Plus: Senate Unanimously Passes ‘No Tax On Tips’ Bill

Good afternoon,

The 2025 ParkScore index, an annual ranking from the pro-park nonprofit Trust for Public Land (TPL), says Washington, D.C. has the best city parks in the U.S.

That’s because 99% of residents live near one. With nearly 700 parks, 21% of the city’s land is used for park space.

As a recent D.C. transplant, I’m thrilled to wear the 🥇 medal with honor. However, across the country, cities are also investing in public spaces. Last year, more than $12 billion was spent on parks and recreation systems in the U.S. cities TPL analyzed. Even better, more than three-fourths of city dwellers now live within a 10-minute walk of a park. 🌳

Lauren
Producer

🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

Trump Claims “White Genocide” In Tense Oval Office Meeting With South African President

President Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had a heated exchange Wednesday in the Oval Office after Trump alleged there is a genocide taking place against white farmers in South Africa.

The president had the lights turned down in the Oval Office and played videos showing alleged evidence of the systemic murder of Afrikaners —South Africans who primarily descended from Dutch and northern European colonists who settled in South Africa in the 17th century.
A spokesman for Ramaphosa suggested it was an “ambush,” saying the meeting’s format changed at the last minute.
- It’s giving us flashbacks to the heated meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky in February… this one stayed cooler, though.

Trump has claimed white farmers in South Africa are victims of genocide — a charge Ramaphosa, the country's courts and even some white farmers dispute. Ramaphosa has denied any systemic discrimination, though that has been race-based violence directed at Afrikaners. The tense meeting between the two leaders follows the Trump administration accepting 59 white South Africans last week as refugees — critics point out that the move is contradictory to Trump’s calls to tighten immigration from other countries.

INSIDE THE ALLEGATIONS
Some Afrikaners have said they face violence and discrimination from the post-apartheid government, including a law Ramaphosa signed in January that allows authorities to seize privately-owned land without compensation when it is deemed in the public interest.

During the Oval Office exchange, Ramaphosa noted that the violence white farmers face in South Africa is no different from the violence experienced by Black South Africans.
- The country has the fifth-highest crime rate in the world. Of nearly 30,000 homicides in South Africa in 2023, only about 50 of those murders took place on farms, affecting farmers of all racial groups, according to the Afrikaner group AfriForum.

“There is criminality in our country. People who do get killed, unfortunately, through criminal activity, are not only white people. The majority of them are Black people,” Ramaphosa said Wednesday.

How we got here: Racial tensions in South Africa are deep-rooted. Apartheid, a racist system that kept Black South Africans separate from white people, formally began in 1948 and didn’t end until 1994.

Still, white South Africans make-up about 7% of the country’s population, with the majority Afrikaners, and own 70% of the nation’s land.
- Many Afrikaners are closely involved in farming today and their ancestors played a major role in designing and upholding South Africa’s former system of white minority rule.

TRUMP STEPS IN
In February, Trump issued an executive order that cut U.S. financial aid to South Africa for the country’s “unjust racial discrimination” and granted refugee status for Afrikaners.

Trump’s interest in the alleged genocide seems to have been inspired by Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, and has repeatedly claimed there is a genocide against white people there. Musk’s own platform has taken to the cause.

THE GROK OF IT
Grok, the chatbot created by Musk’s artificial intelligence company and featured on X, has recently been responding to users with information about “white genocide” in South Africa, even when prompted about an unrelated topic.

The company said last week that a “rogue employee” had programmed the unauthorized code to occur.

🚨 ONE THING WE’RE MONITORING

Senate Unanimously Passes ‘No Tax On Tips’ Bill — What It Could Mean For Trump’s Tax Bill

The Senate unanimously passed the “No Tax on Tips Act” on Tuesday, which would eliminate federal income tax on “cash tips” — including those given via cash, credit/debit card, or check.

The bill now heads to the House, where GOP lawmakers could choose to remove a similar measure to eliminate taxes on tips from their broader tax package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which is still struggling Wednesday to get enough GOP support to pass before the Memorial Day break.

COME TOGETHER
The bipartisan support for the no tax on tips legislation, which advances one of President Trump’s key campaign promises, is rare.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) brought the bill to the floor Tuesday. Roughly 25% of workers in her home state rely on tips.
- “No taxes on tips was one of President Trump’s key promises to the American people. And I am not afraid to embrace a good idea wherever it comes from,” Rosen said.
The bill applies to workers in industries where tipping is customary — such as waiters, bartenders, and delivery drivers — and would allow a 100% tax deduction on tips up to $25,000 per tax year.
- Employees who earned $160,000 or more in the prior tax year would not be eligible to claim the deduction.

Yale’s Budget Lab estimates that move would affect around 4 million workers. Some critics say the policy is inherently unfair — for example, it would benefit a waitress making $75,000 a year, but not a teacher earning the same amount. Others take issue with tipping more broadly, arguing that it places the burden on consumers to provide workers a living wage instead of requiring companies to do so.

UP NEXT
The bill now heads to the House, where GOP lawmakers could now cut the taxes on tips measure from their broader tax package. Doing so could lower the overall cost of that legislation, which currently sits around $3.8 trillion over the next decade driven by tax breaks and defense spending.

Unlike the tips legislation in the Senate, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” currently has no Democratic support in the House.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Biden last screened for prostate cancer in 2014 (MO NEWS)

📌 Pentagon says it has accepted Qatar's gift of a luxury megajet for Trump's use (NBC)

📌 Rep. Gerry Connolly, top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, dies at 75 (NBC)

📌 Trump administration dismisses police investigations in several cities, including Minneapolis and Louisville (NPR)

📌 Over boos, Columbia University president notes Mahmoud Khalil's absence at graduation (AP)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 China accuses U.S. of 'turning space into a warzone' with Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system (FOX) while Canada in talks with U.S. to join project (BBC)

📌 Pakistan blames India for a suspected suicide attack on school bus that killed 5 (GUARDIAN)

📌 Pope Leo XIV calls for aid to reach Gaza and an end to hostilities in his first general audience (AP)

📌 World Health Organization adopts a landmark treaty on global pandemic preparedness (DW)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Target sales drop in 1st quarter as retailer warns it will slip for all of 2025 (AP)

📌 OpenAI is buying iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion (CNBC)

📌 Person may have spread measles at Shakira's New Jersey concert, health officials warn (USA TODAY)

📌 Mysterious bacteria with ‘unique abilities’ discovered on Chinese space station (NY POST)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Trump posts edited video of him hitting Springsteen with a golf ball (THE HILL)

📌 Indian author Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker Prize with short story collection (AP)

📌 George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on ‘Cheers,’ dead at 76 (USA TODAY)

📌 NFL owners decide not to ban controversial tush push play (CNN)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… Sun’s out, AirPods out. Spotify released their annual Songs of Summer list for 2025, which anticipates what the 30 biggest hits will be for this summer. The list includes established artists like Lorde and Drake, as well as breakout stars like Alex Warren and Tucker Wetmore. The songs are a mix of both dance raves and more mellow jams.

Summer is technically still one month away, but you can listen to the playlist today. ☀️🎵