Shari’s Apollo Twist, ESPN Musical Chairs, No Time to D.E.I.

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon memo featuring Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Dylan Byers’ inside look at the restlessness enveloping Hudson Yards as Mark Thompson passes the six-month mark of his highly scrutinized tenure. When will the network chief articulate his true plan for CNN?

Plus, below the fold: Marion Maneker zeroes in on six artworks electrifying the May auction season. Bill Cohan offers an unsparing assessment of the latest Paramount plot twist. Baratunde Thurston picks apart the groundswell of D.E.I. hysteria. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly joins Peter Hamby to evaluate ESPN’s Norby replacement shortlist and all the media hoopla surrounding White House Correspondents’ Dinner week.

DYLAN BYERS

Six and a half months after Mark Thompson’s arrival at CNN (almost half of Chris Licht’s disastrous tenure), a restless and dour mood is once again enveloping the network. What is Thompson’s true plan, many wonder, and why won’t he articulate it?

MARION MANEKER

A stagnant May auction season in New York just got a major jolt via six works by O’Keeffe, Carrington, and Mitchell, with combined low estimates of nearly $60 million.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

News and notes emanating from the Gin Lane crowd: details about Apollo’s deal for Paramount, and the impact of Solomon’s gangster quarter.

BARATUNDE THURSTON

Are panels really flying off Boeing 737s due to wokeness? An honest look at the recent D.E.I. hysteria.