Morning Wire - Banning Food Dyes & Pope Francis Funeral | Afternoon Update | 4.22.25

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Lumen: Head to http://lumen.me/WIRE for 15% off your purchase. Shopify: Go to https://Shopify.com/morningwire to sign up for your $1 per month trial period and upgrade your selling today Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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enlarge our clientele to world entire. Trouve of little enterprises like on our own on Amazon.ca. This episode is brought you by Lumen. Take the next step in improving your health.

Go to lumine. Dot me slash wire to get 20% off your Lumen. That is L-U-M-E-N-D-M-S-Wire for 20% off your purchase. Thank you, L-U-M-M-M-M-E-S-E-P this episode. Preparations for the Funeral of the Funeral of Pope,

Francis begin. RFK Jr. looks to ban several food dyes and Harvard sues to keep federal funding. I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Vickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, April 22nd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. Pope Francis's funeral will be held Saturday outside St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The Vatican has announced that the funeral will feature simpler rights in order to reflect the Pope's humble papal style. Cardinal Giovanni Batista Ray will preside over the service, and it's expected to draw dozens of world leaders, including President Trump. The Pope's body is currently resting at Casa Santa Marta and will be transferred to St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday for public viewing.

The Vatican says Francis requested a simple burial at the Basilica of Santa Maria Majore. Once the funeral has concluded, the 135 Cardinals will meet to elect the next Pope. RFK Jr. is set to ban petroleum-based food dyes. Daily Wire researcher Nathan Gay has the details. The Health and Human Services Secretary plans to direct food manufacturers to phase out eight food dyes from cereals, sports drinks, and other grocery staples by the end of 2026. The directive will affect hundreds of thousands of grocery store items containing the dyes, which health experts have long criticized for potentially causing hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in children.

The eight dyes being targeted include bread number 40, yellow number five, yellow number six, blue number one, blue number two, green number three, bread number three, and Orange B. Food industry experts estimate that the reformulation costs could reach into the billions, though many companies have already developed alternative formulations for the European and Canadian products. Harvard is suing the Trump administration to try to restore frozen taxpayer funding. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce says more. The university filed the lawsuit in federal court on Monday. It's a significant escalation as the Trump administration cracks down on elite universities for anti-Semitic activism that exploded on

their campuses. The government has ratcheted up pressure on Harvard and others since pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas protests brought campus after the October 7th terror attack on Israel. Last week, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard. The government may freeze another $1 billion in funding after Harvard administrators released a letter of demands that Trump officials considered private correspondence. A White House spokesman said Monday, quote, instead of grandstanding, Harvard should focus on rebuilding confidence among all students, particularly Jewish students. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period and start selling today at Shopify.com slash morningwire. Go to Shopify.com slash morning wire. Again, that's Shopify.com slash morning wire. President Trump is endorsing two Republicans facing off in Arizona's GOP primary for governor. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice has the story. The president said Monday that he's endorsing businesswoman Karen Taylor Robson,

as well as Representative Andy Biggs for the governor's office, calling them both terrific people. Trump offered his endorsement of Robson back in December before she launched her campaign. Then in late January, Representative Biggs jumped into the race, and he now has Trump support as well. Trump said on social media Monday that he was happy to endorse Robson when she asked before any other Republican was in the race. Quote, when Andy Biggs decided to run for governor quite unexpectedly, I had a problem, Trump. said, two fantastic candidates, two terrific people, two wonderful champions, and it is therefore my great honor to give my complete and total endorsement to both. Karen Reid returned to court Tuesday for the start of her second murder trial.

Supporters rallied outside the location of the trial, which is the Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Reed is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV in 2022. That's a charge she denies. Her defense claims that the murder is actually a police cover-up. O'Keefe was found dead in the front yard of a friend's home where a party had been held. His cause of death was blunt forced trauma and hypothermia.

A mistrial was declared last year after jurors couldn't reach a verdict. And Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren is trying to defend her claim last year that Joe Biden was not suffering mental decline. The former presidential hopeful was pressed on the claim by podcast host Sam Fragoso. Here's some of that exchange. Do you regret saying that President Biden had a mental acuity? He had a sharpness to him. You said that up until July of last year. I said what I believe to be true.

And you think he was as sharp as you? I said I had not seen decline. And I hadn't at that point. You did not see any decline from 2024 Joe Biden to 2021, Joe Biden? Not when I said that. You know, the thing is, he, look, he was sharp. He was on his feet. I saw him.

Live event. I had meetings with him a couple of times. Senator, on his feet is not praise. He can speak in sentences, is not praise. Fair enough. Fair enough. Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.

And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some major stories, including the legacy and likely successor of Pope Francis and Democrats' leadership and strategy. crisis. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning