May 25, 2026 by Olivia Clemmensen (‘26)
Local:
-Toga Students Hit the Dance Floor at Prom on the 16th: Saratoga Springs High School, among the many other high schools in the area, partied it up last weekend on the 16th for prom. Toga juniors and seniors attended prom from 6 to 10pm at the City Center on Saturday, the 16th of May, for SSHS’s Mamma Mia themed event. With tables decorated with disco balls and fake lemons, buffet tables of naan, Greek salad and baklava, and a dance floor with many skilled (and not-so-skilled) dancers, Toga prom had a great turnout. Before heading to the City Center, the Hall of Springs at the State Park was flooded with attendees and their parents who followed them and their dates around with cameras. May 16 was one of the three days Saratoga experienced a heat wave, as it was around 85 degrees and sunny, making for a nice day for photos.
-83-year-old man stabbed at Local Stewarts on Thursday: 22-year-old Emily S. Underwood-Jones, an employee at the Stewarts on Circular Street, is facing assault and weapons possession charges after the police say she “stabbed the man in the abdomen around 9:30 p.m. on May 21 at the store at 8 Circular St” reports the Times Union. The man is receiving treatment at Albany Medical Center for “non-life-threatening injuries,” states News10ABC. Underwood-Jones was arrested at 11:45 p.m. that night and has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. She pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. She is scheduled to appear in court again on June 23.
Police: Employee stabbed 83-year-old customer at Saratoga Springs Stewart’s
Stewart’s employee charged in stabbing at Saratoga Springs store
National:
-The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Airs its Final Episode on the 21st: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is a late-night comedy and satirical talk show which started in 2015. It aired on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. Eastern on CBS. The news channel CBS cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in July of 2025, after the host “criticized the network’s parent company, Paramount, for its July 3 $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump,” stated People.com. However, CBS had stated that the cancellation of the show had nothing to do with the show’s “performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” The final episode of the show was aired on May 21, 2026, which featured a star-studded cast of Paul McCartney, Ryan Reynolds, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers.
Why Was ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ Canceled?
Stephen Colbert ends ‘The Late Show’ with musical finale featuring Paul McCartney : NPR
-Southern California Chemical Leak Leads to Mandatory Evacuation: On May 21, a 34,000-gallon storage tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, California, caused over 50,000 residents of Orange County to evacuate after it overheated and leaked highly flammable and explosive methyl methacrylate. These residents in southern California have been evacuated due to the fear that the substance would do one of the two options: one, the “tank fails and spills a total of about [6,000] to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot and that area”, or the tank goes into a “thermal runaway” and blows up, reported by Orange County Fire Authority Incident Commander and Division Chief Craig Covey. It is still unclear how dangerous the explosion could be.
Garden Grove chemical crisis: Live evacuation maps, closures, updates – Los Angeles Times
Global:
-Third Largest Ebola Outbreak in History this May: Beginning in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda in April 2026, the current Ebola outbreak has rapidly increased, making it the third largest in history, with almost 750 suspected cases and 200 deaths recorded so far. On May 17, the World Health Organization “declared the current Ebola epidemic in Central Africa a public health emergency or international concern,” stated Harvard’s School of Public Health. Health authorities say the outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which is a rare type of Ebola with no approved medicines or vaccines. Ebola disease is “highly contagious and can be transmitted to people from wild animals,” states AP News. The World Health Organization has scaled up their support for the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Uganda, in an attempt to limit its spread and keep it contained to this region.
What to know about Ebola and the latest major outbreak | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
What to know about Ebola and the WHO’s emergency declaration over the latest outbreak | AP News