In response to an increase in illegal border crossings, Texas is trying a new, confrontational approach to using its National Guard. We look at how National Guard use has evolved.

• Was airstrike a war crime? Human Rights Watch says an Israeli strike on an apartment building in Gaza last October killed at least 106 civilians, including 54 children, and that its investigation found no legitimate military target.
• Israel ousts officers over drone attack: Its military dismisses two and reprimands three others for their roles in Gaza strikes that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission by World Central Kitchen.
• Women’s Final Four set: Caitlin Clark and Iowa are in it. So are Dawn Staley and South Carolina. UConn and NC State are, too. The women’s college basketball world descends on Cleveland for the national semifinals April 5 and the championship game two days later. 
• Iran vows retaliation: The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp. escalates threats of retaliation against Israel for another airstrike – one on the consular section at the Iranian embassy in Syria that killed seven of the group’s members, including two Iranian generals, this week. 
• Eclipse-watchers watch weather: Clouds could obscure views of the total solar eclipse April 8 in some parts of North America. Meteorologists predict clouds in many locations along the eclipse’s path, including parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Texas.

Read these news briefs.

As international aid agencies pull back in Gaza after the drone strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy, a heavier burden falls on local humanitarian workers. Their determination to save lives helps them persevere.

Sparrows Point was a company town that lost its iconic company but persevered. Now, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge has left residents feeling cut off on the north side of the harbor, wondering what the future may hold for their home.

In personal essays as in news reports, Monitor writers look for the humanity that lies at the heart of the story. A veteran editor of The Home Forum who’s now a regular contributor joins our podcast to talk about his creative take on that work. 

At their best, zoos inspire a conservation mind-set among visitors. But many European facilities populate exhibits with elephants taken from the wild. One international project offers an alternative.

Like peas in a pod, the sun, moon, and Earth will line up April 8 to cast a 115-mile-wide shadow moving from Texas to Maine. The rare solar eclipse is expected to bring more people together than the Super Bowl or perhaps the Fourth of July. Small towns are putting on their best hospitality for millions of visitors from the cities. In Ohio, the Knox County Association for Remarkable Citizens plans to bring together people with and without disabilities for an inclusive community experience (picnic included).

For just a few minutes, a cosmic spectacle across North America will create a great mingling of diverse strangers. Political divisions will seem trivial compared with the heavenly wonder. “This year’s eclipse, I pray, just might nudge our fractured nation in a hopeful, unified direction,” wrote David Baron, former chair in astrobiology at the Library of Congress, in The Washington Post.

The awe of an eclipse is known to elicit the best in viewers – who wear the proper shaded glasses. A study of a 2017 eclipse in the United States by the University of California, Irvine found people were less self-focused, more social, and more humble, based on social posts at the time.

This moment of a cohesive America, however, may reflect a reality that itself is often eclipsed by politics and the news media. Americans actually have a pretty faulty belief that they are more divided than they are told, according to deep-dive surveys of private opinion by the think tank Populace.

“Across race, gender, income, education, generation, and 2020 presidential vote, there is stunning agreement on the long-term national priorities that Americans believe should characterize America,” Populace has found.

There is remarkable consensus on priorities such as health care, community safety, criminal justice reform, and infrastructure. Action on climate change is ranked third in priorities; yet when asked what most other Americans would believe, people say climate action only ranks 33rd.

In other words, on many issues, there is a false polarization that could evaporate with more honesty. That’s not the case on a few issues, such as illegal border crossings, abortion, and a living wage. Yet somehow, Americans just do not realize that other people want most of the same things that they want.

“We have this sense of our civil society sort of breaking down and that maybe people just don’t care anymore, and it’s not true,” Todd Rose, CEO of Populace, told the Class Disrupted podcast. “I just don’t see how we solve our problems when we’re keeping quiet about the things that matter most to us.”

The Populace surveys find Americans choose character attributes over public status. By a supermajority, they want to be involved in a community – even if only a third are engaged in their community at the level they want. 

Perhaps it takes the shared experience of a solar eclipse to shed light on what Americans share in values and interests. People do really want to get along. For a few minutes on April 8, they will see how it can be done.