Want To Know Something Horrible? There never seems to be a shortage of terrible news flooding your computer screen, replaying on your TV, or escaping your radio speakers. What is news for, anyway? Zócalo Editor T.A. Frank writes, “To be sure, not all of the news I read concerns freakish horrors. Nor are all the freakish horrors I read about unimportant. But I do feel as if I read a lot of news that manages to be 1) pointless, 2) freakish, and 3) horrible. Not that I don’t click on it anyway.”

But Can Our Governor Handle a Mule? California political debate is dead, says Joe Mathews. It’s time to put our candidates through some truly Californian tests: Jeopardy quizzes, Google interview questions, garlic-cooking competitions, Rose Parade float construction, and let’s not forget mule herding.

Settle Up, Settle In, Settle For—Just Settle! We’ve always been told never to settle, but what if settling might do us some good? In Squaring Off, we pose questions to Australia National University political philosopher Robert E. Goodin, author of On Settling, who argues, “The reason you need to settle in some dimensions is to achieve what you are striving for in other dimensions.”

The Glittering Lens That Brought Me Back to Alaska. Alaska’s Cape Spencer lighthouse is one of the most remote in the world, and its original Fresnel lens is on display in the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. Theresa Levitt, who grew up admiring that lens, recently returned to Alaska to attempt to visit the lonely lighthouse from which it came.

VA Chief Dean Norman in the green room. Before participating on a panel on how on how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are changing medicine, Dean Norman dished about how the ugliest piece of furniture he owns, the best part about running a hospital, and his irrational fear of missing an episode of Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead.

Next week …

Catherine Jameson chronicles her fears and doubts of becoming a doctor.

Summer is just around the corner. Pick your beach read from Zócalo’s summer reading list.