The former New York Yankees player cast aside by all of MLB throughout his free agency period made his debut with the Atlanta Braves Friday.

Boasberg said that while he was "sympathetic," he doesn't believe he has the authority to block more deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Trump administration's reported openness to recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would likely throw a wrench into ceasefire talks.

• Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender became the acting commissioner of the IRS on Friday.
• Faulkender is the 3rd person to lead the IRS since tax season began and the 5th since Trump took office.
• Trump has nominated Billy Long for the role, but his confirmation is awaiting Senate approval.

The Internal Revenue Service had another leadership shake-up on Friday, marking the third turnover the bureau has seen since tax week began — and the fifth since Donald Trump took office in January.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced in a Friday statement that he had appointed his deputy, Michael Faulkender, to become acting commissioner of the IRS. Faulkender will take over from Gary Shapley, a former IRS staffer who held the position for just days following Melanie Krause's departure on Tuesday.

"Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment," Bessent said in a statement on Friday. "Gary Shapley's passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our work, and he remains among my most important senior advisors at the US Treasury as we work together to rethink and reform the IRS."

Shapley, last month, was tapped as a senior advisor to Bessent. He became a hero among conservatives following his testimony before Congress in July 2023, in which he and fellow IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler attested that the Justice Department had delayed a criminal probe and tax investigation into Hunter Biden while President Joe Biden was in office.

In his statement, Bessent said Shapley and Ziegler would conduct a yearlong investigation into IRS reforms, after which Bessent said he "will ensure they are both in senior government roles that will enable the results of their investigation to translate into meaningful policy changes."

Shapley took over the role of acting IRS commissioner after Krause resigned on Tuesday. Her resignation came on the heels of the IRS coming to an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to share sensitive tax information related to undocumented immigrants to help the Trump administration locate and deport them, court documents show.

The agreement was revealed in early April in a partially redacted document filed in a case challenging the legality of the IRS sharing individuals' tax information with external agencies.

Krause took over the agency in an acting capacity after Doug O'Donnell resigned in February. O'Donnell had served in the role following Biden-appointed IRS commissioner Danny Werfel's resignation on Inauguration Day.

Trump has nominated Former Republican Rep. Billy Long for the role, but his confirmation is awaiting Senate approval.

The uncertainty regarding the bureau's leadership comes as the IRS is facing significant staff cuts. Business Insider previously reported that the staffing cuts are intended "to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS," and include a 75% reduction of the IRS's Office of Civil Rights and Compliance.

The Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies will face off on Friday night with a spot in the 2025 NBA playoffs on the line.

A former U.S. attorney under former President Biden is running for mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and seeking to oust a fellow Democrat in a city plagued by rising crime and a troubled police department, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Alexander Uballez follows former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland as the second former Biden official running for office in New Mexico, and may show how Democrats will campaign after 2024 losses.

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The big picture: Uballez will announce Saturday his run against Mayor Tim Keller and other challengers as incumbent mayors in many cities have recently been ousted over crime, homelessness, and allegations of corruption.

• In November, for example, a bid to recall Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao won by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed lost her reelection to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.
• Mississippi state Sen. John Horhn crushed Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba in an April 1 Democratic primary, 48% to 17%. Lumumba was indicted in an alleged bribery scheme and has pleaded not guilty as the pair head to a run-off.

State of play: The 39-year-old Uballez, who grew up in California's Bay Area, was one of the youngest U.S. Attorneys under Biden.

• Uballez garnered national attention for sparking an investigation into a decades-old DWI corruption scheme inside Albuquerque police that involved officers taking bribes to miss court and getting DWI suspects off.
• He was among the last of Biden's U.S. Attorneys that President Trump forced out in February.

Zoom in: Uballez's entry will likely jolt the race in New Mexico's largest city into a closely watched contest nationally

• The election in November is expected to center on rising crime and a police department hit by the DWI scandal and still under a consent decree stemming from excessive force.

A Keller campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to Axios.

Zoom out: Preliminary numbers show that homicides in Albuquerque increased by 20% from 2020 to 2024, while the nation's largest cities saw a 16% drop during the same period.

• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in Albuquerque last week, saying that a significant increase in crime there warranted the help of the New Mexico National Guard.

The intrigue: Uballez is the son of a Chinese immigrant mother and East L.A. Chicano music legendary singer/songwriter Max Uballez.

• The younger Uballez was on an advisory committee of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and was one of the most high-profile AAPI Latinos in the Biden Administration.
• If elected, he'd become the state's second Asian American/Mexican American mayor of a major city.
• Ken Miyagishima, the former mayor of Las Cruces and one of the longest-serving Asian American mayors in U.S. history, is expected to join the governor's race next month.

The Trump administration's legal battles continued this week following the president's push to control Harvard University and deport hundreds of thousands of people living in the U.S., including a man mistakenly sent to El Salvador.

Here's our recap of major developments:

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Trump targets Harvard

The Trump administration continued its campaign against Harvard University on Wednesday, threatening the university's funding, ability to host international students and its tax-exempt status.

• The Trump administration has already cut some $2.2 billion in Harvard grants and $60 million in contracts after the university on Monday refused to cave in to government demands made in the name of fighting antisemitism.
• Trump wrote on Truth Social, "Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds."
• Both the national and Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors sued the Trump administration last Friday, alleging First Amendment violations.

Appeals court rules for mistakenly deported man

The Trump administration must work to bring home a man deported to a notorious Salvadorian prison due to an "administrative error," a federal appeals court said Thursday.

• The administration resisted an earlier court order requiring it to do so, instead continuing to portray Kilmar Armando Ábrego García as dangerous.

Context: The administration has not walked back its earlier admission that Ábrego García, a Salvadorian national living in Maryland legally, was mistakenly deported.

• Still, it contends without evidence, that he is an "MS-13 gang member " and "not a sympathetic figure."
• When Homeland Security publicized a temporary protective order his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed against him in 2021, she defended him, saying Thursday the order "is not a justification" for ICE "abducting him."
• Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) successfully met with Ábrego García Thursday and said at a press conference the next day he had been moved from the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) to a detention center in El Salvador's Santa Ana.

Go deeper: Supreme Court "perfectly clear" on returning deported Maryland man: Appeals court

Deportations could land government in contempt

A judge warned Wednesday that "probable cause exists" to hold the government in contempt for deporting people the administration has deemed Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.

• Defying U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's order, the president invoked an 18th-century wartime authority last month to justify deporting some 250 migrants it accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
• Boasberg called the move "willful disregard" in a memorandum opinion on Wednesday.
• It's far from the only case that brings Trump administration officials before a judge in what many argue has been a presidency fought in court.

Other court actions involving the Trump administration:

• An appeals court denied the Trump administration's attempt to overturn a court decision to block a ban on transgender troops Friday. Go deeper.
• The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship, the court said Thursday. Go deeper.
• A federal agency referred New York Attorney General Letitia James for criminal prosecution Tuesday, alleging mortgage fraud. Go deeper.
• The Justice Department sued Maine on Wednesday for allowing trans athletes in girls' sports. Go deeper.
• A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking a Biden-era migration program for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Go deeper.

Trump and DOGE push ahead with terminations

• Trump fired two of three board members of the National Credit Union Administration on Wednesday. Go deeper.
• He said Thursday that Fed chair Jerome Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough" after Powell criticized the president's tariffs. Go deeper.
• The Trump administration removed Gary Shapley as acting IRS commissioner, multiple outlets reported Friday. Go deeper.
• Trump is expected to announce Friday his administration is revamping "Schedule F," making it easier to cut federal workers. Go deeper.

Trump prioritizes Social Security rule already law

Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday to curtail alleged Social Security fraud, despite lacking evidence of widespread impropriety.

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the memorandum aims to restrict undocumented immigrants from receiving Social Security retirement benefits, which they are already legally barred from doing, Axios' Jason Lalljee writes.

Trump envoy meets in secret with Israeli officials

Two senior Israeli officials held a secret meeting in Paris on Friday with White House envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, sources told Axios' Barak Ravid.

• The meeting, which included strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea, was kept low profile and took place just before the second round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Saturday in Rome.

Go deeper: Trump envoy quietly met Israeli officials ahead of Iran nuclear talks

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect details of Van Hollen's press conference and the latest news on Trump's attempted ban on transgender troops.

Easter eggflation is striking for the third straight year with prices elevated by the ongoing bird flu outbreak.

Why it matters: The sticker shock is leading some consumers to break traditions, like dyeing eggs, and driving them to swap ingredients in holiday meals.

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• 49% of consumers say egg prices are changing how they celebrate the holiday, according to a Ziff Davis shopping seasonal survey of 1,144 consumers.

The big picture: The average wholesale price of a dozen eggs was $3.13 Friday, up 2% from $3.08 on April 11, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

• This is down more than $5 a dozen from the Feb. 21 national wholesale average of $8.15.
• Retail prices, which typically trail wholesale, are beginning to drift downward but bigger declines are expected after the holiday.
• The USDA report said demand for shell eggs improved ahead of Easter Sunday but was "driven more by holiday family traditions than price."

Zoom in: Easter is traditionally the second-hottest demand period of the year for eggs, and only trails the busy winter holidays, Brian Moscogiuri, a global trade strategist at Eggs Unlimited, previously told Axios.

• Eggs are a big part of Easter traditions and the Jewish holiday of Passover.
• Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins warned on March 11 that the Easter season has "the highest price for eggs" and prices could "inch back up."
• This year major retailers opted out of running their annual holiday egg promotions because supplies only recently recovered, the USDA report said.

Egg hunts switch to alternatives like "potato eggs"

The intrigue: Record-high egg prices in 2023 sprouted the idea of a budget-friendly Easter alternative: painting potatoes instead of eggs.

• Potatoes USA, the national marketing and promotion board representing U.S. growers and importers, has been looking to scramble the holiday traditions and has a has a how-to guide on painting the spuds.
• "Kids of all ages love that potatoes offer an easy, fun, and affordable way to get creative," said Kayla Vogel, a senior global marketing manager at Potatoes USA, noting decorating potatoes for Easter "just made sense.

Zoom out: Potatoes that are decorated with safe-for-consumption materials "can be enjoyed as a delicious treat once the artwork is complete," Potatoes USA said.

More from Axios:

• America's favorite Easter candy: Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
• A daily weight-loss pill could transform GLP-1 boom
• Michaels expands into party space after Party City's exit

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers will face Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers in this exciting MLB matchup on Friday at Globe Life Field.

In an attempt to support his earlier statement about the Xfinity Series, Kyle Larson pointed at Ty Gibbs as an example.

The BetMGM bonus code NEWSWEEK1500 will unlock a $150 bonus or $1,500 first bet offer for NBA Playoff games played this weekend.

The Memphis Showboats will face the Michigan Panthers in this United Football League matchup on Friday at Ford Field.

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BKFC action returns on Friday night with an exciting matchup between Dakota Cochrane and Marcus Edwards, two hard-hitting fighters with knockout power.

Trump's forthcoming move to reinstate Schedule F could impact tens of thousands of federal employees.

Rory McIlroy went home to Northern Ireland and produced a sweet photo as he looks to celebrate after completing the career grand slam.

District Judge Steven Hippler ruled Friday that a surviving roommate can testify about the "intruder" and his "bushy eyebrows."

Air quality alerts were issued across two counties in Southern California on Friday amid harmful pollution levels.

Trump issued an order in January declaring a border emergency and requesting a report from Hegseth and Noem within 90 days.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are desperate for help in the outfield. To take Michael Conforto's spot, they could trade for this outfielder from the Seattle Mariners.