Weekly News Roundup - 5/2/25
U.S. economy shrinks for first time in 3 years
This is the 18th Weekly News Roundup of 2025. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here.
These weekly dispatches are designed for those who may not have time to do more than glance at the headlines, or those who want to stay informed without becoming obsessed by politics and news. These roundups are a targeted way to get a sense of the shape of the past week on the national level. Without such a map, we can be disoriented, not knowing where we have been over the past several days, or where we may be going.
But by spending concentrated, limited time thinking about the big picture, we can devote more of our time to where “agency and justice begin and end,” as Karen Swallow Prior put it: “on the ground, bodily, in community and real relationships, in flesh and blood.”
Quotes of the Week
"We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great ... The value of our activity depends almost entirely on the humility to accept ourselves as we are. The reason why we do things so badly is that we are not content to do what we can. We insist on doing what is not asked of us, because we want to taste the success that belongs to somebody else. We never discover what it is like to make a success of our own work, because we do not want to undertake any work that is merely proportionate to our powers. Who is willing to be satisfied with a job that expresses all his limitations? He will accept such work only as a 'means of livelihood' while he waits to discover his 'true vocation.' The world is full of unsuccessful businessmen who still secretly believe they were meant to be artists or writers or actors in the movies." - Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
From his cabinet secretaries at Wednesday’s meeting to mark the hundred days: ‘It’s been a momentous hundred days with you at the helm.’ ‘Mr. President, your first hundred days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country ever, ever.’ It is embarrassing. We let the world see this? - Peggy Noonan
Big Stories This Week
The economy shrunk for the first time in three years, during the first quarter of 2025. Not a good start for the Trump presidency, on the issue that always plays a dominant role in the public’s view of a president. Multiple major companies have said in recent days that they will have to raise prices because of Trump’s tariff trade war.
The U.S. and Ukraine took a step toward a ceasefire in which the U.S. continue to support Ukraine, signing a deal on U.S. access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine.
Week in Review
Saturday, April 26
A 30-year old Vancouver man with a history of mental health problems drives an SUV into a crowd of people at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. “It is the darkest day in Vancouver’s history,” says Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai.
Sunday, April 27
The simple white tomb of Pope Francis, inside Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, is opened to the public on the second of nine days of official mourning for the pontiff.
Monday, April 28
Canada's Liberal Party wins national elections just months after a January poll showed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20% in the polls. Trump's attacks on Canada and his talk of making Canada the 51st state in the U.S. prompted a surge in nationalism and anti-U.S. sentiment in Canada, allowing the Liberal Party to remain in control of the nation's government. Current prime minister Mark Carney will stay in the job after succeeding Justin Trudeau in March.
A manufacturer of a COVID vaccine says the Food and Drug Administration is asking it to run another clinical trial, part of a pattern in the new administration where the Department of Health and Human Services is run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Kennedy won Senate confirmation to his job, in part, by promising not to change the nation’s vaccine schedule. Since taking office, he’s promised to “investigate” children’s shots, canceled meetings of expert vaccine advisers and directed officials to look again for connections between vaccines and autism, a link long-ago debunked," the AP reports.
Spain and Portugal experience widespread power blackouts
The Vatican says the process to choose a new pope, a conclave, will begin May 7.
The Clayborn Temple Church in Memphis is partially destroyed by a massive fire. This church was the organizing point for the sanitation workers strike in 1968 that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The Clayborn Temple Church was in the midst of a $25 million restoration that included a museum and community outreach program. The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) is brought in to investigate the cause of the fire.
Tuesday, April 29
Trump walks back tariffs on auto companies, in recognition of the negative impact on the U.S. auto industry.
A federal judge orders the Trump administration to reinstate $12 million for Radio Free Europe, a pro-democracy media outlet that was started after World War II.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat and potential presidential candidate in 2028, draws attention for her warm interactions with Trump during events in her state.
Wednesday, April 30
The U.S. economy shrank for the first time in three years during Trump's first three months in office, new data shows. Trump blames former President Biden and writes on social media that the economic slowdown has "NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS." Economist Joseph Stiglitz disagrees: “No one can look at what is going on in the economy without saying the on-again, off-again tariffs are not having an impact." Trump does acknowledge that families may have to buy fewer toys for their children at Christmas and that the toys may be more expensive.
The U.S. and Ukraine sign an agreement granting the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, a step toward guaranteeing U.S. support for Ukrainian independence in ceasefire talks with Russia.
Kamala Harris gives a campaign-style speech for the first time since leaving office as vice president.
A 20-year old fan at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game falls 20 feet onto the field and is taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Thursday, May 1
Large protests are held again around the U.S., and in other countries, protesting Trump and his first 100 days in office, on May Day.
A Trump-appointed judge in Texas rules that the government exceeded its authority in using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.
Trump signs an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease" funding the nearly $500 million it directs to National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Michael Walz is removed from his post as National Security Advisor, a month after he created a group chat on a private messaging service that inadvertently included a journalist who saw the group sharing attack plans that could have put U.S. troops lives in danger if made public before the operation.
Trump's nominee to be the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C. runs into trouble in the Republican-controlled Senate, as questions percolate about the awards he has given in the past to a man who has openly espoused anti-semitic ideas and once photographed himself wearing a Hitler mustache.
Trump speaks at a graduation ceremony at the University of Alabama.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS says it is shifting the way vaccines are tested. The New York Times reports he is also removing mRNA technology from vaccines, which was used to develop two of the COVID vaccines.
Friday, May 2
Republicans in Congress tell the White House that spending cuts recommended by Elon Musk's DOGE committee will be difficult to pass into law, as the White House prepares to submit a budget proposal.
There were 216 U.S. children who died from the flu this past winter, the most in 15 years, the CDC reports.
Interesting Reads
For the Strength of My Mind and the Health of My Soul, by David Brooks for The New York Times
Only Connect: Francis the Evangelist, by Kenneth L. Woodward for Commonweal
Trump made big promises and moved at frenetic speed. 100 days in, here’s what he’s done and not done, by Chris Megerian and Calvin Woodward for The Associated Press
Inside Trump's 100 days of presidential profit, by Zachary Basu for Axios
Why China Could Win Trump’s Trade War, by Joseph C. Sternberg for The Wall Street Journal
Chaos Is Embedded in Trump’s DNA, by John Bolton for The Wall Street Journal
The poaching of American talent begins, by Isobel Hamilton for Politico
A Flashing Economic Warning and a Sharp Political Jolt, by David Sanger for The New York Times
Abundance and the Left, by Ezra Klein for The New York Times
Orders to Investigate Columbia Protesters Raised Alarms in Justice Dept., by Devlin Barrett for The New York Times
Trump pardons Nevada politician who paid for cosmetic surgery with funds to honor a slain officer, by Rio Yamat for The Associated Press
Houthi rebels have shot down 7 US Reaper drones worth $200 million in recent weeks, by Lolita C. Baldor for The Associated Press
Mob chased Brooklyn woman after mistaking her for protester at speech by Israeli security minister, by Jake Offenhartz for The Associated Press
He’s Held in El Salvador’s Mega-Prison, Without Any Criminal Charges, by Belle Cushing and Emma Scott for The Wall Street Journal
Immigrants who came to the Texas Panhandle to work legally have been told they must leave, by Tim Sullivan for The Associated Press
Greece’s dark past is uncovered after 33 bodies are found in a civil war-era mass grave, by Costas Kantouris for The Associated Press
A Picasso Show From Pablo’s Daughter, by Robin Pogrebin for The New York Times