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Federal court blocks Alabama plan for new congressional districts that could help Republicans
A three-judge panel in the state’s long-running redistricting case issued the preliminary injunction that prevents the state, at least for now, from switching maps.
Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has been committed to using the full Constitutional power, statutory authority, and financial resources of the federal government to ensure that African Americans and other marginalized communities in the United States have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream.
Federal court blocks redistricting map created to help GOP in Alabama
A federal court put a hold on a congressional map that Alabama Republicans want to use this fall to give themselves an edge in every district in the state.
Betting On Herself: After 30 Years Of Service, Local Leader Launches Consulting Business To Help Teams Thrive
SOUTHERN MARYLAND — After 30 years in federal service, Mandy Miedzinski didn’t walk away with a perfectly mapped-out plan — she walked away with a feeling she couldn’t ignore: she still had more to give. What began as a simple conversation with a mentor quickly gained momentum. One introduction led to another. Ideas turned into […]
The future of the American healthcare workforce
The U-S is facing a steep healthcare worker shortage. A 2025 federal analysis projected that by 2038, 30 out of 35 physician specialties will be hurting for practitioners, with over 140,000 roles left unfilled. And for nurses, that shortage is projected to be over 108,000. And last week, 24 states plus the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over new federal student loan limits on graduate degrees. Those caps apply to programs that could graduate workers into these threatened health care fields. But Education Secretary Linda McMahon say these worries are overblown and that these new rules aim to force colleges to lower tuition rates. So, what do these changes really mean for the future of our healthcare workforce in the U.S.?
Myths, Facts, and What’s at Stake When It Comes to Federal Maternal and Child Health Policy
Since January 2025, the Trump administration and Congress have advanced a series of policies that are wreaking havoc on our health care systems, and will
Trump’s crackdown on trans healthcare extends into adulthood
Conservatives have long argued they want to end transition care for minors, but federal policies have increasingly limited adult access. More restrictions are on the way.
Soaring healthcare costs put California school districts and teachers at odds
California school districts are struggling to balance rising healthcare costs with declining enrollment and federal aid, leading to labor battles between teachers and districts over healthcare premiums.
Experts Fear Key Federal Firings Undercut Public Health
The dismissal of the entire National Science Board breaks down guardrails that protect public health, says epidemiologist Brian Castrucci.
Experts Fear Key Federal Firings Undercut Public Health
The dismissal of the entire National Science Board breaks down guardrails that protect public health, says epidemiologist Brian Castrucci.
Apple says U.S. is refusing to produce federal agency documents in DOJ antitrust case
Apple is asking a federal judge to force the U.S. government to turn over documents from 14 federal agencies that it says could support its defense in the DOJ’s antitrust case.
5 more things to know about 3 hospitals’ $250M case against CVS
Last week hospitals owned by three big health systems filed suit against CVS Health. The trio filed separately, but all accuse the corporation of robbing them of funds they’re owed through the federal 340B drug pricing program.
Semiconductor decoupling. Powell's politics. Industrializing Ogaden. Free trade and the Magna Carta.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 8th Army’s Front, Italy 1944 Semiconductor decoupling Source: FT One thing that Jerome Powell deeply understood is that chairing the Fed under current conditions is a deeply political job. “Powell has successes and mistakes to his name. But he stands out as having thought more carefully about the Fed’s democratic legitimacy than any chair since Paul Volcker,” said Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, referring to the Fed chair who successfully fought the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. … While Powell was at the Treasury in the early 1990s, he watched Alan Greenspan build relationships within the government. That convinced Powell he needed to follow the former Fed chair’s lead and spend more time in Congress than his predecessors Yellen and Bernanke. “The accountability for the Fed runs through Congress,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at New Century Advisors. “That’s not just about having people on speed dial — it’s answering questions, explaining policy and getting feedback.” Source: FT Ethiopia’s PM Abiy and Nigerian business tycoon, with Chinese engineering, are driving industrialization in Ogaden/Somali region of Ethiopia. - Michael Masri’s reporting for Africa Report if fascinating. Ethiopia has launched a cluster of large industrial schemes in the Somali region, laying foundation stones for a urea plant and an oil refinery in Gode while opening the first two phases of the Ogaden LNG project. Abiy Ahmed framed the push as part of a broader strategy to link energy, agriculture and industry. “These projects embody more than industrial growth,” he said. “They represent our shared responsibility to harness opportunities, strengthen co-operation and promote peace.” The Gode urea plant, backed by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), is designed for 3m tonnes a year. Dangote owns 60%, while EIH holds 40%. Officials say Dangote’s equity totals about $2.5bn, while the state provides land and implementation oversight. Gas from the Calub fields will be piped 108km to the site. Construction is slated for 40 months, with operations targeted for 2028. Ethiopia imports most of its fertiliser, spending more than $1.2bn a year for 1.5m–2m tonnes. Usage was roughly 1.7m tonnes in 2023, almost half of it urea, and demand for 2024–25 is put above 2.4m tonnes. If delivered on time, the Gode plant could cover domestic needs and allow exports to neighbours. Brook Taye, chief executive of EIH, called the venture “a significant milestone in the journey toward industrial self-sufficiency”. Dangote told the groundbreaking crowd that the complex would be integrated with gas supply and a polypropylene unit to support local inputs. He pointed to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with a capacity of more than 5,000MW, and noted his group’s cement operations and expansion plans. The Gode refinery is being developed by Golden Concord Group of China. It is designed to process 3.5m tonnes a year of crude and condensate from the Hilala field, with associated storage. Backers say it will ease foreign-exchange pressure from fuel imports and anchor further industrial activity, including a proposed steel smelting site in Dire Dawa. GCL’s chair, Zhu Gongshan, cast the project as “a key step in Ethiopia’s path to energy sovereignty”, underscoring the Beijing–Addis ties. Financing details are still being finalised, but the refinery is central to the government’s energy-security narrative. Source: The Africa Report Dangote’s Ethiopian vision: Dangote began with cement. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, dominates Nigeria’s market and has 10 operations in other nations in Africa. The formula has been consistent: identify sectors with chronic shortages – cement, fertiliser, sugar – commit massive local investments, and scale up to serve regional demand. Ethiopia was a natural extension of that model. In 2015, Dangote launched the Mugher Cement Plant outside Addis Ababa at a cost of $600m, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The investment gave him a firm foothold in one of Africa’s fastest-growing construction markets. But success came with risks. In May 2018, violent unrest led to the killing of Dangote’s country manager and temporary shutdowns at Mugher. While other investors might have retreated, Dangote doubled down. Today, he is preparing to spend $400m to expand Mugher’s capacity to 5 million tonnes, alongside a new grinding unit near Addis Ababa. Cement is just one market Dangote is targeting. Ethiopia’s enormous state-controlled sugar industry, long plagued by inefficiency and debt, has struggled for years to reform. Its Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project, touted as one of the continent’s largest initiatives, continues to face delays and mismanagement. … The most ambitious venture of all is the planned fertiliser production complex in Gode, Somali region. Publicised on 28 August 2025, the Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) deal plans one of the world’s largest single-site urea manufacturing plants. The project costs an estimated $2.5bn and has an estimated capacity of 3 million metric tonnes annually, a rate that would not only render Ethiopia independent, but even a net exporter of fertiliser. EIH, the state wealth fund of Ethiopia, will hold 40%, while 60% is held by Dangote Group. … For Dangote, Ethiopia is a trifecta: Cement demand is projected to grow by 10% annually, its sugar consumption is growing with rapid urbanisation, and fertiliser demand is all but insatiable, given that farming supports the livelihood of 70% of Ethiopians. Source: The Africa Report The stakes for Abiy are high: For Addis Ababa, the $4bn fertiliser project in Ethiopia’s Somali region is no longer simply a manufacturing investment. It is increasingly being framed as a strategic state project tied to food sovereignty, import substitution and the government’s broader attempt to build economic resilience under mounting fiscal pressure. “Becoming self-sufficient in food is our main agenda,” Abiy says during the visit. “Land is needed; we have it. Water is needed; we have it. Human resources are needed; we have it.” The scale is enormous even by African industrial standards. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce three million metric tonnes of urea annually, potentially making it one of the continent’s largest fertiliser complexes. Ethiopian officials say the project now includes a 110km gas pipeline, a 120MW power plant, a polypropylene packaging facility and a two-million-tonne NPK blending plant. For a government grappling with chronic foreign exchange shortages, ballooning import bills and pressure on agricultural productivity, the numbers matter politically as much as they do economically. The decision to anchor the project in Gode is deliberate. Long viewed as peripheral to Ethiopia’s industrial economy, the Somali region is now being repositioned by the federal government as a future irrigation and agro-industrial corridor. Officials argue that the area’s vast land reserves and access to water could eventually support large-scale commercial farming capable of reshaping Ethiopia’s food economy. The government is simultaneously building housing infrastructure for about 5,000 residents near the plant, while officials project broader industrial expansion along the corridor. Abiy goes further, comparing the long-term revenue potential of the Gode development zone with Ethiopia’s flagship state enterprise. “The investments we are making in this Gode area, combined, will generate high revenue for Ethiopia, at par with Ethiopian Airlines,” he says. Source: The Africa Report Feliks Topolski 1907-1982 Topolski’s Chronicle, ‘Nazi Revival’, Vol. 8, Is. 1-2, 1960 HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Grim vision of drone warfare by Sylvie Kaufmann For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe The state of the art in Colbert-studies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was Louis XIV chief minister from 1661 to 1683 and traditionally seen as an architect of absolutism and mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton later cited him as an inspiration in 1782. Now his legacy is disputed. Daniel Dessert, the chief critic, sees Colbert as the orchestrator not so much of an absolutist state as of an elite cabal. Would be great to have a good English-language review of this important debate. Source: lhistoire Didn’t know that the Magna Carta included free trade provisions Fighting for the right to the beach in Oregon in 1967: Source: Research Gate RAF Station – British and Polish Flags, c. 1940-45, The Ingram Collection Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 ink and wash If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
Federal health department withdraws controversial vaccine panel changes
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services quietly withdrew revisions to a key vaccine advisory panel after a federal judge ruled officials exceeded their authority in a seeking vaccine changes.
BUSINESS BRIEFS May 25, 2025: Business news in the Berkshires and beyond
Business news from Beacon Bank, MountainOne, Greylock Federal, and more.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on federal lawsuits, elections and e-bikes
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sat down for a wide-ranging discussion on California Politics 360.
Illinois lawmakers consider grants or loans for Chicago businesses devastated by Operation Midway Blitz
Six months after Operation Midway Blitz, lawmakers are considering if and how to support businesses who struggled financially due to the federal government’s incursion into Chicago.
Illinois lawmakers consider grants or loans for Chicago businesses devastated by Operation Midway Blitz
SPRINGFIELD — When federal immigration officers flooded Chicago neighborhoods last fall, walk-ins at Erick Camargo’s hair salon in Chicago plunged from about 40 customers per day to as few as five. At...
What happened to the Trump administration’s in-your-face mass deportations?
The White House has intentionally retreated from its in-your-face deportation approach after confrontations between federal and state officials in multiple states erupted in Minneapolis earlier this year, when video of masked agents killing protesters sparked outrage and protest.
Feds subpoena Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin over Cuba trips
Hasan Piker and CodePink cofounder Medea Benjamin face Treasury subpoenas in a federal probe into whether activists violated U.S. Cuba sanctions.
Chicago’s top health official exits after turbulent stretch under Johnson
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige is leaving City Hall after overseeing measles outbreaks, migrant health issues and steep federal funding cuts.
A Look At Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE) Valuation After Penn Station Decision And Theater Sale Plans
Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE) drew fresh investor attention after confirmation that the Penn Station redevelopment will keep the existing arena in place, while a potential theater sale and federal infrastructure funding reshaped the stock’s value story. See our latest analysis for Madison Square Garden Entertainment. At a latest share price of $69.64, MSGE has seen a 12.92% 1 month share price return and a 9.31% 3 month share price return, while its 1 year total shareholder...
JPL's management contract is suddenly up for grabs for the first time since the 1930s, and NASA's own language shows why this is more than a routine procurement fight
For the first time since the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s origins in the 1930s, Caltech’s hold on one of the most important institutions in American robotic space exploration is no longer automatic. NASA has announced that it will compete the next contract for managing and operating JPL, the federally funded research and development center in Southern […]
How $200 million will be doled out to Wyoming health care providers
The federal Rural Health Transformation Program funds come after months of negotiations, which led Wyoming to drop a planned investment fund. Instead, the state will focus on basic care.
St. Paul business owner charged in $4M Minnesota Medicaid fraud scheme
A St. Paul business owner is facing federal charges after prosecutors said she stole millions from Medicaid by fraudulently billing for services, including some which were never provided.
Lawsuit Argues Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund Excludes Those He Targeted
The constellation of individuals and groups involved claims to have suffered partisan attacks by the federal government under Trump, yet would not be compensated.
Federal judges’ responses vary to immigration authorities’ disregard of orders
Colorado’s U.S. District Court judges have responded in recent days to the government’s violations of or unclear compliance with their orders in immigration detention cases, resulting in directives to immediately free the petitioners. “I’m just struggling to understand how he was removed from the United States even though (the government acknowledges) he could not be […]
Governor Evers urges Wisconsin small business owners to apply for disaster assistance
Governor Tony Evers is encouraging small businesses and nonprofit organizations still recovering from severe storms last summer to apply for federal disaster assistance through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Trump administration releases $40 million for Colorado water project
The Trump administration on Friday released $40 million, clearing the way for a water district and its partners to finish funding the purchase of some of the state’s most senior Colorado River water rights, Gov. Jared Polis announced. Federal funding for the Shoshone water rights owned by Public Service Company, a division of Xcel Energy, […]
Update: What We’re Watching, May 22, 2026
This update covers the latest federal health policy news and its potential impact on Kansas.
Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s health
Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, saying she needed to step away as her husband battles cancer.
Editorial: Delay Illinois’ swipe-fee law before chaos hits
With litigation unresolved and federal regulators intervening, Springfield should pause Illinois’ swipe-fee law before the July 1 deadline.
Morelle continues fight against ICE detention cells in Rochester
Morelle said he recently received confirmation that the federal government is proceeding with project.
Lawmakers warn data protection rules don't protect key sites, including White House and CIA
The Biden administration spent almost a year crafting regulations to block U.S. adversaries from buying commercial data gathered from cell phones at the federal government’s most sensitive locations.
WATCH LIVE: Kevin Warsh sworn in as chairman of the Federal Reserve
How Trump's IRS settlement could block tax audits of him, his family and their businesses
Some lawmakers and legal experts say the department has violated federal law with its addendum to the settlement agreement.
Judges in Maine and Wisconsin dismiss attempts to force turnover of voter rolls
Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin have dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over voter registration information to the federal government.
HHS launches AI-backed health fraud crackdown
The department will use AI to examine audits from states and other federal grant recipients, and potentially withhold funds if they aren’t able to fix errors.
A federal office of men’s health has never been closer, yet it’s likely still years away
Supporters worry that a men’s health office created by the Trump administration risks being dismantled by a future Democratic president
Eastern Iowa woman sentenced for stealing more than $500K from veteran-owned business
A Springville woman was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison for stealing more than $500,000 from a veteran-owned small business in Marion.
Business owners voice concerns ahead of Al Fresco dining on Federal Hill
Business owners spoke out against Al Fresco on Federal Hill Thursday night.
New cash-rounding law lets Maryland businesses adjust change by five cents
Maryland businesses can now round cash transactions to the nearest five cents when exact change is unavailable, following the federal decision to stop producing pennies.
Maine, Wisconsin judges dismiss attempts to force turnover of voter rolls
Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information.
Ron DeSantis reveals how he exacts vengeance with budget vetoes
'Difficult' legislators won't get what they want.
Federal case alleges $30 million theft by health payment CEO
Patrick Alan Bucknum, 55, was charged with wire fraud May 7 in federal court in Spokane. Prosecutors say he embezzled money out of his firm to the tune of $24
Oakland: Health Workers, Activists Protest H.R. 1 Funding Cuts, Call For Billionaire Tax
Around 80 people participated in a symbolic "die-in" in East Oakland on Thursday to protest federal funding cuts to healthcare.
OPM’s top official for healthcare and insurance resigns
Shane Stevens, who has been serving as associate director of healthcare and insurance at OPM since last summer, is voluntarily resigning from the role.
Trump's health department is expanding the use of AI in the hunt for fraud
The Department of Health and Human Services is boosting its use of artificial intelligence to monitor audits from federal grant recipients.
Michigan Democrats seek to bolster voter ballot access with new legislation
The bills’ introduction comes as voter rights are weakened at the federal level ahead of the 2026 midterms.
President Daniels in WSJ op-ed: Get the federal science money flowing
JHU president, University of Kansas chancellor urge federal agencies to release congressionally appropriated funds to fuel America's research engine
US HHS Launches AI Initiative to Detect Fraud and Waste in Health Programs
May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it has launched a new AI-led initiative to review annual audits to strengthen oversight across federally funded health programs amid concerns around widespread fraud. The program, called the Audit ...
Susan Collins brings federal dollars to Maine. She's hoping that's worth it to voters
As Maine's Senate matchup is all but set, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins urges voters to pick her over Democrat Graham Platner because she can fund state priorities due to her seniority.
Maldonado named APS Congressional Science Fellow
Danielle Maldonado, a doctoral student in physics, will use her scientific expertise to inform federal policymaking during a yearlong fellowship on Capitol Hill as a 2026-27 American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow,
Researchers say the Trump administration is finding new ways to punish science
Even with federal grants largely restored, scientists say the Trump administration is still preventing those funds from reaching them. The consequences, they say, are already becoming clear.
Sen Blackburn says sports betting hearing likely first of ‘several’ as Congress weighs federal action
Sen. Blackburn says Congress must determine where federal regulation is needed as sports betting and prediction markets rapidly expand in the U.S.
Colorado Charts Its Own Course on Vaccines Amid Federal Pullback
Doctors, lawmakers, and other advocates are joining forces to promote recommended childhood vaccines.
WATCH: Trump says Raúl Castro indictment is 'a very important moment' for Cubans
The comments came shortly after federal prosecutors announced charges against Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the island's socialist government.
Judge halts White House’s rollback of presidential records-retention policies
A federal judge said Wednesday that White House staff must preserve their official records, including communications that they send via non-official text message services, pushing back on attempts to free President Donald Trump from record-keeping obligations that were set by Congress.
Opinion | Get the Federal Science Money Flowing
The NIH has been holding back grants from funds Congress has already approved.
Ex-prosecutor charged over handling of sealed Smith report on Trump classified files probe
A former federal prosecutor in Florida sent to her personal email account a special counsel report from the investigation into President Donald Trump's hoarding of classified documents despite a judge's order that it remain sealed, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday.
Congressional panel probes Denver, Boulder over ICE cooperation limits
A congressional panel is reviewing Denver and Boulder’s policies, alleging that these cities, along with other “sanctuary” jurisdictions, are declining to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the body announced Wednesday. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, issued letters to the district attorneys, sheriffs and police chiefs of Denver and Boulder, […]
Jan. 6 officers sue to block payouts to rioters from $1.8B fund
The officers' attorneys filed the federal lawsuit on Wednesday, a day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the fund's creation
NC House overrides governor’s private school voucher veto
The North Carolina House voted May 20, 2026, to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein that allows private school tuition donors to opt in to a federal tax break.
Mace targets Squad Dem with proposed constitutional ban on foreign-born lawmakers
Rep. Nancy Mace proposes expanding the natural-born citizen requirement beyond the presidency to Congress, federal judges and cabinet appointees.
Big Ten explores self-governance as College Sports Commission sputters, Congress action stalls
As frustration grows with stalled federal action and a shaky NIL enforcement system, Big Ten leaders are exploring a future where the conference sets and polices its own rules
American passenger on hantavirus-hit cruise feels ‘blindsided’ and ‘misled’ by new quarantine orders
An American passenger who was exposed to the Andes strain of hantavirus on the cruise ship HV Hondius said he feels “blindsided” and “misled” by new orders that require staying at the National Quarantine Center in Nebraska under federal supervision.
Former prosecutor who railed against Trump’s weaponization of DOJ wins Dem primary
Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor and Navy JAG officer, won the Democratic primary for Kentucky's 6th Congressional District to replace outgoing Rep. Andy Barr.
Wyoming’s plan for $205M in Rural Health Transformation funds approved
The plan doesn’t include a perpetuity fund. It was meant to stretch out more than a billion federal dollars for decades to come. Instead, Wyoming will spend the funds this year on sustaining basic care.
Couple sues Maine health providers, accusing radiologist of overlooking warning sign of stroke
The lawsuit is the first known medical malpractice case filed in Maine's federal court against a non-governmental defendant since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, attorney says.
Exclusive: US Health Secretary Kennedy backs away from some recent changes to CDC vaccine panel
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s latest effort to reconstitute a CDC vaccine advisory committee backs away from some reforms he announced just weeks ago and could complicate his efforts to alter federal immunization policy, according to a copy of the plan reviewed by Reuters.
Federal judge declines to toss WA legislative maps
A federal judge rejected a renewed Republican challenge to the state’s legislative map, finding no evidence that race was the primary factor in redrawing the boundaries.
California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists
California and other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by students in healthcare fields.
25 States Sue Over Changes Limiting Federal Loans for Nursing Degrees
Governors and attorneys general from the states and District of Columbia argue the Education Department’s decision not to label nursing as a professional degree will contribute to worker shortages.
States sue over new student loan limits on certain nursing and healthcare degrees
New York, Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky and Nevada are among the states challenging a rule that limits federal student loans for graduate degrees in nursing, physical therapy and more.
Health worker shortage will worsen with federal loan limit, 25 states say in suit
The lawsuit comes after the Education Department finalized rules that reduce the amount of money graduate students can borrow from the federal government.
Live Results: Oregon midterm state and congressional primaries
Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and the nearly two dozen challengers hoping to defeat her are among the candidates who will seek their parties’ nominations for state and federal offices in Tuesday’s primary.
VIDEO: NFIB’s Josh McLeod Discusses Top Small Business Issues on C-SPAN
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 19, 2026) – NFIB Director of Federal Government Relations Josh McLeod joined C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Monday to discuss the current state of the small business economy and the top issues that are impacting Main Street. McLeod explains how the 20% Small Business Deduction
YSU Business Students Earn Government Contracting Experience
YSU students are gaining firsthand insight into the world of federal procurement through immersive, applied learning experiences.
Could Republican Thomas Massie survive Trump's attack to oust him?
The Kentucky congressman, who has crossed the president on federal spending and the Epstein files, faces Republican voters on Tuesday.
Iowa man sues Nintendo after being denied ‘Pokémon Professor’ status
An Iowa man is taking Nintendo and Pokémon Company International to federal court for allegedly refusing to grant him “Pokémon Professor” status.
What is Trump’s $1.776 Billion ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund?
The Trump administration is creating a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people it says were wronged by the federal government, a group that could be largely made up of the president’s allies.
Federal jury delivers verdict on Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI
A jury in federal court reached a verdict in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI after Musk accused the maker of ChatGPT of violating its founding mission as a nonprofit.
Children’s Colorado must resume care to transgender plaintiffs, state Supreme Court rules by 5-2
The Colorado Supreme Court, by a 5-2 vote, ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume providing certain medical services to a group of transgender plaintiffs, which it had ceased in the face of funding threats from the federal government last year. The unusual appeal before the Supreme Court stemmed from a trial judge’s rejection […]
Potential federal college sports reform could reshape Florida football
Proposed federal reforms surrounding NIL, transfers and NCAA authority could significantly impact Florida and other SEC football programs.
Trump moves to dismiss $10B suit over leak of tax returns
The disclosure was made in a filing in federal court in Florida, where the lawsuit was filed last year
Trump moves to dismiss $10B suit over leak of tax returns
The disclosure was made in a filing in federal court in Florida, where the lawsuit was filed last year
Maryland ballot blunder triggers GOP push for federal review of blue state's voter rolls
Republicans call for a federal review of Maryland's voter rolls after a ballot vendor error forced the state to resend thousands of primary ballots.
AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Oregon’s Primaries
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and the nearly two dozen challengers hoping to defeat her are among the candidates who will seek their parties’ nominations for state and federal offices in Tuesday’s primary. Voters will also decide a statewide ballot measure that would raise ...
Op-ed: Trump Fires All Governing Members of the US National Science Foundation Amidst Major Cuts to Research
Trump Administration efforts to erase the independence of federal agencies, and roll back research, continue in the firing of all 22 National Science Foundation board members
Montana tribes combine traditional knowledge and Western science in climate plan
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are moving forward with their climate plan despite the loss of state support and federal funding.
Montana tribes combine traditional knowledge and Western science in climate plan
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are moving forward with their climate plan despite the loss of state support and federal funding.
Montana tribes combine traditional knowledge and Western science in climate plan
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are moving forward with their climate plan despite the loss of state support and federal funding.
A prayer festival calls for more religion in politics, not less
A prayer festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC was partially organized and funded by the federal government. Its evangelical Christian messaging and call for more religion in politics not less, aligns with the Trump administration's fusion of faith and governance. NPR's Emily Feng went to the event to understand the audience for this approach, and she spoke with author Eric Metaxas, a speaker at the Rededicate 250 festival.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Henry Larson, with audio engineering by It was edited by Sarah Robbins and Daniel Burke.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Kissimmee mayor seeks to shut ethics probe over city grants to her businesses
Three businesses owned by Espinosa and her family received nearly $50,000 from a program paid with federal dollars but overseen by Kissimmee staff.
Senate referee rules against some Trump ballroom funding, Democrats say
The push to secure federal dollars for President Donald Trump’s ballroom security just got more difficult on Capitol Hill.
Now What? With Carbon Pricing Eroded and Pipeline Politics Advancing, Here Are the Pathways for Climate Success
At the end of a whirlwind week of news on carbon pricing and electricity strategy, capping a madcap year of pretty much non-stop, dramatic change, the word across much of Canada’s climate and energy transition community is that climate policy in this country has been shredded. Eviscerated. Hit with a sledgehammer by policy rollbacks that have pushed the country’s 2050 net zero target “well out of reach”. That means it’s never been more important to look for the rays of hope and glimmers of possibility. To glimpse the seeds of the next set of strategies to get Canada’s climate pollution under control and the country into the accelerating global dash away from fossil fuels. And then, once we’ve spotted those possibilities, get on with the hard, day-to-day slog of trying to make them a reality. Nothing takes away from the frustration and the deep disappointment so many climate and energy hawks are expressing, the sense of betrayal by the author of Value(s) and the former UN special envoy for climate action and finance. But we knew two things as the week drew to a close. We’re looking at the world as it most definitely is. And we don’t get to give up finding the pathways to confront climate change and deliver faster, deeper carbon cuts that leave no one else behind. So really, the first question we all have to ask ourselves is: What’s next? Subscribe All the Oxygen in the Room The outpouring of anger and grief over the carbon pricing deal between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been absolutely understandable. So much of the climate community poured years, more than a decade, into dragging the current federal pricing regime across the finish line, then defending it from a deluge of three-syllable rhymes after the Trudeau government proved utterly incapable of delivering its own message. The policy foisted on us by neo-classical economists took up all the oxygen in the room, burned through years of climate response time that we won’t get back, while cornering climate hawks into the position that the best response to the crisis of our lifetimes is a new tax…in an era of historic anti-tax sentiment. I mean, really—what could possibly have gone wrong? Against that history, let’s appreciate columnist Max Fawcett’s point that even a modest carbon pricing agreement with a government as off-the-wall libertarian/conspiracist as Danielle Smith’s—those adjectives are mine, not Max’s—is a win worth savouring (as long as Smith keeps her promises for a change). But part of living in the world as it is (no, I’m not letting that go) is to be clear-headed about what we can and can’t control. And one thing we get to decide, after seeing this week’s carbon price festivities take up all the oxygen yet again, is whether we want to keep letting that happen. Particularly when success down that road depends on a factor that no one with a climate agenda can control or influence—a provincial carbon pricing mechanism that has been manipulated and eroded beyond its lowest possible denominator. Thankfully, that’s not the way it has to go. Not when we have so many other powerful, practical tools at our disposal, including the ones still available to us through this abominable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Alberta. Tools In Our Toolbox When I started roughing out this list, I didn’t expect it to grow to nearly a dozen bullet points. It’s probably still incomplete. Some of the greatest hits in today’s climate solutions toolbox include: • No Carbon Capture, No Pipeline: On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney explicitly stated that there’s been no change to the MOU provision that there will be no West Coast pipeline without an industry commitment to build its massive, $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) hub in Northern Alberta, and vice versa. The two megaprojects were joined at the hip when the MOU was signed Nov. 27, and the implementation agreement this week affirmed that they still are. A parade of independent analysts have spent years pointing to the economic and technical flaws in CCUS, while the industry kept postponing its investment decision until it could arm-twist the government for more “clarity” (by which it meant even more lavish taxpayer subsidies) on the project. Now the industry itself is running away from the CCUS hub and insisting the pipeline should proceed without it, but Carney doesn’t seem to be budging from a central tenet of the MOU to which Smith has signed on. • No Subsidies, No Investors: Climate analysts and advocates have quite rightly been hammering away at Carney and his team, insisting that any new capacity the industry wants to build must proceed without new subsidies. The government has responded with a growing collection of funding and financing mechanisms for the very wide menu of industrial development and nation-building projects they say they want to take on, and that menu always includes fossil fuel infrastructure. But it’s hard to see how even the combined fiscal clout of the federal and supportive provincial governments will deliver the financial backing private investors would need when the business case for new fossil fuel development is evaporating before their eyes. Particularly when… • No Market, No Demand, No Investors: As our friend Markham Hislop at Energi Media (our apparently sleepless friend, given the massive volume of great material he’s been churning out) points out this morning, the biggest vulnerability in any pipeline deal is the assumption that Asian buyers will want the oil or liquefied natural ga that our fossil industry is so keen to send them. Hislop writes in part: Ottawa and Alberta are effectively betting that countries like China and India will continue increasing oil imports for decades as their economies grow and energy consumption rises. That assumption underpins the entire economic rationale for expanding oil sands production and building billions of dollars in new export infrastructure. But Asian energy systems are changing rapidly… China, India, South Korea, and other major hydrocarbon importers are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into electricity systems built around wind, solar, batteries, nuclear, hydro, and expanded transmission infrastructure. Domestic “energy sovereignty” is increasingly replacing the old energy-security model based on stable oil and gas imports. Those investments are expected to sharply slow oil demand growth and eventually reverse it, even as overall energy consumption continues rising. There are also refining constraints. Many Asian refineries and petrochemical complexes are already optimized to process discounted heavy crude from the Middle East and Latin America. That raises serious questions about how much additional Canadian bitumen Asian markets can absorb at profitable prices. Small wonder that there’s still no private sector investor for the project, despite Smith’s government desperately beating the bushes to put together a deal. For now, Alberta is acting as proponent and covering early start-up costs for a pitch to the federal Major Projects Office, which could actually turn into the next tough hurdle for Smith and her pipeline to jump. • Canada Day Looms: How ironic that Canada’s birthday this year could become a major chokepoint for the provincial premier who’s been working so diligently to tear the country apart! The July 1 target date for Alberta’s pipeline proposal is baked into the MOU, was reaffirmed by the implementation plan, but it hadn’t dawned on me that it cuts both ways. As one very smart colleague wrote in an email yesterday, “they’ve thrown the ball into Alberta’s court to get the project proposal on the table really quickly and to have to do a whole pile of work to put together a massive, complicated project that would typically take years to assemble, and they’ve given them weeks to do it.” That makes July 1 a looming deadline that Smith won’t be able to run away from politically, especially with the separatists in her party and her caucus breathing down her neck. (See previous ref to off-the-wall.) But if Alberta comes in with a sloppy, incomplete submission, even after Carney bent over backwards to simplify the application process and the rules that govern it, it may be harder for the province or the industry to blame Ottawa and insist on the faster process they claim their investors are demanding. (Oh, wait—which investors would those be??) • We’ll See You In Court (Then We’ll See You Again): If Carney did cave, that would be just one more reason for Indigenous and other affected communities to take the government and the process to court—Just as Alberta First Nations did, successfully, in response to Smith’s half-baked separation referendum. Veterans of the Harper era have been warning that a shoddy process around fossil fuel infrastructure or other major projects will be a recipe for the very delays that process seeks to avoid. And now more than ever, with renewable energy and energy storage eating fossil fuels’ lunch in import markets around the world, a delayed pipeline or LNG terminal may be as good as a cancelled one. • Charged Up, Ready to Go: With its goal of doubling Canada’s electricity supply to meet a doubling of demand by 2050, the national electricity strategy that Carney unveiled Thursday has a lot to like. With its explicit language about speeding the shift from fuels to more efficient and affordable electricity, global investment and deployment patterns that already favour that shift, an emerging bidirectional power grid, the role of front-line options like rooftop solar and heat pumps, the emergence of electric vehicles as behind-the-meter energy storage, and the domestic jobs and manufacturing to make it all happen, the document doubles down on the essential cornerstone of a faster shift off fossil fuels. The strategy envisions a more prominent role for gas and nuclear power. But some of those provisions were already in the Clean Electricity Regulations that climate hawks are now fighting so hard to defend, inserted as a compromise in a futile attempt to mollify the industry and its political representatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan. But once again, gas will be a tougher sell when it’s more expensive and now so much more unpredictable than the clean alternatives. The new nuclear technologies are still speculative and deeply vulnerable to cost overruns. Increasingly, utilities, developers, and investors know it. Carney declared Thursday that “it doesn’t do us good to be sitting in court all the time with provinces. It doesn’t do us good to be talking past each other. What does do us good is to come together with specific projects.” There are no guarantees, but so much of the language and narrative-building in the electricity strategy suggests the lion’s share of those projects will be renewable. • The Party Has Already Started: The electricity strategy only rarely digs down to specific projects, but provinces representing three-quarters of Canada’s population are already embracing a faster transition. Hydro-Québec is working on a 10-year, $185-billion renewable energy and grid buildout by 2035. Ontario recently brought 10 provinces and territories together in a National Energy Corridor Agreement to boost interprovincial and -territorial transmission infrastructure. And the MOU implementation agreement commits Alberta to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects, a big step back from its continuing, punitive restrictions on renewables development. The electricity strategy envisions much of the financing and infrastructure that will be needed to pull those advances together into an integrated whole. • Delivering on Affordability: The MOU implementation plan has little or nothing to say about affordability (are you surprised?), but the electricity strategy does, with a top-line pledge to reduce home energy costs for seven out of 10 Canadian households by 2050, a total saving of $15 billion across the board. It’s just a start, but it puts affordability on the government’s narrative map. If they’re serious and deliberate about patching together a least-cost energy strategy, it’ll have little if any room for oil, gas, or nuclear—not with powerful evidence, for example, that electricity prices are higher when those prices are set by gas. • Smith Proves that Canada Works: By signing a deal that makes it harder to claim the federal government is blocking a new pipeline, Smith has helped prove Carney’s constant anti-separatist refrain that “Canada works”—incurring the rage, no doubt, of her own political base. Canada also needs to work for anyone who depends on a clean environment, healthy and thriving ecosystems, and safe, stable climate. But with Smith and her separatist constituents setting up as a fifth column for annexation by Donald Trump’s United States, let’s set aside any notion that 51st state status for Canada is a recipe for anything other than climate disaster (and so much else). Resisting and withstanding Trump (just 170 more sleeps until mid-term elections, which is a damn sight better than the 730 we started with) doesn’t mean a free pass for a pipeline, but we can still appreciate it that keeping Canada whole and sovereign is still Carney’s Job One. • The Words Not Spoken: Apart from a commitment to export a million barrels of “low-emission” Alberta bitumen per day (memo to Smith and Carney: You realize that that’s less than the industry is already exporting??), the MOU implementation plan says nothing about the international trade and economic sovereignty deals that Carney has been travelling the world to negotiate. It didn’t have to. Carney doesn’t need permission from Danielle Smith, her American enablers, or her separatist allies to continue building the alliances that will ratchet down our economic dependency on our unstable, unreliable neighbour to the south. But every connection he builds with countries outside North America helps align our economy and our future with a faster shift off fossil fuels. Little if any of this was on our bingo cards a year or two ago. But it’s the pathway that has opened up to us. And if it gives Canada any climate or energy gains at all in an era still dominated by Trump and his increasingly ridiculous tariffs, his loutish trade negotiations and his continuing annexation threats, we have to take the wins. Not least because they’ll be the point of departure for what we can achieve in 2027, 2029, and beyond, as Trump’s grip and this era begin to loosen and then fade. What is Carney Doing? If this line of thought is right—and it’s a possibility, not a prediction—it means that Carney’s actions and decisions are largely about buying time. Time for Trump’s power to wane. Time for Alberta’s separatist/conspiracist virus to spread, mutate, die out, or at least die back, with help from a vaccine of federal steadiness and calm (appropriate enough, for a movement populated largely by vaccine deniers) that no conspiracy theory can dismiss. And time for the government’s trade and investment agenda to deliver results—even knowing that some of those results will bring impacts that front-line communities will not and should not accept. In the immediate moment, none of this changes the way the wider climate community has to respond, from campaigners to investors to front-line practitioners. All of our voices are still essential. But those voices will be stronger and more confident if we have a clearer sense of the brutal game we’ve been pulled into, and a plausible path (or two it three) for playing it to the win we need. This conversation also underscores our biggest task for the remaining years of what was supposed to be the “decisive” decade for climate response: if we can shift the energy narrative in Canada, make it a mainstream view that the country’s preoccupation with oil and gas has us falling farther behind a changing world, we’ll see far better results in the 2030s and beyond. For many veteran climate advocates, taking on that part of the fight will begin with recognizing that most of our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues already understand that climate change is real and right in front of us: they’re looking away and staying silent because they don’t have what climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe calls “efficacy”. As Hayhoe recently pointed out in a feature interview with The Energy Mix, it amounts to science denial to keep hammering away at the dire news about global warming without also helping audiences understand what they can do about it, with multiple studies telling us why that won’t work. Far better to open those conversations with the dominant crises like energy security, food security, emergency preparedness and business continuity, affordability, and financial security that have knocked climate change far lower on the list of public priorities, and will likely keep it there. We Knew This Would Happen Climate hawks have always known this day would come. For decades, we warned that everyone had to pay attention to climate change right now, because it would be much tougher to respond once the crisis itself started affecting our daily lives. We were right, and here we are. But now, thanks to decades of hard work, communities and countries have an alternative to doubling down on fossil fuels. “In 10 years everyone will have ‘always known’ that solar and batteries were going to win,” Morgan Solar Executive Chair Mike Andrade writes on LinkedIn. With the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz roiling energy priorities around the world, Canada and the United States are among the shrinking number of countries that are still very keen on fossil fuel development. Understanding that gap is a first, essential step in spotting the opportunities ahead, and averting the deep economic as well as environmental and social risk we face if we don’t seize them. Thanks for reading The Energy Mix Weekender! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Mitchell Beer traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency back to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Now he and the rest of the Energy Mix team scan 1,200 news headlines a week to pull together The Energy Mix and The Energy Mix Weekender. Chart of the Week BYD Eyes 20 Dealership Locations After Canada Greenlights Chinese EV Imports ‘Sledgehammer’ Carbon Price Deal Boosts Emissions by 230Mt, Aims for Fall 2027 Pipeline Approval ‘Worse Than Harper’: Regulatory Rollback Would Stop Canada from Assessing Project Impacts, Critics Warn Electricity Strategy Aims for Doubling by 2050, Allows ‘Flexibility’ for Gas Power Plants Opposition Mounts as O’Leary’s Data Centre Approved in Drought-Stricken Utah Diluted Carbon Price Misses ‘Reality of the World We’re In’, Could Impede Diversified Trade: Climate Institute $200B in Clean Energy Investment Will Need On-Time Delivery, Reliable Policies, Trade Association Says ‘Sovereign Pipeline’: CEO Pitches to Keep Trans Mountain in Government Hands What a Supercharged El Niño Could Mean for Canada Canada’s future is electric, and here’s how a power grid superhighway would get us there (Toronto Star) The Perilous Waters of Hecate Strait (Globe and Mail) Saudi Aramco profits jump despite conflict in Middle East (The Guardian) Farmers confront rising cost of fertilizer and fuel as spring seeding under way (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Clarkson forecasts 24% decline in offshore oil, gas capital expenditures (Oil & Gas Journal) Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa (Oil Change International) Developing countries must hold the pen to script the fossil fuel transition (Climate Home News) Iran war threatens the dream of a post-oil economy in the Gulf (Washington Post) U.S. Oil, Gas Work Force Hits Lowest Level Since 2022 (Rigzone) Why Polestar Is Doubling Down on Net Zero as Rivals Pull Back on EVs (Bloomberg) Why this Michigan utility plans to sell its hydro dams for $13 (E&E News/Politico) Levees can no longer save New Orleans (Vox)
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