President Donald Trump is talking about firing Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Powell's termination "cannot come fast enough," Trump wrote this week on Truth Social. But the firing of Powell could upend Wall Street's stability in what's already a turbulent time for the markets.

Trump and Powell are on a "collision course," said The Wall Street Journal. Trump wants Powell to cut interest rates to encourage economic growth and "cushion the blow from his tariffs." But the Fed fears cutting rates would feed inflation, leaving Powell stuck with "difficult trade-offs." But even many of Trump's fellow Republicans are leery of firing Powell, seeing it as a "nuclear option" with "enormous downside risk."

What did the commentators say?
If Powell "can be fired by the president of the United States, it will crash markets," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said yesterday to CNBC. It would appear that Trump's advisers share her concerns. Within the White House, there's an "effort to try to keep him from doing this," said The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman to CNN.  

Trump "needs someone to blame," said David Frum at The Atlantic. The president's trade war "against almost every country on Earth" is faltering, producing a backlash even from his supporters. Trump "needs an excuse" for the failure, setting up Powell to take the fall. It's an old story: During his first term, markets slumped after Trump slapped tariffs on China. He became angry when the Fed didn't lower rates to "rescue him from his own mistake."

The dispute between Trump and Powell is a "reminder that monetary policy can't make up for economic policy errors," said The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Firing Powell would "tee up a protracted legal fight." That would spark a new round of "market turmoil," which is the "last fight Trump needs right now."

What next?
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is privately warning the White House that firing Powell "would risk destabilizing financial markets," said Politico. The Fed's reputation for making decisions based on the economy, rather than "short-term politics," is a "key underpinning of the U.S.'s global financial reputation." So Powell's job may be safe for now. "I don't think he will do it," an anonymous official said of Trump to Politico, "but frankly, this is a grenade with the pin pulled."

The recent deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, as well as three California residents, have brought attention to a rare rodent-borne virus that has the potential to turn deadly. While the risk of contracting the hantavirus remains relatively low compared to other sicknesses, it's still important to be aware of how the illness spreads and what steps you can take to protect yourself.

What's a hantavirus?
This family of viruses has the potential to cause illness and death in humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's typically spread from contact with rodent urine, droppings and saliva. The CDC started tracing cases of hantavirus-related disease after a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region.

Hantaviruses can cause two distinct syndromes. In the Western Hemisphere, they cause a severe lung infection known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. The virus that causes it is typically "spread by the deer mouse," which is common in many parts of California, said the CDC. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, or HFRS, is another "group of clinically similar illnesses caused by hantaviruses found mostly in Europe and Asia."

HPS "starts like the flu: body aches, feeling poorly overall," Sonja Bartolome of UT Southwestern Medical Center said to The Associated Press. The infection gained widespread attention after it was linked to the death of Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, in February. 

Recently, HPS was also linked to three more deaths in Mammoth Lakes, weeks after the deceased contracted hantavirus, said Mono County public health officials in a statement. Cases of the virus this early in the year are "strikingly unusual," as the infection is typically detected later in the spring or summer. 

Should you worry?
In the U.S., where there are "not a lot of people living in rural areas where rodent droppings are common," hantavirus will be "rare but not impossible to contract," family medicine physician David Cutler said to Healthline. There have been "fewer than 1,000 cases" of hantavirus reported in the U.S. over the last 30 years. By contrast, "over 100,000 people die each year of viral infections that we can prevent, like Covid, flu and RSV."