Wu announces re-election campaign in Boston
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced her bid for re-election April 5 at an event to kick off the campaign.
Wu has been outspoken about advocating for Boston to be a sanctuary city for LGBTQ+ people and her stances on supporting the immigrant community.
Running against Wu is Josh Kraft, son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who announced his candidacy in February. Emerson College conducted a poll in February, finding that 43% of people are in support of Wu.
In a speech that marked the beginning of her reelection campaign, Wu said, “Now is certainly not the time to hand the keys over to billionaires or developers.”
Wu also said that it is not the time for a mayor who needs “on-the-job training.” While not mentioning Kraft by name, Wu made her message clear that she is the only one suitable for the job.
Over the past month, Wu testified in front of Congress, defending Boston’s policies and status as a sanctuary city and appeared as a guest on the Daily Show, bringing her name to the national spotlight and continuing to advocate for the city.
Wu also spoke at the “Hands Off!” rally April 5. In her speech she said, “We need each other and the country needs Boston right now. Boston has never and will never back down to bullies. This is our city and you will not break us.”
Stock market tumbles after Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’
Wall Street and global markets were sent into a tailspin after President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement and constant fluctuation set a tone of uncertainty.
Trump’s “Liberation Day,” April 2 set off a global panic. While speaking before auto workers, he placed a 25% tariff on imported auto parts and cars, looking to bring auto workers and manufacturing back to the United States. He also brought out a board that outlined retaliatory tariffs to countries, as well as a general 10% tariff on all imported goods.
The intense response to the tariff announcement triggered a sell-off, where stock’s careened. Despite a slight relief on the morning of April 8, uncertainty has continued to provide startling swings on the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 all saw financially disastrous days that matched the drops in 2020.
In a formula shared by the White House to the public, the Trump administration outlined how they determined the tariffs for every country, incorporating trade deficits and total imports to determine the tariff inflicted.
“Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent trade from balancing. Tariffs work through direct reductions of imports,” according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s website.
The formula has received criticism from financial analysts and economic experts.
“Before yesterday, 99% of trade economists had never seen a formula like this before,” Oren Ziv, an assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
The American Enterprise Institute said in an article that “even if one were to take the Trump Administration’s tariff formula seriously, it makes an error that inflates the tariffs assumed to be levied by foreign countries four-fold.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced China’s imports tariffs would be raised to 104%, put into effect at midnight April 9, as the Trump administration continues to change their trade expectations every day.
Storms in South and Midwest kill at least 20
A series of torrential rain and flash flooding which then spawned tornadoes, led to at least 20 deaths in the Midwest and South April 5.
Multiple states are expected to reach a major flood stage, with damage expected to road infrastructures like structures, roads and bridges, according to the National Weather Service. The flash flood emergencies range from Texas to Ohio.
NWS offices now have 20% vacancy rates following the Trump Administration job cuts.
There were 521 flights cancelled and more than 6,400 flights delayed April 6. Seventy four cancellations and 478 delays of U.S. flights the following day, according to FlightAware.com.
A strong EF-3 tornado ripped through Selmer, Tennessee, a Southwestern town. Hundreds of roads across the state of Kentucky were still impassable due to floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides as of April 6. Winds reached 81 mph in Indiana.
Tennessee’s state of emergency was approved April 3 by the White House as floodwaters continue to rise. The assistance will be given to all 95 Tennessee counties.
Tennessee makes up 10 of the extreme weather-related deaths, with six in Kentucky, three in Missouri, two in Georgia, two in Arkansas and one each in Indiana and Mississippi.
Supreme Court rules on Trump administration deportations
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary hold April 7 on a federal judge’s order to return a Maryland man to the United States after he was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
The same day, the Court ruled 5-4 to allow President Donald Trump’s administration to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members using an 18th century wartime law, according to the Associated Press.
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows the government to detain and deport foreign nationals from countries that are actively invading the U.S. The Trump administration argued the law should apply to members of the Venezuelan gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, which the Court did not rule on, NPR reported.
The unsigned opinion did allow the administration to continue using the law under the conditions that alleged gang members be given notice of their deportation and a chance to appeal it on a case-by-case basis. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative member of the Court, joined the three liberal justices in the dissent.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a migrant from El Salvador who lived in the U.S. for over a decade, was arrested in Baltimore, Maryland March 12 by ICE officials due to an “administrative error,” according to the Trump administration. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison March 15.
The White House alleged that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, but his lawyers deny those claims and say the administration has produced no evidence of gang involvement, AP reported.
Soon after Roberts issued a stay on the order to return Abrego Garcia, his lawyers submitted a response to the Court.
“The Executive branch may not seize individuals from the streets, deposit them in foreign prisons in violation of court orders, and then invoke the separation of powers to insulate its unlawful actions from judicial scrutiny,” the statement said.
Abrego Garcia has never been charged or accused of a crime in any country. An immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to El Salvador in 2019.
The Trump administration said Abrego Garcia was deported under general immigration laws and not the Alien Enemies Act, according to AP. Lawyers for the administration argue that the Court does not have the jurisdiction to order Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. because he has left the country and that he poses a threat to the community.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference April 1 that the administration did not have plans to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” said Leavitt.
Councilor Fernandes Anderson resigns amid corruption scandal
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson resigned from the Boston City Council amid a federal corruption case. Fernandes Anderson, the District 7 councilor, which serves Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and the South End announced April 8 that she would plead guilty to two of the six charges against her.
She was arrested in December 2024 on charges of federal wire fraud and theft, in relation to her organizing a kickback where she was given $7,000 dollars from a relative on her staff in a City Hall restroom. The relative was hired by Fernandes Anderson, and given a $13,000 dollar bonus, which was allegedly arranged to be funneled back to her.
At the time of her arrest, she was also allegedly behind on bills like her car payment and rent as well as facing a fine from an Ethics Committee for $5,000 for hiring a relative.
Prosecutors also claim that she willfully omitted income and campaign funds on tax returns.
Upon her arrest, she pleaded not guilty to all the charges, remaining in her seat despite calls to resign, including from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. She was previously adamant in her not guilty plea, emphasizing her right to due process before her peers at the end of 2024.
Recently, she was entangled in another potentially fraudulent scandal. As reported by The Boston Globe April 7, a proposal to restore the Alexandra Hotel, located in Fernandes Anderson’s district, had made commitments to donate a sizable amount to the South End neighborhood.
The community fund that would receive the donation had ties to the councilor, who founded the fund, but claimed to have no power over the money the nonprofit received.
A day after Fernandes Anderson’s connections to the community fund were revealed, she altered her plea to guilty, asking the city for forgiveness in a statement.
“I have decided to plead guilty and resolve the case brought against me. I would like to apologize to my constituents, supporters and all who have been impacted,” the statement from her lawyer said. “Please forgive me.”
The recent developments were “deeply troubling” to Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy.
“Such actions erode public trust and perpetuate the damaging belief that our City Council is unworthy of the confidence of those we serve,” said Murphy.
