"Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss..." From @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The policy constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, funded by nearly $1T in taxpayer dollars annually, said the NYT’s Washington bureau chief, Richard Stevenson. “The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

"Just from an economic standpoint, it makes no economic sense to terminate NASA missions that are returning incredibly valuable data," Crisp says. www.npr.org/2025/08/04/n...

"...Mr. Trump said he planned to fire Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He implied on social media that she had manipulated the monthly jobs figures for political reasons, without offering supporting evidence." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Meta arrived...and then their water pressure slowed to a trickle. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...

By next summer, new borrowers will have just two repayment options, streamlining the previous menu to pay off higher-education debt. Via @tarasiegelbernard.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/y...

This is one of the best stories of how Musk's lies and distortions have directly affected policy and DOGE decisions at a federal agency. The sheer unwillingness to understand a system before posting conspiracies about them or dismantling them is plain for all to see. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

"Writing and reading are not effortless. But, without that effort, we will slide deeper and deeper into inchoateness, darkness, violence, diminished freedom for all and a diminished state of human being." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

“We’re being used like pawns in some game we have no control over,” Mr. Williamson said. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

The Comey news had me search for Chumley's, the old speakeasy that has (sadly) closed. I was pretty sure the term 86-ed originated there. This piece confirms it: www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

Grading with A.I. crosses a line today...how long until that line is erased entirely? It seems we're already okay with loading that capability into NYC public schools' curriculums. . . www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/t...

"..the episode made her painfully aware of the hazards of being a student — even an honest one — in an academic landscape distorted by A.I. cheating." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/s...

"Diplomats said the events were an alarming departure from standard practice — because of both the tactics used and the person who would benefit most from them." www.propublica.org/article/trum...

"For those who think that professors are the enemy, I invite you to spend some time in our classrooms. You might discover that we are, in the end, all on the same side." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/o...

With collections turned back on, the federal student loan machinery is back to its pre-pandemic state, sort of. It's a complicated picture: There are fewer income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness looks shakier. I broke it all down here: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/b...

An expert on the federal work force estimates that the speed and chaos of Mr. Musk’s cuts to the bureaucracy will cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...

“If the I.R.S. becomes politicized, and people feel like only one party is playing by the rules, then I would expect noncompliance would go up," said Michael Graetz, a tax scholar at Columbia Law School. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...

Some good news for victims of sophisticated online scams: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/b...

“People feel nervous about lending us money,” said Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan. “They are saying, ‘We’ve lost our faith in America and the American economy.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/b...

There are a handful of apparel brands that proudly cut and sew their clothing in America. Even they're not cheering the wild, on-again-off-again tariffs coming out of the White House. I took a field trip to the garment district to learn why: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/b...

Their “financial lives,” Leland Dudek, the Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner, wrote in an email to staff members, would be “terminated.” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...

The Social Security Administration is in a state of tumult --here's a look at what's happening. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/b...

"Audrey Casillas, who helps low-income residents of the Los Angeles area file their taxes, said fewer people were coming in to file their taxes this year because they don’t want to be deported." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...

Last yr I was advisor to Social Security Commissioner on children. My #1 goal: use data to ID kids whose parents died, so they could get survivors benefits (ie, life insurance). But even w/best intentions, privacy laws limit data sharing. I’ll be damned if these people break the law to do bad.

Amazon is trying to kill the Consumer Product Safety Commission That's the agency charged with safety of cribs, carbon monoxide detectors etc. etc. Amazon said in suit that the agency is "unconstitutionally structured." 40% of e-sales are via Amazon www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

The Internal Revenue Service and immigration officials are nearing an agreement under which the tax agency would share limited taxpayer data with border-security authorities www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

In the hours before IRS leadership fired some 7,000 employees for allegedly poor performance, a top IRS lawyer flagged officials that “no one” at the agency had done such an assessment. The termination notice went out unchanged anyway. By @andykroll.bsky.social

Another day, more drama at the Social Security Administration www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/u...

The Trump administration fired nearly the entire civil rights branch of the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, gutting a government office responsible for conducting oversight of President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

NEW: After the California fires, we wanted to know this: How can people shop for a climate-safe home? Turns out there were more than 65 questions nested under that first one. @tarasiegelbernard.bsky.social and I got to work on all of them, and here's the result. nyti.ms/3DREtXd

NEW: There’s a massive Agent Orange site in Vietnam. USAID was funding a cleanup. Then Trump stopped work. Now the rainy season is about to start, and the runoff could poison hundreds of thousands. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Musk's interview with Kudlow is riddled with misinformation. He claims that programs like Social Security are a "giant magnet to attract illegal immigrants and have them stay," when, in fact, undocumented immigrants pay in billions and often never collect. My piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/b...

The latest executive order would alter the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, denying loan forgiveness to workers for groups engaged in “substantial illegal activities,” including things like diversity initiatives. @stacycowley.bsky.social has the details: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/u...

Last year, I started digging into the world of online scams. Here's the latest, which explains how many victims are left with enormous tax bills. The tax deduction that had provided the most relief was narrowed as part of the Republican-led tax overhaul in 2017. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/y...

The Trump administration's mass firings reach the Social Security Administration, which plans to cut 12 percent of its workforce. My piece, from Friday: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/b...

"Just a big mess": Musk's team claims credit for saving $53.7 million for "canceling" a federal contract that in fact was just for $144,000 and was actually completed 20 years ago. @Fahrenthold.bsky.social @sangerkatz.bsky.social @jsvine.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/u...

"An advantage of this complicated structure was secrecy. For all his talk about “transparency,” Mr. Musk was obsessed with confidentiality and fearful of leaks." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/u...

A remarkable piece of journalism (Oct 2024) from ProPublica, which had uncovered this video from Russell Vought, now OMB director. "We want to put them in trauma," he said, of the federal workers he planned to villainize. www.propublica.org/article/vide...

"A group of frustrated Yosemite National Park staffers hoping to draw attention to the federal government's sweeping workforce cuts have hung an upside-down American flag thousands of feet off the ground on the side of El Capitan." www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/art...

To help homes survive more intense disasters, FEMA has been developing recommendations for stronger building codes. The Trump Administration has pulled them back.

$39M+ has been earmarked to DOGE in Trump admin’s first month. For perspective, in recent years Congress had allocated around $50M a year for the IT modernization initiative that DOGE supplanted. Unclear what time frame DOGE's $39M is meant to cover www.propublica.org/article/doge...

It's with intense gratitude we share stories from some of the 1,000+ National Park Service staff terminated via email on February 14. Their stories contain frustration, anger, evaporated dreams and concern for the future of our parks.

The Washington Post pulled an ad that was set to run in some editions on Tuesday calling for Elon Musk to be fired from his role in government, a group that ordered the ad said. It would have covered the front and back pages of editions delivered to the White House, the Pentagon and Congress.

One thing I've learned to do when I have questions about social security number holders who are age 100 or older is to look up the SSA Inspector General audit report, "Numberholders Age 100 or Older Who Did Not Have Death Information on the Numident." t.co/AdWTV8eIPV

This is a big deal, y'all. Federal health websites are being stripped of content or removed in their entirety. Stick with this thread for a look at what's disappeared so far! 1/x

FDIC has yanked job offers to more than 200 new examiners, the front-line employees who closely monitor banks to ensure they operate safely and adhere to an extensive rule book. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Hello, Bluesky. Clearing up some confusion seems like a good place to start: The White House memo calling for a federal funding freeze does not apply to federal direct student loans, Pell grants or work-study. Story with @ronlieber, please send any new info our way www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/b...