From France to Iceland to the United States, April Fools’ Day was celebrated on Tuesday with practical jokes and elaborate hoaxes. The jokesters’ custom has been around for hundreds of years, although its exact birth is difficult to pinpoint. These days, depending on your location, it could be marked with a fish secretly pinned to someone’s back or a whoopee cushion or even news reports of flying penguins (yes, that actually happened). In the U.S., the pranks are typically followed by screams of “April Fools!” to make sure all are aware that they were the unsuspecting recipient of a practical joke. Here are some thing to know about April Fools’ Day and its history: Where did April Fools’ Day come from? There are plenty of theories about where this day of pranks and hoaxes came from.

Decision Desk HQ projects Susan Crawford (D) wins election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The Trump administration has halted several dozen federal research grants at Princeton University, the Ivy League school said Tuesday. The university received notifications this week that grants were being suspended by agencies including the Department of Energy, NASA and the Defense Department, according to a campus message from Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber. The rationale was not fully clear but Princeton will comply with the law, Eisgruber said. “We are committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we will cooperate with the government in combating antisemitism,” he wrote. “Princeton will also vigorously defend academic freedom and the due process rights of this University.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer revealed that the Department of Labor will be sending more than $1 billion in unused pandemic-related funds back to taxpayers. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to curb excess spending and improve accountability across federal agencies.
According to a press release from the department, $1.4 billion in leftover COVID-19 relief funds will be “returned to taxpayers through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s General Fund,” while steps are underway to retrieve the additional $2.9 billion that remains.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker wrapped up a marathon speech criticizing the Trump administration, bringing it to a close 25 hours and five minutes after he first took the floor Monday evening.
“I believe that there is an urgent crisis in our country that we are not talking about. It’s not a left-right crisis, it’s a right-wrong crisis,” he declared, shortly after announcing his intention to end his lengthy remarks.
In his closing moments, Booker returned to the testimonies he had shared throughout the previous day—accounts from Americans who have depended on programs like veterans’ services and Medicaid, which now face reductions under President Trump’s proposed budget cuts.

Republican Jimmy Patronis is projected to win the special election for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.

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Housing Minister and UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf came out with a sharp condemnation Tuesday after footage emerged of a group of Chareidi youths shouting at IDF soldiers touring the streets of Bnei Brak earlier in the day. The video, which quickly spread on social media, shows a few bochurim yelling at soldiers as they walked through the mostly Chareidi city. However, not all present displayed such behavior. One young man was seen stepping forward to shake a soldier’s hand respectfully, even as others shouted from the sidelines. “I strongly condemn the criminal behavior of fringe youths who attacked IDF soldiers in the city of Bnei Brak today,” Minister Goldknopf wrote on X. “This is not the derech of Torah Yidden.

Republican Randy Fine has won Florida’s 6th Congressional District special election, holding off a surprisingly strong challenge from Democrat Josh Weil. NBC News projected Fine’s win in the district, a Republican stronghold for years.
The race to replace Michael Waltz—who stepped down from Congress to become national security adviser to Trump—proved to be far more contentious than initially expected. Republican officials grew concerned when Weil, a schoolteacher by profession, managed to dramatically out-raise Fine, who serves in the Florida state Senate. While early voting numbers appeared to show a surge in Democratic participation, such statistics are often a poor predictor of final turnout.