🚆 Axios PM: Train station glow-up

🥳 Happy Friday! Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 563 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

The Trump administration is spending nearly half a billion dollars to upgrade Washington's Union Station, Axios' Cuneyt Dil reports.

The project could become one of President Trump's most consequential efforts amid a broader push to beautify D.C. in his preferred fashion, given the train hall's role as the city's front door.

• Trump is pushing a cornucopia of other projects around the nation's capital — the White House ballroom, the "Triumphal Arch," repainting the Reflecting Pool, etc. — as the city prepares for a busy summer of events tied to America's 250th birthday, the World Cup, IndyCar and more.

🚆 The Union Station plan includes overall cleanliness and security improvements, plus:

• Upgrading the Amtrak lounge, passenger waiting area and "ticketing experience."
• Repairing an aging roof, parking garage and other interior zones.
• Touching up the "passenger concourse and customer experience" with upgrades like play areas and nursing pods.

🌎 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters yesterday that the "special project" aims to make Union Station a "world-class transit hub" (More details).

💰 It's unclear how the new Union Station grant meshes with a proposed multibillion-dollar modernization and expansion project.

• The DOT yesterday criticized the Biden administration's proposed expansion plan, calling it a "boondoggle" and "far-fetched."

🏗️ Doug Carr, a key official who helped build New York's Moynihan Train Hall, still advocates for the broader effort.

• Carr said in a statement: "This new funding enables us to invest in the critical ongoing near-term improvements that enhance the existing station experience for millions of travelers, while simultaneously laying the foundation for the future Station Expansion Project."

Go deeper ... Get Axios D.C.

The U.S. earned a C grade in the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health's latest annual report, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes.

• That's up from last year's C-.

👩‍⚕️ Individual states were scored across nearly 30 measures in four areas: screening and detection, providers and treatment, policy and payment, and a new parental support category.

• 10 states, plus D.C., earned a B overall, six for the first time: Washington, D.C.; Illinois; Indiana; Louisiana; Massachusetts and New York.

Policy Center CEO Joy Burkhard said: "While we applaud the progress states are making, the U.S. is providing mediocre maternal mental health care at best."

• Go deeper ... Read the report.

Rising prices, driven by disruptions to the flow of oil from the Middle East, are having a measurable impact on U.S. consumers, according to Goldman Sachs Research.

The impact: Low-income households are facing the biggest hit proportionally.

Read the outlook for U.S. consumer inflation.

1. 🌆 This week brings 2026's first "Manhattanhenge," a twice-a-year event when the setting sun lines up with Manhattan's east-west street grid. How to watch.
2. 👩‍⚖️ A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with its $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Go deeper.
3. 🇰🇪 A court in Kenya suspended a U.S. plan to establish a quarantine facility there for Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad. Go deeper.
4. 🔥 A rail yard fire near New York's Penn Station injured five people and disrupted rush-hour service for thousands of commuters. Go deeper.

Old TV sets are flying off thrift-shop shelves, Minnesota alt-weekly Racket reports.

• 🕹️ Retro video game fans say old titles look and play better on the cathode ray tube (CRT) sets they were originally designed for, with less lag and better colors.

The trend is going viral on TikTok and other social platforms for many of the same reasons behind vinyl music's comeback.

• Racket's Jay Boller writes: "There's analog comfort to CRTs in an increasingly ugly digital world."

Analysts, investors, and traders from across Goldman Sachs explore the week’s must-know market takeaways.

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