Good morning, everyone and Happy Friday. I know it may seem like the world is burning, so, as promised, I’ll be ending each update with a few uplifting news stories—because in a world flooded with negativity, we could all use a little light.
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With that, here’s the news:
Patty Hartman, a 17-year former Justice Department official fired by AG Pam Bondi on Monday, warned of rising political retribution inside the DOJ: “There used to be a line, used to be a very distinct separation between the White House and the DOJ, because one should not interfere with the work of the other. That line is very definitely gone,” she told CBS News.
The Trump administration is firing and pushing out employees across the Justice Department and FBI—often without explanation or warning—fostering widespread speculation and fear within the workforce about who might be next.
A DACA recipient from Orange County was among those sent to "Alligator Alcatraz," despite being in the country legally; his only "criminal history" was an arrest warrant he was unaware of due to a misdirected driver's license citation, contradicting Trump and DeSantis's claim that the facility was reserved for the “worst of the worst criminal aliens,” according to his attorney.
Federal immigration agents backed by National Guard troops raided two state-licensed marijuana nurseries in Southern California—Glass House Farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo—detaining around 100 farmworkers and sparking protests; tear gas and crowd-control munitions were used, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal was denied access to the site, and migrant-rights groups condemned the raids as "militarized" and "traumatizing," all amid warnings from farm industry leaders that mass deportations could cripple the U.S. food supply chain.
A youth baseball coach in Manhattan says six ICE agents approached his middle and high school players during practice in Riverside Park, asking them where they were from and about their parents; Yeoman Wilder, founder of Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy and a law school graduate, intervened, told the kids to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights, and says one officer called him a “YouTube lawyer”—despite all the players being U.S. citizens.
The White House is leveraging the premiere of the new “Superman” movie to portray President Trump as a national hero, posting an image of him in Superman’s costume with the caption “THE SYMBOL OF HOPE” and the meme reading “TRUTH. JUSTICE. THE AMERICAN WAY. SUPERMAN TRUMP,” amid conservative backlash to director James Gunn’s comments framing Superman as “an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country,” to which Gunn responded, “screw them.”
The U.S. dollar tumbled 10.7% against global currencies through June, marking its worst first half since 1973.
The State Department is firing over 1,300 career diplomats and civil servants under a Trump administration plan, according to an official.
President Trump is threatening to withhold his endorsement from any Republican senators who oppose the White House’s $9.4 billion package of DOGE cuts, turning a planned vote next week into a loyalty test and setting up a showdown between the Senate and the White House.
Dick Eastland, who spent decades warning about the dangers of Texas’s Guadalupe River and championed a flood warning system after a 1987 tragedy, died last week while trying to save campers during catastrophic flooding at Camp Mystic, where 27 were killed; the outdated warning system he once helped implement was shut down in 1999, and efforts to replace it with modern alerts repeatedly stalled due to low funding, local resistance, and lack of state support.
As FEMA responds to deadly flooding in Texas, acting administrator David Richardson has not visited the site—breaking with a long-standing tradition of FEMA leaders being visibly present after major disasters, despite it being one of the deadliest U.S. floods in 25 years.
Donald Trump announced a 35% tariff on imports from Canada starting in August and threatened blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trading partners, saying countries without a “reciprocal” 10% deal would face higher rates, adding, “We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%.”
The Trump administration has terminated nearly $15 million in research into PFAS contamination on U.S. farmland, halting studies that public health advocates deem critical for understanding how PFAS-laden pesticides and sewage sludge used as fertilizer pollute soil, crops, and water; the move comes amid an unfolding crisis in Maine, where 84 farms have been found significantly contaminated, with advocates warning similar contamination likely exists nationwide.
Good News:
A decade after the Flint water crisis began, nearly 11,000 lead pipes have been replaced and over 28,000 properties restored under a 2017 federal court settlement; the remaining 4,200 properties with lead lines are either vacant, abandoned, or declined the free replacement, as activists celebrate the milestone while continuing to monitor progress and push for full justice in a crisis caused by cost-cutting and improper water treatment.
While riding an Alaska railroad, passenger Portia Duke heard a kitten mewling outside the train in Willow and, unable to help at the time, returned the next day with her boyfriend to search—miraculously finding the one-month-old, dehydrated but healthy kitten still there; they named her Willow after the station, and train staff offered to help find her a home.
See you this evening.
— Aaron
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