5 things to know for April 17: Harvard, Deportation flights, Puerto Rico, Health cuts, Meta

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Even though I suffer from trypanophobia (an overwhelming fear of needles), I received the shingles vaccine last weekend. I did it because I had chicken pox as a kid and do not want to experience this painful viral infection as an adult. According to a new study, there’s an additional benefit to the shingles vaccine: it may also reduce the risk of dementia. Now, I’m just hoping pharmaceutical companies would devise a less-traumatic way of administering vaccinations, like a lotion — or maybe in chocolate ice cream. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Defy President Donald Trump and retribution will be swift. That’s the message the White House is sending to Harvard University after the school refused to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies, audit the viewpoints of students, faculty and staff and alter rules for on-campus protests. In response, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants at Harvard. The IRS is reportedly making plans to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status. The Department of Homeland Security canceled two federal grants worth $2.7 million and threatened to strip Harvard of its ability to enroll international students unless it turns over its disciplinary records. And Trump trashed the school in a rant on his Truth Social site. As the university grapples with the sudden loss of funding, Harvard researchers are scrambling to figure out what to do about studies that are already in progress. Yet even as each school weighs having to cut budgets and staff, nearly 800 faculty members have signed a letter urging the university to resist the Trump administration’s demands. A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders on deportation flights. US District Judge James Boasberg held an emergency hearing on March 15 and ordered the administration to pause its historic deportation campaign and turn around any planes carrying migrants that were already in the air. The administration did not do so. Boasberg is now seeking sworn statements about the officials who decided to ignore his order. If those statements aren’t satisfactory, he plans to call witnesses to testify at a hearing or in depositions. Boasberg could then ask the Justice Department to prosecute the officials or appoint a special prosecutor to the case. Puerto Rico is in the dark due to another island-wide blackout. The power outage occurred in the US territory on Wednesday afternoon as thousands of tourists packed into hotels to celebrate Easter vacation. It’s unclear what caused the blackout but officials said the electricity will not likely come back for another 48 to 72 hours. Residents are frustrated and angry because such outages have befallen Puerto Rico for years. The issue has only gotten worse since 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island and destroyed the power grid. Utility crews are still struggling to rebuild it. The Trump administration plans to cut roughly one-third of the federal health budget, according to a memo from White House budget officials reviewed by CNN. Slashing tens of billions of dollars a year from the Department of Health and Human Services would likely lead to the elimination of dozens of programs, including grants and residency programs for rural hospitals and state offices. According to the memo, the plan calls for slashing the CDC’s budget by more than 40% and eliminating both its global health center and programs focused on chronic disease prevention and domestic HIV/AIDS prevention. Programs on gun violence, injury prevention, youth violence prevention, drowning, minority health and others would be eliminated entirely. The National Institutes of Health’s budget would also be reduced by more than 40%.