April 14 2025

China Halts Critical Mineral Exports in Retaliation to U.S. Tariffs

Trump Administration Intensifies Antitrust Crackdown on Tech Giants Meta and Google

Trump’s Military Border Deployment Slashes Illegal Crossings from Mexico

ADHD Diagnoses Soar as Scientists Question Medication-Driven Approach

Congress Eyes State Hospital Taxes to Slash $600 Billion in Medicaid Spending

McIlroy Wins Masters, Completes Career Grand Slam in Dramatic Playoff

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FLASH…Trump Admin. exempts smartphones, laptop computers and other electronics imported from China tariffs…

1. China Halts Critical Mineral Exports in Retaliation to U.S. Tariffs

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors. The official crackdown is part of China’s retaliation for President Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started on April 2. On April 4, the Chinese government ordered restrictions on the export of six heavy rare earth metals, which are refined entirely in China, as well as rare earth magnets, 90 percent of which are produced in China. The metals, and special magnets made with them, can now be shipped out of China only with special export licenses. If factories in Detroit and elsewhere run out of powerful rare earth magnets, that could prevent them from assembling cars and other products with electric motors that require these magnets. Companies vary widely in the size of their emergency stockpiles for such contingencies, so the timing of production disruptions is hard to predict.
Source: NYT

2. Trump Administration Intensifies Antitrust Crackdown on Tech Giants Meta and Google

The Trump administration isn’t letting up on the tech giants. On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission will face off with Meta in court over claims that the social media giant snuffed out nascent competitors when it bought Instagram and WhatsApp. And on April 21, the Justice Department will argue that a federal judge should force Google to sell its Chrome web browser to limit the power of its search monopoly. Both cases, which helped set into motion a new era of antitrust scrutiny, were filed during President Trump’s first term in office. They were advanced by the Biden administration, which also filed monopoly lawsuits against Amazon, Apple and Google’s ad technology business. Investors in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street hoped that Mr. Trump might show technology companies more deference during his second term, as he promised to deregulate industries. Some legal experts think the administration could still take a lighter hand on blocking mergers and setting proactive regulations for tech. But so far, Mr. Trump’s appointees have promised to continue much of the scrutiny of the biggest tech companies, despite the industry’s hopes.
Source: NYT

3. Trump’s Military Border Deployment Slashes Illegal Crossings from Mexico

Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Zamora and his fellow soldiers stood alongside their 20-ton Stryker combat vehicle overlooking a labyrinth of dusty trails and cliffs, an inhospitable desertscape that for years has proved difficult for U.S. authorities to patrol amid the surge in illegal border crossings and drug smuggling from Mexico. Although U.S. Border Patrol agents had detained two migrants nearby a few hours earlier, Zamora’s deployment — a key facet of President Donald Trump’s militarization of the U.S.-Mexico frontier — has been quiet so far, he said. A veteran of four combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, Zamora recalled how he and his team recently observed other potential border crossers who appeared to change their plans abruptly once they spotted the olive-drab armored vehicle on a hill. “Ever since the Stryker came into play,” he said, “we see more turn-backs than anything.” Zamora’s unit — the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, from Fort Carson in Colorado — is serving on the front lines of Trump’s aggressive bid to crack down on illegal migration and secure the southern border. Since his return to office less than three months ago, the administration has rapidly assembled a force of about 10,000 troops and positioned them across the porous hinterland spanning Texas to California, the centerpiece of an expansive initiative that also includes more drone flights and an unusually robust maritime presence off Mexico. Such hardware typically is reserved for missions overseas. Under Trump, it is being used to track the movement of people and narcotics bound for the United States, monitor cartel activity and send an unambiguous message that the status quo has changed. The moves to bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement efforts have coincided with a sharp drop in illegal crossings, though the president’s political opponents question whether this is an appropriate use of the military, and relations with Mexico are at a low. In March, Customs and Border Protection recorded 7,180 — down from 28,654 in February and a peak of 370,883 in December 2023 during the Biden administration.
Source: Washington Post

4. ADHD Diagnoses Soar as Scientists Question Medication-Driven Approach

Despite the questions…scientists have begun to raise, the growth of the [ADHD] diagnosis shows no signs of stopping or even slowing down. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 11.4 percent of American children had been diagnosed with A.D.H.D., a record high. That figure includes 15.5 percent of American adolescents, 21 percent of 14-year-old boys and 23 percent of 17-year-old boys. Seven million American children have received an A.D.H.D. diagnosis, up from six million in 2016 and two million in the mid-1990s. The preferred treatment for A.D.H.D. remains stimulant medications, including Ritalin and Adderall, and the market for those stimulants has expanded rapidly in recent years, in step with the growth of the diagnosis. From 2012 to 2022, the total number of prescriptions for stimulants to treat A.D.H.D. increased in the United States by 58 percent. Although the prescription rate is highest among boys ages 10 to 14, the real growth market today for stimulant medication is adults. In 2012, Americans in their 30s were issued five million prescriptions for stimulants to treat A.D.H.D.; a decade later, that figure had more than tripled, rising to 18 million. That ever-expanding mountain of pills rests on certain assumptions: that A.D.H.D. is a medical disorder that demands a medical solution; that it is caused by inherent deficits in children’s brains; and that the medications we give them repair those deficits. Scientists who study A.D.H.D. are now challenging each one of those assumptions — and uncovering new evidence for the role of a child’s environment in the progression of his symptoms. They don’t question the very real problems that lead families to seek treatment for A.D.H.D., but many believe that our current approach isn’t doing enough to help — and that we can do better. But first, they say, we need to rethink many of our old ideas about the disorder and begin looking at A.D.H.D. anew.
Source: NYT

5. Congress Eyes State Hospital Taxes to Slash $600 Billion in Medicaid Spending

An obscure set of state taxes on hospitals and other health providers is in the crosshairs of congressional budget cutters because the levies can lead to higher federal spending on Medicaid. Known as provider taxes because states impose them on hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that provide healthcare, the taxes boost a state’s budget for funding Medicaid. That in turn attracts more matching federal dollars to fund the program—money that is ultimately directed back to the hospitals and clinics. If Congress were to restrict the taxes’ use to finance state Medicaid contributions entirely, it could save more than $600 billion over a decade, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. That would go a long way toward achieving House Republicans’ plans to reduce federal spending by as much as $2 trillion to help offset the impact of extending President Trump’s income-tax cuts.
Source: WSJ

6. McIlroy Wins Masters, Completes Career Grand Slam in Dramatic Playoff

Rory McIlroy's long, painful wait for the career Grand Slam is finally over. And the greatest achievement of his career was as nerve-racking and dramatic as the near misses that came before it. The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland overcame a shaky start – and even more perilous finish – in the final round of the 89th Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday to defeat Justin Rose in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win a green jacket and become only the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
Source: ESPN

April 14, 1935: “Black Sunday” Dust Bowl storm strikes

In what came to be known as “Black Sunday,” one of the most devastating storms of the 1930s Dust Bowl era sweeps across the region on April 14, 1935. High winds kicked up clouds of millions of tons of dirt and dust so dense and dark that some eyewitnesses believed the world was coming to an end.

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Sources

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/technology/trump-tech-antitrust-cases.html
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/11/trump-military-mexico-border/
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/magazine/adhd-medication-treatment-research.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
5. https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/hospital-state-taxes-medicaid-budget-cuts-59af2c62?mod=hp_lead_pos11

Rory coaster ride nets Masters win, career Slam

Rory McIlroy gave up a big lead on the second nine and bogeyed the 72nd hole to create a tie, but he recovered to beat Justin Rose in a playoff to win the Masters.

ESPNMark Schlabach