Start your week smart: Alzheimer’s research, IRS audit, Trump’s first 100 days, horse racing’s future, goodbye $5 T-shirts
By Andrew Torgan, Daniel Wine and Kimberly Richardson, CNN
(CNN) — April 15 has come and gone, so you can stop worrying about your taxes for another year … or can you? With so many changes taking place at the IRS — including widespread staff departures and the implementation of artificial intelligence — how likely are you to be audited?
Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart.
Sunday spotlight
More than 55 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and that number is expected to nearly triple by 2050.
In the United States, one huge question mark surrounds the future of Alzheimer’s research.
The National Institutes of Health has canceled hundreds of grants for studies of different conditions and populations — including in states that backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Some groups are suing.
1️⃣ Stuck in limbo: The uncertainty alarms a lot of people, including a Florida man who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease at age 46. Francisco Rios and his wife are racing to check items off their travel bucket list.
2️⃣ Sleep well: Not spending enough time in the two deep stages of sleep — slow-wave and rapid eye movement — may hasten the deterioration of parts of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a recent study found.
3️⃣ Tech effect: It’s important to keep your brain active. The use of computers and other forms of technology was linked with a lower risk of cognitive decline later in life, according to new research.
4️⃣ Raising the risk: How you manage a cluster of health conditions known as metabolic syndrome could have a big impact on whether you develop dementia at a young age.
🎧 Listen in: CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why there’s more hope for Alzheimer’s patients — and what it’s like to take the test.
5️⃣ Blood markers: Instead of relying on painful spinal taps and expensive brain scans, new tests offer a quick and easy way to determine risk and aid in an earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
Editor’s note: Thank you for your feedback about the “Sunday spotlight.” It was overwhelmingly positive, so we will continue to take a closer look at one topic each Sunday. And not to worry — you can still find the latest news under “Top headlines.”
Top headlines
• Trump criticizes Putin after meeting with Zelensky: ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war’
• At least nine people killed after car plows into crowd at Vancouver Filipino festival
• Trump, Julian Assange and 250,000 others. Who was at Pope Francis’ funeral?
• Russia says ‘Ukrainian special services agent’ detained in connection with car blast that killed a Russian general
• CNN Poll: Trump’s approval at 100 days lower than any president in at least seven decades
The week ahead
Monday
Canada will hold national elections, where Prime Minister Mark Carney is vying for a chance to continue leading the country as tensions grow with the US. The former central banker’s main competition in the vote is Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s Conservative Party leader, whose political capital has declined as US-Canada relations nosedive amid threats from President Donald Trump.
A Massachusetts District Court judge is expected to hold a hearing in Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration after it froze over $2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts when the university’s leadership refused to make key policy changes.
Also on Monday, the Trump administration is expected to ask Congress to end federal funding for PBS and NPR — casting the organizations as wastes of money that “spread radical, woke propaganda.” Such a proposal would start a 45-day clock for the House and Senate to either vote to cut the funding or ignore the proposal and keep the funding intact. At an annual cost of $535 million to taxpayers, such stations provide access to educational shows, emergency alerts and a wide array of radio and TV programming, including educational programs like “Sesame Street.”
Tuesday
April 29 marks 100 days of President Trump’s second term in office, and CNN’s anchors and correspondents will discuss his administration’s actions and policies as part of the day’s coverage. Do you have questions for our journalists who cover the administration? Submit them here, and they may be answered during a live chat at midday Eastern time.
We’ll also get the latest reading on how Americans are feeling about the economy. Consumer confidence slid last month to its lowest level since January 2021 — extending a decline that began in December, when President Trump began rolling out the details of his sweeping economic agenda.
Wednesday
April 30 is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, when South Vietnam surrendered as North Vietnamese troops took control of Saigon — now Ho Chi Minh City.
Thursday
May 1 is International Workers’ Day. Several unions and immigrant rights groups are planning nationwide protests against sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and the deportation of migrants being carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency and the Trump administration.
Friday
May 2 marks the end of the “de minimis” shipping exemption that allows packages worth less than $800 to enter the US tax-free, which means Shein and Temu customers could see higher prices and longer shipping times.
Listen in
One Thing: 🎧 Horse racing’s future
In this episode of the “One Thing” podcast, CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis explains how the sport of horse racing is trying to balance animal welfare with shifting economics as it tries to remain relevant. Listen here.
Photos of the week
Check out more images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.
What’s happening in entertainment
TV and streaming
CNN Original Series “Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain” premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.
In theaters
Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” opens Friday, starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Lewis Pullman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sebastian Stan, among others. It follows a group of antiheroes embarking on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront their pasts. Pugh previously played Yelena Belova in 2021’s “Black Widow” film and in the Disney+ miniseries “Hawkeye.” She will also appear in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday” movie in 2026.
And Alec Baldwin stars in “Rust,” which is being released more than three years after the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed on the New Mexico set. Baldwin, who also co-produced the film, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting before the case was dismissed three days into the 2024 trial.
What’s happening in sports
At a glance …
There are plenty of options for sports fans to pick from today, from playoff games in the NBA and the NHL, to the final round of professional golf’s Zurich Classic, the lone team event on the PGA Tour schedule.
President Trump will welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House on Monday to celebrate their victory in Super Bowl LIX.
And the 151st Kentucky Derby, aka the “Run for the Roses,” is set for Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
For more of your favorite sports, head on over to CNN Sports as well as Bleacher Report, which — like CNN — is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Quiz time!
Looking for a challenge to start your week? Take CNN’s weekly news quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 7.2% of readers who took the quiz got a perfect score and 40% got eight or more questions right. How will you fare?
Play me off …
‘Texas Hold ‘Em’
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter Tour” kicks off on Monday with five shows at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles. “Cowboy Carter” won the 2025 Grammy Award for album of the year, the first win in the category for the music superstar. (Click here to view)
The-CNN-Wire
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