Today’s Big Story

Trump’s Plan to Gut the Education Dept.

The president signed the executive order surrounded by jittery children

This wasn’t a surprise. Since his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump has been promising to abolish the Education Department, and on Thursday he signed an executive order that will shrink, but not close, the agency. It’s something conservatives have dreamed of doing for decades (and even the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 recommended). No other president had done it, not even this one the first time he was in office.

Looking a bit like Billy Madison, Trump was seated at a small desk, surrounded by fidgeting kids at even smaller desks, in the East Room of the White House. The room was also packed with conservative activists, influencers and six Republican governors, from Florida, Texas, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Iowa. Introducing Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Trump said that “hopefully she will be our last secretary of education.” He vowed “to find something else for you, Linda.”

Trump kept emphasizing that what he was doing was not as radical as it might have seemed: “It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Department of Education. We’re going to eliminate it.” In fact, only Congress can abolish a cabinet agency, but Trump’s order basically called on the Education Department to come up with a plan for shutting itself down.

Congress established the Education Department in 1979 during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, and any effort to abolish it would face major obstacles from Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate, where 60 votes are required to overcome filibusters and advance measures to final votes. NBC News reports that The House Education Committee’s top Democrat, Bobby Scott, of Virginia, called the executive order “reckless” and argued in a statement that it would put “low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, and rural students at risk.”

The Department of Education had a $268 billion annual budget in the 2024 fiscal year (3.4% of the total federal budget) and more than 4,000 staff members. It funds and oversees a plethora of programs aimed at ensuring students get a quality education nationwide. This includes providing supplemental funding to high-poverty K-12 school districts that provide vital child care services for many low-income and rural communities across the country. The agency also collects national data on schools and enforces federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination, while dispersing critical financial aid and grant programs.

The International Olympic Committee Has a New, Historic President

Kirsty Coventry becomes first woman and African in the role

With the announcement that Kirsty Coventry was elected as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committe, she instantly became the most prominent sports official in the world. She’s the first woman and African to ever be elected to the position—and at 41, she’s the youngest ever to head up the IOC.

And she will immediately be thrust into managing the sports movement’s relationship with a convulsing world, in which old certainties and alliances are no longer guaranteed. One of her first ports of call in her new role will be the Trump White House, ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Coventry was asked how she’d respond if the American president tried to cause trouble or ban athletes from certain countries. “I have been dealing with, let’s say difficult men, in high positions since I was 20 years old,” replied Coventry. “We will not waver from our values,” she added. “Solidarity and ensuring every athlete has the possibility to attend the Olympic Games and be safe.”

Coventry will officially take up the role on June 24, after incumbent Thomas Bach steps down following a 12-year spell in charge. Before becoming a member of the IOC, she was a standout athlete for Zimbabwe. Coventry has won seven of the country’s eight Olympic medals to date.

Drones Are Flying Everywhere

They’re dropping packages, helping sherpas on Everest and looking to go even further from operators

Do you hear a low buzzing sound? Because there’s likely a drone flying somewhere around you. Suddenly the little flying quadcopters are zipping around everywhere—and I mean everywhere. This week, the New York Times reported that the devices will be used to airlift heavy, dangerous loads normally carried by sherpas up Mount Everest. And since they’re so speedy, they might even deliver a hot meal or two.

More and more companies (and cities) are also continuing to experiment with drone-delivered packages. By by putting deliveries in the air, the goal is to reduce traffic on the roads while speeding up delivery time. Some see it as progress, but homeowners in test cities haven’t been thrilled with all the buzzing around. “It was just incessant,” one said of Amazon’s airborne deliveries—describing the cacophony as if “your neighbor runs their leaf blower all day long.”

Of course, many personal drone operators would like to go further. But they’ll have to wait. According to Aerospace America, the U.S. drone industry is growing anxious that a draft FAA regulation that would permit them to routinely fly their aircraft “beyond line of sight” has yet to be released, even though congressional language mandated FAA do so by September.

Is the Doggy Bag Dead?

More and more restaurant leftovers are being left behind

One of the interesting things I’ve learned while living in Japan is that no one takes leftover food home from restaurants. The portions are smaller and it’s considered good manners to finish everything on your plate. It was a big contrast to America, where “good value” often meant a larger portion—big enough to bring half of your meal home. It’s why the doggy bag went from some scraps wrapped in foil to full-on takeout containers, packaged up for you to take when you leave.

But that’s changing. Fewer and fewer diners are asking to take their food home. Some say that it’s a generational thing, with food-ordering services meaning that people are less inclined to eat day-old food. Others suggest that if large groups of people share food, then deciding who gets to take what home becomes a logistical nightmare.

A number of restaurateurs in cities across the U.S. have observed this surprising shift in behavior. They attribute doggy-bag aversion to a number of factors, including social stigmas and a return to sharing small plates (after the pandemic made doing so taboo), leading to less leftover food. But, of course, Americans are known to waste food: The average American leaves 53 pounds, or $329 worth, of food on the plate at restaurants every year, according to 2023 data from ReFED, an organization that works to reduce food waste.

A Weekend Pairing

‘The Residence’ + an Old Fashioned Cocktail

Netflix may be home to the Knives Out franchise, but there’s no harm in having multiple whodunnit projects, right? The streamer’s latest mystery drama The Residence, asks the question: What would happen if there was a murder at a White House state dinner?

The series stars Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp, a detective with the Metropolitan Police Department who is brought in to question the personnel who were around when the crime occurred. She’s got her work cut out for her: there are 132 rooms, 157 suspects and one dead body. But of course, throughout all of this, interpersonal conflicts arise, people start acting shady and secrets are revealed. Come for the all-star cast, stay to try to figure out the case for yourself.

The simplest moments hold the potential for magic.