babysandpiper

NEED TO KNOW

Arpineh Masihi, a Trump supporter and Iranian immigrant, was targeted by ICE and taken from her home on June 30

Her husband, Arthu Sahakyan, told a local news station that even though he misses Masihi, he still supports the Trump administration's efforts to vet Iranian nationals

When asked whether he would take his MAGA flag off their house while his wife is detained, Sahakyan replied, "No, the flag stands"

The Senate has passed a bill making Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the U.S.'s largest interior law enforcement agency with funding for Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agenda higher than most of the world's militaries, including Israel's.

Pending its passage in the House of Representatives, Trump's bill could mean a massive increase in ICE funding as part of an immigration enforcement agenda worth $150 billion over four years.

This figure is more than the annual military budget of Italy, which at $30.8 billion, is the world's 16th highest defense spender for this year according to tracker Global Fire Power.

It is also higher than military spending for Israel, ($30 billion), the Netherlands ($27 billion) and Brazil ($26.1 billion).

More than 175 Democratic members of Congress are filing an amicus brief on Thursday opposing the Trump administration's overhaul of the U.S. Department of Education.

“The law couldn't be clearer: the president does not have the authority to unilaterally abolish the Department of Education,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in a statement first obtained by ABC News, adding, “Donald Trump is not a king, and he cannot single-handedly cut off access to education for students across this country.”

Warren and Reps. Jamie Raskin, Bobby Scott and Rosa DeLauro -- the ranking members of the House’s Education and Judiciary committees -- are leading the 15-page legal document. They’re joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, more than 20 Senate Democrats, and more than 150 other members of the House Democratic caucus.

USDA research points to viruses spread by pesticide-resistant mites, indicating a worrying trend

U.S. beekeepers had a disastrous winter. Between June 2024 and January 2025, a full 62% of commercial honey bee colonies in the United States died, according to an extensive survey. It was the largest die-off on record, coming on the heels of a 55% die-off the previous winter.

As soon as scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) caught wind of the record-breaking die-offs, they sprang into action—but their efforts were slowed by a series of federal funding cuts and layoffs by President Donald Trump’s administration. Now, 6 months later, USDA scientists have finally identified a culprit.

According to a preprint posted to the bioRxiv server this month, nearly all the dead colonies tested positive for bee viruses spread by parasitic mites. Alarmingly, every single one of the mites the researchers screened was resistant to amitraz, the only viable mite-specific pesticide—or miticide—of its kind left in humans’ arsenal.

The decision left officials on both sides of the Atlantic scrambling to find out how long the pause might last.

The Pentagon’s decision to halt some weapons shipments to Ukraine blindsided even people who are usually closely briefed on such matters, including members of Congress, State Department officials and key European allies, according to six people familiar with the situation.

The surprise move on Monday has fueled concern and frustration, including among top Republicans, that one senior Pentagon official appeared to hold outsized influence over the decision.

The pause — reported first by POLITICO — was driven by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby and a small circle of advisers over concerns that certain weapons stockpiles in the U.S. were running low.

“I think it’s all made by the DOD policy director, this Colby guy. We essentially don’t have a national security adviser,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). “I’m not even sure [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio was consulted on this one … There’s internal division in the White House.”

The last time a Republican-controlled Congress and Donald Trump moved to slash Medicaid spending, in 2017, a key political force stood in their way: GOP governors.

Now, as Congress steamrolls toward passing historic Medicaid cuts of about $1 trillion over 10 years through Trump’s tax and spending legislation, red-state governors are saying little publicly about what it does to health care — even as they face reductions that will punch multibillion-dollar holes in their states’ budgets.

Medicaid, a program jointly run by states and the federal government, covers more than 70 million low-income or disabled people, including nearly half of the nation’s children. Republicans say the $900 billion-a-year program was allowed to grow too large under Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden by adding nondisabled adults they say don’t deserve government assistance, and they have long sought to scale it back.

A member of a chat-based White supremacy group has been charged in an alleged plot to solicit the murder of federal officials – including a senator and federal judge – through an online “kill list” he allegedly helped create.

Noah Lamb, 24, was charged in federal court in Northern California with eight counts, including soliciting the murder of federal officials and a conspiracy to assassinate federal officials, according to court records.

Lamb, along with two other individuals who were charged last year in the conspiracy, allegedly helped create what they called “The List” – targeting perceived enemies of White supremacist accelerationism, an ideology centered around the belief that terrorism is necessary to ignite a race war that will create a White ethnostate in the US, prosecutors say.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecast that 110,000 new payrolls were added in June. That would be the fewest since February.

The U.S. economy continues to send mixed signals. On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report job figures for June that may help clear up the picture.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecast that 110,000 new payrolls were added in June. That would be the fewest since February, and it would be the fourth monthly decline in the past six months. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, was expected to have climbed to 4.3%, the highest since October 2021.

Consumers and businesses are still grappling with the uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s policies, something further reflected in volatile data.

During a Tuesday hearing at the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the DOJ urged a three-judge panel to issue an emergency stay of a lower court order and allow the Trump administration's deployment of the California National Guard to continue in Los Angeles — going so far as to argue a president's federalization of militia can't be second-guessed by the courts, even if the chief executive mobilized forces from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., simultaneously.

U.S. Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Eric Miller, both appointees of President Donald Trump, and Jennifer Sung, an appointee of President Joe Biden, presided over the hearing, which began at noon on the West Coast.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by a newer state law that criminalizes abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.

State lawmakers adopted the ban in 1849, making it a felony when anyone other than the mother “intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child.”

It was in effect until 1973, when the US Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never officially repealed the ban, however, and conservatives argued that the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe reactivated it.

Ward Sakeik was detained in February on her way home from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands

The US government has tried for the second time to deport a stateless Palestinian woman, according to court documents – despite a judge’s order barring her removal.

Ward Sakeik, a 22-year-old newlywed, was detained in February on her way home from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands. Last month, the government attempted to deport her without informing her where she was being sent, according to her husband, Taahir Shaikh. An officer eventually told her that she would be sent to the Israel border – just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran.

After her lawyers filed suit on her behalf, US district judge Ed Kinkeade issued an order on 22 June barring the government from deporting Sakeik or removing her from the Texas district where she is being detained while her case is decided.

Nearly 368,000 pounds of Oscar Mayer turkey bacon products are being recalled over possible contamination with listeria bacteria that can cause food poisoning, federal health officials said Wednesday. 

No illnesses have been confirmed to date, U.S. agriculture department officials said. 

Kraft Heinz Food Company of Newberry, South Carolina, announced the recall of the fully cooked turkey bacon that was produced from April 24 to June 11. The problem was discovered when the company’s laboratory testing indicated potential listeria contamination.