Today’s Big Story

It’s Tax Day

What to know about filing, extensions and refunds

As Benjamin Franklin famously said: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Happy tax day. May your filing be (relatively) painless and your refund be bountiful. In case you let time slip away, today is the deadline to file federal income tax returns and extensions to the Internal Revenue Service.

That is, for most of the country. Taxpayers in some federally declared disaster areas have additional time to file through automatic extensions. Five states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina—have until May 1st to file their 2024 returns, as do parts of Virginia and other areas.

Did you know that April 15th has been the traditional tax filing deadline since 1954? With exceptions for when the date falls on the weekend. Due to the pandemic, the Treasury Department and IRS delayed the deadline in both 2020 and 2021. And the calendar pushed the 2022 and 2023 due dates, but last year, we got back to the 15th for the first time since 2019.

Currently, despite layoffs and DOGE cuts, the IRS is processing tax returns and refunds at a similar pace to last year. One Intuit tax expert told Axios that “we haven’t felt any major impact from refund delays” because of IRS staffing cuts. The Washington Post reports that Treasury Department and IRS officials predict a decrease of more than 10% in tax receipts, or more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue, compared with last year. And more cuts could be coming soon—many IRS workers are expecting to soon learn their employment fate, coinciding with their busiest week of the year.

Fewer Americans have filed their federal taxes, and more have requested extensions, at this point in the filing season compared to last year, according to the latest public data and private Internal Revenue Service numbers obtained by CNN. The IRS had received nearly 1 million fewer tax returns, or 1.1% less, than the agency had received in the same period last year, as of March 21. The drop by itself isn’t necessarily a concern, nor is it unusual, but some say people could be hearing about chaos inside the IRS and believe they can get away without filing their taxes this year. Another theory is the fear of deportation. Undocumented immigrants register with the IRS and pay billions of dollars in taxes every year. Multiple sources said members of this community might be holding back during this tax season, as the Trump administration tries to use IRS data to facilitate deportations.

Trump vs. Higher Education

A look at the president’s pressure campaign on universities

Harvard University officials on Monday rejected Trump administration demands that the school yield to extensive government oversight and make sweeping changes to governance, admissions and hiring practices, calling the directives unlawful and unconstitutional. The administration responded Monday night by saying it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding to the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.

According to the New York Times, Trump and his top aides are exerting control of huge sums of federal research money to shift the ideological tilt of the higher education system, which they see as hostile to conservatives and intent on perpetuating liberalism. The administration’s campaign to expunge “woke” ideology from college campuses has already forced Columbia University to strike a deal. Of course, university leaders fear that by threatening to withhold funding, or suspending it with little or no warning, the government is trying to stamp out academic freedom, a cornerstone of the American education system.

Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House, said universities are not entitled to federal funding. “President Trump is working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence. Harvard or any institution that wishes to violate Title VI is, by law, not eligible for federal funding.” Last year, intense protests over the Israel-Gaza war fueled concerns that some of the language and behavior was threatening to Jewish students and that some universities were not doing enough to comply with federal civil rights law protecting students. Other efforts targeting universities have been tied to other administration priorities, such as ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and preventing transgender athletes from competing on women’s teams.

Book Clubs Have Never Been Cooler

The surge is driven by a renewed love of reading and a growing desire for off-screen connection

The hottest social scene at the moment doesn’t have any music or flashing lights, but there could be alcohol involved. We’re talking about book clubs. Millennials and Gen Z are putting their own spin on these clubs, joining up as a way to socialize and discuss ideas. Unlike more traditional book clubs, many of these groups add on another activity—or multiple—to turn their gatherings into social events rather than introverted hangs.

Many readers say these groups have been a lifeline to building friendships and seeking community in a post-pandemic world. Some of the groups like to run after reading. Others enjoy making charm bracelets. One group hosts an annual “Booksgiving”, where members bring their own titles to wrap for a blind book exchange. Book club events proliferated by 31% on Eventbrite in 2024 compared to 2023, according to recent data from the event platform. But they’re not all rowdy social gatherings. Listings for silent book clubs—a type of book event where attendees get to mingle after independently reading in silence—more than doubled while book clubs for romance-fantasy (a staple genre of #BookTok) quadrupled.

And if you don’t have a group to join in person, there are plenty of digital groups willing to take you. These days, it feels like celebrity book clubs are as abundant as celebrity podcasts. Kaia Gerber’s Library Science offers book suggestions and author interviews, while Dua Lipa’s Service95 provides reading lists, author chats and even bookstore recommendations. They feel like more modern iterations of Oprah’s and Reese Witherspoon’s clubs. But that makes me wonder … why aren’t there any male celebrities with book clubs?

Scientists Invented a Liquid-Like Battery

Devices are often limited by the bulkiness of their batteries

Is there anything more important to modern life than batteries? Maybe Wi-Fi, but if your device doesn’t have any juice, the wireless internet is useless. Today’s batteries are solid, voluminous components of our technology—but what if they could be malleable, flexible … and even printable?

Researchers in Sweden have just developed a fluid battery. Gizmodo says it has the consistency of toothpaste and can be shaped into different forms. As detailed in a study published in the journal Science, the battery makes use of electrodes—key conductive materials in batteries—in fluid form. The novel soft structure paves the way for innovative designs of future battery-powered technology.

As Popular Mechanics points out, thanks to its ability to stretch double its length and maintain performance, this new liquid battery could enable all sorts of new applications as the world marches toward one trillion connected devices. It could change the shape of future phones and make wearable tech a lot more, well, wearable. While the battery needs to increase its voltage to compete with lithium-ion competitors, the idea shows promise for a world full of flexible technologies.

Performance Gear Meets Streetwear

HAVEN designs technical apparel, made to withstand the toughest conditions

Refocus as needed.