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Today's top stories
President Trump delivered a speech yesterday at the Detroit Economic Club. He touched on the U.S. economy but also meandered into other topics. The president has started traveling around the U.S., addressing a top concern for voters: affordability. The economy is expected to be one of the main issues in this year's midterm elections.
- 🎧 Throughout his speech, the president would change topics mid-sentence and insulted more than half a dozen politicians, including former President Joe Biden, NPR's Tamara Keith tells Up First. Trump said the economy is great and boasted about the low cost of groceries. He also stated that "affordability" is a fake word by Democrats, but Keith says the riffs of the term risk undercutting his message. The president said he plans to outline a proposal at the World Economic Forum next week to reduce home prices by removing private equity companies from the U.S. housing market.
The Department of Labor's latest inflation report showed that inflation, overall, neither improved nor worsened from November to December.
- 🎧 Natural gas prices have risen more than 10% over the last year, the Labor Department reports. This affects nearly half of the U.S., which uses natural gas for heating, resulting in higher heating bills, NPR's Scott Horsley says. A significant amount of natural gas is used to generate electricity, which in turn drives up prices. Grocery prices were also up sharply last month. Most forecasters believe the Fed will hold interest rates steady when policymakers meet later this month, as inflation remains higher than the central bank's target.
At least six federal prosecutors in Minnesota have quit after Justice Department leaders pressured them in the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good. Rather than focusing on the federal agent who shot Good last week in Minneapolis, political leaders wanted the prosecutors to find dirt on her widow. The resignations have disrupted other federal investigations, including one into social services fraud.
- 🎧 The resignations amount to a big loss of career DOJ talent who prosecuted several major cases, Minnesota Public Radio's Matt Sepic says. The DOJ leaders pressured the prosecutors to look into Good's widow, Becca Good, for ties to activist groups, which is not illegal, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. This source also informed Sepic that they are concerned that Trump's focus on immigration has drawn resources away from the fraud investigation.
Deep dive
The Trump administration plans to close the San Francisco Immigration Court by the end of the year. The announcement comes as immigration judges have spent the last year facing pressure to expedite their caseloads and streamline deportations. Teresa Riley, the chief immigration judge, sent an email about the closure to court employees and judges last week. The email also explained that all personnel will now transfer to the Concord Immigration Court, approximately 30 miles away. San Francisco's immigration court has been among those hit by the Trump administration's push to fire judges.
- ➡️ The Trump administration fired nearly 100 judges in 2025, according to an NPR count cross-referenced with the judges' union and several individual courts.
- ➡️ The U.S. is starting this year with fewer than half the judges from a year ago. At least two courts — in Aurora, Colo., and in Oakdale, La., — have no judges left, just the court supervisor.
- ➡️ With fewer judges and courts, immigrants are seeing their cases pushed back as far as 2030. Lawyers say the delays make their clients more susceptible to arrests and deportations.
Living better
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
Movement can boost a person's mood and can actively relieve symptoms of depression, according to a new study. Scientists evaluated 73 randomized controlled trials involving around 5,000 people with depression, with many of them also having tried antidepressant medications. The findings highlighted "that exercise is one of the most evidence-based tools for improving mood," says psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Mateka. This is how exercise mirrors some of the effects of medication:
- 🚴 Exercise improves neurotransmitter function, like serotonin and dopamine. This benefit aligns with the way the medicine provides relief.
- 🚴 Physical activity can trigger the release of brain growth factors. This is contrary to how depression can decrease neuroplasticity, making it harder for the brain to adapt and change.
- 🚴 Prescribed exercise can be hard to start for someone with depression. However, light to moderate movements can benefit you as much as an intensive workout.
3 things to know before you go
- Scott Adams, the controversial cartoonist behind Dilbert, has died at age 68. He announced in May 2025 that he had metastatic prostate cancer.
- The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit yesterday against Pearl, an AI-powered search engine, accusing it of locking consumers into unwanted recurring charges.
- "Synergy," the Word of the Week, is more than just quintessential corporate jargon. The term dates back hundreds of years, and its roots lie in Christianity, medicine, and psychology.
This newsletter was edited by Yvonne Dennis.
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