Mixed news: gas prices may ease a bit as Iranian oil returns, but the Russia-Ukraine war is grinding on and the US government is grabbing Americans' Google search data.

• Iran is letting oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz again, and its stored crude is coming back to market, which should ease gas prices for a while — but it's temporary and won't fix America's debt problem.
• US oil companies and shale producers lose market share to cheaper Iranian oil; Russia loses a bit too, but it wants stability more than high oil prices.
• The war's higher prices for food, meat, and everyday goods are here to stay, and the middle class keeps getting squeezed.
• On the battlefield, Russia is slowly advancing and taking ground, though both sides are taking heavy losses in a new kind of drone-driven war; claims that Russia can't go on are disputed.
• Newly revealed court documents show the government forced Google to hand over data on people who simply searched for the Republican or Democratic party HQ — a wide dragnet that critics call a gut of the Fourth Amendment.

Outlook: Gas prices may dip short-term, but inflation, the war, and government surveillance are all expected to keep grinding on.