A global helium shortage is forcing Party City to close 45 stores nationally, but it could also impact scientists and medical professionals who rely on the gas for equipment and research, reports NBC.
Why it matters: Without helium, doctors wouldn't be able to give their patients noninvasive MRI scans, and scientists need chemical element to pressurize fuel tanks for space travel and satellite instruments, per USA Today. Some scientists are even suggesting a total ban on party balloons to help with the shortage.
House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal on Friday issued subpoenas to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service commissioner Charles Rettig for President Trump's personal and business tax returns from 2013 to 2018.
Details: Neal has given Mnuchin and Rettig until next Friday at 5 pm to turn over Trump's tax returns, per the Washington Post. In a statement on Friday, Neal wrote: "On April 3, I requested six years of the President's personal and business tax returns... Unfortunately, the Treasury Department and the IRS have denied my reasonable request. Despite the agency's denial, we on the Ways and Means Committee are still moving forward with our inquiry."
Climate change is warming the ocean and, in turn, transforming wave conditions. Surfers are on the front lines of these changes, and they're "pretty conflicted about what lies ahead," writes the Washington Post.
The bad news: Oceanographers warn that dying reefs will change how waves break, and that "rising sea levels could mean other swells roll right over reliable breaking points without ever 'tripping,' leaving the swells flat and surfers without waves."
Joe Biden, the early 2020 Democratic frontrunner, is seeking a middle ground on climate policy and has brought on one of former President Obama's high-level aides as an informal adviser, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: The story sheds new light on how Biden will approach a topic that he has not yet emphasized in his nascent White House run. While Biden's campaign has not yet unveiled a policy platform, the report confirms that he is not seeking to join rivals who are running to the left on the issue.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told Axios' Mike Allen Friday that the House is considering reviving its "inherent contempt" power, which would allow Congress to enforce subpoenas through coercive measures like fines.
"Much as I like the visual of [throwing people in jail], I think it's far more practical to consider levying individual fines on the person — not the office — until they comply. You could fine someone $25,000 a day until they comply. You can do that. We're looking through the history and studying the law to make sure we're on solid ground."
A single senator criticizing a fellow senator of the same party, especially a committee chair, is rare enough, but six Republican senators criticized the decision by Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. about the Russia investigation.
What's next: We're told Don Jr. won't show up. Options include daring the committee to hold him in contempt, taking the Fifth in writing, or (most likely) a compromise like answering written questions.
House Democrats' heightened hunger for impeachment is being fueled by President Trump's scorched-earth strategy of rebuffing every congressional demand for information related to the special counsel's Russia probe.
Why it matters: Multiple fights between the two branches of government will wind through the courts, with some likely to end up at the Supreme Court.
