American Sign Language performers didn't appear at all during the Super Bowl national anthem broadcast last year, following the trend of more than a decade of little to no screen time.
The big picture: Disability rights and visibility are under attack by the Trump administration as part of its anti-DEI policies during the first few weeks of the new term.
President Trump voluntarily dismissed his legal battle with X regarding the social media platform's permanent suspension of the president's account following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Why it matters: X, which Elon Musk primarily owns but was then the publicly-traded Twitter, banned Trump for what it described at the time as a "risk of further incitement of violence."
A federal judge blocked the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury records with sensitive personal data in an order on Saturday.
Why it matters: The order is the latest act from federal judges to temporarily restrain President Trump and Musk from using the DOGE to access Americans' personal data without restriction.
It's not just wild 5 a.m. tweets from Donald Trump anymore.
Three weeks into his second term, Trump's White House is pumping out personal insults to his political enemies, provocative videos and flame-throwing social media attacks like no administration before it.
Why it matters: During Trump's first term, he was something of a lone wolf on Twitter. But in Trump 2.0, it's like the 2024 campaign never ended: An entire team is his avatar — a smash-mouth, 24-7 PR operation that seems bent on juicing political divisions.
Elon Musk is enlisting the help of his X army as he seeks to hack away at the U.S. government, responding directly to users who recommend specific cuts and posting an X poll to justify reinstating a staffer who resigned over racist tweets.
Why it matters: Now the most powerful bureaucrat in America, Muskis leaning not only on access to sensitive government systems but also on his legions of fervently loyal, often-anonymous X followers as he weighs the fate of billions of dollars in spending.
The National Institutes of Health sent shockwaves through academic research circles late Friday, saying it will dramatically cut the rate it pays for universities' administration and overhead costs to save the government more than $4 billion.
Why it matters: The reductions will particularly hit elite institutions including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins and fulfill a long-sought conservative goal that was included in the Project 2025 blueprint.
The Trump administration's scramble to find more detention space for unauthorized immigrants has led the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin holding some of those who've been arrested, Axios has learned.
The move comes as President Trump's team already is pressing local law enforcement agencies to help house immigration detainees.
Why it matters: Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have ramped up under Trump, but immigration detention facilities are packed — and top Trump aides are getting impatient.
The U.S. Department of Education is stepping away from the fight over book bans, a move civil rights groups warn could give local officials more power to censor books on race, gender and identity.
Why it matters: Librarians and legal experts argue that book bans threaten First Amendment rights, warning that government censorship jeopardizes free speech and silences marginalized voices.
President Trump announced on Friday he's cutting former President Biden's access to classified information and stopping his daily intelligence briefings.
The big picture: Trump revoked security clearances earlier this month for about 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 comparing the Hunter Biden laptop probe to a "Russian information operation."
President Trump announced Friday he's instating himself as head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C. and dismissing several of its board members.
The big picture: Trump, who had a tense relationship with the Kennedy Center in his first term, now appears to be taking control of the art institution and removing adversaries from its board.
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