as far as the world as a whole is concerned, will end up not being a big deal. Most mysterious-disease outbreaks remain regional and/or fizzle out, after all.
That said, this piece has a disconcerting number of parallels to a certain novel coronavirus that emerged in China seven years ago: a disease emerges in a place where there’s a well-known lab that studies that disease … in a country where government secrecy is the norm—and that country claims that nothing is wrong as the figurative excrement starts to hit the fan.
There are some details of this story that DEFINITELY raise an eyebrow. From that aforementioned New York Times piece:
The first signs of a potential issue came on Friday, when the Irkutsk regional governor said that he had held “an extraordinary meeting” with Russia’s chief sanitary physician about “a suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection in a resident.”
“All identified contacts” of the resident “have been placed under medical observation,” the governor, Igor I. Kobzev, wrote in a statement on social media.
Yikes.
Jessica Yellin, of News Not Noise, summed up the situation perfectly earlier today when she wrote: “These days I find it maddeningly hard to strike the right tone between ‘pay attention’ and ‘load the kids into the car and head for the woods.’ When you read that the plague may have escaped a lab in Siberia and the Kremlin is being tight-lipped about it, it is perfectly reasonable to assume the apocalypse has finally settled on a theme. … For now, the evidence says pay attention, not panic. And it never hurts to have water and a couple weeks of food on hand for whatever unexpected drama comes next.”
This Russia plague mess might be the next global pandemic. It probably isn’t—but we should all pay attention, because both science and history tell us that it’s only a matter of time before the next pandemic arrives.
—Jimmy Boegle
Vote Now!
From the Independent
Coverage Crisis: As More of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Takes Effect, Hundreds of Thousands of Californians Are Starting to Lose Their Health Insurance
By Nova Blanco-Rico
October 5, 2026
Funding to Medicaid, the health-insurance program for low-income individuals, people with disabilities and families, will be slashed by more than $900 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office—the largest cut to Medicaid in the program’s history.
Magnate Madness: Full of Twists and Craziness, ‘Digger’ Is Disturbing—but Definitely Worth Seeing
By Bob Grimm
October 5, 2026
We can’t say a lot without giving too much away. We can give you this little piece of info, though: This is one of the nastiest, loudest, angriest, meanest, craziest and, yes, truthful movies you will see this year—or any year.
Return of The Beths: The New Zealand Psychedelic-Pop Rockers Head to the States on a Wildly Unique Tour
By Matt King
October 2, 2026
The Beths are celebrating their 12-year catalogue with the By Request tour. As the title suggests, every show’s set will be determined by audience requests.
The Indy Endorsement: The Double Smash Burger at Mark’s Burgers
By Jimmy Boegle
October 2, 2026
The double smash burger we had during our visit was so delicious, the hubby needed to return just a few days later to have another.
More News
• Sign No. 1,873 that the president is out of his gourd comes via The Hill: “President Trump said Monday that reporters from The New York Times and other media outlets should be ‘arrested’ over their coverage of his Saturday rally in Ohio. ‘The Ohio Arena was already full to the brim—And yet these people were still trying to get in,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, sharing a video of people in line for the rally. New York Times correspondent Katie Rogers wrote Sunday that ‘several areas of an upper deck were empty’ by the time the president finished speaking at Butler High School in Vandalia. … But Trump denied those details, saying there were no empty seats and ‘thousands of people had to be turned away’ from attending the rally.” The president later said his rallies never have empty seats. Mmm hmm.
• Related: The Trump administration continues to push the limits of a court decision limiting his efforts to ban several media outlets. The Washington Post (gift link) reports: “President Donald Trump’s Air Force One trip Monday will not have a primary print outlet responsible for sharing updates about his activities—the first time in recent memory that the president will travel without a primary print pool reporter. The White House has blocked Politico from traveling aboard the president’s plane for his planned trip to Nebraska on Monday, a spokesman for the outlet confirmed in an email. The decision means that Politico will not be able to fulfill its pool duties. The print pool historically travels everywhere with the president, sending updates to journalists for wire services, newspapers and other publications. The pool is a cost-sharing mechanism: One news organization takes reliable notes on behalf of many news organizations and distributes the information for all to use. After deciding this weekend to block Politico from riding on Air Force One, White House staffers called numerous outlets to ask one to fill the primary print slot for the out-of-town pool rotation, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details. Each of those outlets declined to step in. This represents the latest flash point between the White House and news media, a tense relationship that escalated last month when Trump banned Politico, along with CNN and MS NOW, from the White House grounds. A federal judge intervened to halt that ban.”
• Plug-in solar panels are being legalized in California. KQED says: “Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill legalizing balcony, or ‘plug-in,’ solar (last week). The device is a twist on rooftop solar: smaller, portable, and relatively inexpensive. Balcony solar kits consist of just a few panels, an inverter that converts solar energy into the kind used in a home, and cables. In places where the technology is popular, like Germany, it can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. The new law comes as Californians struggle to pay outsized electricity bills, which have risen substantially in recent years. Plug-in devices open the solar market to renters, people with unsuitable roofs, and those without the money to invest in a rooftop system. ‘These small, easy-to-use solar panels will give everyone, including renters, the relief they desperately need on our outrageous energy bills,’ said state Senator Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) in a press release. Wiener authored the legislation. … Panels can hang from a balcony, out a window, or be tented in the backyard. Existing models range from $300 to $2200, depending on size.”
• Independent resident astronomer Robert Victor has asked me to share some details about some cool things to see in the early morning sky tomorrow (Tuesday) in the Coachella Valley: “Look for Jupiter and the moon as early as 3:30 a.m., when the 20 percent moon will be 10 degrees up and 10 degrees north of directly east. Jupiter will be just one degree above the moon at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 6. Mars will appear 16 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter, and the ‘twin’ stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor, will be between 12 and 16 degrees upper left of Mars. But you don’t have to get up that early! All these objects get higher in the eastern sky as the morning progresses. And each hour after 3:30 a.m., the moon moves about half a degree farther from Jupiter. By 5:30 a.m., the moon and Jupiter are 2 degrees apart. Twilight is just about getting under way, so the sky will still be quite dark. Note earthshine on the moon’s dark upper side, and the star Regulus, heart of Leo, nearly 8 degrees to the moon’s lower left. Mars is still 16 degrees to Jupiter’s upper right. Also: Orion is spectacular in the south! Note his two brightest stars, red Betelgeuse and blue-white Rigel, with his 3-star belt midway between. … Other bright objects visible at 5:30 a.m. include Capella, the ‘Mother Goat’ star, just north of overhead; and Saturn, low, just south of west. If you miss the close encounter of Jupiter on Tuesday morning, just look on another morning. The moon will be in a noticeably different place, and the planets’ locations will be slightly different, but the star patterns will be the same.”
• We’ll include today with two great reads. Los Angeles Times columnist (and friend of the Independent) Gustavo Arellano went out for lunch at King Tacos (in East Los Angeles) with his immigrant father and Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate for governor. Gustavo and his dad gave Hilton a legitimately fair shake, and the results were fascinating. A snippet: “Hilton arrived like he was ready to party in Hermosa Beach, in a black open-collar shirt that was either seersucker or unironed, dark blue slacks and white Adidas with orange ombre stripes. He wore a ‘Charlie Kirk’ wristband and another reading ‘Save Girls.’ In May, I challenged him to have tacos with my dad and me after the internet mocked him for declaring that the hard-shell tacos at a Del Taco in Barstow were ‘street.’ An undeterred Hilton doubled down on courting Latinos after that faux pas, visiting East L.A. multiple times and even serving tacos after a lowrider cruise. ‘Things haven’t got a lot better [here], with a lot of poverty and crime and concern about, you know, just the daily things that are just a hassle for everybody,’ Hilton said as we waited in King Taco’s lunchtime line. ‘The cost of everything. And [Democrats] expect that [Latinos] will vote for them forever and ever because that’s the way it goes.’ I credited him for courting Latinos. They’re the ‘past and future’ of California, he told my father and me after we sat down.” Trust me: You’ll want to read on.
• And finally … here’s a gift link to a piece from The Atlantic headlined “The Dark Power of Fraternities.” It’s a long, deep dive/investigation into systemic issues with on-campus Greek houses—with one of the greatest anecdotal ledes you will ever read. I’m not even going to share a sentence or two here, as the first three paragraphs need to be read and appreciated in their entirety. Click and read at least those first three paragraphs … trust me on this!
Support the Independent!
Thanks for reading! Please click the button if you find value in the Independent, and you can afford a buck or two to help us out.
Read this Indy Digest at CVIndependent.com!
