Trump Administration – Page 2 – National News Roundup

Year 9, Weeks 5-7 (February 16–March 8)

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This news cycle, ho boy. Every advocate I know, including me, needs to nap for about a week–and we haven’t even hit 60 days yet. I’ve done my best to pare down the last few weeks into a manageable amount of material, but the news is still a drink from a filthy firehose. I guess this is our new normal, but this normal is defective; I wish we could all send it back for a refund.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a government agency!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

It still isn’t fully clear how all the different heads of this hydra are working together, though they all seem dedicated to blowing things up as much as possible. That said, after seven weeks, some trends are starting to emerge. DOGE gets to be the HR financiers from hell, while 47 and the MAGA crew do all the things that make the rest of the world hate us. Vance does… insulting Republicans, I guess? Meanwhile, anything that sounds both competent and evil probably came from Vought and the Project 2025 team. With all of that in mind, we’re just going to summarize the whole gestapo gestalt as Authoritarian Actions for now. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket. DOGE has continued to force its way into accessing several sensitive governmental systems over the past few weeks, such as the federal child support database and IRS taxpayer databases. It has also continued to cut a swath through a bajillion government programs, using claims of ‘fraud’ and ‘waste’ to fire thousands of necessary personnel–then, in several cases, being forced to rehire them. All told, the department has fired something like 62,000 workers, including 6,000 IRS jobs in the middle of tax season. They’re still planning many more cuts, and also harassing the workers who are still there by demanding weekly emails that justify their work. Half of the time, these hatchet jobs aren’t even saving money, which is the supposed point of all of this, and it’s contributing to a messed-up business sector–but more about that below.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices. There has also been a slew of bad health news, particularly since RFK Jr took over DHHS. The administration initially planned to shut down a free COVID test program, and it also canceled an annual flu advisory meeting used to select the flu strain in the annual flu shot. We also had our first measles death in ten years, in part because the administration isn’t handling the crisis in Texas appropriately. Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health is not properly processing its research grant applications, which may have very long-lasting implications on health research, and a lot of existing grant funding is still being cut despite a court order to resume payments. The administration is similarly cutting funding to a lot of higher ed institutions that do health research, among other things, which is already resulting in smaller research programs and hiring freezes. And all of this is, of course, on top of firing a bunch of health agency staff (some of whom had to be rehired). Just today, we also learned that SCOTUS will hear a conversion therapy ban case this season, which in the current atmosphere is frankly terrifying.

Since this administration doesn’t (yet) work in a vacuum, no matter how much they clearly want to, there are some Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget Blues. Congress has been negotiating to keep the lights on again, since the current federal funding will run out on March 14, and it’s looking likely that they’ll pass a continuing resolution that will fund day-to-day spending until September. They’re also beginning votes on reconciliation for long-term budgeting, with pretty scary results. (We don’t have all the bill language yet, but it’s pretty much not possible to make the types of budget cuts they are signaling without dramatically cutting Medicaid, and it wouldn’t be great for DC either).
SCOTUS-POTUS. Even without the conversion therapy cert that was granted earlier today, SCOTUS has had a busy few weeks. They did ultimately issue an opinion saying that Trump has to follow court orders when they are issued–and I still can’t believe that sentence is actual news–but the court waited until the order in question was moot to say so. They also issued an opinion basically saying that the Clean Water Act really doesn’t require clean water, actually (although Comey Barrett did side with the liberals and dissent on that one). So, you know, great few weeks for the highest court in the land.

The Latest Fashy:

Ukraine Drain.* One foreign affairs trend we’ve been seeing a lot is fascist expansionism, and it has been a truly wild few weeks to track our relations with Ukraine. I think it’s fair to say the Trump administration has antagonized President Zelenskyy all over the place, from demanding U.S. mineral rights on Ukrainian soil to withholding funding to questioning Zelenskyy’s dress code and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. Pretty much the only good thing I can say about the situation is that this spurred Europe to support Ukraine more, because our country clearly isn’t going to.
Tariff A New One.* Trump has also been busy getting into tariff standoffs with our neighboring countries and China over the past few weeks, more-or-less acknowledging that this may cause a recession but not caring because, I don’t know, reasons. Unsurprisingly, this has Wall Street freaking out, with many stocks dropping especially over the last few days. He also established a ‘strategic Bitcoin reserve’ this week that will be overseen by a Crypto and AI Czar, and how is this real life.

Silver Linings:

Recent Legal Resilience. We have at least had several different court case wins this cycle, with a lot of courts ordering the Trump administration to do or stop doing various things. A suit was also brought on Friday to reverse the firing of government workers, and I really want to see where that one goes. Meanwhile, Dems in the Senate managed to kill a federal trans sports ban bill. It’s particularly encouraging to see Democrats successfully mobilize on something, given how the last few weeks have gone.

So that’s what I have for you, and it was definitely more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this curious kitten and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 9, Rest of Month 1 (January 27-February 15)

February 18, 2025February 18, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Hello, and welcome to my latest NNR/health compromise! Many folks reading this likely already know that I slipped on some black ice and broke two ribs earlier this week (and yes, it’s about as fun as it sounds). But way, way too much is going on for me to do nothing. Thus I present: The Year 9, Month 1 lightning round!

There are a lot of developing stories to keep track of right now, and many of them have common themes. We’re going to spend a few minutes on each story I’m tracking–mostly involving health, civil rights, and dismantling of government–so that it’s easier to see the overall picture. It’s an experiment, so please let me know if it’s useful!

Tracking Threads:

DOGEshift. Over the past few weeks, Elon Musk and his juvenile cronies have been sticking their noses into many, many spaces where their noses do not legally belong and spreading germs all over the government. At first, there were a lot of stories about them seizing assets from and/or access to financial and HR systems within our government–which then led to offering staff buy-outs and straight-up firing thousands of people across numerous agencies. Of note, they’ve basically shut down the CFPB, a semi-independent consumer finance bureau which would be in charge of monitoring all of this. They have also cut massive swaths out of the functionality of many necessary federal agencies, such as billions in NIH research funding, countless Department of Education contracts, and basically all of USAID. (They’re similarly expected to turn their eyes to the IRS in the coming week). By now, Musk is now being pretty upfront about wanting to “delete” whole agencies, and an EO issued this past week instructs all agencies to let Musk gut them–among other things, it requires each agency to “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.” Many of the targeted cuts personally benefit Musk in one way or another, and the administration has also fired top officials in several different government watchdog groups. Needless to say, none of this is legal at all, but this administration appears to ignore temporary restraining orders with some frequency, and not all judges are ruling on the side of law, so it’s unclear how effective legal challenges will be.
From the Department of Destroying Health. In addition to all of the Week 1 health garbage (which included funding freezes, communication freezes, the dismantling of foreign aid, and the scrubbing of federal data), Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services this past Thursday. Trump celebrated by issuing another batshit health EO which instructs a taskforce to “look into” the validity of children taking psych meds such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and stimulants. (I will share for free that this one really gets under my skin.) This EO joins an earlier EO that banned adolescent access to gender-affirming care (which is already paused by judicial order) as well as Musk’s actions to fire thousands at NIH and CDC.
Illegal International/Imprisonment Changes. In the immigration/criminal space, the administration has started moving immigration detainees to Guantanamo Bay and threatened to start holding U.S. prisoners in El Salvador. Conversely, several DOJ staff have resigned this week because they were told to drop corruption charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams due to, I dunno, vibes. (This comes on the tail end of firing a bunch of federal prosecutors because they worked on the January 6 case.) In other international news, Trump said he would “end” the war in Ukraine by negotiating with Putin, which apparently involved demanding half of Ukraine’s mineral rights. He also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and additional tariffs on China. Finally, the administration is now using their renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as a litmus test for reporters, and is barring the Associated Press from White House access due to their refusal to use the made-up name.

So that’s the lightning news, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this science ferret and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time, hopefully with the full news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a speedy recovery time!

Year 9, Week 1 (January 21-26)

January 28, 2025January 28, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I’ve heard a lot of people describe the past week as an intentional shock doctrine campaign, and frankly, that’s a good framing for what just happened. We had such a barrage of the everything that I want to give people some grounding and context–while I definitely won’t be able to put out the NNR weekly, we’re doing back-to-back summaries for Week 1. Frankly, this week needs it.

Standard standing reminders still apply: we may be starting my ninth year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a federal employee!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Spills in Aisle 47:

Things are chaotic and scary enough that for the foreseeable future, we’re going to give Presidential Project 2025 actions their own section. Expect this category to cover everything implementing Project 2025 from executive orders to memoranda to, y’know, general cheeto overflow.

From the Department of Destroying Health. Boy howdy, was this week a weird time to work in national healthcare. The administration ordered a communication freeze, which is just a fancy way of saying “you’re not allowed to talk to anybody about anything,” for the Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health through February 1. At NIH, reports began trickling in that this included NIH study sessions, which is how the NIH reviews grant applications, as well as advisory committees. People and outlets also described NIH conferences that ended mid-conference and restrictions on travel and hiring. Guidance was eventually issued that said that clinical trials could continue but the NIH still wasn’t allowed to talk about them, and people remained confused about their funding. Meanwhile, the CDC can’t issue health alerts, which is not great when we currently have an outbreak of bird flu in several states (side note–apparently it is killing bald eagles, which feels like quite an apt metaphor at the moment). The CDC was also directed today to stop working with the World Health Organization immediately, which precludes a controlled withdrawal and likely isn’t legal. The FDA has scrubbed lots of clinical data that relates to diversity in clinical trials as well, though we’ll talk more about that below. Trump rounded out the week by threatening to pull FEMA funding as a first step for destroying the agency, and he did indeed order on Friday that FEMA be “assessed”. Looking ahead, RFK’s hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and now is a great time to call your Senator to demand they quash his HHS nomination.
Immigration Roundups. A huge amount has happened on the immigration front, which isn’t surprising when it was such a flagship issue for 47 but is still plenty disturbing. Trump did indeed issue an executive order that illegally revoked birthright citizenship, which he then argued in court applied to Indigenous peoples–and reports began trickling in of Navajo Nation citizens being detained by ICE. In apparent response on Tuesday, Bishop Mariann Budde gave an inaugural service sermon to Trump urging him not to be horrible to immigrants, which naturally was so offensive that Trump questioned her credentials and demanded an apology. This served to set something of a tone for the rest of the week, as for an encore he canceled entrance for thousands of approved refugees–which, for those of you playing the home game, definitionally involves people who are legally entering the United States due to credible risk of torture or death if they stay where they are. This was followed by revoking the Sensitive Location doctrine, which is a rule from 2011 stating that ICE can’t invade churches and schools, and this is already leading to massive raids. And just today he instated abhorrent quotas requiring ICE to arrest a thousand immigrants per day–a massive increase, as ICE detained 11,000 people total last year. When combined with a recent law by Congress that permits deportation due to arrest for crimes like minor theft, the capacity for abuse is massive. Now is a great time to donate to immigration advocacy groups, print red cards for community use, and share Know Your Rights documents generally.
License to Discriminate. By far, the executive documents I have spent the most quality time with this week are the orders, as foretold by prophecy, which suppress all federal DEI efforts and revoke recognition of transgender people existing. The anti-trans order features a lot of bizarro junk science and a reference to fetal personhood, but nonetheless has very real implications for trans and gender diverse people living in the United States. It’s particularly dangerous for incarcerated trans people, but people are also already reporting their passport applications getting pulled if they requested an X marker or a gender marker change. Meanwhile, all DEI-related staff are being fired by January 31, equity-related data is getting scrubbed, and federal employees are being told to rat out their coworkers if they suspect them of engaging in DEI activities, lest employees face “adverse consequences” for failing to snitch. He also revoked sixty-year-old protections that prohibited discrimination in federal contracts, extending these rules to the private sector and higher education. Both of these orders, incidentally, are part of the Project 2025 agenda–so that’s fun. On a related note, the Justice Department has frozen civil rights work, which likely indicates less, shall we say, robust enforcement under the new regime. Now’s a great time to support trans resource groups.

The Latest Fashy:

Orange is the New Bleak. We also saw a bunch of stuff this week that is violent or advancing fascism but not, like, in a Project 2025 kind of way. I’m sure most folks have heard by now that Trump has pardoned all of the January 6 insurrectionists, some of whom were frankly very scary people. What’s less well-known is that he’s also now investigating the Jan 6 prosecutors–a move that’s particularly concerning when he also fired fifteen independent inspectors general in the middle of the night this week. It also comes at the same time that he is ending telework for federal employees, removing employee protections from firing, installing loyalty measures, and just generally made career federal employees’ lives miserable. We’ll want to keep an eye on all of these things, though I don’t have any immediate suggestions for action on them.

Silver Linings:

Recent Judicial Resilience. At least we’re already starting to see inroads through litigation – in one of the many lawsuits brought on the subject, a federal judge has already blocked the birthright citizenship order. (Said judge called it ‘blatantly unconstitutional,‘ which is absolutely correct, but it’s nice to see a Reagan-appointed judge willing to say it.) And just today, a group of Quakers brought a lawsuit challenging the removal of the sensitive locations doctrine. Hopefully an injunction will be granted in that case, as well. And finally, a trans woman in federal prison is suing the administration over the blatantly dangerous provisions of the anti-trans executive order. Newsweek, of all places, has a good summary of all the litigation popping up against Trump this week, and it’s worth taking a look.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds.
For making it through, you deserve these beach buddies and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 7, Week 11 (March 26–April 1)

April 5, 2023April 5, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

It’s hard to get back onto an even keel here at NNR headquarters with the news running so absolutely amok. I expected Tuesday to be full of surreal and/or terrible news, and it did not disappoint in that regard. (It did, however, disappoint in several other regards.) At any rate, the NNR is here to help make sense of the mess.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an indictment!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We finally have details about Trump’s indictment on the Election Rejection front, and they are indeed kind of fascinating. Here’s what has happened:

Indictment and Arraignment (For Real). After weeks of everybody waiting for it, Donald Trump was indicted on Thursday in one of the five open investigations against him–more specifically, the New York criminal case about paying off a porn star and cooking books about it. (Since I know it’s hard to keep them all straight, the other investigations are: 1) the DOJ Jan 6 investigation; 2) the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation; 3) the New York overvaluing assets inquiry; and 4) the Georgia election grand jury proceedings.) Interestingly, the New York indictment featured 34 charges of the same exact class E felony–more specifically, falsifying business records in the first degree. He was arraigned today in New York and pleaded not guilty, at which point the charges became public, but is already back at Mar-a-Lago and giving psycho speeches by this evening. Sadly, none of this precludes him from running for President, even though he’s now the first former President in U.S. history to be indicted in a criminal court. And given his fifty-year history of investigation, I don’t know that we can expect much from this indictment. But it’s a nice moment of schadenfreude nonetheless.

Needless to say, Biden Rebuilding stories aren’t quite as sensationalized as the above. Here’s what I have for you:

Derailment Continues. The DOJ announced this week that it is suing Norfolk Southern over its catastrophic derailment in East Palestine. The news came right on the heels of another major derailment disaster, this time in Minnesota, where 22 train cars full of ethanol derailed and then caught fire. The area was evacuated, but that order has been lifted as I type this; needless to say, I’ll keep folks posted on this.

Your New Normal:

Health News Mini-Roundup: Federal Changes. Good gravy, there are a lot of health news stories to summarize this week. As I signaled last week, Medicaid redeterminations started on Saturday as part of COVID protections ending. This will impact literally millions of people, and will likely cause a lot of those people to lose coverage. In other COVID unwinding news, changing telehealth practices may make testosterone even harder to obtain on a national level. There was also a federal report published this week about the discrimination that gender diverse people experience from their own providers, even in states where gender-affirming care is still legal (but more on that last point below). Meanwhile, remember federal judge Reed O’Connell in Texas, who has issued such great previous hits as I’ve Tossed Out the Entire ACA As Unconstitutional and No One Should Make Navy Seals Vaccinate? Yeah, he went ahead and decided this week that the ACA’s preventative care requirements for insurance companies are, you guessed it, unconstitutional, and it’s the whole nation’s problem. Needless to say, this will be appealed, though who only knows what the current Supreme Court will do with it.
Health News Mini-Roundup: State Nightmare Fuel. The testosterone news above is particularly unfortunate when there are currently 422 pending bills targeting trans people already–including, as of this week: 1) new bans on gender-affirming care for minors in GA, KY, and WV; 2) a planned expansion of Don’t Say Gay in Florida to include all grades; and 3) a new bathroom ban for trans students in Arkansas. As of this week, the Human Rights Campaign estimates that roughly one in four trans kids now lives in a state that has closed off access to gender-affirming care for them. In other horrifying news regarding minors, Idaho passed a bill this week that criminalizes letting minors leave the state to obtain abortion services, calling it “abortion trafficking” punishable by up to five years in prison.

The Bad:

Climate Change Catastrophes (Again, Still). There were several major storm events in the past week, creating tornadoes from Alabama and Mississippi all the way up to Illinois and Indiana. These events killed at least 31 people in at least eight states. Experts say that it’s likely these tornadoes were exacerbated by climate change, if not caused by it outright.
Tragedy in Tennessee. In Nashville, a former student of a private Christian elementary school, Covenant School, opened fire on the school last Monday, fatally shooting three children and three staffers. In response, a thousand students in Tennessee flooded the statehouse later that week, demanding gun law reform to prevent this from happening again. Three House Democrats coordinated with the protesters, standing on the House podium and leading protesters in the galleys of the Statehouse. Because this was a breach of TN House etiquette, Republicans are now moving to expel these three Democrats from the House entirely, a move expected to pass on Thursday due to the Republican supermajority. On the same day the resolutions were announced, one of the Democrats in question released a phone video of another Republican assaulting him and stealing his phone on the House floor. Needless to say, this is not normal for Tennessee, and there’s also no indication that the House is going to consider any gun reform.

The Good:

Recent Medical Resilience. With all of the dark news above, I’m glad to have some positive medical news to report as well. The FDA has approved the first over-the-counter version of naloxone nasal spray, commonly known as Narcan. This is a big deal, and will likely increase access to a really important tool for preventing opioid overdose. It’s likely we’ll see the over the counter version hit stores this summer, and I’m really excited about it!

So that’s all the news I have for this week, and I think we can agree it is more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this household coparenting and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me luck for making it through Passover!

Year 7, Week 9 (March 12-18)

March 23, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news feels ephemeral and odd this week, even by our modern standards–and I’m not just saying that because we’re still waiting for Trump indictment riot news as I type this. There’s something that feels hard to hold onto about this week’s news cycle. But I’m here to try to pin it down anyway.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an economist!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

This was a truly wild week on the Election Rejection front, even though we’re still waiting for the full story. Here’s what has happened:

Indictment Insurrection. Over the weekend, Trump loudly proclaimed on social media that he would be arrested on Tuesday and people should riot about it. This narrative seemed to gain credence on Monday, when barricades went up around the New York criminal court where a grand jury was hearing the Stormy Daniels case. Major news outlets began spinning their wheels in anticipation of either an indictment, another January 6, or both–but then we got news today that the grand jury there wound up not even convening today, which is a change from their usual schedule. It’s not clear whether this is a security precaution, a normal break, or something else, but this story is definitely far from over. Meanwhile in Georgia, a completely different grand jury is still hearing evidence about Trump’s attempts to influence the election there, and he’s trying to block that evidence by having it found unconstitutional. I will keep folks posted on this, and like every other reporter out there I am really mad that I can’t give you more news.

Meanwhile, the big Biden Rebuilding news is TikTok, which I didn’t have on my bingo card either but here we are. Here’s what I have for you:

Tiktok is Ticking. The Biden administration has been calling for a ban on Tiktok this week unless the Chinese-owned company is sold in the near future. Suspicion of the app is not new, but Biden’s stance is–last year he was campaigning on feeds and briefing Tiktok stars about foreign policy. The changes are likely spurred by a combination of similar action in Europe and elsewhere, growing awareness of valid security concerns, and general wariness created by recent spy balloons found over the U.S. that came courtesy of Chinese government. At a time when Twitter is paywalling two-factor authentication and the French are coming for Instagram, it’s not really clear how much traction will be possible for ousting such an entrenched platform. But I suppose we’ll have to see what happens.

Your New Normal:

Bailout Blowout.* Financial news is all over the place this week. Right after last week’s bailout for SVB and New York Signature, First Republic Bank and Credit Suisse were also looking mighty dicey. Both banks wound up getting cash infusions from other private lenders, and Credit Suisse was flat-out bought by Swiss rival bank USB. Only a day or two after that was finalized, the Federal Reserve went ahead and raised interest rates again for the ninth time this year–a move that seems to conflict with the bailouts, though I am admittedly not an economist.

The Bad:

Political Determinants of Health (cont). We continue to have bad news on the reproductive justice front, this week out of Wyoming, South Carolina, and Florida. In Wyoming, legislators went ahead and passed a ban on abortion pills, despite the fact that the Texas case on their legality hasn’t been decided yet. Meanwhile, South Carolina Republicans have proposed a bill that would potentially subject people who obtain abortions to the death penalty. Finally, in Florida, legislators are considering a bill that would ban elementary-aged children from discussing menstruation in schools, despite the fact that the average age of menarche in Americans is 11.9 years old.

The Good:

Recent M-State Resilience. We had some pretty good news out of states that begin with M this week! In Michigan, a new law means that union security clauses are permitted in the state again for the first time in ten years. And in Minnesota, legislators passed a new law that will shield medical providers and patients from out-of-state liability if they provide access to reproductive health services. Minnesota’s law is the fourth of its type passed in the country since the Dobbs decision was issued last June.

So that’s all the news I have for this week, and I think we can agree it is more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this elevator cat and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me cookies because we ran out!

Year 7, Week 8 (March 5-11)

March 14, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

After an unexpected dark-out last week on account of overworked author, the NNR is back! Sadly, the news isn’t any better than it was when we left. But at least you can read about it here again. (Caveat lector, y’all.)

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

There are a lot of story wisps on the Election Rejection front, and I’m waiting for those to become full news–but we do have some full updates as well. Here’s what has happened:

January 6 Jumble. Between the release of Dominion court records, the never-ending Trump crime circus, and CPAC being CPAC, there’s a lot of GOP mess to sort. The upside of the Dominion story is that Fox News and Trump are fighting and everybody’s mad at Tucker Carlson. Meanwhile, in Fascist Cheeto news, apparently he can be sued for January 6 per the Justice Department and is probably about to be indicted–but he still plans to run in 2024, because of course he does.

All of this week’s Biden Rebuilding news is finance-related. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget and Bailouts. At the top of the week, the big Biden news was his proposed budget, which cuts the deficit and attempts to save Medicare by taxing super rich people like they actually owe taxes. But then on Friday, tech sector financial giant Silicon Valley Bank, largely known as SVB, bit the big one and apparently was too tech to fail. By the time fellow bitcoin nonsense giant New York Signature followed suit on Sunday, we were setting up a full-fledged bailout. That said, the current one focuses on reimbursing consumers to avoid startup failure cascades, and the banks themselves will stay closed. Needless to say, this whole thing is a very big deal and we’ll likely be talking about it for a while.

Your New Normal:

COVID Lab Leak Theories. The three-year anniversary of the official COVID pandemic has people thinking about how we began this week. Against this backdrop, I suppose it’s not surprising that the House has kick-started another round of Wuhan Lab Leak conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, long COVID insurance coverage is giving us a sneak peek into what might be awaiting us when the public health emergency ends, though I’m truly hoping we can get protections in place.

The Bad:

Political Determinants of Health. We had a miserable couple of weeks for reproductive health and gender-affirming care. Walgreens is now refusing to sell Mifepristone, an FDA-approved abortifacient, in 20 states where legal action has been threatened, even though it’s not clearly illegal. This, in turn, has California governor Gavin Newsom condemning the franchise. Meanwhile, Florida introduced a six-week ban on abortion much like Georgia’s. And in Texas, five plaintiffs are suing because they were denied life-saving care on the grounds that it would cause abortion. And in gender identity news, both Tennessee and Mississippi have banned gender-affirming care for minors this week, bringing us up to 8 states that totally ban access. Tennessee also banned public drag performances while they were at it, and is one of five states considering bills that would block adult access to gender-affirming care too. Needless to say, this kind of stark restriction of literally live-saving medical care is both sickening and exhausting.

The Good:

Recent Healthcare Resilience. With all of the terrible health news over the last few weeks, I would be remiss if I didn’t draw attention to a few bright spots as well. Eli Lily appears to have made some forms of insulin at least slightly more affordable for private copay, which is a small step in the correct direction but a step nonetheless. Meanwhile, the FDA has set new mammogram standards, which will make it easier for people with dense breast tissue to detect breast cancer early.

So that’s all the news I have for this week, and I think we can agree it is more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this frog fence saga and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me cloning technology so I can get all my work done!

Year 7, Week 6 (February 19-25)

February 28, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

There’s a lot of health-related news this week, much of which is excitingly horrifying if you’re me. (Possibly it is also excitingly horrifying if you are you! I don’t want to presume.) I think it’s likely we’ll keep seeing these stories for a while, as they’re part and parcel with the federal decisions to end our Public Health Emergency designation. I will definitely keep folks posted on changes to this landscape.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a discovery document!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

It has been a quiet week for Election Rejection, comparatively speaking, but there is Biden Rebuilding news to know. Here’s what I have for you:

Abysmal Asylum Adjustments. The Biden administration announced a new proposed asylum policy this week that, frankly, looks a lot like it was written by Cheeto POTUS. The proposed policy would dramatically curtail how people claim asylum in the US, requiring individuals to first seek asylum in other countries and invalidating their claims if they enter the U.S. without authorization. It was originally forecast in January, and has concerned a lot of Democrats–for good reason, because the new policy is probably illegal and it’s a far cry from his campaign promise to expand access. We’re currently in a 30-day comment period, with implementation planned in May, and I will definitely let folks know who’s organizing the public yelling as soon as I have more info.

Your New Normal:

SNAP Cold Snap. Speaking of changes in public policy, this upcoming week will also mark the sunset of food security protections that were put in place during the pandemic. The change was brought by December’s omnibus bill, much like the Medicaid redetermination process that has set up shop in my brain since January. That said, the SNAP policy goes into effect a month sooner, sunsetting on March 1 in 32 different states. That is very poorly timed, since we still haven’t fully recovered from intense inflation of grocery prices, and this is likely to hurt a lot of households.
One Medical to Rule Them All. Monopoly giant Amazon.com Inc has closed its acquisition this week of the primary care organization named, ironically, One Medical. The deal was able to close because the FTC decided not to sue about it, though it sounds like they are trying to retain the right to go after them later if Amazon does sketchy things with people’s medical data. This isn’t the first medical acquisition Amazon has made, as it purchased pharmacy services in 2020 and attempted to bring Alexa to hospitals in 2021. It does, however, mark a substantial expansion of Amazon’s medical services (which is a cursed phrase I’m mad I even have to type), and as far as I know it’s the first direct medical subscription service the company has offered. Many advocates are also rightfully concerned that it’s a bigger risk to patient privacy than previous acquisitions. I will definitely keep people posted on this deal.

The Bad:

Waste Fraught, Want Not in East Palestine. The Environmental Protection Agency took the opportunity this week to order Norfolk Southern to clean up their act in East Palestine, figuratively speaking. At the same time, however, they instructed the company to stop cleaning up the area, literally speaking, and paused shipment of the contaminated waste out of the area. The instructions highlight overall uncertainty about the long-term health effects, which remain an ongoing point of contention and concern. These things are only exacerbated by a preliminary report released from the National Transportation Safety Board, which cites an overheated wheel bearing as the cause of the derailment and notes that it took three defect detectors to pick up the issue. Needless to say, things are still a pretty big mess over there.

The Good:

Operation Rescue Doggos. In Seattle, a neighborhood pulled together impressively to rescue the occupants of a doggy daycare resort in Seattle when their building caught fire. After all 115 furry friends safely made it out of the building, the displaced doggos wound up staying in businesses and homes all over the neighborhood. The damage from the fire will cost about $300,000 in repairs, and the owner has started a Go Fund Me which has raised about a tenth of that cost already.

So that’s all the news I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news rebates. For making it through, you deserve this happy capy and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your plan for universal healthcare!

Year 7, Week 5 (February 12-18)

February 22, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

A lot of this week’s stories are continuations of long-term topics we’ve been hearing about for some time–making it feel like Groundhog Day came a little late this month. Needless to say, this isn’t the first time we’ve been trapped in a news story, and it won’t be the last time either. But on the plus side, the NNR will be in Punxsutawney for the duration.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a discovery document!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

Most of this week’s Election Rejection news focuses on the investigation from Georgia, but there were a handful of other Trump updates as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Court Doc Discoveries. The judge presiding over the GA election grand jury investigation ordered the release of some of their documents on Thursday, which is how we learned the grand jury believed that some witnesses perjured themselves during said investigation. Consequently, the they recommended multiple indictments, though the mostly-sealed records mean we still are missing a lot of details. Meanwhile, Fox News was in the hot seat after the Dominion lawsuit against them revealed that the network knew full well there was no election fraud–even as they aired segments claiming otherwise.

The main story in Biden Rebuilding involves the war in Ukraine. Here’s what has happened:

Biden Time in Ukraine. President Biden went on an unannounced trip to Kyiv this week, days after his Vice President Kamala Harris called out Russia for war crimes against humanity. In response, Putin announced today that he will pull Russia out of its current nuclear arms détente with the US, a program called New START. Biden addressed Warsaw today in response, stressing that Russian aggression cannot be left unchallenged. Both sides are doubling down in part because we’re nearing one year of war in Ukraine, as the conflict officially began on February 24, 2022.

Your New Normal:

COVID Costs. A lot of advocates, including myself, are currently very concerned about what COVID vaccines will cost after the public health emergency ends on May 12. We saw a bit of promising news on that front this week, as Moderna walked back its initial threat to charge $110-130 for its vaccine. The change was probably related to Bernie Sanders threatening a hearing about it, but frankly I’ll still take it.

The Bad:

Care of a Statesman. Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was hospitalized this week, apparently due to depressive symptoms that have worsened in recent weeks. Though Fox News was predictably catty, prominent Democrats have praised Fetterman for being transparent and seeking the care he needs through a brief medical leave. Several outlets have noted that depression is common for stroke survivors, which may be why his symptoms have worsened in recent weeks. That said, after three years of pandemic, studies show that depression is common for everybody, and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. I hope that Senator Fetterman is getting the care he needs, and I also hope that this type of story becomes more normalized over time.

The Good:

Paving the Way for Narcan Access. An FDA panel recommended this week that Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses, be made available for over-the-counter use. Though most states do make the treatment available without prescription in some contexts, obtaining it still generally requires interaction with a pharmacist. Given the stigma associated with overdose, which may prevent some people from wanting to approach a pharmacist about it, an over-the-counter determination would likely save lives. The change still needs to be cleared by the whole FDA, but this is a big step and I’m really excited about it.

So that’s all the news I have for this week, and I’m sorry, I cannot adjust the Internet to improve quality. For making it through, you deserve this fastidious greyhound and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me thoughts on what you’d do if you had to relive the same day indefinitely!

Year 7, Week 4 (February 5-11)

February 16, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news is pretty dispiriting again this week, and I know I for one am getting tired of hearing myself sing that tune. If you’re having a tough time with all of this, you aren’t alone; we’ve lived through a lot in the last few years. I’m here if I can help.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a classified document!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We did have some odds and ends on the Election Rejection news front. Here’s what has happened:

Subpoenas and Searches. Pence and Trump were both in the news a lot this past week, for various court-related reasons. On the Pence end, another classified document was found in his Indiana home; he was also subpoenaed in Trump’s ongoing January 6 investigation. Trump, for his part, is trying to stop Pence from testifying on that by using his tired ‘executive privilege’ refrain again. It’s also looking likely that records from the Georgia investigation into his election actions will be released in the near future.

We also had a couple of stories for Biden Rebuilding, though nothing I would call earth-shattering. Here’s what I have for you:

State of the Biden(s). The biggest Biden story of the past week was probably his State of the Union address, which largely touched on the debt ceiling, police reforms, and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s lack of social skills. His son Hunter’s laptop was also in the news yet again, this time because the House Oversight Committee used old social media restrictions from 2020 to create a whole censorship circus adventure.

Your New Normal:

Reproductive Health Updates. A lot of mixed reproductive health news surfaced this week. In Texas, a lawsuit may end access to abortifacients, which are supposed to be available under existing federal law. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Washington DC suggested that abortions may be protected by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolishes slavery outside of penal contexts–it will be interesting to see what happens with that line of precedent. Finally, in Florida, the High School Athletic Association was considering forcing teen athletes to disclose their menstruation, which needless to say would have abortion implications, though the athletic administration voted not to adopt it.

The Bad:

Derailing Conversations. By now, I’m sure a lot of us have heard about the ongoing horrorshow happening in East Palestine, Ohio, where a massive derailed train dumped huge amounts of multiple kinds of toxic chemicals into the nearby Ohio river. The spill has killed a lot of local wildlife, and residents who were evacuated are understandably nervous about returning, wondering what this is doing to their air and water. Needless to say, this is a really concerning public health situation that seems like it’s being minimized, and it bodes watching carefully.

The Good:

Postpartum Antidepressant. The FDA is currently reviewing a promising new treatment for postpartum depression, which if approved could increase access to treatment considerably. (The only current form of postpartum pharmaceutical treatment is a 60-hour intravenous infusion that can cost thousands of dollars.) It’s a promising development, to say the least, though it may be some time before the drug is approved.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this cat conversation and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me selfies you took recently!

Year 7, Week 3 (January 29–February 4)

February 7, 2023 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news this week is kind of a funhouse mirror, reflecting an odd mix of Situation Normal and weird twists. I would imagine this is closer than average to what covering news looked like in the Before Times. If, y’know, the Before Times involved investigating investigators and sitting House reps wanted for fraud.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting a seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a classified document!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

We did have one story pop up on the Election Rejection news front. Here’s what has happened:

400 Fifths. A video was released this week of Trump’s August deposition with New York AG Leticia James, who you may remember brought a $250M fraud lawsuit against him this past fall. The video is noteworthy because it shows Trump invoking the fifth amendment literally over 400 times during the course of a four-hour deposition–for those of you playing the home game, that’s approximately 100 non-answers per hour. The civil case isn’t scheduled to go on trial until the fall, but it will be interesting to see if there’s further news on this before then.

We also had a handful of odds and ends for Biden Rebuilding, though nothing I would call earth-shattering. Here’s what I have for you:

Biden Admin Potpourri. The DNC approved Biden’s plan this week to dramatically change how Dem primaries work, pushing forward South Carolina’s primaries to the first date and pushing several other states forward or back. (That said, the plan still faces some logistical hurdles before it can be enacted.) In other news, the Fed raised interest rates again this week, for the eighth time this year–though it’s a milder hike than previous increases have been, at only 0.25%. Presumably, this is because inflation has been easing up since the last increase. Finally, on the classified document front, it turns out Biden’s beach home didn’t have any–and the FBI is planning a search of Pence’s home in Indiana.

Your New Normal:

Broken House Blues (Committee Edition). House committees were a hot topic again this week, with the GOP removing Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee because they didn’t like things she said four years ago. Meanwhile, newly-elected fraud entrepreneur George Santos stepped down from his committees, ostensibly because of ongoing investigations of him but possibly also because a former staffer just accused him of sexual assault in a letter to the House Ethics Committee. And in other House investigation news, Jim Jordan‘s new Judiciary Committee is apparently investigating the Department of Justice because… reasons? Candidly, I don’t think even he understands the reasoning he put forward in what is surely the first of many made-up investigations into the Biden administration.
African American Study Studies. After weeks of Florida governor Ron DeSantis threatening to ban the course, the College Board revealed this week that they have stripped much of the modern curriculum from AP African American Studies. The new version of the course has eliminated references to Angela Davis, Kimberle Krenshaw, the Black Lives Matter movement, mass incarceration, and reparations–all really significant omissions from a unit reviewing the 1960s through today. It’s unclear whether DeSantis will move off of his proposed ban based on these changes, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess that he will not. In support of my hypothesis, I offer the fact that he spent the week banning diversity programs at state colleges and ousting the college President at New College of Florida.

The Bad:

Tragedy in Turkey and Syria. Two massive earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria today, killing at least 4,100 people and injuring many thousands more. A quake of this magnitude hasn’t been seen in this region since 1939, and there were a lot of different factors contributing to the devastation caused by this one. Rescue and recovery operations are being slowed by the freezing temperatures, and we likely won’t know the full extent of the damage until those are completed. That said, it’s very likely that we’re looking at another humanitarian crisis in a region that has already suffered more than its fair share of them.

The Good:

Recent Wrongful Death Suits. A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled this week that the father of a murdered protester can bring a wrongful death suit against the civilian “counter-protester” who killed him during the Kenosha shootings. It’s heartening to see this proceed forward, particularly against the backdrop of the wrongful death suit brought last month against two civilian “protesters” from January 6, whose assault with bear spray resulted in an officer’s death. (Interestingly enough, that family is also suing Donald Trump, on the theory that his incitement makes him liable.) It’s complicated news, to be sure, but it’s ultimately promising to see the possibility of consequence for political violence–especially figures like Kyle Rittenhouse, whose massive alt-right backing can allow them to escape criminal consequences.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this confused chicken and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your favorite cat picture!