Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
U.S. population growth slows sharplyNew census data showed that the U.S. population grew to roughly 342 million by midway through 2025, an increase of about 1.8 million people compared with the previous year. That is one of the slowest growth rates in American history. Only once has the U.S. population increased by less than 0.5 percent — in 2021, when the pandemic caused deaths to soar and borders to close. The biggest reason for the slowdown is a sharp drop in immigration. The census estimates, which measured the changes in the population from July 2024 through June 2025, found that the U.S. added about 1.3 million people through immigration. In the last full year of the Biden administration, by contrast, net immigration was just over 2.7 million. President Trump’s anti-immigration policies are expected to further slow population growth. If current trends continue, the Census Bureau said, immigration would fall to about 321,000 in the current year, lower than the pandemic-year total of 376,000. The birthrate also continued its nearly two-decade long decline. New births outpaced deaths by only about 518,000 in the latest period. The census data also showed state population changes. South Carolina was the country’s fastest-growing state, followed by Idaho, North Carolina and Texas. The Midwest was the only region in which every state grew in population. A very different approach: Spain issued a decree giving hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants a legal path to remaining in the country.
Trump faults Pretti for carrying a gunSpeaking to reporters this afternoon, the president promised a “very honorable and honest investigation” into the killing of Alex Pretti, who was shot dead over the weekend by federal agents in Minneapolis. Trump also cast blame on Pretti for carrying the legally permitted weapon that was seized from him before he was shot. “You can’t walk in with guns,” the president said. “You can’t do that.” Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who is now overseeing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, met today with the state’s governor, Tim Walz. The governor’s office said that the two agreed to work toward the state’s goals of reducing federal forces there and of conducting an impartial investigation into the killings of Pretti and Renee Good. For more:
Extra scrutiny of emergency aid has resulted in delaysBillions of dollars in federal assistance for disaster-struck communities has been delayed, sometimes by months, by a new FEMA rule: Any expenditure of $100,000 or more must be approved by the office of the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem. About $17 billion of federal disaster funds has received the extra layer of review. In other Trump administration news:
Social media giants face landmark trials on child safetyAre social media apps addictive like cigarettes? Do they harm young users? Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube will be forced to confront such questions in a series of landmark trials. The first began today in California, where a young woman said she had become addicted to the sites as a child and had experienced anxiety and depression as a result. TikTok and Snap settled the case, but they remain defendants in more than a dozen others, which may result in huge monetary payments or changes to the platforms. More top news
In the video below, the composer and lyricist Marc Shaiman explains how he came up with the songs that helped turn “Hairspray” into a huge hit. Click on it to watch.
Finally, some good news for a Broadway musical“The Outsiders,” the gritty, Tony-Award winning stage adaptation of the classic young adult novel, has become profitable less than two years after it premiered on Broadway. It is the only new musical to open in the last three years to recoup its initial costs. (One reason: school groups and young fans have given it online word-of-mouth cred.) The show, which cost $22 million to bring to the stage, has sold more than $120 million worth of tickets to more than 750,000 people. But production costs meant that “The Outsiders" only recently began operating in the black.
How losing her limbs changed the way our columnist cooksTwo years ago, my colleague Yewande Komolafe awoke from a six-week-long coma, unaware of what had happened. She had been an accomplished cook and recipe developer for many years, but suddenly, she was learning that her approach to the kitchen would have to change profoundly: Her fingers and legs would need to be amputated. Today, Yewande recounted her journey back to the kitchen. Read her story and try her version of brown butter cornmeal cake, which she adapted from a pastry that helped nourish her in recovery.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Serve this jalapeño-corn dip. It’s a crowd-pleaser. Watch: The 1997 disaster film “Volcano” is memorably ridiculous. Dress: Our fashion critic explains when to cuff your pants, and when not to. |
