Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more

"I consider air pollution and climate change to be serious, long-term threats to the forests," said Gary Lovett, senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in the Hudson Valley. "But neither of those is changing the forest the way the pests are." There are more than 400 forest pests in the country with every state affected. Imported tree pests long ago wiped out eastern chestnuts and elms. Now under siege are hemlocks, ash, beech, oaks, maples and dogwood.   read more

“The current approach,” wrote Shaw, “permits the justices to dole out the valuable asset of a Supreme Court argument to friends and former employees, in a way that is reminiscent of the cronyism and patronage that characterized government employment” before the Civil Service reforms of the 19th century. One of the study’s notable findings, she added, was that “gender and race diversity numbers for invited advocates lag behind even the already low overall numbers in Supreme Court advocacy.”   read more

In what would be the grandest about-face among rightward leaning states, Oklahoma is now moving toward a plan to expand its Medicaid program to bring in billions of federal dollars from Obama's new health care system. Despite furious opposition by conservative groups, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin and some GOP legislative leaders are pushing the plan, and support appears to be growing in the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature.   read more

How can society balance the right to privacy with the needs of science and medical research? In an era of increasingly sophisticated genetic analysis, some privacy advocates fear insurance companies could access blood samples and charge higher premiums for people found to have a genetic predisposition to diseases such as Alzheimer's. Krimsky said law enforcement could also potentially access states' newborn blood stores to use them to create DNA databases of law-abiding citizens.   read more

Myra Williams died from exposure to asbestos after years of contact with the material at home through handling her husband's work clothes. As part of his job at Placid Oil, according to the documents, Jimmy Williams was required to crawl over equipment insulated with asbestos. "Take-home asbestos exposure will continue to harm families across America due to the negligence of companies that failed to properly protect workers," said plaintiff's attorney Jeff Gaughan.   read more

When he accepted the Nobel in 2009, he declared that humanity needed to reconcile “two seemingly irreconcilable truths — that war is sometimes necessary, and war at some level is an expression of human folly.” The president has tried to reconcile these truths by approaching his wars in narrow terms, as a chronic but manageable security challenge rather than as an all-consuming national campaign. The longevity of his war record, historians say, also reflects the changing definition of war.   read more

In cities across America, the middle class is hollowing out. A widening wealth gap is moving more households into either higher- or lower-income groups in major metro areas, with fewer remaining in the middle. Middle class adults now make up less than half the population in such cities as New York, L.A., Boston and Houston. That sharp shift reflects a broad erosion--one that has has animated this year's presidential campaign, lifting the insurgent candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.   read more

If the ruling stands, it would be a major setback of millions of low-income Americans who benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies that help them pay for out-of-pocket costs. Collyer's ruling disappointed congressional Democrats, who vowed to appeal. Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, said the judge's ruling is "unprecedented" as it allowed "a partisan faction of Congress to use the courts to settle a political dispute over the interpretation of a statute."   read more

The cornerstone of the Joint Strike Fighter program is affordability. The program was sold using affordability as its battle cry. The program promised to "affordably develop the next generation strike fighter weapons system to meet an advanced threat (2010 and beyond), while improving lethality, survivability, and supportability." The affordability was addressed by combining multiple programs into one. It didn't work, especially with poor project management.   read more

In response to the nation’s financial crisis, Milwaukee put in place policies to help people stay in their homes; for example, giving residents three years to pay property taxes before foreclosing. Now, unscrupulous landlords are exploiting those policies. What some landlords have figured out is that they can buy a property and collect rent — but not pay taxes — while letting it fall into disrepair. Then three years later, they let the city repossess the property, which erases the tax bill.   read more

Women have never been required to register and have never been part of a large-scale draft. Any justification for barring women from draft registration was erased last year, when the Pentagon announced that all military jobs would be open to women. The committee noted that the top officers in each of the military branches expressed support for including women in a potential draft. A provocative debate is expected when legislation is considered in the full Senate and House.   read more

Blacks are still at a major health disadvantage compared with whites. But evidence of black gains has been building and has helped push up the ultimate measure — life expectancy. The gap between blacks and whites was seven years in 1990. By 2014, it had shrunk to 3.4 years, the smallest in history, with life expectancy at 75.6 years for blacks and 79 years for whites. Part of the reason has been the opioid crisis, which has hit harder in white communities, bringing down white life expectancy.   read more

In the New York metropolitan area, Kennedy International Airport reported the highest total of unclaimed funds: $43,716. The lowest amount collected at a hub airport was $1.99, at the Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa. What will the agency do with the money? In 2005, Congress gave the TSA the authority to use unclaimed money on security operations.   read more

Nursing home costs are rising largely because residents are more likely to arrive with chronic conditions like diabetes or emphysema that need more medical attention, said Greg Crist, a spokesman for the American Health Care Association, the country's largest trade group for nursing homes. He added that the average nursing home resident takes 11 prescription medications. "They're living longer, they're not necessarily living healthier," he said.   read more

Manes was principal officer in the consulate in Azores, where she helped negotiate the U.S. military presence in those islands. She then was named cultural affairs officer in an embassy in Brazil, where she helped develop an English teaching strategy in the run-up to the World Cup and Olympic Games. She returned to Washington in 2010 as staff director in the Office of Policy, Planning and Resources for Public Affairs. In 2012, she served a tour as counselor for public affairs in Afghanistan.   read more

Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina. The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity.   read more