Month: April 2025

According to a new report published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism diagnoses continue to increase in the United States.

An estimated one in 31 8-year-olds was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 2022; while in comparison, 1 in 36 were diagnosed with ASD in 2020; and 1 in 150 children were diagnosed with autism in 2000. The report does not mean one in 31 children is living with the most severe cases of the disorder. Among children with ASD, fewer than 40% of children were classified as having an intellectual disability.

This statistic, drawn from an analysis of 2022 medical records, highlights the significant increase in autism diagnoses over the last 20 years. The CDC also reportedly found ASD was 3.4 times more prevalent among boys at 49.2 children per 1,000 compared to 14.3 children per 1,000.

ASD is a spectrum, which means symptoms vary by person: some need little support in their daily lives, and some may need a great deal of support in performing day-to-day activities. Some may have advanced conversation skills and others may be nonverbal. As for why autism rates are increasing, the reasons remain unclear and complex. While environmental and societal factors have long been investigated, most experts point to genetics as the most compelling explanation.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to suggest a link between vaccines and autism — particularly involving the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine — despite extensive research disproving any connection. The claim has been widely discredited but remains a factor in declining vaccination rates in the U.S.

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The federal government has frozen over $2 billion in grants to Harvard University, after the school rejected demands from the Trump administration. The administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the cuts in a statement that called out “the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges,” stating that $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million “in multi-year contract value” would be frozen to Harvard.

The demands from the White House included third-party audits of campus programs and restrictions on international students, as part of a broader initiative to combat antisemitism.  On Monday, Harvard had rejected the administration’s demands, sharing on the university’s X account: “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday to call for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status after their refusal to comply with the demands: “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” 

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields added in a statement that there are no signs of backing down: “President Trump is working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence.”

The administration’s demands also included dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, replacing them with merit-based policies.  Harvard’s legal counsel emphasized that the university is committed to combating all forms of bigotry but cannot comply with directives that violate constitutional protections.

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Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle, which included pop star Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, launched into space on Monday, April 14. The Blue Origin mission marks the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, according to the company, following Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.

New Shepard safely completed the historic trip that lasted approximately 10 minutes. just above the Kármán line — an invisible boundary at an altitude of 62 miles (above sea level) that is widely accepted as the edge of space — before the capsule descended under parachutes and landed in the Texas desert.

The all-female crew took off at 9:30 a.m. EDT in Blue Origin’s New Shepard (known as NS-31) from the company’s Launch Site One, around 30 miles outside of Van Horn, Texas. They touched down at 9:39 a.m. as the crew parachuted back down to Earth and landed in their capsule near the rocket at 9:42 a.m. The crew emerged from the capsule shortly after 9:50 a.m.

Joining Perry and King as part of the NS-31 mission crew were: Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist who is Jeff Bezos’ fiancée; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist; and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn.

Oprah Winfrey, who was on hand for the launch, posted a video of her best friend King and the rest of the NS-31 crew as they drove to the launchpad Monday, during which King appeared to wipe away tears. Also among the onlookers at the launch site was Perry’s daughter Daisy and her partner Orlando Bloom, Kris Jenner and Khloé Kardashian.

King kissed the ground as she climbed out of the capsule, saying: “I am glad I did it. I have no regrets. I’m stepping away from my comfort zone. I may now get my ears pierced,” she joked. King then followed by paraphrasing a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Courage is doing something that scares you, but you do it anyway.”

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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, where
he stated would not send the Maryland man the U.S. mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to the United States. Trump also discussed with Bukele  further cooperation on security and migration, El Salvador’s embrace of Bitcoin, and tariffs.

During their meeting at the Oval Office, Trump praised Bukele for opening his country’s prison system to house alleged gang members and detainees Trump wants to deport, and said he would send as many people living in the U.S. illegally to El Salvador as possible.

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, including a Maryland resident, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that they acknowledged was deported by mistake. However, Pres. Bukele said he did not have the power to return Garcia to the United States.

Bukele, who agreed with the Trump administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. said: “How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”  When asked if he’d be released in his own country, Bukele said, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.” Garcia has never been charged criminally in the U.S. or El Salvador, according to court filings.

The Justice Department acknowledged that Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because of an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring him from being sent there, with the Supreme Court calling his removal illegal and directed the administration to “facilitate” his return while being respectful of the president’s authority.

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