— Frank Davis saw a lot of waste during his decades in the federal government he voted for Donald Trump to get rid of it but he is doing what he said he was going to do," says Davis who serves as mayor of this town of about 3,000 people in western Maryland In March, the Trump administration suddenly canceled in-person classes at the National Fire Academy here which trains the United States' firefighters Not only is the academy a big part of Emmitsburg's identity Davis says the administration is reviewing the academy's operations he'll see the administration somewhat differently "It will change my outlook to say that they're not being fair," says Davis who also serves as emergency medical services captain at the local firehouse "They're just going in to cut and not caring what they cut." Emmitsburg voted overwhelmingly for President Trump in November NPR interviewed about two dozen people here and many said his plans to cut federal spending were a key attraction they say they are puzzled as to why the administration would cancel national training for firefighters He served for two decades as superintendent of the academy which he says trained 8,000 to 10,000 firefighters on campus each year often referred to as the national war college for firefighting offers courses in everything from leadership and management for fire chiefs to how to conduct fire "The National Fire Academy takes men and women out of their comfort zone and .. exposes them to real serious tragedies and forces them to work through .. what kind of decisions they're going to make," says Onieal "Every day that this training is unavailable to the locals is one day closer to a disaster they can't handle or won't know how to handle." The Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the academy which pays for firefighters to come to Emmitsburg FEMA did not answer directly but suggested in a statement that it had to do with travel costs "The bottom line is we are no longer paying for non-employee travel," the statement reads "We are only authorizing travel for mission critical programs Some of these classes are still available online." The fire academy website does show some upcoming in-person courses They've been left up for now in case the administration changes its mind who serves as fire chief of the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department nearby in Pennsylvania had applied for a weekend leadership and development course at the academy in July He voted for Trump and supports cutting waste and making government smaller But Beck doesn't see how training first responders is wasteful "We're only 100-plus days in," Beck says of Trump's current term Back in Emmitsburg, the dinner crowd is arriving at Ott House a family-run pub and home away from home for firefighters who train at the academy firefighters have left thousands of patches from their departments They include patches for a government fire bureau in Taiwan and departments in Bath Firefighters make up more than 30% of the pub's business Co-owner Susan Glass is worried about the long-term impact "I've already told a lot of our employees that it's a possibility they won't have a job for the summer but we're hoping things open back up," Glass says many of the town's residents hold out hope that the administration will see the value of the academy and start classes again Glass also voted for Trump but feels the administration is moving too fast "I agree with a lot of things that they're doing but sometimes I disagree on how they're doing them," says Glass who thinks the administration shouldn't try to do so much at once It just seems like it's just one hammer after another." Some members of Maryland's congressional delegation have pressed the administration for answers about the cancellation of the academy's classes but say they've heard nothing back "I have no idea why they're doing this," says Rep "It's extremely shortsighted and dangerous to cut this program," he says An earlier photo caption mistakenly referred to a statue of three firefighters raising a flag as the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Become an NPR sponsor The Trump administration's 2026 fiscal budget request to Congress eliminates major federal funding for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and education potentially undercutting efforts to address head injuries in sports particularly at the high school and youth levels includes eliminating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention umbrella agency responsible for TBI research including the $8.25 million marked for brain injury research and public education about the dangers of concussions The CDC is facing $3.59 billion in budget cuts Although the president proposes the federal budget it is up to Congress to approve a final budget bill so the TBI program could be restored or moved to a different agency The White House did not respond to an ESPN request for comment The budget proposal comes after the CDC on April 1 placed all five staffers devoted to administering the government's main traumatic brain injury program on paid administrative leave Paid administrative leave means the workers are still government employees The budget cuts would "roll back decades of progress," said Dr a brain injury specialist and board member of the Brain Injury Association of America a concussion-prevention program for youth and high school coaches athletic trainers and other sports officials The CDC staffers put on leave administered the program Forty-five states participate in the program to varying degrees Staffers interviewed by ESPN declined to speak on the record citing fears of administration retribution "We're really worried about the hundreds of thousands of coaches who have to take this training," the CDC official said and we've lost the whole team" behind the program Some Heads Up training is part of coaches' and other sports officials' state compliance requirements The CDC official said hundreds of email queries are arriving every week asking how to comply as the federal program shuts down The Heads Up website says more than 10 million people have participated in its online training programs Congress first approved TBI research funding in 1996 Legislation to keep the program going expired at the end of 2024 and a House bill to renew it has yet to advance out of committee 12% of adult respondents reported experiencing a head injury in the previous 12 months including but not limited to sports-related activities A follow-up study was being prepared when the staffers were placed on leave The research data was part of a program to measure TBI prevalence and boost prevention The Heads Up website remained active Monday but offered no clues regarding the program's endangered status I don't think the public has felt an impact," a laid-off CDC employee said trainings and materials get pulled down or when they can't be updated I think that's when the public will feel it." the National Institutes of Health would retain an institute devoted to overall brain research The institute focuses on medical issues such as stroke and migraines and it's unclear whether TBI programs would be absorbed into it Hospitals and universities conducting TBI research funded by the CDC are bracing for potential funding cutbacks "We might not [get] the next year of renewal or the next wave of funding And that's sad and scary and impactful for all kinds of people including myself in this project," said Christine Baugh an assistant professor at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine who is studying how parents decide whether to let their children play contact sports and whether brain-injury awareness campaigns influence their decisions the National Academy of Sciences received orders to cancel work on two TBI workshops one of which analyzed the risks of repeated head impacts on children a pediatrics professor at the University of Washington told ESPN that the cancellation affected funding for publishing the information and he called the potential cuts "tragic." "That's a perfect example of how this change in funding at the CDC is impacting people," Rivara said for sports: What about these repetitive impacts It's a perfect example of the impact of this." Traumatic brain injuries have lifelong repercussions on a person's physical Even though some states fund TBI-treatment programs independently of the federal government concerns are growing about a domino effect if Congress fails to renew funding "For many people with concussions or certainly moderate or severe brain injuries and there needs to be lifetime funding for it." The new budget proposal from President Donald Trump would reduce the budget for the nation's national parks seashores and trails by nearly 25% and hand over many of those to the states "It's nothing less than an all-out assault on America's national parks," said Theresa Pierno president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association unrealistic and destructive National Park Service budget a President has ever proposed in the agency’s 109-year history." the park service cuts are among more than $33 billion in proposed reductions in the budget proposal related to parks and public lands conservation and science-related programs and grants The Center for Western Priorities called the budget "a bleak vision for America's parks and public lands." suspend tours and limit camping reservations "This administration is trying to dismantle the park service from the inside out," removing staff and attempting to give away hundreds of sites within the system Budget cuts and bathrooms: An ongoing struggle at US national parks Statements in the budget proposal prompted concern about the loss of park sites Many of the 433 sites within the park service aren't "national parks" in the traditionally understood sense "receive small numbers of mostly local visitors and are better categorized and managed as (s)tate-level parks," the proposal said It added there's an "urgent need to streamline staffing and transfer certain properties to state-level management to ensure the long-term health and sustainment of the National Park system." Americans would "lose access to millions of acres of their public lands," said Jennifer Rokala "Handing over national park sites to states is a non-starter," Rokala said then privatization of our most treasured public lands." While it's true that only 63 of the properties are formally designated as "national parks" but all the units have park service designations Dozens are labeled national monuments and the list includes several sprawling monuments in the Southwest that protect thousands of ancient archaeological sites The list includes scenic shorelines such as Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan and Canaveral National Seashore the 24 miles of untouched dunes and beach in Central Florida preserved when the Kennedy Space Center was created at Cape Canaveral the 433 units are the nation's "greatest legacy," Pierno said "Any effort to hand many of these sites over to the states is a betrayal and the American people won’t stand for it." Proposed budget cutsThe budget proposes to cut: ◾$900 million from park service operations ◾$77 million to reservation and preservation funding ◾$73 million from national park construction The proposal suggested the park service's Historic Preservation Fund is duplicative The budget accused the Biden administration of "wasting federal funding" on construction projects at sites that would be more appropriately managed at the local level It also stated the reduction would complement the administration's agenda of "federalism and transferring smaller lesser visited parks to State and tribal governments." The budget stated that many projects that receive national recreation and preservation grants are "not directly tied to maintaining national parks or public lands which have a large backlog of maintenance and are more important to address than community recreation initiatives." The park service does not yet have a confirmed director after the departure of Chuck Sams, who served during the Biden administration The park service went without a confirmed director during Trump's entire first term Of the 433 units in the system, the largest is the 13.2-million-acre Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in eastern Alaska. The smallest is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia the 0.02-acre former home of a Polish freedom fighter and engineer who designed fortifications during the American Revolution Here's a breakdown of the national sites: National parks ranked by visitors: Here's the top 15 Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, covers climate change, weather, the environment and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal. Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Exclusive: government fears further electoral losses from unpopular policy as well as from planned £5bn of benefits cuts Downing Street is rethinking its controversial winter fuel payment cut amid growing anxiety at the top of government that the policy could wreak serious electoral damage Keir Starmer’s senior team has been discussing for several weeks how to handle public anger over the policy which bubbled over in last Thursday’s local elections when the party lost two-thirds of the council seats it was defending While a full reversal of the cut is not expected No 10 sources said they were considering whether to increase the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance Labour MPs have been piling pressure on the government to change its mind over the winter fuel payment as well as its plans for £5bn benefit cuts before a vote on “stage one” of its welfare plans in early June The government is planning to come back for “stage two” this autumn although there are concerns that further cuts would risk inflaming tensions even further with angry Labour MPs Labour party activists say the subject of benefits was raised repeatedly on the doorstep in the local elections across England and were a key factor in the party’s loss to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK at the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary byelection. Read moreMultiple ministers and senior officials have told the Guardian they believe the government’s decision last July to cut the winter fuel allowance from all but the poorest pensioners has been a disaster. A cabinet minister said: “It comes up on the doorstep all the time. Winter fuel will lose us the next election, it was a terrible mistake. But it’s probably too late for a U-turn now.” On Tuesday the Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan, will give a major speech that will criticise the welfare cuts, setting out a clear dividing line with Welsh Labour, which she will position on the left of the UK party. Downing Street figures acknowledge the concern that exists over the policy at all levels of the party – and among voters – and said there had been many conversations over the issue in recent weeks. However, they stressed this was not a formal review. “People are saying we haven’t done enough for them on the cost of living, and winter fuel is an example of it going in the wrong direction,” one source said. Another added: “The winter fuel cut has become totemic and talks to us being on the wrong side of working people. We need to show that’s not the case.” However, they cautioned there would be no kneejerk response to the election results, and any change to the policy was unlikely before autumn, and would be announced in the context of a broader financial package. The proportion of Labour voters going to Reform – about 8% – was roughly unchanged since September, they added. “We’ve got to make sure our response to the elections is the right one and not just overreacting to hot takes. Of course Labour MPs all heard stuff about winter fuel during the elections and are feeling bruised by that,” one No 10 insider said. Pressure from MPs for a major rethink of economic strategy is likely to mount in the coming days. “It might not be too late,” one MP said of a winter fuel U-turn. “I don’t think we would get credit for doing it but we might neutralise it as a major attack line.” “The mood in the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] is hardening on cuts,” another said. “It’s far beyond the usual suspects who are angry about this.” In No 10 there are concerns that any tweak to the policy could be damaging for Rachel Reeves, who removed the payment of up to £300 from 10 million pensioners within weeks of taking office, saying the money was needed to fill a budget black hole left by the Tories. One senior figure said the strength of feeling about the winter fuel cut was likely to have an impact on their broader plans for welfare reform, as previously loyal backbenchers were threatening to rebel in a vote on £5bn of cuts expected in early June. Read more“It’s unfortunate that the vote is coming after the local elections as lots of MPs now feel that Downing Street doesn’t get it and that they don’t owe us anything,” they added Dozens of MPs are understood to have sent private letters to Starmer urging him to change course on welfare cuts or to pause the cuts until after the summer when fuller details of investment in back-to-work programmes will be known Concerned MPs have been holding fortnightly briefings with disability charities to understand the breadth of the impact of the cuts Ministers have sketched out tentative plans for a second round of tough welfare reforms this autumn though that could now be contingent on how large the rebellion is in June Insiders argue further reforms would make the system more fair overall and that there is public support for reining in the bill for health and disability benefits which is set to reach £70bn by the end of the parliament “We didn’t go big enough the first time round The costs are unsustainable,” one No 10 source said “It’s a fairness issue but also a fiscal one – how can we spend money on the public’s priorities A second government source said: “We should’ve done it all in one hit – we didn’t go far enough We’ve had all the political pain for very little fiscal gain.” Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officials believe the government would need to cut a total of £15bn from the benefits bill to make an impact on the rate of growth Any mitigation of the winter fuel allowance cut alongside further cuts to disability benefits would be likely to spark further criticism from the party’s left A cabinet minister warned: “The second tranche will be even more painful.” With the bulk of future savings set to come once again from cuts to disability benefits including a freeze to personal independence payments the government is bracing itself for more internal dissent A reshuffle of cabinet ministers as well as the junior ranks could come as soon as the summer – in part because the prospect of junior ministerial roles becoming vacant might be a useful tool to persuade wavering MPs not to rebel on welfare cuts But sources have told the Guardian that Starmer himself has become more conscious of a need for a reshuffle in his top team after becoming frustrated with the pace of delivery and a feeling that some ministers have become “institutionalised” in their departments The prime minister complained at a recent cabinet meeting that ministers were seeking too many “write-rounds” – a process for seeking high-level cover for difficult decisions Among those who are tipped to be moved are the education secretary having come under fire from MPs for a perceived closeness to big tech the chief secretary to the Treasury who is Rachel Reeves’s de facto deputy which would slash the HHS’ discretionary funding by 26% The 40-page request sent to Congress by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought includes a 23% cut to the government’s discretionary funding and a 13% increase in military spending overall the HHS would have its discretionary funding cut by 26% The budget includes partisan language about many programs currently sponsored by Washington the foremost funder of biomedical research in the world as “too big and unfocused” and accuses the agency of promoting “radical gender ideology” and “wasteful spending the NIH would lose almost $18 billion — the largest proposed cut for an HHS division in the blueprint The NIH would also reorganize its variety of programs into five specific areas: the National Institute on Body Systems Research; National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research; National Institute of General Medical Sciences; National Institute of Disability Related Research; and National Institute on Behavioral Health Funding for the National Institute on Minority and Health Disparities and centers focusing on nursing research global health and alternative medicines would be entirely eliminated Programs that are “duplicative,” “DEI” or “simply unnecessary” would be eliminated including the National Center for Chronic Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion the National Center for Environmental Health and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control The CDC’s public health preparedness programs would also be shut down as they “can be conducted more effectively by States,” according to the budget the Health Resources and Services Administration which works to improve healthcare for underserved populations while the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration mental health and combating substance use disorders which oversees health insurance programs for some 150 million Americans focused in areas like health equity and beneficiary outreach and education “This cut will have no impact on providing benefits to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” the budget says The HHS’ Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program which helps American families pay their heating and cooling bills The HHS’ only funding increase in the budget would be for “MAHA,” or “Make America Healthy Again,” initiatives like promoting nutrition and exercise Such programs would receive $500 million next year The blueprint amounts to an attack against science and research, especially after the Trump administration fired thousands of federal health employees earlier this spring “This budget proposal carries forward the Trump administration’s relentless effort to decentralize and weaken our public health and health care infrastructure shifting the burden of costs on to states that are already dealing with significant budget shortfalls much caused by this administration’s reckless funding freezes and cuts,” Anthony Wright the executive director of consumer health advocacy nonprofit Families USA “While funding for some crucial activities such as emerging infectious diseases surveillance virtually all areas of health are likely to be impacted by such massive cuts to foundational infrastructure,” the Infectious Diseases Society of America said Top Democrats also railed against the proposal arguing slashing funding for healthcare research will cost peoples’ lives and set America back on the nation’s stage “China’s President Xi Jinping is no doubt thrilled at Trump’s proposal to halve our investments in scientific and biomedical research,” Senator Patty Murray Republican leaders in Congress said the budget would improve the government’s fiscal discipline saying the plan “ensures every federal taxpayer dollar spent is used to serve the American people not a bloated bureaucracy or partisan pet project” in a statement Trump’s budget comes as Congress remains mired in work on crafting one bill including the president’s various tax and border priorities along with steep cuts in government funding in other areas Medicaid in particular is on the chopping block which oversees the safety-net insurance program was directed to find $880 billion in savings However, Medicaid’s popularity among voters, including in Republican districts, is complicating discussions of program reform that could reduce benefits or enrollment. The logjam recently led House GOP leaders to push Energy and Commerce’s markup of the bill back another week to May 12 Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts Donald Trump’s first term as president was characterized by significant turbulence for government healthcare programs Here’s how some of the most influential industry groups responded to the Republican’s reelection Regulators’ assessment of customer support centers has spurred recent lawsuits from insurers But the metric “is going to have a smaller weighting on star ratings moving forward,” the director of Medicare said The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines The Trump administration intends to cut funding for a specialized line dedicated to LGBTQ+ youths and young adults on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline according to a leaked budget proposal reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel All calls to 988 connect people in need with a crisis counselor were identified early as requiring a more culturally sensitive approach Just as veterans may feel more inclined to open up to someone who has lived through the experiences of war and active duty LGBTQ+ youths may also express themselves more authentically to someone who understands what it means to be queer Those calls are staffed by people who understand the issues facing LGBTQ+ youths such as discrimination and the complexity of family support They also can connect callers to support and resources tailored to LGBTQ+ people Having a specialized line for LGBTQ+ youths increases the likelihood that a young person will reach out if they're experiencing a crisis which stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness knowing you're going to talk to someone that understands the stressors you're going through," Battaglia said LGBTQ+ youths are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers a national nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ young people Research from the nonprofit estimates that at least one LGBTQ+ youth attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the United States In step with national trends, Wisconsin's youths continue to struggle with their mental health, but conditions like anxiety, depression and suicidal thought disproportionately impact the state's LGBTQ+ students. The 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey which surveys high schoolers across Wisconsin gay and bisexual youth have the highest rates of mental health concern A separate survey focused on trans youth in Wisconsin shows that this population has even higher rates of depression despite making up just 4% of the student population DHS emphasized over email that these elevated mental health conditions do not stem from their sexual orientation or gender expression discrimination and/or societal and family rejection These mental health concerns have been exacerbated by ramped-up rhetoric on the federal level that denies the existence of transgender and gender nonbinary youths. A 409-page report published May 1 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has gone as far as to dismiss the need entirely for gender-affirming care in young people who experience gender dysphoria "The LGBTQ community is under more political attack than we've seen in years," U.S Tammy Baldwin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "That a lifeline for those in crisis would be taken away is outrageous." The news organization reached out to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services for comment Baldwin vows to fight against the chipping away of 988Baldwin a Democrat who was responsible for the creation and congressional enactment of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has championed additional funding for the three-digit crisis line Of the more than $400 million allocated nationally for fiscal year 2024 a little more than $33 million went to the LGBTQ+ youth line The elimination of a specialized crisis line for LGBTQ+ youths would further chip away at a program that federal cuts have been slowly eroding. February's cuts, led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, hobbled Veterans Affairs, and included the termination of 15 employees who operate the Veterans Crisis Line the specialized 988 Suicide and Prevention line dedicated to veterans After Baldwin became aware of those fired employees she urged Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to reinstate them "We do believe the folks who were laid off have been reinstated but it takes constant vigilance with this administration because they have been running roughshod with their personnel and funding actions," Baldwin said By the end of February, the Department of Health and Human Services slashed 10% of SAMHSA the federal health agency stripped $1 billion from SAMHSA in federal grants allocated to states during the pandemic This slashing away of SAMHSA appears to have served as a prelude to HHS' restructuring plan to roll the mental health agency into a new agency within HHS called Administration for a Healthy America Baldwin has vowed to fight against the elimination of 988's specialty line for LGBTQ+ youths, emphasizing that it is Congress, not HHS, that decides how funding is spent. Similarly, Baldwin said she would take action to preserve SAMHSA, which not only oversees 988 Lifeline but substance abuse and mental health programs across the country If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741 Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert. Reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels and Marwa Rashad in London; Editing by Nina Chestney Kate Abnett covers EU climate and energy policy in Brussels, reporting on Europe’s green transition and how climate change is affecting people and ecosystems across the EU. Other areas of coverage include international climate diplomacy. Before joining Reuters, Kate covered emissions and energy markets for Argus Media in London. She is part of the teams whose reporting on Europe’s energy crisis won two Reuters journalist of the year awards in 2022. Thomson Reuters I would often tiptoe into my sleeping son's room multiple times a day — and night — to make sure he was still breathing Thanks to Safe to Sleep, a public awareness campaign launched three decades ago, I knew that sleep-related infant deaths were a leading cause of deaths for babies in the U.S But now, the Trump administration has shut down the office responsible for leading that campaign, now known as Safe to Sleep. Safe to Sleep created the public health messaging for this information and distributed it on social media as well as in pamphlets targeted to specific groups and translated it into different languages It also provided the materials to hospitals and doctor's offices to be handed out to patients All of this material was produced and distributed by the office of communications at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Shriver was the aunt of current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As first reported by STAT News that entire department was terminated on April 1 Moon's contact at the office emailed her to share the news "They sent an email saying 'just wanted to let you know that since the office has been terminated so has Safe to Sleep.' And that was it," says Moon "For this to be pulled without any notice and at a time when these deaths are increasing — is devastating After holding steady for years, sleep-related infant deaths rose by nearly 12% between 2020 and 2022 Researchers think the rise may be related to parents not getting the information on safe sleep they needed during the pandemic when access to health care might have been more limited Alison Jacobson is with First Candle, a nonprofit that has participated in the Safe to Sleep campaign since it began She says the group will continue its efforts to educate parents on safe sleep recommendations but it doesn't have anywhere near the funding needed to replace the resources that the NIH provided hospitals would reach out to them and ask for all of these free resources to be sent to them which they were able to do," Jacobson says NPR reached out to the National Institutes of Health for comment the agency said "no final decision has been made regarding the future of the Safe to Sleep campaign." The email said the campaign materials remain available online When I went to the Safe to Sleep website the pamphlets and other materials could still be downloaded but many were listed as temporarily unavailable for order Christina Stile is the former deputy director for the NICHD communications office that has been cut She says the office used to distribute millions of publications each year "It's possible that someone at NIH could take this over," she says But with many of the communications offices at NIH's various institutes reportedly affected by widespread job cuts Jacobson says she's all too familiar with what can happen when parents don't get the safe sleep information they need She says she's often heard this in conversations at First Candle's bereavement support services "I can't tell you how many times it breaks my heart when we have parents in the group saying I didn't know I couldn't have a blanket in the crib it's going to be that much harder to get information out to help parents keep their babies safe This article was originally published at 9:12 a.m It was last updated with additional information at 1:26 p.m OMAHA (DTN) -- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will have a lot to discuss on Capitol Hill this week with the Trump administration shedding nearly 15,200 positions at USDA and a budget proposal detailing more than $4.6 billion in discretionary cuts at the department as well Rollins will testify both Tuesday and Wednesday before Senate and House appropriators -- her first congressional hearing since being confirmed at the end of February The hearings will provide Rollins the opportunity to highlight how her staff plans to reorganize USDA while making dramatic cuts to staff and funding across several agencies President Donald Trump released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026 that highlights plans to cut USDA's discretionary budget by more than $4.6 billion Fiscal 2025 budget levels are not posted on USDA's website The budget cuts don't affect mandatory spending such as commodity programs crop insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) but discretionary funding is critical in areas such as research and Rural Development The proposed cuts come after USDA last week detailed to lawmakers that 15,182 employees across the department agreed to leave federal service under two separate "Deferred Resignation Program" offers a summary of a call between USDA staff and lawmakers on Friday provided a breakdown of the job cuts confirmed the cuts in an email to Politico suggesting the Biden administration didn't have a way to pay for employees "President Biden and Secretary Vilsack left USDA in complete disarray including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them," Christensen stated "Secretary Rollins is working to reorient the department to be more effective and efficient at serving the American people She will not compromise the critical work of the Department." -- 2,408 employees from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) -- 1,538 employees in Rural Development (RD) -- 1,377 employees from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) -- 1,255 employees from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) -- 674 Farm Service Agency (FSA) county staff -- 555 employees from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) -- 243 employees at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) -- 105 employees in the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) the 243 employees at NASS who took the buyout offer The 1,538 employees leaving Rural Development also make up nearly 30% of the agency staff the job cuts also left agencies trying to plug holes NPR reported over the weekend that APHIS let people leave then leadership immediately sent out an email offering employees a chance to shift over to 73 positions "that are especially critical to fill as soon as possible." Highlighting the proposed budget cuts at USDA ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee said the president's budget proposal "is out of touch and ignores the needs of America's farmers "At a time when farmers are reeling from trade wars gutting technical assistance at the Farm Service Agency will make it impossible for farmers to access the resources they need to do their jobs The president's budget also poses real danger to our communities by slashing funding for programs that assist local and state partners with wildfire prevention and this budget does not value farm country." Craig noted the USDA budget proposal would slash conservation technical services which would limit the ability of farmers to sign up for USDA conservation programs Technical services is also an option for farmers who might not qualify for other NRCS programs though the budget proposal states there would still be more than $1 billion for technical services discretionary funding for conservation technical assistance was $904 million Rural Development (RD) under the budget would face a $721 million cut Community facility grants would be eliminated "as Congress has eroded these grants by earmarking nearly 100% of them," the budget document states USDA would have no new funding for rural broadband which has been a priority since the pandemic The White House states no new broadband funding is needed because other federal resources would meet those needs The White House proposal in RD also would eliminate rural business program and single-family housing direct loans Sticking with efforts to reduce foreign aid the budget proposal also eliminates the Food for Peace program which buys about $2 billion in commodities for international food aid The McGovern-Dole Food for Education program which helps with school meals in low-income countries also would be eliminated under the budget The Trump administration proposal also would "defund" the Commodity Supplemental Food Program which provides monthly boxes of food to 700,000 seniors agriculture is falling behind in agricultural research funding the budget plan from the White House also would cut $602 million from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) or about one-third of its budget based on FY 2024 numbers The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) would face a $159 million cut with USDA planning to close facilities that the budget states are in disrepair and "reduces funding for research projects that are not the highest national priority." Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN Please correct the following errors and try again: The Indiana Fever made their first roster cuts of training camp Monday Rookie Bree Hall and Jillian Alleyne were waived by the team as it narrows down its Opening Day roster WNBA teams can carry 12 players, but because of salary cap limitations, the Fever will likely have only 11 players on its roster to start the season Hall was drafted No. 20 overall, the Fever's second pick last month after Makayla Timpson was selected No Hall, who was a college teammate of Aliyah Boston at South Carolina, didn't play in the Fever's preseason opener vs. Washington, but scored nine points in 16 minutes of Sunday's 108-44 win over Brazil in Iowa has played for Minnesota and Washington in the WNBA 2.5 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game in Turkey Alleyne also didn't play against the Mystics but grabbed seven rebounds and scored three points in 10 minutes against Brazil it was assumed five players were competing for one spot Timpson scored four points in nine minutes against the Mystics and had nine points in 10 minutes against Brazil Ejim played a scoreless five minutes against Washington and had six points in 12 minutes against Brazil acquired in the four-team trade from Dallas in the deal that landed Sophie Cunningham in return scored two points in 15 minutes against the Mystics and two points in 15 minutes against Brazil She shot 1-of-6 in both games but had four assists and four steals in Sunday's win The Fever finish up the preseason on the road at Atlanta on Saturday The regular season begins at home May 17 against Angel Reese and Haley Van Lith and the Chicago Sky Get IndyStar's Indiana Fever coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Fever newsletter EDT: Corrected the location of Northrop Grumman’s facility housing the HALO module for the Gateway The White House released its proposed federal spending budget for Fiscal Year 2026 on Friday and with it a series of deep cuts to most areas of discretionary spending America’s space agency is facing a 24.3 percent funding cut dropping it from about $24.8 billion in FY25 to $18.8 billion in FY26 The agency was hoping for a funding increase to get a number of programs back on track following two years of what amounted to spending cuts due to budgets being held at FY24 spending levels That loss in spending will be felt most deeply by the space and Earth science divisions which would see a loss of $2.3 and $1.2 billion respectively Human Space Exploration would be allocated “over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs,” which the White House believes will ensure “that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled “This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research,” said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro in a statement “I appreciate the President’s continued support for NASA’s mission and look forward to working closely with the administration and Congress to ensure we continue making progress toward achieving the impossible.” On the chopping block for President Donald Trump is the Mars Sample Return mission which the White House said is “grossly over budget and whose goals would be achieved by human missions to Mars.” The Trump Administration also aims to “eliminate funding for low-priority climate monitoring satellites” months after NASA scientists determined that 2024 was the warmest year on record increasing about 2.65 degrees Fahrenheit (1.47 degrees Celsius) compared to the mid-19th century average the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880,” said then NASA Administrator Bill Nelson back in January “Between record breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California it has never been more important to understand our changing planet.” In an April 30 letter sent to the leaders of the Senate and House committees that oversee NASA’s budget including the American Astronomical Society the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration and The Planetary Society expressed their “profound alarm” at the proposal that was being reported at the time “The impact extends far beyond mission hardware These cuts would eviscerate space science research and analysis programs “It would decimate the nation’s STEM talent pipeline eliminating vital training opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers and likely lead to widespread layoffs within this highly skilled workforce Also facing the budgetary ax is the Artemis Program The proposed budget suggests “allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs,” while simultaneously calling for an early end to the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft along with cancelling the Moon-orbiting Gateway mini-space station “The Budget phases out the grossly expensive and delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after three flights SLS alone costs $4 billion per launch and is 140 percent over budget,” the White House said “The Budget funds a program to replace SLS and Orion flights to the Moon with more cost-effective commercial systems that would support more ambitious subsequent lunar missions.” Spaceflight Now reached out to both Boeing and Lockheed Martin the prime contractors behind the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft respectively If NASA were to lose funding for SLS and Orion beyond Artemis 3 the agency would no longer need the larger SLS Block 1B rocket which would use the 390-foot-tall Mobile Launcher 2 (ML-2) currently under construction at Kennedy Space Center Construction crews recently added the seventh of ten planned umbilical tower modules to the structure’s launch platform didn’t reply to a request for comment by publication “The budget would transition NASA to a more sustainable cost-effective approach to lunar exploration by retiring the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and supporting ground systems after Artemis III and ending the Gateway program – opening the door to next-generation commercial systems and expanded international collaboration,” said NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens in a statement when asked about the fate of the ML-2 work The Trump Administration also seeks to do away with the Gateway a lunar space station with international involvement from Canada The first Gatway module was received by Northrop Grumman in Gilbert Arizona and is set to be launched in 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Stevens told Spaceflight Now that the agency has “informed our international partners impacted by this budget proposal” about things like the cancellation of Gateway but said that “Those conversations will remain private as discussions are ongoing.” The loss of Gateway would also mean changes for the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville 2 lander was planned to dock with Gateway to receive astronauts before heading down to the Moon’s surface on the Artemis 5 mission The HLS version SpaceX’s Starship rocket will dock directly with the Orion spacecraft during Artemis 3 and is planned to dock with the Gateway during Artemis 4 During a so-called “tag up” meeting at MSFC on Friday said that because of the commercial style of their program they likely wouldn’t face much change in the work they’re doing but acknowledged that this is still very early in the process and that more information would come in future all-hands meetings Audio of the meeting was shared by online publication, NASAWatch.com, which is not officially affiliated with NASA. The meeting audio was divided into two clips (Part 1 and Part 2) even if we’re not directly experiencing it Many of us were here for Constellation and have a lot of the battle scars from that,” Watson-Morgan said “Sensitivity is going to be really important now especially some of our cross-program work because frankly we don’t really know any more than what we saw today What I do know is we still gotta fly out Artemis 3 and that’s going to be with SLS that work needs to go on and we need to be very focused on it The proposed cuts would also reduce spending on the International Space Station program by more than $500 million The White House rationalizes the suggested change by stating that it helps with the transition to commercial space stations that NASA would access as a customer “The Budget reduces the space station’s crew size and onboard research preparing for a safe decommissioning of the station by 2030 and replacement by commercial space stations,” the White House wrote “Crew and cargo flights to the station would be significantly reduced The station’s reduced research capacity would be focused on efforts critical to the Moon and Mars exploration programs.” What a reduction in crew and cargo flights would look like is unclear Currently NASA launches crew rotation missions that typically last about six months in duration during which dozens of science experiments are performed onboard the orbiting outpost Right now SpaceX’s Dragon is the only U.S.-built spacecraft certified for astronaut missions to and from the ISS NASA and Boeing are still working to certify the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft with plans potentially for a mission later in 2025 or early 2026 Asked how the budget cuts would impact Starliner Stevens said that NASA’s focus would be on “safely decommissioning the International Space Station in 2030 and transitioning to commercial replacements focusing onboard research on efforts critical to the exploration of the Moon and Mars.” we have no additional information to offer at this time,” she said All of the proposals in the President’s budget request are just that: proposals Congress to determine how it appropriates funds for FY26 and whether it will be able to pass a full budget or will instead punt with another continuing resolution Spaceflight Now reached out to the offices of the leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce the chairman and ranking member respectively A spokesperson for Cantwell said Friday evening that she would not be issuing a comment at this time who served as the NASA Chief of Staff 2008-2010 calling it “the biggest attack against the agency in recent history.” “No spin will change the fact that this would end critical missions and risk our scientific leadership around the globe,” Whitesides said “Not only is this the latest in an unprecedented attack on science it will harm our ability to build the future STEM workforce in the U.S and monitor potential climate hazards like wildfires the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce called the suggested cuts “shocking” in a social media post “They will decimate NASA’s research and education efforts and terminate funding for our nation’s dedicated scientists,” Meng wrote “Rather than rooting out so-called ‘government waste,’ this budget puts American leadership in science whose district includes the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology who co-chairs the Congressional Planetary Science Caucus alongside Chu issued a joint statement pushing back on the cuts They jointly said they were “extremely alarmed” by the reports of the cuts “NASA Science is a cornerstone of our nation’s space program supporting thousands of jobs nationwide and driving countless scientific discoveries and technological advancements,” the statement read these proposed cuts would demolish our space economy and workforce threaten our national security and defense capabilities and ultimately surrender the United States’ leadership in space and technological innovation to our adversaries.” Mike Haridopolos who represent the districts housing the Johnson Space Center the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Kennedy Space Center have issued a statement on the cuts A Progress supply craft loaded with 3.1 tons of cargo lifted off Thursday from Kazakhstan, launching on a six-hour pursuit of the International Space Station culminating with a smooth docking to the research lab’s aft port. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket emerged from its vertical hangar Tuesday for the 1,800-foot journey to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. Nearly a decade after launching from Cape Canaveral on a planet-hunting quest that has netted 2,650 new confirmed worlds beyond our solar system, NASA’s Kepler telescope has paused its observations after on-board sensors detected it is running low on fuel. 1);}}@media screen and (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce){.css-wjxay9-SquareButton{transition-property:background-color;transition-duration:0ms;transition-timing-function:cubic-bezier(0 1);}}@media screen and (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce){.css-152q15n-SquareButton{transition-property:background-color;transition-duration:0ms;transition-timing-function:cubic-bezier(0 1);}}.css-x340e0-SquareButton{margin:0;padding:0;display:inline-grid;-webkit-column-gap:8px;column-gap:8px;grid-template-columns:repeat(3 1);}}@media screen and (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce){.css-x340e0-SquareButton{transition-property:background-color;transition-duration:0ms;transition-timing-function:cubic-bezier(0 1);}}.css-v6oqvx{margin:0;font-family:Lato,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:20px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0px;font-style:normal;text-transform:none;font-stretch:normal;padding:0.5px 0px;}.css-v6oqvx::before{content:'';margin-bottom:-0.4973em;display:block;}.css-v6oqvx::after{content:'';margin-top:-0.4463em;display:block;}Listen The solid April jobs report didn’t confirm the weakness seen in first-quarter growth, giving the Fed time to wait and see how the economy responds to the Trump administration’s tariff plans. As several bills addressing school funding for Florida's pre-kindergarten through high school programs make their way through the state legislature Ivy McMullin isn't worried about how she'll be impacted Even if budget cuts mean the state will no longer pay for her to take Advanced Placement tests she's lucky enough that her family can cover the cost "I'm really lucky that the family that I come from has the ability to capacitate those expenses but I do think this is genuinely going to cause problems for people who can't always find that extra money," the 10th grader at West Shore Jr./Sr It's something Brevard Public Schools is keeping an eye on "We are watching the entire budget process closely," said BPS Spokesperson Janet Murnaghan we will continue to provide BPS students with the high-quality education that they deserve." both of which contain language regarding the amount of funding schools receive from the state for students completing accelerated learning courses and Career and Professional Education programs School districts receive money from the Department of Education based on students' completion of courses and passage of subject exams Florida Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit, estimated the bills would cut the weights used to determine funding levels and reduce allocation to district by half with the House plan resulting in a loss of funding of about $290 million while the Senate proposal would cut funding by about $214 million the House's funding plan would cut student participation in programs by about half The Senate proposal was expected to cover 69,000 students SB 2510 passed, while the House postponed a vote on HB 5101 in favor of SB 7030 The two chambers are expected to negotiate differences in the bill as the 2025 session comes to a close Districts around Central Florida have put out reports on how they may be impacted by these bills as they work their way through the legislature In Brevard, similar consequences could occur, Murnaghan said. "The potential loss of funding could reduce course offerings, limit resources and lower college and career readiness," she said in an email to FLORIDA TODAY, adding that the specialized programs at the district had significantly grown due to weighted funding. Ivy McMullin loves her Advanced Placement courses. Not only will they make her college application more competitive, but they're also more engaging than her other courses. "There's a tangible difference no only in the amount of work I'm doing or how rigorous it is, but just the information itself is so much more interesting," she said. "I feel like I get to apply myself more when I'm in my AP classes." Satellite Beach resident Devon Vann was an AP student in Lakeland. She's now mom to a son who graduated with an AP Capstone Diploma, and her two other kids hope to follow in his footsteps at Satellite High. Her middle child, a junior, is already taking five AP courses this year. While her oldest is now studying abroad, Vann's concerned about how Florida's proposed budget cuts may impact her two younger kids' future prospects. "To get into competitive colleges, even the University of Florida, Florida State now, you have to have demonstrated rigor in your application, and it's going to come from an AP class track, or it's going to come from dual enrollment," she said. If the budget cuts are made, her middle child, Vann said, will likely be fine based on the classes she's already taken and their ability to afford the potential cost of paying for AP tests. But her youngest, a ninth grader, may not finish her high school career in the public school system. "I feel like it's just ... our hands are tied," Vann said. "We're going to end up having to find a different schooling option for our youngest kid, even though we've had success and been satisfied with Satellite up till now." How many Brevard students participate in accelerated learning and CTE courses?During the 2023-2024 school year, 4,557 students took Advanced Placement tests, representing 34.5% of students enrolled in grades nine through 12, according to data from BPS. The five schools with the top percentage of tests with a score of three or above were West Shore Jr./Sr. High, Melbourne High School, Satellite High School, Edgewood Jr./Sr. High School and Viera High School. Students took 583 International Baccalaureate tests during the 2023-2024 school year. To earn college credit, students must earn a score of four or above. Throughout the district, 79.1% of test takers scored four or above. During the same year, students took 3,421 Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education tests. To earn college credit on an AICE exam, a student must earn a score of E or better. 63.5% of test takers earned such scores. This year, there were 50 Career and Technical Education program offered at Brevard's high schools, ranging from applied engineering technology to early childhood education to international business. During the 2023-2024 school year, 8,053 high schoolers worked to get industry certified through the district. In 2024, 5,841 students participated in dual enrollment, according to Murnaghan. Ivy feels confident that she'll be able to complete her AP courses as planned. But she worries about her peers who may not be in the same financial situation as her family. "Especially (with) dual enrollment, where you're trying to get that AA before you graduate, that's where the lower income families are really going to be affected," she said. Reporter Gary White at The Lakeland Ledger contributed to this report. Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker. Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Marie Mannes Science research funding and programs that help students access college are on the chopping block as Trump aims to cut at least $163 billion You have /5 articles left.Sign up for a free account or log in Trump’s budget blueprint reflects his plans to close the Education Department Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images President Donald Trump wants to end funding for TRIO Federal Work-Study and other grant programs that support students on campus as part of a broader plan to cut $163 billion in nondefense programs The funding cuts were outlined in a budget proposal released Friday considered a “skinny budget,” is essentially a wish list for the fiscal year 2026 budget for Congress to consider The proposal kicks off what will likely be a yearlong effort to adopt a budget for the next fiscal year Trump is unlikely to get all of his plan through Congress though Republicans have seemed especially willing to support his agenda this year the plan would codify Trump’s efforts over the last three months to cut spending and reduce the size of the federal government—moves that some have argued are illegal (Congress technically has final say over the budget but Trump and his officials have raised questions about the legality of laws that require the president to spend federal funds as directed by the legislative branch.) Trump has already made deep cuts at those agencies and put most—if not all—of their employees on leave A fuller budget with more specifics is expected later this month the proposed cuts could further jeopardize the country’s standing as a leader in global innovation and put college out of reach for some students “We call on Congress to reject these deeply misguided proposed cuts and instead invest in the nation’s future through education and pathbreaking research.” the Trump administration is proposing to end a number of programs and reduce funding to others The president wants to eliminate the department altogether; Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the proposal reflects “an agency that is responsibly winding down shifting some responsibilities to the states and thoughtfully preparing a plan to delegate other critical functions to more appropriate entities.” McMahon laid off nearly half of the agency’s staff in March To compensate for the cuts to programs that directly support students or institutions states and local communities should on take that responsibility Other justifications for the cuts reflect the administration’s crackdown on diversity equity and inclusion programs and higher ed which help low-income students get to college the administration said those programs were a “relic of the past when financial incentives were needed to motivate Institutions of Higher Education to engage with low-income students and increase access … Today the pendulum has swung and access to college is not the obstacle it was for students of limited means.” the administration wants to cut the Office for Civil Rights’ budget by $49 million The budget document says this cut will refocus OCR “away from DEI and Title IX transgender cases.” In recent years the Biden administration pleaded with Congress to boost OCR’s funding in order to address an increasing number of complaints The office received 22,687 complaints in fiscal year 2024 and the Biden administration projected that number to grow to nearly 24,000 in 2025 But the OMB document claims that OCR will clear its “massive backlog” this year “This rightsizing is consistent with the reduction across the Department and an overall smaller Federal role in K-12 and postsecondary education,” officials wrote The administration also proposed cutting the Education Department’s overall budget for program administration by 30 percent The $127 million cut reflects the staffing cuts and other efforts to wind down the department’s operations “President Trump’s proposed budget puts students and parents above the bureaucracy,” McMahon said “The federal government has invested trillions of taxpayer dollars into an education system that is not driving improved student outcomes—we must change course and reorient taxpayer dollars toward proven programs that generate results for American students.” Agencies that fund research at colleges and universities are also facing deep cuts The $4.9 billion proposed cut at the National Science Foundation is about half of what the agency received in fiscal year 2024—the last year Congress adopted a full budget The cuts will end NSF programs aimed at broadening participation in STEM fields as well as $3.45 billion in general research and education “The budget cuts funding for: climate; clean energy; woke social and economic sciences; and programs in low priority areas of science,” the officials wrote in budget documents “NSF has fueled research with dubious public value like speculative impacts from extreme climate scenarios and niche social studies.” As examples of “research with dubious public value,” officials specifically highlighted a $13.8 million NSF grant at Columbia University to “advance livable and inclusive communities” and a $15.2 million grant to the University of Delaware focused on achieving “sustainable equity and coastal resilience in the context of climate change.” The administration is maintaining the funding for research into artificial intelligence and quantum information sciences The budget plan also aims to make significant reforms at the National Institutes of Health while slashing the agency’s budget by $17.9 billion NIH received $47 billion in fiscal 2024 The plan would consolidate NIH programs into five areas: the National Institute on Body Systems Research the National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research the National Institute of General Medical Sciences the National Institute of Disability Related Research and the National Institute on Behavioral Health The National Institute on Minority and Health Disparities the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research would all be cut The administration is planning to maintain $27 billion for NIH research “The administration is committed to restoring accountability and transparency at the NIH,” officials wrote “NIH has broken the trust of the American people with wasteful spending and the promotion of dangerous ideologies that undermine public health.” We need to distinguish between good DEI and bad DEI Higher ed policy experts say colleges and universities should prepare for increased financial penalties if they fail Democrats argued that the bill has nothing to do with lowering college costs or wasteful spending and everything to d The proposal is part of Republicans’ broader plan to pay for Trump’s tax cuts and other priorities Learn high-impact ways to re-engage students drive enrollment and support your team’s well-being Subscribe for free to Inside Higher Ed’s newsletters opinion and great new careers in higher education — delivered to your inbox View Newsletters Copyright © 2025 Inside Higher Ed All rights reserved. | Website designed by nclud PBS’s Paula Kerger and NPR’s Katherine Maher say they’re looking at legal options to defend against White House PBS’s chief executive, Paula Kerger, told CBS News’s Face the Nation that Republican-led threats to withdraw federal funding from public broadcasters had been around for decades but are “different this time”. Kerger said: “They’re coming after us on many different ways … we have never seen a circumstance like this, and obviously we’re going to be pushing back very hard, because what’s at risk are our stations, our public television, our public radio stations across the country.” Read moreDonald Trump last week issued an executive order blocking NPR and PBS from receiving taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) the media landscape is now filled with news options and the concept of government funded news media was “not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence” The order added: “Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.” Kerger warned that some stations in smaller communities across the US could lose 40 to 50% of their funding and that’s what’s at risk if this funding goes away,” she said who like Kruger was grilled by Republicans on Capital Hill last month over claims that programing at both operations was politically biased said her organization is “looking at whatever options are available to us” But she added: “I think it’s a little preliminary for us to speak to the specific strategies that we might take.” Maher warned that the impact to local radio stations was immediate “especially in a time where we’re seeing an advance of news deserts across the nation 20% of Americans don’t have access to another local source of news The impact of this could really be devastating But the NPR boss also sought to resist the US president’s claims that her operation is left-leaning and pointed to reluctance by Trump administration officials to come on NPR shows. The point of public broadcasting, Maher said, is to “bring people together in those conversations and so, we have had a whole host of conservative voices on air of late”. Free newsletterA deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration Maher added: “We’ve been making requests of the Trump administration to have their officials air. We would like to see more people accept those invitations. It’s hard for us to be able to say we can speak for everyone when folks won’t join us.” And you can go out and take it down a new track ongoing arguments over media bias and threats to defund public broadcasters put children’s programming is at risk including those that are not enrolled in formal pre-K schooling “That was the idea of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers is to make sure that children that do not have an access to a full array of resources have the opportunity to learn … That’s what’s at risk.” she said cancel or divert dozens of flights at its hub airport just outside New York City "Technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed – resulting in dozens of diverted flights hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans," Kirby said in an email to customers the technology issues were compounded as over 20% of the FAA controllers for (Newark) walked off the job." A union representing the controllers declined to comment as did the Federal Aviation Administration The FAA last year relocated control of the Newark airspace area to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York City area traffic who intends to propose a plan this week to fix badly crumbling air traffic control infrastructure visited the FAA Terminal Radar Approach Control at Philadelphia on Friday That’s what is causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark," Duffy said Want to be an air traffic controller? The FAA is sweetening the deal Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said the agency has a team investigating the interruptions at Newark "We need to make sure the controllers have the proper equipment and that they're obviously appropriately staffed," he said Major U.S. airlines asked the FAA to extend cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October 2027 citing severe air traffic controller staffing shortages airlines can lose their takeoff and landing slots at congested airports if they do not use them at least 80% of the time The FAA's waiver allows airlines to fly fewer flights and still retain slots The FAA is about 3,500 controllers short of targeted staffing A persistent shortage of controllers has delayed flights and controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks United in November said it was forced to reduce traffic there because of low FAA staffing on a dozen days disrupting more than 343,000 United travelers It had already reduced flights at Newark before Friday's announcement By OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America Glenn Youngkin said on Friday that he would trim Virginia’s budget by $900 million in light of next year’s tax revenue projections which could decrease as the White House’s reshaping of federal spending spurs economic uncertainty in the state Youngkin announced he had signed the bipartisan budget bill adopted in February by the Virginia General Assembly but vetoed 37 line items winnowing state spending to create a rainy day cushion Youngkin said that while he still supported President Donald Trump’s culling of federal spending and dramatic reshaping of global trade through tariffs he also acknowledged that the changes could hurt Virginia in the short term “The President’s actions to reset fiscal spending and reset unbalanced trade relationships are expected to have some impact in the near term on not only the Virginia workforce but also the revenues that we collect,” he said The cuts mainly sever funds allotted for 10 capital projects for higher education institutions adding that he also cut funding for long-term investment projects that could be funded under existing appropriations The budget vetoes also scrap funds for a public-private partnership for child care The governor described the amendment as an innovative idea but “not ready for prime time yet.” He said he hoped the legislature would take up the amendment again next year Youngkin’s announcement comes after he proposed in late March more than 200 amendments to the Virginia House budget bill that would have cut the proposed state spending provisions by $300 million were largely ignored by Democrats who have majorities in both chambers After they returned to Richmond for a one-day session lawmakers accepted about 30 of Youngkin’s proposed budget revisions and scrapped the remaining amendments Youngkin can outright veto the budget or line-item veto parts of the legislation after lawmakers reconvene though his ability to scrupulously edit the text becomes limited Youngkin opted to veto capital projects and ultimately sliced the state’s spending plan by triple the amount he had initially proposed “The line-item veto authority for a governor is a blunt instrument,” Youngkin said when you use a line-item veto in the context of a budget and it has unintended consequences.” House of Delegates Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said in a statement that he wished Democrats had cooperated with Youngkin’s $300 million worth of cuts but he was ultimately pleased with the governor’s actions Friday “Thanks to the Governor’s conservative leadership Virginia is better positioned to weather what comes next,” Gilbert said in a statement “I encourage my Democratic colleagues to join us in putting the Commonwealth’s fiscal health ahead of political games.” who chairs the House Appropriations Committee said: “While today’s budget signed by Governor Youngkin does not include every priority we fought for it reflects the determined efforts of House and Senate Democrats to deliver meaningful progress for Virginians.” Complete your personal information for a more tailored experience for the best life sciences journalism in the industry By Daniel Payne Daniel Payne Daniel Payne reports on how the health industry and Washington influence and impact each other He joined STAT in 2025 after covering health care at POLITICO You can reach Daniel on Signal at danielp.100 WASHINGTON — Hospitals, health centers, and patient advocates this week plan to escalate their pressure on federal lawmakers to oppose cuts to the Medicaid program The groups are increasing their public calls to lawmakers and increasing investments in advertising to discourage lawmakers from cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in the program More than 800 leaders of community health centers and primary care groups representing every state are asking congressional leadership to protect and stabilize the program according to a letter shared first with STAT Already have an account? Log in Already have an account? Log in Cut through the noise with our essential updates on health care politics and policy By Mario Aguilar By Megan Molteni By Helen Branswell Reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine The White House unveiled a budget proposal that would cut billions from non-defense programs across the government. President Trump's $163 billion in spending cuts would hit health, housing, education and climate programs. White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Jessica Reidl of the Manhattan Institute, who was also the chief economist for former GOP Sen. Rob Portman. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Well, the White House unveiled a budget proposal today that would cut billions from non-defense programs across the government for the next fiscal year. Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has more on the president's wish list as part of our coverage this week of the first 100 days of this Trump administration. Amna, the president wants to slash $163 billion in federal spending, to be exact. The dramatic cuts would hit health, housing, education and climate programs. President Trump, with the help of Elon Musk, has already frozen funding for many of these programs without congressional approval. Musk's team, known as DOGE, has led the firings of tens of thousands of federal workers, and they have hollowed out nearly a dozen agencies in their efforts to dismantle parts of the federal government. For more on all of this, I'm joined by Jessica Riedl. She's a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. She was also chief economist for former Republican Senator Rob Portman. Jessica Riedl, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute: Presidential budgets don't have the force of law, so they're often considered a guide to the president's governing philosophy. Reading through Trump's budget, what do you think is the governing philosophy here? Well, the governing philosophy is ultimately what they call a war on woke. The word woke appears 12 times. DEI appears 31 times. Gender appears 14 times. Generally, there's a lot of spending cuts that are based on a very exaggerated definition of woke. The largest cuts that I have seen are the NIH, housing, transportation, United Nations, and international spending. But, overall, the vision the president is putting out is $163 billion in savings from traditional domestic programs, of which the entire $163 billion would be reprogrammed into increases for defense and Border Patrol. So there's not really any cuts here. It's just a movement from domestic programs to border and defense spending. In fact, it could actually increase deficits, because the budget also reduces funding for IRS enforcement, which will hit the revenue side. So, ultimately, can President Trump and Republicans achieve the spending cuts that they're talking about without cutting things like Medicaid? The Republican budget envisioned about $1.2 trillion in spending cuts to partially pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Well, even those cuts are increasingly unlikely to pass, and they're not going to get any help on the discretionary side, when, again, all the cuts go into new spending on the discretionary side. Really, I think where a lot of ways this budget matters is not what they can pass through Congress, because most of these spending cuts can't pass Congress. But it is a signal of perhaps what they're going to try to do outside of Congress, what they're going to try to do through executive order and by DOGE in trying to achieve savings that way. I want to ask you about DOGE, because they play a role here. So, Elon Musk says that he's taking a step back soon from his job inside the White House. How effective has his team been when it comes to cutting government spending? DOGE has been really effective generating headlines and creating chaos. But despite promises to save $2 trillion, then downscaled to $1 trillion, then $150 billion, and they claim they have already saved $160 billion, the actual verified savings have been closer to about $5 or $6 billion, which is one-tenth of 1 percent of federal spending. That's all, because they have really focused on cultural totems, like DEI grants, foreign aid, government employees. That's not really where the money is. It creates a lot of excitement among MAGA voters, but they have truly only saved one-tenth of 1 percent of federal spending. Right. They haven't touched defense or other big-ticket items. And Musk promised some $2 trillion initially worth of cuts to government spending. And DOGE claims on its Web site that it saved about $160 billion. But many of these cuts have either been halted by the courts or Republicans are now saying that they may not want to enshrine them into law. So, if Republicans don't make these cuts law, are they actually legal? Trying to eliminate many of the programs in USAID, which is a lot of the foreign aid programs, is not legal unless Congress blesses it. Eliminating the Department of Education is not legal unless Congress blesses it. What DOGE can do is reallocate spending across different programs. They can move money from one grant to another, but it is not legal or constitutional for DOGE to unilaterally eliminate entire government programs or agencies that were created by Congress and signed into law. Unless Congress passes new legislation removing that spending, the courts are going to order it reopened as an illegal termination known as an impoundment. So, some of those cuts could end up being reversed? Absolutely. In fact, I would expect a healthy dose of these cuts to be reversed by the courts, unless Congress passes what's called a rescission bill to cancel spending that's already been enacted. One of the other things Elon Musk has claimed repeatedly is that he's rooting out fraud. In your analysis of their wall of receipts, have you seen any fraudulent programs that are being cut? I have not seen examples of fraud. In fact, the wall of receipts has mostly consisted of mathematical and accounting errors. There was things like mistaking an $8 million cut for an $8 billion cut, triple-counting the same savings, counting the termination of a grant from 20 years ago as new savings. There's a lot of ideological decisions to cancel contracts, but true fraud, the kind of thing that would lead to indictments or people being arrested, DOGE really hasn't uncovered it. Jessica Riedl, conservative economist with the Manhattan Institute, thank you for your time. By Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, Associated Press Laura Barrón-López is the White House Correspondent for the PBS News Hour, where she covers the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration for the nightly news broadcast. She is also a CNN political analyst. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nia Williams Valerie Volcovici covers U.S. climate and energy policy from Washington, DC. She is focused on climate and environmental regulations at federal agencies and in Congress and how the energy transition is transforming the United States. Other areas of coverage include her award-winning reporting plastic pollution and the ins and outs of global climate diplomacy and United Nations climate negotiations. The head of PBS said Friday that President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to public broadcasting institutions PBS and NPR was blatantly unlawful NPR’s chief also vowed to challenge the decision Public Broadcasting Service CEO Paula Kerger said the Republican president’s order “threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming as we have for the past 50-plus years.” WATCH: A look at the Trump administration’s efforts to slash public media funding “We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans,” Kerger said alleging “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies to “cease Federal funding” for PBS and National Public Radio and further requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations in a social media posting announcing the signing said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.'” which funnels public funding to the two services said that it is not a federal executive agency subject to Trump’s orders The president earlier this week said he was firing three of the five remaining CPB board members — threatening its ability to do any work — and was immediately sued by the CPB to stop it The corporation distributes roughly a half billion dollars of congressionally-appropriated money to PBS Congress forbade any federal agency or employee from direct control over educational television or broadcasting NPR’s president and CEO also promised Friday to contest the decision as well “We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news information and life-saving services to the American public,” Katherine Maher said “We will challenge this executive order using all means available.” The vast majority of public money for the services goes directly to its hundreds of local stations which operate on a combination of government funding Stations in smaller markets are particularly dependent on the public money and most threatened by the cuts of the sort Trump is proposing Public broadcasting has been threatened frequently by Republican leaders in the past but the local ties have largely enabled them to escape cutbacks — legislators don’t want to be seen as responsible for shutting down stations in their districts But the current threat is seen as the most serious in the system’s history It’s also the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with Since taking office in January for a second term placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and education funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agree to eliminate diversity programs and other measures he has found objectionable Just two weeks ago, the White House said it would be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts which budget director Russell Vought said would likely be the first of several The move against PBS and NPR comes as Trump’s administration has been working to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty which were designed to model independent newsgathering globally in societies that restrict the press Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts which have ruled in some cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization The Trump administration’s Elon Musk-backed government efficiency team promised to eliminate waste throughout government The Department of Government Efficiency has instituted new layers of review at USFS, as it has at most federal agencies Processes that typically took minutes are now taking a month or longer and a wide range of functions are feeling the impact that has led to trash piling up and pit toilets—restrooms that include only holes in the ground as is common as Forest Service recreational centers and campgrounds—going uncleaned or unemptied Getting a contract approved for janitorial services said one USFS who works on those procurements With the added layers that DOGE has installed “You’ve got this biohazard,” the employee said adding any cleaning that is happening occurs by employees “in their 70s with power washers that they bought with their own money so they don’t have to scrape poop off the wall.”  The campgrounds often attract people who are dealing with mental health crises or using drugs and employees said such misplaced feces is a common occurrence Employees like secretaries or recreation technicians whose job descriptions make no mention of janitorial services are being asked to do such cleaning without the proper equipment to do so Given the cuts DOGE has already implemented at the Forest Service employees are in some cases too fearful to reject the assignments Another employee noted her National Forest is already seeing changes to who provides services such as mowing and cleaning DOGE has overseen the revocation of purchase cards at USFS making it harder to pay for incidental costs “Leadership has no answers when the issue is brought up including the issue with the ability to pump toilets at rec sites,” that employee said adding the message is to “make do with what you have and make it last.”  Some of the issues predate the DOGE and the Trump administration: under President Biden funding cuts forced some forests to go from three visits from contracted custodians down to one But as funding restrictions have grown more severe employees said they do not always have capacity to clean internally and leadership has discussed having to shut down some recreational sites for the year President Trump proposed slashing USFS operations and National Forest management funding by nearly $800 million as it refocuses away from recreational services toward timber sales USFS has sought to slash employees by firing thousands of newly hired staff still in their probationary employees (who have since been hired back under a now-paused court order) and through offers of early retirement and deferred resignation is also expected to issue widespread layoffs in the coming weeks employees who work on wildland fire management are being pulled into cleaning duties They are also working on issues ranging from marking trees for timber sales—Trump has issued an executive order calling for increased timber production which led USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to announce USFS will boost logging by 25% and make 43 million acres available for that purpose—to culling invasive frogs One employee said the non-fire team as his location has lost 40% of its staffing meaning firefighters are now doing the alternative work They will pivot back to fire-related roles as needed but that will leave the other work they are currently doing unattended The employee said his team is not currently doing prescribed burns that the agency typically conducts The multi-function roles for firefighters was standard practice 30 years ago but such an approach is not sustainable given the intensified threat of fires that climate change has wrought “They don’t have a  contingency plan if it fails to work,” one employee said of leadership’s plans Another Forest Service employee who works in contracting said that even a modification of an existing contract goes to the General Services Administration and DOGE for approval What previously took a maximum of 15 minutes now takes about a month to get money out the door a "requisitioner" establishes what is needed the budget office approves the use of the funds a contract coordinator conducts a review before this employee approves the solicitation going out A new layer of review within USFS then conducts an extra review The process essentially repeats itself when bids come in to select the best proposal DOGE personnel can either accept or reject the contract Another contracting officer said the process for getting procurements approved has changed 15 times since Trump took office The employee said DOGE has denied funding to continue using “sniffers”—a device that measures air quality to detect smoke or other pollutants It has also eliminated support for a platform that agency firefighters use to get equipment and for devices that track which of those supplies USFS has in stock The Trump administration has sought to put sweeping freezes on federal spending but those efforts have largely been blocked in court One contracting employee suggested the contracting restrictions were having the same effect: by making funding so difficult to obligate it has essentially blocked congressionally appropriated funds from being expended The contracting employee said leadership has expressed that any purchasing related to firefighting will be greenlit but that has not been the case in practice “It’s kind of like they’re talking out of both ends of their mouth,” he said “‘We’re all about fire and safety but we’re not supporting fire and safety.’” Employees largely expressed confidence those in the fire division currently working on other tasks will pivot back as needed Those employees have so far been shielded from cuts and are not expected to be subject to forthcoming layoffs are trained to assist in emergencies that arise in peak fire season—typically late spring through the summer—and make up the “militia” that deploy as needed Several employees expressed concern that those reserves have been diminished as a result of the agency’s cuts “I think that we'll get along but it is my suspicion that this agency is far closer to operational collapse than ever before,” one USFS firefighter said The contracting issues have been felt across government as DOGE has tightened its grip on all spending. It has paraded its often questioned savings and repeatedly highlighted the contracts it has slashed officials have taken a new approach of limiting the number of employees who can access the EPA Acquisition System to just 500 The cuts will have significant impacts on how EPA does its purchasing At the Office of Transportation and Air Quality the division will go from more than 50 licenses down to 10 The web-based system serves as a centralized platform for conducting acquisitions throughout the lifecycle of the procurement One EPA employee impacted by the change suggested the limitations could lead to work stoppages less internal control review and illegal procurements Individual workers could be held liable in such a scenario EPA offices will have less ability to share information and employees may have to create a new acquisition system from scratch after being barred from using the existing one The change will affect a wide range of EPA activity Employees will face limitations on submitting purchase requests adding funding to existing contracts and even deobligating funding on problematic contracts Help us tailor content specifically for you: Thank you for subscribing! Please check out our other newsletter offerings on our Newsletter page. Markets suggest quarter-point reduction to 4.25% is almost certain but some economists say Bank must go further The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates on Thursday amid growing concerns over the hit to UK jobs and growth from Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic global trade war In the Bank’s first intervention since the US president’s “liberation day” tariff policy announcement sent shock waves through the world economy Threadneedle Street is expected to reduce its key base rate from the current level of 4.5% Financial markets suggest an almost 100% chance of a quarter-point reduction. However, some economists – including a former Bank deputy governor – have argued that a bigger half-point cut is needed to help businesses and households in the face of the dramatically worsening global outlook. Economists have warned that Trump’s trade battles will lead to a significant slowdown in trade, and come with a cost for US consumers by pushing up prices and raising the chances of a recession. Business and consumer confidence levels have fallen sharply in other countries, including in Britain, over fears that his tariff policies and unpredictable approach will torpedo economic activity around the world. Read more“The near-term UK growth outlook already looked challenging – recent US tariff announcements have added to the headwinds,” said Edward Allenby, a UK economist at the consultancy Oxford Economics and the MPC could signal a less cautious approach [to cutting rates] ahead.” In a crunch week as central banks on both sides of the Atlantic respond to the unfolding economic shock, the financial markets expect the US Federal Reserve to disregard fierce criticism from Trump and keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday Last month, Trump called the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, a “major loser” whose “termination cannot come fast enough” before rowing back on his attacks on the central bank’s independence in the face of a bond market meltdown While there are concerns that the president’s tariffs could stoke inflation – which could push central banks to keep rates at elevated levels – economists say the border taxes may pull down inflation in other countries Free daily newsletterGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Read moreUK inflation fell by more than expected in March to 2.6% while figures from the labour market suggest company hiring intentions are cooling as businesses face higher taxes and subdued levels of consumer confidence While inflation is expected to reach a fresh peak of 3.7% this summer amid a rise in the price of energy and food – almost twice the Bank’s 2% target rate – analysts said the elevated level of interest rates and fears over the hit to the economy from Trump’s tariffs warranted more action to cut borrowing costs Analysts said some members of the Bank’s rate-setting monetary policy committee could push for a larger cut, including the external economist Swati Dhingra, who has long advocated for deeper reductions in borrowing costs, and possibly one or two other members. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said a half-point cut on Thursday would be a “risk” to their expectation for consecutive quarter-point cuts to 3.25% by the end of this year. “The intellectual reasoning underpinning a potential 50bp [basis point] cut is fairly simple: why does the UK economy, with a weak labour market, pay settlement surveys at close to target-consistent levels … and in anticipation of a possible large-scale global growth hit, need interest rates as elevated as 4.5%? “We do strongly feel that the BoE should cut rates to closer to 3.5%, the sooner, the better.” Ryan Jones and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio The cut at the PGA Tour's CJ Cup Byron Nelson wasn't made until midday on Saturday Here's who did and didn't make it to the third round at TPC Craig Ranch Davis Riley called a penalty on himself in a key spot when the 28-year-old realized that his distance-measuring device was set up with illegal settings but Riley buried an eagle putt on his final hole of the day to finish at 5 under which was just good enough to make it to the third round The cut line at the tournament was 5 under par It had primarily been at 4 under since Round 2 resumed Friday evening Here are some notable players who just made the cut line of 5 under: Players who missed the cut at CJ Cup Byron NelsonRyan Gerard (-4)Taylor Pendrith (-4)Martin Laird (-4)Ben Griffin (-4)Joel Dahmen (-4)Mackenzie Hughes (-4)Patrick Fishburn (-4)Aaron Baddeley (-3)Seamus Power (-3)Charley Hoffman (-3)Lee Hodges (-3)Emiliano Grillo (-3)Greyson Sigg (E)Kevin Kisner (E)Zach Johnson (+1)Ben Silverman (+1)Noah Kent (a) (+7)Peter Malnati (+10)How did Joel Dahmen do?Dahmen needed to make a birdie on any of the last three holes to make the final two rounds Dahmen has now missed more cuts (7) than he has made this season How many players made the cut at Byron Nelson?Of the 156 golfers who entered the tournament 65 are guaranteed to make the cut and play this weekend The number ended up at 71 players who made the final two rounds Tournament odds from BetMGM as of 1:45 p.m The program placed occupational therapy graduate students in regional classrooms Department of Education is ending a $3.9 million grant that the College of St Scholastica has used to place master’s-level occupational therapy students into regional school districts to boost mental health services The federally funded Mental Health Service Provider grant program was the largest grant the college had received when it was first awarded in 2022 It was created to address provider shortages as mental health diagnoses were on the rise among school-aged children The college found out Tuesday that funding will be cut at the end of December 2025 — though it was originally scheduled to run through 2027 we know we’re doing really impactful things and we know that it’s making a difference,’” said Kaisa Syvaoja We’ve had an outpouring of community support The program placed students studying for a master’s degree in occupational therapy into schools within four school districts in this region for 12 weeks of hands-on work with students and administrators The college estimates that 5,000 school-aged children in the Twin Ports and Arrowhead region would be affected if this program ends and is appealing the Department of Education’s decision The college also is considering creative options to keep the program going with leadership within the Northern Lights Academy in Cloquet Rock Ridge Public Schools in Virginia and Superior (Wis.) Public Schools Scholastica President Barbara McDonald said in a news release that she and other school officials are disappointed by the cut in funding to the program that has been successful in addressing mental health needs in the community while aligning with the “foundational mission of occupational therapy.” “We firmly believe that our approach — integrating classroom learning with community action — is both innovative and critically needed," McDonald said Scholastica students have helped younger kids with test anxiety and the looming change in schedules offered by summer break They’ve made recommendations to school administrators about how to manage less-structured spaces like cafeterias and recess areas who will graduate with her master’s degree this month recently completed a rotation at a local school she didn’t disclose She spent 40 hours a week onsite and worked with all the school’s students on identifying emotions and regulating them played games and learned coping strategies Students were taught to modify their environment if they needed to and to recognize when they needed a break to move their bodies students were using the language they had learned to identify their emotions “I think it’s cool to see how impactful it is,” she said adding that it would be disappointing to lose this relationship between the college and the schools Christa Lawler covers Duluth and surrounding areas for the Star Tribune. Sign up to receive the North Report newsletter at www.startribune.com/northreport. High Schools Owen Marsolek struck out 17 to lead the Hilltoppers to a 3-0 victory Monday at Siebert Field. “We remain committed to our mission of sharing Palestinian culture and cuisine, albeit in ways yet to be determined,” its owners wrote. The program placed occupational therapy graduate students in regional classrooms. Get daily insights on the most important news impacting the space economy The Trump administration’s proposed budget for NASA focuses on beating China back to the Moon and sending the first humans to Mars at the expense of every other part of the space agency’s budget The White House released a so-called “skinny budget” today that includes high-level funding changes and major priority shifts A more detailed budget proposal is expected to be released in the coming months.  Plus up: The Trump administration would add $647M to NASA’s human space exploration budget compared to the fiscal 2025 enacted level Total spending on crewed lunar exploration would top $7B The plan would also add $1B in new investments “for Mars-focused programs.” Big ticket: The plan would make significant changes to several marquee programs in the agency’s existing Moon-to-Mars plan under a $879M cut to legacy human exploration systems Other cuts: The budget also proposes other decreases to shift focus to the Moon and Mars:  Open questions: The plan does not include any info on DoD space funding beyond the staggering $1T defense topline It also does not address proposals to outsource the Office of Space Commerce’s space tracking mission to the private sector.  It is scheduled to carry four astronauts around the Moon in early 2026 Ted Cruz made clear he was voting “yes” because of Isaacman’s commitment to prioritize the Moon Payload spoke with several companies building next-gen lunar rovers—including Astrolab and Lunar Outpost—about the biggest challenges and opportunities in this sector and there's been a steady drumbeat of layoff announcements this year especially after the Department of Government Efficiency's job cuts kicked in The Federal Reserve has been focusing on the jobs picture since last Fall, prompting Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates by 1% through December market watchers have still been predicting that the Fed will cut rates by another quarter-percentage point in June those predictions are shifting following a surprising jobs report for April Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is struggling to balance the Fed's dual mandate of low inflation and unemployment Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The Fed hits the pause button as economy strugglesGross Domestic Product, or GDP The advance GDP estimates for the first quarter aren't overly reassuring given that they reflect a 0.3% contraction in the economy according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis The dip in GDP was caused mainly by companies pulling forward imports to avoid President Trump's newly launched tariffs and an increase in gold trading activity which has accelerated since Trump's election the dip comes as other metrics also show signs that the U.S The unemployment rate has increased to 4.2% from 3.4% in 2023, and layoffs jumped over 60% in April to over 105,000 partially because of Department of Government Efficiency plus a staggering 145% tariff on Chinese imports and a 10% baseline tariff on imports have taken a toll on consumer and business confidence Businesses are increasingly pressing the pause button on spending decisions and awaiting clarity on trade negotiations with China and other countries subject to the currently paused reciprocal tariffs.  Meanwhile, consumers' worries over upcoming inflation and job security have caused the Conference Board's Expectations Index to plummet to 54.4 last month, the lowest reading since October 2011, and well below the 80 level that historically can forecast recession The combination of job jitters and inflation worries has left the Federal Reserve in a tight spot The Fed's dual mandate is low inflation and unemployment two goals that often contradict each other The tug-of-war between the competing goals is particularly tense this year given the uncertainty associated with tariffs something Fed Chair Powell acknowledged recently “We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension," said Powell Jobs report throws cold water on June interest rate cut hopesThe potential for interest rate cuts has remained on the table this year because of the risk of a deteriorating jobs market Employment data released this week sent a mixed message.  On April 30, ADP's jobs data showed just 62,000 newly created jobs in April, the least since July, and below Wall Street estimates of 120,000 The Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly jobs report on May 2 showed the U.S. economy created 177,000 new jobs last month outpacing the 138,000 estimate. Unemployment of 4.2% was unchanged from March it would have fueled the interest rate fire since the figures were stronger-than-expected there's arguably no need for the Fed to rush to cut interest rates The likelihood of the Fed staying sidelined isn't lost on market participants According to the CME's closely watched FedWatch tool the probability of the Fed cutting the Fed Funds Rate in June dropped to 37% after the jobs report from 55% on May 1 and down from 61% one month ago Odds that interest rate cuts will happen in July also shifted. The CME's data suggests a 20% probability that interest rates will remain unchanged at the current 4% to 4.25% level in July with the 10-year Treasury Note rising by 8 basis points to 4.31% Want TheStreet’s best daily stock and investing news right in your inbox every weekday Sign up today for our free newsletter and you'll receive an exclusive report explaining hedge fund guru Doug Kass' winning investment style The Trump administration announced plans for a significant reorganization of the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday and signaled major cuts in staffing to come – especially for the agency's scientific research arm EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the EPA expects to cut staff to levels similar to the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House in order to "operate as efficiently and effectively as possible." That could mean potentially thousands fewer employees. The agency currently has a workforce of about 15,000 people Staffing during the Reagan administration fluctuated between about 11,000 to 14,000 employees The agency plans major changes in the Office of Research and Development the wing of EPA that provides scientific analysis on the risks of air pollution It plans to move some scientific staff from ORD into existing policy-making offices EPA leadership told ORD staff to expect cuts in the coming weeks Former EPA official Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta says the reorganization could undermine research at the EPA "By splitting things up or eliminating that expertise we put people at greater risk and we put this country at greater risk," Orme-Zavaleta says The ORD has historically provided independent scientific assessments about the risks of environmental contaminants from lead in drinking water to air pollution Its scientists have provided foundational research into some of the country's most challenging environmental problems ORD researchers were some of the first to identify sources of PFAS as health hazards over a decade ago, for example. Before that, research from a North Carolina laboratory established direct links between breathing in different amounts of ozone – the primary component of smog – and health problems like asthma Policymakers within the agency rely on ORD science to design rules to protect Americans from pollution Experts are concerned that staff and budget changes could result in major cuts to research. Zeldin has previously announced his intention to slash EPA's overall budget by 65% in coming years In its budget submitted to Congress this week the Trump administration called for a roughly 45% cut to ORD's budget "The magnitude of these kinds of cuts would really affect the entire research enterprise of the EPA," says Chris Frey a dean of research at North Carolina State University who led ORD during the Biden Administration In an op-ed published Friday in Newsweek Zeldin said the reorganization efforts are intended to "transform the EPA into a more efficient and effective agency." He says the proposed changes will save an estimated $300 million by 2026 – a roughly 3% savings compared to the agency's 2024 budget of more than $9 billion EPA leaders encouraged ORD's 1500 staff to apply for the roughly 500 new positions created in the reorganization "I feel like they're playing musical chairs and everyone else is going to get cut," says an EPA staff scientist who attended the meeting NPR is not using their name because they fear retribution for speaking publicly The reorganization is just the latest change at EPA. In March, Zeldin announced ambitious plans to review and potentially roll back more than two dozen environmental rules and policies while 175 people were transferred to other offices the government's flagship report on how global warming is affecting the U.S President Trump on Friday unveiled an initial version of his $1.7 trillion fiscal 2026 discretionary funding budget which included staggering cuts of 22% to non-defense agencies The Defense Department would see its funding increased by 13% to more than $1 trillion more than 10% of which would come in the proposed reconciliation bill Nearly every other agency in government would see dramatic reductions While Trump put forward similar proposals each year of his first term only to see lawmakers largely ignore the suggestions White House officials on Friday said Republican lawmakers are much more amenable to the cuts this time around Senior Office of Management and Budget officials told reporters that even if Congress once again declines to institute the recommended reductions it could unilaterally opt not to spend the money lawmakers have appropriated The White House has pursued that approach in its first 100 days in office leading to an array of lawsuits and court orders to reinstate paused funding “We have never taken impoundment off the table,” one official said referring to the process of withholding appropriated funds The 1974 Impoundment Control Act prohibits such action for policy reasons but the Trump administration has said the law is unconstitutional all but the departments of Homeland Security as well as the Social Security Administration Nearly all of those facing cuts would see their budgets slashed by at least 15% Housing and Urban Development and State (and other international programs included in its budget) Environmental Protection Agency and National Science Foundation would all see reductions of at least 30% The latter two agencies would have their budgets cut by more than half A senior OMB official said excluding areas the Trump administration set aside for bumps agencies would see on average a 35% reduction The official added the budget proposal was a “pretty historic effort to deal with the bureaucracy.”  Some of the boosted funds for select agencies—about $325 billion—is expected to come from the tax cut and spending package congressional Republicans are hoping to pass this year through the reconciliation process would see dramatic reductions as it “winds down its operations and reduces its workforce.” Other major changes include a proposal to consolidate wildland firefighting currently split between the Bureau of Land Management into one entity within the Interior Department That reform would lead to better efficiency and coordination Other parts of USFS would face significant cuts as the Trump administration looks to refocus the agency on timber sales The budget would eliminate many programs throughout government the White House accused of pushing "radical" ideology the National Science Foundation's general research grants and Justice Department grant programs The budget would eliminate grant programs at a bevy of agencies as the White House suggested states should instead fund related projects EPA would lose $2.5 billion for its State Revolving Fund because “states should be responsible for funding their own water infrastructure projects.” would go toward hiring: in addition to the long-promised surges for DHS Transportation would receive significant new resources for the Federal Aviation Administration to modernize and boost its air traffic controller workforce Research operations would suffer significant cuts across government The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would see its research and operations budget slashed by $1.3 billion The National Institutes of Health would lose $18 billion The White House said the agency has lost the trust of the American people and has “grown too big and unfocused.”  Climate-related programs would also face severe cuts which OMB Director Russ Vought said were “antithetical to the American way of life.” The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office within the Energy Department would see its budget decimated by nearly 75% the budget would eliminate $15 billion in funding provided in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act related to clean energy and other efforts to combat climate change The White House put forward only a “skinny” version of its budget on Friday and a more robust version documenting line-by-line funding level proposals across every federal office is still expected Appropriators are eager to see those details which will help them write funding bills for fiscal 2026 Any funding measure will require Democratic support to pass the Senate and lawmakers in the minority party were quick to criticize Trump’s proposal Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler Voting is open for the 2025 CyberScoop 50 awards President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal would slash $491 million from the budget of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency That would amount to a nearly 17% reduction to the agency’s approximately $3 billion budget. The administration did not release a detailed itemization of the cuts, only an outline “The Budget refocuses CISA on its core mission — Federal network defense and enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure — while eliminating weaponization and waste,” a summary reads Neither CISA nor the Office of Management and Budget immediately answered questions about what specific programs or offices would face elimination or reduction The budget summary says that CISA programs were a hub of “the Censorship Industrial Complex to violate the First Amendment and target the President,” and that “the Budget eliminates programs focused on so-called misinformation and propaganda.” CISA doesn’t have any offices explicitly dedicated to combating misinformation or disinformation. During Trump’s first administration, and continuing into a stretch of the Biden administration, CISA ran a “Rumor Control” website in a bid to dispel false information about the election process. Trump took such great issue with the site that he fired then-director Chris Krebs Election security overall appears to be a very small part of the CISA budget was asked how much the agency spent on its disinformation work “Last time we looked at this it was something less than $2 million,” said Wales adding that he did not believe the work detracted from CISA’s other missions The Supreme Court ruled last year that plaintiffs alleging federal censorship based on efforts like CISA’s to communicate with social media platforms on election misinformation had a “startlingly broad” definition of the term “censorship,” and rejected the bid from Republican state officials to limit such efforts a senior OMB official said that the goal of the budget was to “make sure that CISA is actually in the business of cybersecurity as opposed to disinformation funding and funding grants at the Department of Homeland Security and universities to combat and call extremist half the country who just care about normal conservative things.” DHS had also already cut funding for programs studying online radicalization under the Biden administration. The Trump administration has been eliminating contracts related to domestic terrorism Congressional lawmakers and staffers for both parties have expressed concern about reducing CISA’s budget and cutting personnel. by Tasha Robinson He also says he only found out how radically her role had been altered when he was sitting in an early screening note: Significant spoilers ahead about Taskmaster’s situation in Thunderbolts*.] There are no surprise reveals where she survived that encounter at least not in this movie — she appears to die All of which came as a complete surprise to Pearson “It was decided after my work,” he told Polygon one thing was totally different and shocked the hell out of me that’s the movie that I wrote!’ But that decision…” As far as why Taskmaster was removed from the movie Pearson says he doesn’t know: “You’d have to ask [director] Jake Schreier or [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] or [co-credited screenwriter] Joanna [Calo] it would be to get the reaction that I had as an audience member Pearson says that in the final draft of his script Antonia/Taskmaster survives for the entire movie and was the center of “a pretty big subplot.” His script had Taskmaster bonding with Ava gained quantum-shifting powers in a lab accident that killed her parents Pearson felt they’d have a lot in common “as people who’d grown up in labs and been controlled that way having won her autonomy earlier in the chronology than Taskmaster was kind of big-sistering her a little bit in a way of ‘how to break free and be your own person,’” Pearson says He also feels that Taskmaster’s presence helped rein in some of the other characters’ tendency for self-pity: “I mean everyone in there has suffered a ton of tragedy,” he says bigger personalities — no one could get out of line because no one could say ‘I had it worse than you.’” His version of Taskmaster also enabled a running joke about her tendency to forget she’d moved past trying to assassinate John Walker she was struggling with her own memory-loss stuff and there was a gag where she just kept restarting the fight and forgetting that they had made up and become friends.” he says “They would be discussing the plan of how to get out [of the vault] and they’d all have to pig-pile on each other Pearson does wonder if one reason Antonia’s plotlines were cut short was because that gag felt redundant with the movie’s other big friend-turned-foe plotline “That could contribute as another reason why they chose to bring her out of the movie,” he says “Bob was obviously having memory issues as a big part of his character.” The best of Polygon in your inbox, every Friday. Bo Nickal signed to the UFC after just one pro fight on the regional scene and a couple of fights on Contender Series leveling up in terms of competition with every fight he won The UFC didn’t do Nickal any favors by matching him with former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines over the weekend where Nickal fell to 7-1 after eating a brutal knee to the body in round 2 Following many mixed reactions from the MMA world one ex-UFC star suggests the premier promotion remove Nickal from the roster Nickal’s opponent de Ridder had three times his MMA experience The black belt in jiu-jitsu and judo has only lost to current two-division champion Anatoly Malykhin in his 22-fight career While the step-up in competition was evident with RDR former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson suggests a massive step down for Nickal—outside of the UFC You need to spend probably a good eight months and you need to go you need to tighten up everything,” Thomson said on the Weighing In Podcast “We’re gonna almost do like what we did with Mason Jones or what we did with Youssef Zalal Mason Jones and Youssef Zalal were cut by the UFC after exchanging wins and losses in their first UFC runs later returning to the Octagon after gaining more experience on the regional scene “He needs work,” Thomson said of Nickal’s performance against de Ridder “It was very telling how much work he needs.” Rather than the UFC getting rid of Nickal entirely, legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy pitched another idea: a fight with 5’8″ middleweight Torrez Finney Finney went viral last year after UFC CEO Dana White said he’d get ‘absolutely decimated’ in the UFC when he won his second fight on Contender Series Finney eventually proved White wrong by signing to the promotion in his third appearance on the show and also by winning his debut last month Finney’s short and stocky for the middleweight division with decent wrestling.“Both had multiple fights in the Dana White contender series,” Thomson said of Nickal vs they don’t seem like they want him,” Thomson added President Trump is proposing $163 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending for the 2026 fiscal year in what's known as a "skinny budget" — a summary of what the White House would like to see Congress do when it determines government spending Trump's proposals cover spending that Congress authorizes each year — which does not include spending on safety nets like Medicare The administration's full budget including all spending and revenue projections will follow in coming months The cuts represent an overall 22.6% cut in projected spending for the current fiscal year though there are big increases proposed for defense and border security climate funding and any spending on programs deemed to promote what the Trump administration calls "wokeism." The proposal comes after the White House and the cost-cutting project known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have already made dramatic cuts to spending and personnel at an array of agenci es We have a very close partnership with them," a senior White House official told reporters on a conference call The budget proposes cuts of more than 50% at the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation it would cut $2.5 billion in spending by the Internal Revenue Service Education funding would be cut by 15%. But the official told reporters that Head Start funding for early child care was preserved The blueprint also proposes zeroing out several government agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and AmeriCorps But there's a 13% hike for defense spending and a 65% jump for border security at the Department of Homeland Security These increases would be paid for in a massive spending package Republicans are working on through a process known as reconciliation But the president is required by law to send lawmakers a budget proposal each year The proposal is not binding — it's more of a list of the president's policy priorities That means Congress does not have to abide by what a president wants "Nearly all of these cuts are dead on arrival in Congress," said Jessica Riedl a budget expert at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute "But this may provide a roadmap for where DOGE will go in the next year If the president can't get this through Congress he may do as much as possible through executive orders and DOGE." Trump not only has Republican majorities in both houses — albeit slim majorities — but he also has a stranglehold on the GOP most Republicans have not openly objected to DOGE's drastic changes to spending But the White House is also not ruling out using what's known as impoundment to overrule Congress' spending decisions It has argued that a 1974 law requiring presidents to spend money as Congress directs is unconstitutional "It would recklessly slash NASA’s science budget by 47%." The White House released its 2026 "skinny budget" on Friday (May 2) a blueprint that outlines how the administration anticipates allocating government funds for the upcoming fiscal year NASA will see a 24% cut to its top-line funding which experts say could be devastating for the agency "It would recklessly slash NASA's science budget by 47% forcing widespread terminations of functional missions worth billions of dollars." The budget would also eliminate climate-focused "green aviation" spending directed at producing aircraft that are better for the environment The latter also reflects the skinny budget's major reductions to Earth science SLS and Orion have flown once together so far meaning there'd be two more opportunities left for this duo is not supportive of President Trump's own stated goal that America must 'lead the way in fueling the pursuit of space discovery and exploration,'" the Planetary Society statement reads in reference to the White House Office of Management and Budget "The OMB's budget proposal is fundamentally at odds with the President’s vision for American space leadership." impact space weather forecasting and possibly threaten national security "We urge Congress to swiftly reject this destructive proposal and instead pursue a path consistent with the President's vision," the latest Planetary Society statement says "This is an opportunity for bipartisan agreement to secure an efficient and balanced national space program worthy of the nation it aims to represent." Of note, a statement released on April 14 by the bipartisan U.S Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) echo these sentiments particularly pointing out worries related to the effects these cuts could have on national security and Mars Sample Return efforts Planetary Science Caucus chairs jointly stated that "We are extremely alarmed by reports of a preliminary White House budget that proposes cutting NASA Science funding by almost half and terminating dozens of programs already well underway like the Mars Sample Return mission and the Roman Space Telescope." we must maintain America's preeminence in space," they added — Trump administration proposes slashing NASA budget by 24% — Trump administration could slash NASA science budget by 50%, reports suggest Other items of note in the White House's skinny budget include a $650 million increase in budget for human space exploration — the only branch that saw an increase in funding — and an emphasis on the intention of returning to the moon "before China" and putting a "man on Mars." It also states goals like eliminating funding for "low-priority climate monitoring satellites," scaling back or eliminating projects "better suited to private sector research and development" and says "NASA will inspire the next generation of explorers through exciting not through subsidizing woke STEM programming and research that prioritizes some groups of students over others and have had minimal impact on the aerospace workforce." "These cuts would damage a broad range of research areas that will not be supported by the private sector The negative consequences would be exacerbated because many research efforts can require years to decades to mature and reach fruition," the AAS statement says without the input of a confirmed NASA Administrator or in response to a considered policy goal won't make the agency more efficient — it will cause chaos and undermine American leadership in space," the recent Planetary Society statement says As of now, Janet Petro is NASA's acting administrator; Trump's pick to follow Petro is billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. Monisha RavisettiSocial Links NavigationAstronomy Channel EditorMonisha Ravisetti is Space.com's Astronomy Editor exoplanet discoveries and other enigmas hidden across the fabric of space and time reported for The Academic Times. Prior to becoming a writer she was an immunology researcher at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York She graduated from New York University in 2018 with a B.A She spends too much time playing online chess you will then be prompted to enter your display name Scientists chased a falling spacecraft with a plane to understand satellite air pollution 'Falcon' flies on Star Wars Day: SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Florida (photos) A giant crater on the moon may hold remnants of an ancient magma ocean Artemis astronauts could bring home samples of it Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March announced a major restructuring plan including the consolidation of divisions from 28 to 15 and elimination of 20,000 full-time employees saying it would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year James said the states' lawsuit in Rhode Island U.S district court takes aim at Kennedy Jr.'s “reckless and dangerous” efforts that erase decades of public health progress and leaves the federal government “unable to execute many of its most vital functions.” It also decried the federal employees at HHS who were locked out of their work emails and computers on April 1 canceled site visits and trainings and shuttered laboratories MAHA: RFK Jr.'s MAHA movement is coming to a state near you “This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us,” James said “When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases silence the doctors who care for pregnant people and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive you are not making America healthy – you are putting countless lives at risk.” The HHS overhaul includes cutting the number of regional offices by half During the announcement touting the overhaul Kennedy said HHS was "realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities," which includes what he calls the "chronic disease epidemic." “We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl," Kennedy said What health & wellness means for you: Sign up for USA TODAY's Keeping It Together newsletter More: Elon Musk talks Lincoln Bedroom stays, late-night ice cream as he steps back from DOGE The HHS cuts are part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s workforce optimization initiative, led by Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser the Trump administration released a proposed 2026 budget with a 26% cut to the HHS’ discretionary budget The “skinny budget” request released by the Office of Management and Budget a decrease of about $33 billion over the fiscal 2025 enacted level Trump's budget proposal calls for big cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while asking for $500 million for Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative The administration says the initiative will allow Kennedy to “tackle nutrition over-reliance on medication and treatments The HHS budget proposes reducing funding for CDC by $3.6 billion and NIH by $18 billion while maintaining funding for “core Medicare and Medicaid operations.” Kennedy is expected to appear before the Senate Health and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the budget and the overhaul of the HHS Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY California schools spend millions on police officers What California can learn from Texas about bilingual education Are California schools becoming more vulnerable to measles Pandemic-era push to ‘build solutions’ must continue How earning a college degree put four California men on a path from prison to new lives | Documentary  Patrick Acuña’s journey from prison to UC Irvine | Video rising risk: Vaccination rates down in California Five Years Later: Covid’s Lasting Impact on Education Calling the cops: Policing in California schools Black teachers: How to recruit them and make them stay Lessons in Higher Education: California and Beyond Five years after Covid: Innovations that are driving results High-needs students Twenty-three-year-old Valerie Caballero worked with seven third graders guiding numerous activities on decoding words on Thursday at Roche Elementary in Portersville. With a group of three students teacher Shelly Noble focused on building reading comprehension read independently or completed literacy assignments online until it was time for the groups to change stations — to go to Caballero or Noble Caballero is one of 85 community members trained as AmeriCorps volunteers to tutor and support over 2,000 students at 10 elementary schools in Porterville Unified.  The AmeriCorps program deployed her and others to third- to fifth-grade classrooms to provide students with additional time for reading and math intervention they wouldn’t get elsewhere.  “Families rely on programs like AmeriCorps to give their child one-on-one support and attention that they need,” Caballero said.  who has benefited from the AmeriCorps program since her third grade year said volunteer Stephanie Rector has helped her read at a better pace and multiply three-digit numbers the fifth grader said she and other students would still be struggling with reading and math if not for Rector’s daily support.  Last Friday, the program was one of many whose survival became uncertain because of the reduction of federal AmeriCorps grants by the Department of Government Efficiency Nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding was cut jeopardizing more than 1,000 programs and the jobs of tens of thousands of employees the national volunteer service organization reported.  Unless the lawsuit prevails, the AmeriCorps funding cuts — estimated at $60 million for educational, economic, environmental, health and disaster response services in the state — will impact 87 programs and over 5,600 positions, according to Cassandra González-Kester, communications manager for California Volunteers the state service organization that receives most AmeriCorps grant funding and disburses it to schools nonprofit organizations and other entities to address critical community needs.  “These cuts affect service members who responded to the LA fires the tutors and mentors for our young students as well as those who care for seniors,” she said “School districts and nonprofit organizations throughout the state are already feeling these severe impacts.”  But the nearly 14,000-student Porterville Unified has decided to use its own funds to continue the program until May 30 the last day of school — something not all schools and organizations can do so many communities will be left without crucial services.  The cuts are hurting the most vulnerable: kids in need of reading and math intervention; students struggling with chronic absenteeism; families experiencing housing instability; and communities recovering from natural disasters The end of services could exacerbate existing inequalities especially since the fate of many programs remains uncertain Thousands of students receiving support through AmeriCorps may have those services upended or interrupted — if they haven’t already — by the Trump administration’s sudden cancellation of the grants “If we aren’t able to continue this work (beyond this school year), it’s going to leave a huge void, and our students are definitely going to feel the effects of that,” said Tara Warren, director of Porterville Unified’s AmeriCorps program AmeriCorps, an independent agency of the U.S. government, supports volunteer and service efforts in California and across the country by providing opportunities for community members to meet local needs and address pressing issues including academic support and intervention for students Due to the range of programs that AmeriCorps supports thousands of families in California alone will lose services if they haven’t already.  “We recognize the impact this has across all programs and staff, not just in our state, but nationwide,” said Monica Ramirez, the executive director of First 5 Madera County, which operates the Madera Family Resource Center in the Central San Joaquin Valley The Madera Family Resource Center, a comprehensive hub for families with children aged 0 to 5, is partially funded by federal AmeriCorps money. The center provides weekly playgroups, preschool readiness programs, developmental screenings and resource referrals to support early childhood development. After getting notice of the AmeriCorps funding cuts Porterville Unified’s Building Communities Changing Lives program is largely funded by AmeriCorps AmeriCorps awarded the district more than $1.6 million in federal funds and the district matched those funds with about $1.2 million this school year.  Most of that funding goes toward living stipends for AmeriCorps members community members and college students who may be tutors Covering the operating costs for 85 AmeriCorps members who provide 35 hours of weekly student intervention and support is approximately $210,000 for May an expense the district likely won’t be able to foot without the AmeriCorps funds.  “I don’t see another way to move forward without the AmeriCorps funding,” Warren said.  are trying to fill the void for impacted groups Fresno State College Corps Director Mellissa Jessen-Hiser said will fund the college corps members’ continued work at places such as the food bank and Fresno Unified schools for the rest of the semester.  The federal government has provided more than half the funding for some of California’s AmeriCorps programming with the agency’s members supporting 17,000 foster youth with education and employment and tutoring or mentoring 73,833 students in 2023-24 Of the more than 2,000 students to whom Porterville Unified AmeriCorps members provide one-on-one and small-group instruction based on this year’s district assessments.  Members work with at least 25 students a day over 10 months of the school year; they focus on reading and literacy helping struggling students get to grade level.  “It’s going to create a larger learning gap if they’re not receiving this extra support,” said Caballero Based on midyear data from this school year 44% of students served by AmeriCorps members have improved by at least one proficiency level on their reading assessment demonstrating meaningful academic progress And with an extra person in the classroom working alongside them teachers focus on the academic struggles of students who need it most “we will not see the growth in reading and writing that we see because the majority (of the work) will be put on myself,” said Noble The AmeriCorps members also build meaningful connections with students extending their support beyond academics and making students feel valued thereby creating an engaging and supportive learning environment.  “We’re able to really see the effects of having those members work with those students and the impacts that they’re making,” Warren said.  The California Reading Corps and Math Corps, or Ampact Educational Programs, across Fresno, San Mateo, San Joaquin, Merced, Tulare, Santa Barbara and Riverside counties have supported thousands of students with academic intervention, including over 6,000 students last school year AmeriCorps members prepare students for kindergarten get elementary students on track to grade-level proficiency by third grade and have seventh graders algebra-ready by eighth grade according to program information for this school year As one of California’s 87 impacted programs more than $3.1 million in federal funding may be affected which has used the AmeriCorps reading support program doesn’t plan to use the Reading Corps next school year due to the possible federal cuts Under the 30-year-old Kern Community Mentoring program three dozen AmeriCorps members have mentored over 700 high-needs students in the urban and rural communities of Kern County each year communications director with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools that administers the program.  they address the “whole child,” a philosophy evident in several AmeriCorps programs specifically those focused on mentorship.  Each year, mentors help at least 20 students improve their academics, attendance, behavior and engagement, and based on data from the program more than half of the students improve their attendance and reduce suspensions.  it may mean the loss of the program.  Programs impacted by the federal funding cuts are exploring options to continue serving the community Some are seeking support from their state representatives who can advocate on their behalf at the state and possibly national level.  “Not sure what the next steps are,” Warren said that Porterville Unified is looking for alternative funding sources The Kern County Office of Education is doing the same for its AmeriCorps mentoring program.  if that funding can’t be sourced from other resources,” Warren said While it’s unclear whether the multimillion-dollar cuts will stand the people working in AmeriCorps programs urged decision-makers to realize the people affected.  the Porterville Unified tutor: “Think about students’ needs.”  We are committed to keeping you informed with the latest — always free Sign up for our daily newsletter today to stay on top of education news Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong> We welcome your comments. 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