At the top of the Obama Presidential Center, in its sunlit Sky Room is where you’re meant to take it all in. The panoramic views are impressive: Surrounding the campus is Chicago’s South and West Sides, as well as the ultramarine of Lake Michigan. But, more than that, it’s a moment to pause after scaling several floors of history and Barack Obama’s political legacy — not-too-distant memories for many. Overhead, a monumental artwork by the artist Idris Khan gives the illusion of continued ascent. Words from President Obama’s famed remarks in Selma, Alabama, are stamped and overlapping, sloping upwards as a swath of blue until they reach a rim of light. In Selma, and elsewhere, the former president often spoke about collectively shaping destiny. And that seems to be the final note as you climb up through the museum: the unwritten, wide-open future. On June 19, coinciding with Juneteenth, the highly anticipated center will finally open to the public. It’s been in the works for more than a decade, and cost $850 million to build — a number that kept growing, becoming by far the most expensive presidential library in history.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/style/obama-presidential-center-first-look-inside
French-Iranian artist and activist Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel “Persepolis” brought home the struggle of the Iranian people to millions around the world, has died. She was 56. A statement from the Élysée Palace announcing her death Thursday lauded Satrapi’s work, saying her work “captivated a global audience.” “Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and an artist deeply committed to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” the Élysée said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/style/marjane-satrapi-persepolis-author-dies-intl
A 120 million-year-old fossil found in what’s now northwestern China is changing how scientists think about an unusual group of predatory dinosaurs known as microraptors. The location where the fossil was unearthed adds to the known geographical range of the smaller, gliding cousin of the sickle-clawed velociraptor. The bones also represent the most recent definitive microraptor specimen in the fossil record, expanding the timeline for how long the feathered dinosaurs existed. A new analysis of the intact shoulder and forelimb bones, first mentioned in a study abstract in 2010, showed the fossil belonged to a previously unknown microraptor species. The research team has named the dinosaur Jian changmaensis, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Annals of Carnegie Museum.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/science/microraptor-fossil-northwestern-china
Senate Republicans rejected an effort by Democrats on Thursday to formally kill President Donald Trump’s push for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were victimized by the government. Senate Democrats forced the vote at the start of a marathon voting session known as “vote-a-rama” that will allow votes on amendments to a $70 billion GOP immigration bill ahead of final passage. If it had succeeded, it could have jeopardized that immigration enforcement funding package, a key Trump priority. The effort to kill the fund failed 49 to 50, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins, Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan crossing party lines to vote with Democrats. The vote put Republicans in a tough spot given that many want to see the fund shut down, but don’t want to derail the broader immigration enforcement bill.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/senate-trump-weaponization-fund-immigration