Moody’s downgrade last week of U.S. government bonds removed the country’s last top-tier credit rating. The agency cited the country’s unsustainable deficits, political paralysis in Congress, and rising interest costs. Moody’s followed similar moves by Standard & Poor’s in 2011 and Fitch in 2023. With all three major agencies signaling greater credit risk, investors may soon demand higher yields, increasing borrowing costs and the chances of recession. The cut also threatens the foundational role of the 10-year Treasury note as the global “risk-free” benchmark, a key input in models such as the capital asset pricing model and modern portfolio theory.

Today is World Bee Day, a celebration of these important pollinators and a chance to raise awareness about the challenges they face. There are about 20,000 species of bees in the world, but many populations are in decline. The honeybee has suffered greatly from colony collapse disorder, in which hives suddenly lose their adult members. Bumblebees have steeply declined in many places, largely because of insecticide and herbicide use, habitat loss, and global warming. Some, such as the rusty patched bumblebee, are critically endangered species.

Seventeen hundred years ago today the First Council of Nicaea, which was the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, was held. The meeting was called by the emperor Constantine I to address the question of whether Christ was divine or a created being. The council tackled other subjects—including the method of consecrating bishops and a condemnation of lending money at interest by clerics—but it failed to establish a uniform date for Easter, an issue that persists to this day.