They handled the secure transport of nuclear materials — dangerous, demanding work that requires rigorous training. Four of them took the Trump administration’s offer of a buyout and left the National Nuclear Security Administration. A half-dozen staff members left a unit in the agency that builds reactors for nuclear submarines. And a biochemist and engineer who had recently joined the …
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Wind and Solar Firms Have a Pitch for Trump: ‘You’re Going to Need Us’
As President Trump works to blunt the growth of wind and solar power and expand fossil fuel production in the United States, the renewable energy industry is making a new pitch: You need us. Wind and solar developers are increasingly pointing out that America’s demand for electricity is soaring, driven by a boom in data centers, and it’s proving difficult …
Read More »Mauna Loa Observatory’s Lease May End Because of NOAA Cuts
On the flanks of the largest active volcano on Earth, the Mauna Loa Observatory tracks the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are warming the planet, and has been doing so since 1958. But the office in Hilo, Hawaii that manages the world-famous site could close in August, according to a copy of an internal federal document viewed …
Read More »Senators Grill Dr. Oz on Medicaid Cuts and Medicare Changes
In a hearing on Friday, senators pressed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV celebrity nominated to head Medicare and Medicaid, on Republican-led proposals that would significantly affect the health care coverage for nearly half of all Americans. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Dr. Oz bantered with senators in a friendly atmosphere, joking about basketball and allegiances to …
Read More »Science Amid Chaos: What Worked During the Pandemic? What Failed?
Until 2020, few Americans needed to think about how viruses spread or how the human immune system works. The pandemic offered a painful crash course. Sometimes, it seemed that the science was evolving as quickly the virus itself. So The New York Times asked experts to revisit the nightmare. Of the most significant public health measures introduced during Covid, which …
Read More »Dr. Oz Faces Senators at Confirmation Hearing to Oversee Medicare and Medicaid
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV celebrity doctor, is expected to face a tense confirmation hearing on Friday, with Democratic senators planning to question how he would oversee Medicare and Medicaid now that Republicans and the Trump administration are weighing significant changes affecting millions of Americans. Among the possible plans being considered by Republican lawmakers and President Trump are severe reductions …
Read More »Trump and DOGE Create Anxiety but Opportunity for Federal Contractors
A contracting firm called Leidos took in more than $16 billion in revenue last year, most of it through contracts with federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs. So when the Trump administration’s budget cutters took aim at the V.A. last month, it seemed like bad news not just for the department’s employees but also for Leidos and dozens …
Read More »A Timeline of Trump’s Tariff Fight With Canada, Mexico, China and the E.U.
President Trump has called the word tariff “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” He imposed hefty tariffs during his first term and promised expansive new ones as he pursued his second. On his first day back in the White House in January, he issued an executive order directing his cabinet picks to prepare even more tariffs. In the first …
Read More »Senators Are Set to Question Weldon, Trump’s Pick to Head the C.D.C.
Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican representative and President Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will appear before the Senate health committee on Thursday, the first time an agency director has been subject to the confirmation process. Dr. Weldon, 71, is perhaps the least known of the men nominated to lead major agencies at the …
Read More »Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts
Every day, Dora Dantzler-Wright and her colleagues distribute overdose reversal drugs on the streets of Chicago. They hold training sessions on using them and help people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction return to their jobs and families. They work closely with the federal government through an agency that monitors their productivity, connects them with other like-minded groups and …
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