California Sues Trump Over Tariffs, NYC Council Challenges Mayor Adams – 4/16/2025

California Governor Gavin Newsom has initiated a lawsuit against President Trump’s tariffs, arguing they are unlawful and harm the state’s economy, while the NYC Council sues Mayor Adams over a controversial deal allowing ICE access to Rikers Island. Internationally, a Swedish teen’s arrest in Australia for alleged murder-for-hire plots and the EU’s rejection of U.S. food safety demands highlight ongoing global tensions.

United States

  • About half of parents financially support their Gen Z and millennial children with $1,474 monthly, per FORTUNE
  • Only 2% of Trump voters and a similar share of Harris voters would change their vote if given a redo, per CNN
  • Sen. Blackburn slams Vanderbilt Medical Center for hiding DEI programs behind logins, with the center now deleting them to comply with Trump’s ban, per Fox News
  • Sen. Josh Hawley announces plans to reintroduce a bill banning stock trading by members of Congress
  • Rep. Riley Moore endorses El Salvador’s CECOT prison during a visit, as Sen. Chris Van Hollen pushes for a prisoner’s release
  • U.S. markets drop, with NVIDIA down 7% after new chip export curbs to China hit tech giants, per RT, Yahoo
  • Sen. Cotton warns Iran’s nuclear threat requires “no uranium enrichment, no ballistic missiles, no support for terrorism,” or military action may follow, per TomCottonAR, Fox News
  • TikTok’s “luxury” deals for Lululemon and Hermès are likely fake, with experts warning of high-quality dupes and no guarantees, per CNN
  • Trump administration refers NY AG Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud investigation, per NYP
  • Interior Secretary Doug Burgum transfers 110,000 acres of southern border land to the Army to bolster security
  • Mark Zuckerberg testified that TikTok was a “highly urgent” threat to Meta in 2018, during the FTC’s antitrust trial, per Bloomberg
  • David Hogg’s group, Leaders We Deserve, plans to spend $20 million to elect younger leaders, the Parkland survivor announced, per ABC
  • Sen. Chris Van Hollen is traveling to El Salvador to investigate the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man under Trump’s administration, per ABC
  • Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan revealed that 95% of code for roughly a quarter of current YC startups was written by AI
  • House Republicans’ budget may cut SNAP funding by up to $230 billion over 10 years, reducing grocery aid for low-income Americans, per More Perfect Union
  • Wall Street banks earned $37 billion in trading revenues in Q1, their best in over a decade, fueled by Trump’s tariffs, per More Perfect Union
  • The Dow dropped about 150 points after Nvidia announced a $5.5 billion charge to comply with Trump’s new tech export rule, per NBC
  • White House announces new China tariffs, including 125% reciprocal, 20% for fentanyl crisis, and 7.5%-100% on specific goods
  • Three international students at Washington State University had their visas revoked due to recent federal immigration actions, per KHQ Local News
  • Shea Properties bought a Denver Tech Center office building for $12 million, planning the area’s first major office-to-residence conversion, per The Denver Post

Western States

  • NYC Council sues Mayor Adams, alleging he illegally traded Rikers Island access to ICE for Trump’s favor in his corruption case, calling it a “disgraceful quid pro quo,” per NYC Council Legal Filing, NYT
  • Graciela Castellanos, 37, faces murder charges for allegedly drowning her 7-year-old daughter in Van Nuys, California, per ABC
  • Tesla’s share of new EV sales in California dropped to 43.9% in Q1, down from 55.5% last year, as other EV sales surged 35%, per Bloomberg
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom announces lawsuit to block President Trump’s tariffs
  • California Gov. Newsom claims President Trump cannot “unilaterally impose the largest tax hike of our lifetime with destructive tariffs,” per KATU News
  • Oregon Zoo seeks volunteers for Cascades Pika Watch, May 8-10, to track pika populations in the Columbia River Gorge amid climate change, per KOIN News
  • A 3.0 magnitude earthquake struck northwest of Tonasket, Washington, Wednesday morning, following similar seismic activity Sunday, per KHQ Local News
  • Oregon lawmakers propose funding to strengthen Portland’s Columbia Boulevard bridge for a potential Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, per KOIN News
  • Multnomah County spends $21,986 annually per congregate homeless shelter bed, the cheapest shelter option, per The Oregonian
  • Devils Hole pupfish population in Death Valley dropped to 38 this spring, down from 191 last year, likely due to recent earthquakes, per KSNV News 3 Las Vegas
  • Portland faces a $400 million cost to install 18,000 ADA-compliant sidewalk curb ramps, prompting consideration of debt financing, per The Oregonian
  • A suspect in NW Portland, wanted for felony ID theft, allegedly pepper-sprayed an officer and threatened police with a knife during a standoff, per KGW News

International

  • A 15-year-old Swedish teen arrested in Australia allegedly used encrypted apps to orchestrate murder-for-hire plots for gang killings in Sweden and Denmark, facing life in prison if convicted, per AFP, The Local
  • UK Supreme Court unanimously rules the legal term “woman” applies only to biological women, excluding ‘transgender women’
  • Thousands of North Korean IT workers have reportedly infiltrated Fortune 500 companies and continue securing jobs, per FORTUNE
  • JD Vance visits Italy and India with family, meeting Meloni and Modi but skipping Iran nuclear talks, per CBS News
  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed hope that Hezbollah, severely weakened by Israel’s military campaign, can be disarmed this year, per CNN
  • Kenya is negotiating realistic targets for a new IMF program after protests over taxes and Trump’s trade levies, per Bloomberg
  • Reuters and Bloomberg lose permanent White House press pool slots, now rotating with 30 other outlets, per NBC
  • An independent expert will review security at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence after a man allegedly scaled a wall and set fire to it, per AP
  • Human Rights Watch reports arbitrary detentions in Tunisia to suppress dissent, urging the government to free detainees, per Reuters
  • A lawsuit has been filed against the owners of a Dominican Republic nightclub where a roof collapse killed 231 people, per NBC
  • Armed robbers used explosives to steal 4 million euros from an armored vehicle near Livorno, Italy, then set cars ablaze to evade police two weeks ago
  • Islamist Fulani militias allegedly killed at least 10 Christians in Otukpo, Nigeria, amid a surge in attacks in the Middle Belt, with 51 killed in nearby Bassa recently
  • A record 705 migrants reportedly crossed the English Channel in boats yesterday, the highest number this year
  • Ukrainian student Anisia Yaluzhko says she’s afraid to fall asleep at night in Sumy after Russian missile strikes killed 35, but her entire life is there
  • Iran is not far from nuclear bomb, per International Atomic Energy Agency chief, per Le Monde
  • Greece’s National Security Council meets to discuss the Great Sea Interconnector project, opposed by Turkey as provocative, amid rising tensions over disputed maritime zones
  • EU rejects U.S. demands to change food safety standards in tariff talks, saying EU standards are sacrosanct, per Irish Times
  • Pentagon officials reportedly urged an allied state to stop arming Ukraine, but the request was rejected, per The Economist