Kristi Noem has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way Naples, Florida, used to get help faster: have one of Noem’s big donors make the ask.

Six years ago today, feels like a lifetime ago. NYT front page: “Pelosi Will Open Formal Impeachment Inquiry, Accusing President of ‘Betrayal’ of the Nation”

American Medical Association urges DHS to exempt physicians from new $100,000 H-1B visa fee reut.rs/4pBfWst

U.S. President Donald Trump is planning mass federal worker firings if government shutdown occurs next week. I explain in the Reuters World News podcast beginning at 2:47. 🎧 www.reuters.com/podcasts/ice...

President Donald Trump's administration has raised the stakes in a showdown with U.S. Senate Democrats over a looming partial government shutdown. His administration is threatening to fire more federal workers if funding runs out next Tuesday. Here's what we know so far (thread):

Latest from court on the Trump admin’s efforts to require states comply with his immigration policies to get unrelated federal $.

we wrote about this WH tactic recently. they’re asking journalists for expert source names and then using them to look up political donations in FEC records to try to discredit those sources as biased. www.npr.org/2025/08/18/n...

BREAKING: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and indicated it will steadily lower borrowing costs for the rest of this year. Follow our live updates: reut.rs/3K4DmX7

Ex-BLS chief says her firing by Trump marked 'dangerous step' for economy reut.rs/41Ztxjb

Exclusive: No evidence of primary residence violation by Fed Gov Lisa Cook, says Michigan official reut.rs/4poifiv

The Trump administration is withholding $ Congress set aside to feed and shelter homeless people. A non-partisan watchdog says that violates the law.

Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show: “Cook’s declarations on loan, job-vetting forms appear to undercut fraud claims.” Via Reuters

Graphic videos that swept across social media of Charlie Kirk’s shooting made the activist’s death an indelible moment, forcing young Americans to confront the public killing of a prominent political leader not much older than themselves reut.rs/48km4Pw

Latest example of a Trump admin official criticizing Elon now that he's fallen out of the president's favor. We didn't hear this from them earlier in the year. www.axios.com/2025/09/12/d...

We at Reuters spoke to college students across the country about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's death. A senior at University of Oklahoma told me he and his friends hung a banner on their fraternity house that said "Pray 4 the Kirks." www.reuters.com/world/us/kir...

A disaster management tool that emergency managers use to communicate if they need extra help in a storm may no longer be supported Wednesday, according to a notice posted and later deleted from a federal government website. FEMA deleted the notice after I asked the agency's press office about it.

"In the wake of those shootings, an industry has emerged to try to protect schools — and business is booming. According to the market research firm Omdia, the school security industry is now worth as much as $4 billion, and it's projected to keep growing."

US immigration agents arrests hundreds at Hyundai plant, mostly Koreans reut.rs/4gkUPGH

Exclusive: Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers. Via Reuters

When disaster strikes a state, other governors often send teams to help with response. The Trump admin stopped funding the organization that coordinates that, @notus.org reports. This runs counter to President Trump's insistence that states take more responsibility for responding to disasters.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday said ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez was lying about the leadup to her firing. www.statnews.com/2025/09/04/h...

USCIS, the agency that issues green cards and other work permits, plans to hire armed law enforcement officers to investigate fraud and other violations. It's the biggest move yet by the benefits agency to embrace a new role as an enforcement arm of the Trump administration immigration crackdown.

This is an absolute must read by Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social - federal judges spoke to him about their frustrations with the Supreme Court (how it's enabling Trump's attacks on them, how it's making a hash of the law on the shadow docket, etc.) www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

🚨🧵My latest: As measles took off in Texas, the Trump administration took actions that prevented CDC scientists from responding. The outbreak became the biggest in 30 yrs. It’s far larger considering the outbreaks it sparked in other states & Mexico. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Health Secretary Bobby Kennedy will testify on Capitol Hill today. Here’s the former CDC director on what’s at stake: “The Senate confirmed me to ensure that unbiased evidence serves our nation’s health, and for doing that, I lost my job. America’s children could lose far more.”

Watchdog confirms what fired IRS workers suspected: these dismissals weren’t about performance.

Pretty extraordinary to see lower court judges criticize the high court like this. “‘It is inexcusable,’ a judge said of the Supreme Court justices. ‘They don’t have our backs.’”

“There are no independent agencies,” White House Budget Director Russ Vought said at a D.C. conference. Trump admin is fighting several court battles right now about president’s power to control independent agencies such as Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission.

Weeks after a gunman opened fire on the CDC, House GOP 2026 budget proposes a ban on federally-funded research aimed at developing policies to prevent gun violence. The research resumed in 2020 after a two-decade freeze.

New from @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social: "Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission, Reuters has found."

FEMA has extended its hiring freeze through at least the end of the year, according to three people familiar with the topic that Nathan Layne & I interviewed.

I should add that acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson is not on this board and wasn't at the meeting. The president has made Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem the face of FEMA.

President Trump's mission to bend the federal government to his will kicked into a new gear this week. Here's a thread of what we're tracking today:

US CDC chief exits after weeks in role, three top officials resign reut.rs/4mDISOM

US CDC director ousted weeks into job - www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Three “it’s a love story” references on my push alerts so far. Newsroom digital editors having fun today ⌨️💬📲

Reuters and AP today sent a letter to Israeli officials regarding the airstrikes in Gaza that killed five journalists. reutersagency.com/media-centre...

The federal government uses a system akin to cashless bail.

RFK Jr has claimed he’s increasing the number of scientists and front-line workers, BUT... ProPublica found that more than 1,050 scientists, physicians and public health specialists have left or been pushed out of the CDC since January.

The White House has sent social media teams alongside FBI agents executing arrest warrants in the D.C. to generate videos that promote President Donald Trump's crackdown on crime.

President Trump just said in the Oval Office that D.C. restaurants “were busier than they’ve been in a long time” over the last two days. That is false, according to reservation data from Open Table.

We still don’t know exactly how many workers left each agency. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

US court says Trump's DOGE team can access sensitive data reut.rs/4oCI2Dq

Trump's environment agency terminates contract with unionized employees reut.rs/4oustgL

President Trump says he wants Washington, D.C., to crack down on crime. But his administration is cutting security funding for the National Capital Region.

The group created “watch lists” singling out federal workers involved in immigration, DEI or education work. “They are designed to silence and intimidate and to inspire other people to hurt” people named on the site, said University of Virginia law professor Danielle Citron.

The Trump administration wants NYC to tap a separate pool of money to cover its security needs. I checked and found the Trump admin slashed NY's cut of that funding, too. www.reuters.com/world/us/sch...

Casualties are reported in an active shooter incident at the Fort Stewart US Army installation in the state of Georgia, Fort Stewart said in a Facebook post reut.rs/4ldaHMc

The funding amount was listed on a single line of an 80-page FEMA notice.

US judge blocks Trump administration from diverting disaster prevention grants reut.rs/3UzORrD