Today’s Top Stories from NBC News

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2026

In today's newsletter: Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy fights for re-election for the first time since voting to impeach Trump in 2021. The Justice Department pushes to indict Cuba’s former leader. Plus, a Japanese teen turned to YouTube to learn how to kick field goals — and now he’s in the NFL.

Here's what to know today.

▼ The Lead

Sen. Bill Cassidy’s political career at stake in Louisiana primary

(Getty Images; Bloomberg via Getty Images; AP)

Republican voters in Louisiana will head to the polls today to decide whether incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy should remain in office — or if a Trump-backed candidate or state treasurer should take his place instead.

Cassidy, a two-term senator and a physician, faces Rep. Julia Letlow, who garnered support from President Donald Trump, and John Fleming, who has billed himself as the only “true conservative” in the race.

It’s the first time Louisianans will get to weigh in on Cassidy since he voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. Cassidy has also publicly clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his vaccine skepticism.

Two other factors that could affect Cassidy’s chances: Gov. Jeff Landry, who is backing Letlow, signed legislation changing state primaries from all-party races to more traditional party primaries, and he delayed Louisiana’s House primaries that were scheduled for today to give state lawmakers time to redraw congressional maps. The Senate primary, however, stayed on its original date.

What else to know about the primary.

More politics news:

Trump doubled down on his remarks about not factoring in Americans’ financial situations in his efforts to end the Iran war. “That’s a perfect statement, I’d make it again,” he said.

Though Trump’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping produced no sweeping agreements, each side appeared to count the summit in Beijing as a step toward a more stable relationship.

The Supreme Court rejected Virginia Democrats’ attempt to revive a voter-approved congressional map.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen said he won’t run for re-election after a redistricting push in Tennessee carved up his Memphis-based district.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence of Tina Peters, a 2020 election denier who was sentenced to nine years in prison for tampering with election equipment.

▶️ Tune in to Here's the Scoop's special Supreme Court Edition, where Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett goes deep on major cases.

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How a clerk’s behavior led to Alex Murdaugh’s overturned murder convictions

There’s just one person at the center of the decision to overturn Alex Murdaugh’s convictions in the murders of his wife and son — and it isn’t the disgraced lawyer. It’s the court clerk who is accused of behaving so egregiously that the South Carolina Supreme Court had no choice but to throw out the guilty verdicts. “This is the kind of error that so permeates the fairness of the trial that there’s no way you can set that aside,” a longtime criminal defense lawyer said. A law professor put it more succinctly: “It’s extremely surprising.”

The Justice Department is pushing to indict 94-year-old Raúl Castro, the former president of Cuba, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. A grand jury would have to decide whether to indict the former president of Cuba. Charges are expected to be revealed during a public event in Miami on May 20, which is considered Cuban independence day, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The potential criminal charges concern two civilian planes on a volunteer mission that were downed by Cuba in 1996, killing four Cuban Americans. The effort against Castro is part of a wider campaign by the Trump administration designed to force the regime to bow to U.S. demands, including through economic sanctions and threats of potential military action. But the Cuban government has shown little sign of ceding power or offering major concessions.

How the Trump admin is putting pressure on Cuba.

FDA leadership shake-up continues

Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg announced yesterday that she’s leaving her role as head of the FDA division that regulates over-the-counter and prescription drugs, the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the agency. Høeg was the fifth person to hold the post under the second Trump administration and the right hand to former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

Høeg, a sports medicine doctor, drew controversy during her brief tenure at the FDA. For example, she co-wrote the scientific assessment that the Trump administration used to justify its overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule. More about how Høeg challenged the FDA’s own decisions.

Høeg’s departure comes a few days after Makary announced his own exit as FDA chief after he opposed the Trump administration’s moves to make flavored e-cigarettes more widely available. But Makary isn’t alone. The decision on e-cigs has caused a splintering among the MAHA movement. Here are the influencers and federal officials who have spoken out.

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Steve Kornacki’s guide to the Preakness

It’s a cliché to say a big race will be like no other before it, but in the case of the Preakness this year, it’s true. There’s no Kentucky Derby winner and no Kentucky Derby runner-up, making this only the second time in 40 years that the top two finishers aren’t competing. What it lacks in star power, though, this year’s race makes up for in volume. Let’s take a look at what’s shaping up ahead of the race:

🏇 The favorite: Chad Brown’s Iron Honor — the 9/2 morning line odds reflect the uncertainty that surrounds him and the rest of this field.

🏇 The mystery horse: Napoleon Solo. He impressed last fall in the Champagne Stakes in New York, but in two races since then, he’s been an afterthought.

🏇 Kornacki’s pick: Incredibolt — “even though I don’t like his post position,” Kornacki writes.

Read the full guide here.

Want more Preakness coverage? Check out NBC Sports’ betting guide, and find out how to watch the race.

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▼ Quiz Time

During Trump’s visit to Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping invoked the Thucydides Trap, a political theory that refers to which ancient conflict?

The fall of the Qin dynasty
Peloponnesian War
Punic Wars
The Battle of Kadesh

Find out the answer and test your knowledge of this week's most-read stories. (The answer to the question is also at the bottom of this newsletter.)

TAKE THE NEWS QUIZ

▼ Staff Pick

YouTube taught a Japanese teen how to kick field goals. Now he’s in the NFL.

I've covered elite athletes for more than a decade, but have never met one quite like Kansei Matsuzawa. Most professional athletes have trained in their chosen sport since they were in elementary school. Matsuzawa, in contrast, didn't decide to try to become an NFL kicker until he was 19 — before he had even so much as kicked a football.

Yet Matsuzawa was undaunted. Eight years later, the “Tokyo Toe” is now a celebrity in two countries after his audacious dream came true last month and he became the first Japanese-born player signed in the NFL. Pulling it off required YouTube, an NFL program for international players and an extreme level of self-confidence. Now comes the really hard part: Can he stay on a roster?

— Andrew Greif, sports reporter

▼ Read All About It

Six tech billionaires walked into a federal courthouse: Here’s what happened in the three-week OpenAI trial as the case goes to a jury.

Texas Children’s Hospital must create a “detransition clinic,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in announcing a settlement with the medical center.

California’s spate of mushroom poisonings, in which four people have died and 43 others hospitalized, has become the largest outbreak of its kind in U.S. history.

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