NEW YORK (AP) — A federal scientific publication on Thursday returned from a forced two-week hiatus with two papers examining the health effects of wildfires in Hawaii and California.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resumed the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which the Trump administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-health-communications-cdc-hhs-fda-1eeca64c1ccc324b31b779a86d3999a4">suspended</a>&nbsp;as part of a “pause” on regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts.

The CDC has gradually restarted some communications and reports, but the silencing of MMWR, as it it known, prompted a chorus of concern from public health leaders and some legislators.

“Outbreaks are not contained because scientists are ordered to stop talking about them,” Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said in a Wednesday night statement calling for the publication to be restarted.

MMWR issues typically run 20 to 25 pages and contain four or more reports about disease investigations, health trends or other public health developments.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/pdfs/mm7403-H.pdf" target="_blank">Thursday’s publication</a>&nbsp;was slimmer than usual: just over eight pages, with two short reports.

<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7403a1.htm?s_cid=mm7403a1_w" target="_blank">One of the reports</a>&nbsp;was about last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-wildfire-settlement-supreme-court-insurance-c910d3f66cbe76555a872b1584d0e429">Maui wildfire</a>. Researchers measured the blood of responding firefighters, looking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The manmade chemicals have been linked to cancer and other health problems.

Previous studies have shown firefighters have higher concentrations of some PFAS in their blood. Thousands of firefighters&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/firefighters-cancer-pfas-turnout-gear-chemicals-868e4eb6af158e7a34fb229c2dd79ebf">have sued</a>&nbsp;manufacturers and companies that make firefighting gear and foam, seeking damages for their exposure.

The new study looked at about 180 firefighters and 80 other county employees. It found the firefighters’ blood had higher concentrations of some PFAS, but most were still at levels below a medical threshold that triggers the need for further testing. The researchers had no baseline measurements of the people in the study from before the 2023 fire, so it’s hard to know if blaze contributed, the authors acknowledged.

<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7403a2.htm?s_cid=mm7403a2_w" target="_blank">The second article</a>&nbsp;looked at hospital emergency department visits during last month’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-emergency-alerts-los-angeles-d78c30c9f73570c31aae9c9154c685ae">Los Angeles wildfires</a>. It found visits decreased 9% over the first six days of the wildfires.

That’s consistent with other research that has shown declines in ER visits immediately after natural disasters. The drop may be due to evacuations that caused people to leave Los Angeles or to get medical care from places other than hospitals. Information from hospitals in surrounding counties was not included in the new report.

Before the journal went on hiatus, the CDC was expected to soon publish articles about the bird flu outbreak. A CDC spokesperson didn’t say why the articles weren’t published this week but said they “are still in the pipeline.”

Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC director during the Obama administration, said he was pleased to see the journal return but also concerned that it “doesn’t contain any reports on bird flu spreading in animals and people, the new strain of mpox spreading or other emerging health threats.”

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he wants to see meatier issues that have the information that researchers, local health officials and others need “to make data-driven decisions.”

The MMWR has been called “the voice of the CDC.” Published weekly since 1961, it has for generations been the main way the agency recounted disease investigations, shared public health recommendations and conveyed other health information.

Typically released every Thursday, the journal has more than 147,000 electronic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/about.html" target="_blank">subscribers</a>&nbsp;— a readership that’s mainly doctors, nurses, educators, researchers and public health scientists.

Articles often turn into news for the general public

A paper published in June 1981, about previously healthy gay Los Angeles men who came down with lung infections, turned out to be the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm" target="_blank">first published report</a>&nbsp;documenting the disease that came to be known as AIDS. In April 2009, the journal reported&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5816a7.htm" target="_blank">the first two cases</a>&nbsp;of what became known as the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic.

In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the MMWR became the focus of concerns about political interference with CDC’s scientific work. White House officials believed CDC scientists were undermining Trump by trying to make the COVID-19 pandemic appear worse than it was.

The journal’s editor at the time, Dr. Charlotte Kent,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/james-clyburn-alex-azar-coronavirus-pandemic-d582aeb73e53f242fa1d33f099e14cd3">later told Congress</a>&nbsp;that administration officials pressed her to delay publication of at least one article and told her to delete an email that showed political meddling.

“If political decisions determine which health threats to highlight, we’ll all be less safe,” said Frieden, president of Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit organization that works on international public health issues. “I hope the new administration will see the value in CDC publishing information on health threats every week, without political interference.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

BY&nbsp;MIKE STOBBENEW YORK (AP) — A federal scientific publication on Thursday returned from a forced two-week hiatus with two papers examining the health effects of wildfires in Hawaii and California.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resumed the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which the Trump administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-health-communications-cdc-hhs-fda-1eeca64c1ccc324b31b779a86d3999a4">suspended</a>&nbsp;as part of a “pause” on regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts.The CDC has gradually restarted some communications and reports, but the silencing of MMWR, as it it known, prompted a chorus of concern from public health leaders and some legislators.“Outbreaks are not contained because scientists are ordered to stop talking about them,” Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said in a Wednesday night statement calling for the publication to be restarted.MMWR issues typically run 20 to 25 pages and contain four or more reports about disease investigations, health trends or other public health developments.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/pdfs/mm7403-H.pdf" target="_blank">Thursday’s publication</a>&nbsp;was slimmer than usual: just over eight pages, with two short reports.<h2>Research on health effects of wildfires</h2><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7403a1.htm?s_cid=mm7403a1_w" target="_blank">One of the reports</a>&nbsp;was about last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-wildfire-settlement-supreme-court-insurance-c910d3f66cbe76555a872b1584d0e429">Maui wildfire</a>. Researchers measured the blood of responding firefighters, looking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The manmade chemicals have been linked to cancer and other health problems.Previous studies have shown firefighters have higher concentrations of some PFAS in their blood. Thousands of firefighters&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/firefighters-cancer-pfas-turnout-gear-chemicals-868e4eb6af158e7a34fb229c2dd79ebf">have sued</a>&nbsp;manufacturers and companies that make firefighting gear and foam, seeking damages for their exposure.The new study looked at about 180 firefighters and 80 other county employees. It found the firefighters’ blood had higher concentrations of some PFAS, but most were still at levels below a medical threshold that triggers the need for further testing. The researchers had no baseline measurements of the people in the study from before the 2023 fire, so it’s hard to know if blaze contributed, the authors acknowledged.<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7403a2.htm?s_cid=mm7403a2_w" target="_blank">The second article</a>&nbsp;looked at hospital emergency department visits during last month’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-emergency-alerts-los-angeles-d78c30c9f73570c31aae9c9154c685ae">Los Angeles wildfires</a>. It found visits decreased 9% over the first six days of the wildfires.That’s consistent with other research that has shown declines in ER visits immediately after natural disasters. The drop may be due to evacuations that caused people to leave Los Angeles or to get medical care from places other than hospitals. Information from hospitals in surrounding counties was not included in the new report.<h2>Journal has never taken two weeks off</h2>Before the journal went on hiatus, the CDC was expected to soon publish articles about the bird flu outbreak. A CDC spokesperson didn’t say why the articles weren’t published this week but said they “are still in the pipeline.”Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC director during the Obama administration, said he was pleased to see the journal return but also concerned that it “doesn’t contain any reports on bird flu spreading in animals and people, the new strain of mpox spreading or other emerging health threats.”Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he wants to see meatier issues that have the information that researchers, local health officials and others need “to make data-driven decisions.”The MMWR has been called “the voice of the CDC.” Published weekly since 1961, it has for generations been the main way the agency recounted disease investigations, shared public health recommendations and conveyed other health information.It had never taken a two-week break.Typically released every Thursday, the journal has more than 147,000 electronic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/about.html" target="_blank">subscribers</a>&nbsp;— a readership that’s mainly doctors, nurses, educators, researchers and public health scientists.<h2>Articles often turn into news for the general public</h2>A paper published in June 1981, about previously healthy gay Los Angeles men who came down with lung infections, turned out to be the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm" target="_blank">first published report</a>&nbsp;documenting the disease that came to be known as AIDS. In April 2009, the journal reported&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5816a7.htm" target="_blank">the first two cases</a>&nbsp;of what became known as the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic.In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the MMWR became the focus of concerns about political interference with CDC’s scientific work. White House officials believed CDC scientists were undermining Trump by trying to make the COVID-19 pandemic appear worse than it was.The journal’s editor at the time, Dr. Charlotte Kent,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/james-clyburn-alex-azar-coronavirus-pandemic-d582aeb73e53f242fa1d33f099e14cd3">later told Congress</a>&nbsp;that administration officials pressed her to delay publication of at least one article and told her to delete an email that showed political meddling.“If political decisions determine which health threats to highlight, we’ll all be less safe,” said Frieden, president of Resolve to Save Lives, a not-for-profit organization that works on international public health issues. “I hope the new administration will see the value in CDC publishing information on health threats every week, without political interference.”<h2>___</h2>The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

‘Voice of the CDC’ resumes publication after Trump executive order

WASHINGTON —It has been a busy week in Washington for new 2nd District Kansas Congressman Derek Schmidt.

On Thursday, Schmidt presided over the House floor for the first time.

In addition, Schmidt this week announced he introduced the&nbsp;Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act along with five other members of the House including Missouri Congresswoman Ann Wagner.

&nbsp; The bill redirects unobligated funds collected through the&nbsp;False Claims Act&nbsp;to the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) through fiscal year (FY) 2029, stabilizing the CVF.

Schmidt also announced he has cosponsored four bills to protect Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.&nbsp;

H.R. 38, the&nbsp;Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, provides nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry license holders and for residents of constitutional carry states.

H.R. 45, the&nbsp;Firearm Industry Non-Discrimination&nbsp;(FIND)&nbsp;Act, prevents any business that discriminates against firearm businesses or associations from contracting or subcontracting with the federal government.

H.R. 404, the&nbsp;Hearing Protection Act&nbsp;(HPA), reduces archaic barriers to purchasing a firearm suppressor.

Schmidt served as the&nbsp;Kansas Attorney General&nbsp;from 2011 to 2023. He was first elected to office serving in the&nbsp;Kansas Senate&nbsp; representing the&nbsp;15th district&nbsp;from 2001 to 2011. In 2022, Schmidt was the Republican nominee for&nbsp;governor of Kansas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738931611218.png" alt="Images courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Images courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON —It has been a busy week in Washington for new 2nd District Kansas Congressman Derek Schmidt.On Thursday, Schmidt presided over the House floor for the first time.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738931999797.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>In addition, Schmidt this week announced he introduced the&nbsp;Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act along with five other members of the House including Missouri Congresswoman Ann Wagner.&nbsp; The bill redirects unobligated funds collected through the&nbsp;False Claims Act&nbsp;to the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) through fiscal year (FY) 2029, stabilizing the CVF.Schmidt also announced he has cosponsored four bills to protect Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.&nbsp;H.R. 38, the&nbsp;Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, provides nationwide reciprocity for concealed carry license holders and for residents of constitutional carry states.H.R. 45, the&nbsp;Firearm Industry Non-Discrimination&nbsp;(FIND)&nbsp;Act, prevents any business that discriminates against firearm businesses or associations from contracting or subcontracting with the federal government.H.R. 404, the&nbsp;Hearing Protection Act&nbsp;(HPA), reduces archaic barriers to purchasing a firearm suppressor.Schmidt served as the&nbsp;Kansas Attorney General&nbsp;from 2011 to 2023. He was first elected to office serving in the&nbsp;Kansas Senate&nbsp; representing the&nbsp;15th district&nbsp;from 2001 to 2011. In 2022, Schmidt was the Republican nominee for&nbsp;governor of Kansas.

 Kan. Congressman presided over the House floor for the first time

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a high-speed chase.

On Feb. 1, sheriff's deputies in Clay County, overheard deputies in Jackson County&nbsp;in pursuit of a stolen truck and trailer with an ATV on it northbound on Interstate 435, according to a media release.

The driver continued into Clay County, where Jackson County deputies terminated their pursuit, and Clay County deputies caught up with the vehicle, with the assistance of Claycomo Police Department. 

Two of the truck's tires had already struck Stop Sticks. Deputies pursued the vehicle until it came to a stop near N.E. 96th Street and N. Brighton. The driver put his hands out the window and was taken into custody with no further incident. 

Deputies learned the truck, trailer and ATVs had been stolen from Olathe, Kansas. There were four ATVs on the trailer when it was stolen. The driver, 34-year-old Tyler S. Young of Blue Springs, has been charged with first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing from a stop and resisting arrest.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738898846202.png" alt="Photo Clay Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Clay Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a high-speed chase.On Feb. 1, sheriff's deputies in Clay County, overheard deputies in Jackson County&nbsp;in pursuit of a stolen truck and trailer with an ATV on it northbound on Interstate 435, according to a media release.The driver continued into Clay County, where Jackson County deputies terminated their pursuit, and Clay County deputies caught up with the vehicle, with the assistance of Claycomo Police Department. Two of the truck's tires had already struck Stop Sticks. Deputies pursued the vehicle until it came to a stop near N.E. 96th Street and N. Brighton. The driver put his hands out the window and was taken into custody with no further incident. Deputies learned the truck, trailer and ATVs had been stolen from Olathe, Kansas. There were four ATVs on the trailer when it was stolen. The driver, 34-year-old Tyler S. Young of Blue Springs, has been charged with first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing from a stop and resisting arrest.&nbsp;

Deputies make arrest, recover truck and 4 ATVs stolen in Kansas

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVE%20COLLINS%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVE COLLINS &nbsp;Associated Press</a>

Democratic attorneys general in several states vowed Thursday to file a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-trump-doge-intelligence-cia-4a4e99c7925b02e014e6e65d2ef9a055">containing Americans' sensitive personal information.</a>

A dozen attorneys general, including New York's Letitia James, said in a statement that they were taking action “in defense of our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on."

“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law," the statement said. “The President does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Government officials and labor unions have been among those raising concerns about DOGE's involvement with the payment system for the federal government, saying it could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Also Thursday, a federal judge ordered that two Musk allies have “read only” access to Treasury Department payment systems, but no one else will get access for now, including Musk himself. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by federal workers unions trying to stop the billionaire’s DOGE from following through on what they call a massive privacy invasion.

It was not immediate clear when the Democratic attorneys general will file their lawsuit.

Joining James in the statement were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island and Vermont.

President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;tapped Musk, the world’s richest man, to shrink the size of the U.S. government.

Democrats have criticized the tech billionaire’s maneuvers, which include the hostile seizure of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elon-musk-doge-treasury-5e26cc80fcb766981cea56afd57ae759">taxpayer data</a>&nbsp;and the apparent closure of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-trump-peter-marocco-8253d7dda766df89e10390c1645e78aa">government’s leading international humanitarian aid agency</a>.

DOGE recently has gained access to sensitive payment data within the Treasury Department. It came after Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned under pressure after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post reported that Lebryk resigned after Musk and DOGE requested access to sensitive Treasury data.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738777949415.png" alt="Elon Musk-file photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Elon Musk-file photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVE%20COLLINS%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVE COLLINS &nbsp;Associated Press</a>Democratic attorneys general in several states vowed Thursday to file a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-trump-doge-intelligence-cia-4a4e99c7925b02e014e6e65d2ef9a055">containing Americans' sensitive personal information.</a>A dozen attorneys general, including New York's Letitia James, said in a statement that they were taking action “in defense of our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on."“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law," the statement said. “The President does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.”The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.Government officials and labor unions have been among those raising concerns about DOGE's involvement with the payment system for the federal government, saying it could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.Also Thursday, a federal judge ordered that two Musk allies have “read only” access to Treasury Department payment systems, but no one else will get access for now, including Musk himself. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by federal workers unions trying to stop the billionaire’s DOGE from following through on what they call a massive privacy invasion.It was not immediate clear when the Democratic attorneys general will file their lawsuit.Joining James in the statement were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island and Vermont.President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;tapped Musk, the world’s richest man, to shrink the size of the U.S. government.Democrats have criticized the tech billionaire’s maneuvers, which include the hostile seizure of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elon-musk-doge-treasury-5e26cc80fcb766981cea56afd57ae759">taxpayer data</a>&nbsp;and the apparent closure of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usaid-foreign-aid-freeze-trump-peter-marocco-8253d7dda766df89e10390c1645e78aa">government’s leading international humanitarian aid agency</a>.DOGE recently has gained access to sensitive payment data within the Treasury Department. It came after Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned under pressure after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post reported that Lebryk resigned after Musk and DOGE requested access to sensitive Treasury data.

States to sue over DOGE access to government payment systems, personal data

WASHINGTON (AP) —Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that NTSB officials in a briefing told senators that the helicopter's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) — an aviation surveillance technology that transmits aircraft location and other data to air traffic control and other aircraft — was off.

“The reason for turning it off does not seem justified," Cruz said. "And in this instance, this was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off.”

President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed the deadly collision of a passenger jet and Army helicopter last week on what he called an “obsolete” computer system used by U.S. air traffic controllers.

He vowed to replace it after NTSB officials told members of Congress that advanced surveillance technology available on the helicopter was turned off.

Trump said during an event that “a lot of mistakes happened” on Jan. 29 when an American Airlines flight out of Wichita, Kansas,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">collided</a>&nbsp;with an Army helicopter as the plane was about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31">killing all 67 people</a>&nbsp;on board the two aircraft.

NTSB officials also told media outlets that the helicopter crew was likely wearing night vision goggles.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-crash-reagan-washington-buttigieg-diversity-biden-ef1e07684bbc845e9e7981c1ae060af2">blamed it on diversity hiring programs</a>. But on Thursday, he blamed the computer system used by the country's air traffic controllers.

During a speech at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-prayer-breakfast-30ff6f55a2e3c7b8643a15e7b158537d">National Prayer Breakfast</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Capitol, Trump said the U.S. spent billions of dollars trying to “renovate an old, broken system” instead of investing in a new one. He said in his private jet, he uses a system from another country when he lands because his pilot says the existing system in the U.S. is obsolete.

“I think what is going to happen is we’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Elon Musk said in posts on X that Musk's team at the Department of Government Efficiency is going to help rapidly upgrade the nation’s aviation safety system.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been working since the mid-2000s to upgrade the air traffic control system through its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faa.gov/nextgen">NextGen program</a>.

Federal officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/airlines-faa-close-calls-senate-hearing-7309801ccbf64bcecfb0cf58e3e58498">have been raising concerns</a>&nbsp;about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

Trump said that if the nation had a newer system, alarms would have sounded when the Black Hawk helicopter, which was on a training exercise, reached the same altitude as the plane.

But an FAA report after the crash said that the controller did get an alert that the plane and helicopter were converging when they were still more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) apart. The controller responded by asking the helicopter if it had the plane in sight and directed the helicopter to pass behind the plane. The helicopter responded that it did have the plane in sight.

The FAA made it clear Thursday it is going to ensure that helicopters and planes will no longer share the same airspace over the Potomac River.

An early focus of the investigation has been confirming the altitude of the plane and helicopter. The jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters).

Data from the airport’s air traffic control system suggests the helicopter was above its 200-foot (61-meter) flight ceiling. The screen the controller was looking at that night showed that based on radar and other data, the helicopter was at 300 feet (91 meters), the NTSB said, noting that the figure would have been rounded to the nearest 100 feet (30 meters).

To get more precise information, investigators need to be able to examine the wreckage of the Black Hawk. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday afternoon that all major components of the helicopter and jet have been removed from the river. Salvage crews will work to remove smaller debris with baskets over the next 10 days before finishing work on Feb. 16.

“We will continue pushing forward in the coming days until we are confident the river is safe for navigation and that elements of evidentiary value are recovered and provided to the appropriate authorities,” the Corps Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera said.

This crash was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1">deadliest in the U.S.</a>&nbsp;since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

There was concern after the crash that Trump's efforts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-power-border-tiktok-history-e77458bc0312c60f3f2b0eeb131d0056">slash the size</a>&nbsp;of the federal workforce could worsen the shortage of air traffic controllers if some of them accepted the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyout-offer-federal-workers-doge-bdb6cd89e383ff1120eeb262904b4060">deferred resignation offers</a>&nbsp;sent to all federal employees last week. But air traffic controllers were told by their union Thursday that certain positions within the Federal Aviation Administration, including theirs, were exempt.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in its email to members that additional positions might be exempt based on the employees’ “national security or public safety responsibilities.” The union had already recommended to its members that they reject the offers, which were extended the day before the midair collision.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Adriana Gomez Licon and Thomas Beaumont contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738207177867.png" alt="Image of the moment of impact from Kennedy Center web camera" />
 <figcaption>Image of the moment of impact from Kennedy Center web camera</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that NTSB officials in a briefing told senators that the helicopter's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) — an aviation surveillance technology that transmits aircraft location and other data to air traffic control and other aircraft — was off.“The reason for turning it off does not seem justified," Cruz said. "And in this instance, this was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738703092495.png" alt="The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, working with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/USCGMidAtlantic?__cft__[0]=AZVaKqPNSiwSuKRH01L03JB8k_89iOrQZOlRWtfzOBsAJCt3z8QQvEYQa8XpseNu6lXA2LDrRWcHbQW3Fa1vXPGXU-T_5Dh2wbhpnKG7qo382L0qE0fMgmG5jv5Z_FFWJHRL1dX62558wBmmNSH_sOYY5t0GOUldAsRj2QW9WelwbsHdhaP3oE4VMMl2yUaEBbw&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">U.S. Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/USNavy?__cft__[0]=AZVaKqPNSiwSuKRH01L03JB8k_89iOrQZOlRWtfzOBsAJCt3z8QQvEYQa8XpseNu6lXA2LDrRWcHbQW3Fa1vXPGXU-T_5Dh2wbhpnKG7qo382L0qE0fMgmG5jv5Z_FFWJHRL1dX62558wBmmNSH_sOYY5t0GOUldAsRj2QW9WelwbsHdhaP3oE4VMMl2yUaEBbw&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">U.S. Navy</a>&nbsp;Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), began wreckage removal operations on Monday, at the site of the Potomac River Aviation Incident near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Phoso U.S. Army Corps of Engineers" />
 <figcaption>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, working with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/USCGMidAtlantic?__cft__[0]=AZVaKqPNSiwSuKRH01L03JB8k_89iOrQZOlRWtfzOBsAJCt3z8QQvEYQa8XpseNu6lXA2LDrRWcHbQW3Fa1vXPGXU-T_5Dh2wbhpnKG7qo382L0qE0fMgmG5jv5Z_FFWJHRL1dX62558wBmmNSH_sOYY5t0GOUldAsRj2QW9WelwbsHdhaP3oE4VMMl2yUaEBbw&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">U.S. Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/USNavy?__cft__[0]=AZVaKqPNSiwSuKRH01L03JB8k_89iOrQZOlRWtfzOBsAJCt3z8QQvEYQa8XpseNu6lXA2LDrRWcHbQW3Fa1vXPGXU-T_5Dh2wbhpnKG7qo382L0qE0fMgmG5jv5Z_FFWJHRL1dX62558wBmmNSH_sOYY5t0GOUldAsRj2QW9WelwbsHdhaP3oE4VMMl2yUaEBbw&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">U.S. Navy</a>&nbsp;Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), began wreckage removal operations on Monday, at the site of the Potomac River Aviation Incident near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Phoso U.S. Army Corps of Engineers</figcaption>
 </figure>President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed the deadly collision of a passenger jet and Army helicopter last week on what he called an “obsolete” computer system used by U.S. air traffic controllers.He vowed to replace it after NTSB officials told members of Congress that advanced surveillance technology available on the helicopter was turned off.Trump said during an event that “a lot of mistakes happened” on Jan. 29 when an American Airlines flight out of Wichita, Kansas,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-aircraft-crash-9d79051a9e535bd855df5a4e5553b2e9">collided</a>&nbsp;with an Army helicopter as the plane was about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31">killing all 67 people</a>&nbsp;on board the two aircraft.NTSB officials also told media outlets that the helicopter crew was likely wearing night vision goggles.In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-crash-reagan-washington-buttigieg-diversity-biden-ef1e07684bbc845e9e7981c1ae060af2">blamed it on diversity hiring programs</a>. But on Thursday, he blamed the computer system used by the country's air traffic controllers.During a speech at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-prayer-breakfast-30ff6f55a2e3c7b8643a15e7b158537d">National Prayer Breakfast</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Capitol, Trump said the U.S. spent billions of dollars trying to “renovate an old, broken system” instead of investing in a new one. He said in his private jet, he uses a system from another country when he lands because his pilot says the existing system in the U.S. is obsolete.“I think what is going to happen is we’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers,” he said.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Elon Musk said in posts on X that Musk's team at the Department of Government Efficiency is going to help rapidly upgrade the nation’s aviation safety system.The Federal Aviation Administration has been working since the mid-2000s to upgrade the air traffic control system through its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faa.gov/nextgen">NextGen program</a>.Federal officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/airlines-faa-close-calls-senate-hearing-7309801ccbf64bcecfb0cf58e3e58498">have been raising concerns</a>&nbsp;about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.Trump said that if the nation had a newer system, alarms would have sounded when the Black Hawk helicopter, which was on a training exercise, reached the same altitude as the plane.But an FAA report after the crash said that the controller did get an alert that the plane and helicopter were converging when they were still more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) apart. The controller responded by asking the helicopter if it had the plane in sight and directed the helicopter to pass behind the plane. The helicopter responded that it did have the plane in sight.The FAA made it clear Thursday it is going to ensure that helicopters and planes will no longer share the same airspace over the Potomac River.An early focus of the investigation has been confirming the altitude of the plane and helicopter. The jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters).Data from the airport’s air traffic control system suggests the helicopter was above its 200-foot (61-meter) flight ceiling. The screen the controller was looking at that night showed that based on radar and other data, the helicopter was at 300 feet (91 meters), the NTSB said, noting that the figure would have been rounded to the nearest 100 feet (30 meters).To get more precise information, investigators need to be able to examine the wreckage of the Black Hawk. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday afternoon that all major components of the helicopter and jet have been removed from the river. Salvage crews will work to remove smaller debris with baskets over the next 10 days before finishing work on Feb. 16.“We will continue pushing forward in the coming days until we are confident the river is safe for navigation and that elements of evidentiary value are recovered and provided to the appropriate authorities,” the Corps Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera said.This crash was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1">deadliest in the U.S.</a>&nbsp;since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.There was concern after the crash that Trump's efforts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-power-border-tiktok-history-e77458bc0312c60f3f2b0eeb131d0056">slash the size</a>&nbsp;of the federal workforce could worsen the shortage of air traffic controllers if some of them accepted the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyout-offer-federal-workers-doge-bdb6cd89e383ff1120eeb262904b4060">deferred resignation offers</a>&nbsp;sent to all federal employees last week. But air traffic controllers were told by their union Thursday that certain positions within the Federal Aviation Administration, including theirs, were exempt.The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in its email to members that additional positions might be exempt based on the employees’ “national security or public safety responsibilities.” The union had already recommended to its members that they reject the offers, which were extended the day before the midair collision.___Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Adriana Gomez Licon and Thomas Beaumont contributed to this report.

Senator: Helicopter in midair crash had a safety system off

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usaid-trump-musk-leave-notice-rubio-943b4306b96f726703842e5d55c05aea">U.S. Agency for International Development</a>, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.

Late Thursday, federal workers associations filed suit asking a federal court to stop the shutdown, arguing that President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation.

Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration's plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency.

The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.

It was not immediately clear whether the reduction to 300 would be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing more workers to return after what the Trump administration says is a review of which aid and development programs it wants to resume.

The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Workers who choose to stay longer, unless they received a specific hardship waiver, might have to cover their own expenses, a notice on the USAID website said late Thursday.

Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a>&nbsp;said during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubio-panama-canal-gaza-migration-usaid-b148af6bb15da37a8b6e4edf5a873829">a trip to the Dominican Republic</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid.

“But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,” he told reporters.

The Trump administration and billionaire ally&nbsp;<a href="https://elon%20musk/">Elon Musk</a>, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have targeted USAID hardest so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.

Since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of the agency’s programs worldwide, and almost all of its workers have been placed on administrative leave or furloughed. Musk and Trump have spoken of eliminating USAID as an independent agency and moving surviving programs under the State Department.

Democratic lawmakers and others call the move illegal without congressional approval.

The same argument was made by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees in their lawsuit, which asks the federal court in Washington to compel the reopening of USAID’s buildings, return its staffers to work and restore funding.

Government officials “failed to acknowledge the catastrophic consequences of their actions, both as they pertain to American workers, the lives of millions around the world, and to US national interests," the suit says.

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738896794184.jpeg" alt="Democrat members of Congress protest USAID cuts Wednesday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Democrat members of Congress protest USAID cuts Wednesday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usaid-trump-musk-leave-notice-rubio-943b4306b96f726703842e5d55c05aea">U.S. Agency for International Development</a>, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.Late Thursday, federal workers associations filed suit asking a federal court to stop the shutdown, arguing that President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation.Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration's plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency.The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/UeyP7NHjAo">pic.twitter.com/UeyP7NHjAo</a>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1887543203953275347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>It was not immediately clear whether the reduction to 300 would be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing more workers to return after what the Trump administration says is a review of which aid and development programs it wants to resume.The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Workers who choose to stay longer, unless they received a specific hardship waiver, might have to cover their own expenses, a notice on the USAID website said late Thursday.Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a>&nbsp;said during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubio-panama-canal-gaza-migration-usaid-b148af6bb15da37a8b6e4edf5a873829">a trip to the Dominican Republic</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid.“But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,” he told reporters.The Trump administration and billionaire ally&nbsp;<a href="https://elon%20musk/">Elon Musk</a>, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have targeted USAID hardest so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.Since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of the agency’s programs worldwide, and almost all of its workers have been placed on administrative leave or furloughed. Musk and Trump have spoken of eliminating USAID as an independent agency and moving surviving programs under the State Department.Democratic lawmakers and others call the move illegal without congressional approval.The same argument was made by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees in their lawsuit, which asks the federal court in Washington to compel the reopening of USAID’s buildings, return its staffers to work and restore funding.Government officials “failed to acknowledge the catastrophic consequences of their actions, both as they pertain to American workers, the lives of millions around the world, and to US national interests," the suit says.___AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Trump administration to lay off nearly all USAID staff

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a home in Topeka.

Just after 2:30 a.m. Thursday, crews responded to a reported two-story house fire at 1110 NE Monroe Street in Topeka, according to department spokesperson Rosie Nichols. First crews on the scene found smoke and flames coming from the home and were able to extinguish the fire, keeping it contained to the house where it originated.

&nbsp;Investigators determined&nbsp; the fire started in the attic.&nbsp; There were no injuries. The total estimated loss is approximately $30,000, with $20,000 associated with structural loss and $10,000 associated with content loss. The home did not have working smoke detectors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738927479729.png" alt="Photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a home in Topeka.Just after 2:30 a.m. Thursday, crews responded to a reported two-story house fire at 1110 NE Monroe Street in Topeka, according to department spokesperson Rosie Nichols. First crews on the scene found smoke and flames coming from the home and were able to extinguish the fire, keeping it contained to the house where it originated.&nbsp;Investigators determined&nbsp; the fire started in the attic.&nbsp; There were no injuries. The total estimated loss is approximately $30,000, with $20,000 associated with structural loss and $10,000 associated with content loss. The home did not have working smoke detectors.

$30,000 damage after fire at Kansas home

DICKINSON COUNTY —A triple murder suspect captured in central Kansas is now being held in a jail in Missouri.

According to online jail record, 50-year-old Armondo Navarro was transferred on Wednesday and booked into the Platte County jail.

On Sunday morning, the Sheriff’s Office received a report of a vehicle in the ditch in the area of K-15 Highway and 2900 Avenue, north of Abilene, according to a media release from the Dickinson County Sheriff.

A deputy responded to the motorist assist and made contact with a man later identified as Navarro of Kansas City, Missouri.

The vehicle was out of the roadway and Navarro advised he was waiting for a tow truck. The deputy then left the scene but told Navarro he would check on him later.

The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office was later notified that Navarro was a suspect in a triple homicide that occurred on February 2, in Kansas City. Deputies returned to the area and confirmed the suspect was still with the vehicle.

Additional deputies arrived as well as troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol. While awaiting the arrival of an armored vehicle from the Junction City Police department, deputies observed Navarro leaving the area on 2900 Road and heading towards K-15 Highway.

The Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit and another deputy contacted Navarro at 2900 Avenue and K-15 Highway. A brief foot pursuit ensued and the K-9 was deployed.&nbsp; Navarro surrendered to the K-9 unit and was taken into custody by deputies.

He is being held in the Platte County jail on requested charges of first degree murder, armed criminal action, first degree assault and animal abuse, according to online records.&nbsp;KCPD Captain Jake Becchina identified the homicide victims as 73-year-old Sherri Duncan; 49-year-old Jodie Hopcus and 24-year-old Hailey Hopcus.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738861731859.png" alt="Navarro photo Platte Co." />
 <figcaption>Navarro photo Platte Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>DICKINSON COUNTY —A triple murder suspect captured in central Kansas is now being held in a jail in Missouri.According to online jail record, 50-year-old Armondo Navarro was transferred on Wednesday and booked into the Platte County jail.On Sunday morning, the Sheriff’s Office received a report of a vehicle in the ditch in the area of K-15 Highway and 2900 Avenue, north of Abilene, according to a media release from the Dickinson County Sheriff.A deputy responded to the motorist assist and made contact with a man later identified as Navarro of Kansas City, Missouri.The vehicle was out of the roadway and Navarro advised he was waiting for a tow truck. The deputy then left the scene but told Navarro he would check on him later.The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office was later notified that Navarro was a suspect in a triple homicide that occurred on February 2, in Kansas City. Deputies returned to the area and confirmed the suspect was still with the vehicle.Additional deputies arrived as well as troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol. While awaiting the arrival of an armored vehicle from the Junction City Police department, deputies observed Navarro leaving the area on 2900 Road and heading towards K-15 Highway.The Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit and another deputy contacted Navarro at 2900 Avenue and K-15 Highway. A brief foot pursuit ensued and the K-9 was deployed.&nbsp; Navarro surrendered to the K-9 unit and was taken into custody by deputies.He is being held in the Platte County jail on requested charges of first degree murder, armed criminal action, first degree assault and animal abuse, according to online records.&nbsp;KCPD Captain Jake Becchina identified the homicide victims as 73-year-old Sherri Duncan; 49-year-old Jodie Hopcus and 24-year-old Hailey Hopcus.

Triple murder suspect captured in Kan. moved to jail in Missouri

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/russell-vought-a-project-2025-architect-is-ready-to-shock-washington-if-trump-wins-second-term/">Russell Vought</a>&nbsp;as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump's power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.

Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47. With the Senate chamber full, Democrats repeatedly tried to speak as they cast their “no” votes to give their reasons for voting against Vought, but they were gaveled down by Sen. Ashley Moody, a Florida Republican who was presiding over the chamber. She cited Senate rules that ban debate during votes.

The Thursday night vote came after Democrats had exhausted their only remaining tool to stonewall a nomination — holding the Senate floor throughout the previous night and day with a series of speeches where they warned Vought was Trump's “most dangerous nominee.”

“Confirming the most radical nominee, who has the most extreme agenda, to the most important agency in Washington,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a floor speech. “Triple-header of disaster for hardworking Americans.”

Vought's return to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he also helmed during Trump's first term, puts him in a role that often goes under the public radar yet holds key power in implementing the president's goals. The OMB acts as a nerve center for the White House, developing its budget, policy priorities and agency rule-making. Vought has already played an influential role in Trump’s effort to remake the federal government as one of the architects of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-project-2025-heritage-foundation-e2b1be71422f4afcfd4a397828f7cab6">Project 2025</a>, a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term.

The budget office is also already shaking up federal spending. It had issued&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-presidential-power-executive-congress-grants-freeze-60fa3a9fabf6328f9aa3c45ed34e2cc3">a memo to freeze federal spending</a>, sending schools, states and nonprofits into a panic before it was rescinded amid legal challenges.

In the Senate, Republicans have stayed in line to advance Vought's nomination and argued that his mindset will be crucial to slashing federal spending and regulations.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushed for his confirmation this week, saying he “will have the chance to address two key economic issues — cutting burdensome government regulations and addressing excessive spending.”

Vought has often advanced a maximalist approach to conservative policy goals. After leaving the first Trump administration, he founded the Center for Renewing America, part of a constellation of Washington think tanks that have popped up to advance and develop Trump's “Make America Great Again” agenda. From that position, Vought often counseled congressional Republicans to wage win-at-all-costs fights to cut federal programs and spending.

Writing in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, Vought described the White House budget director's job “as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind.”

The OMB, he declared, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.”

During Trump's first term, Vought pushed to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-president-project-2025-33d3fc2999a74f4aa424f1128dca2d16">reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers</a>&nbsp;as political appointees, which could then enable mass dismissals.

Vought has also been a proponent of the president using “impoundment” to expand the executive branch's control over federal spending.

When Congress passes appropriations to fulfill its Constitutional duties, it determines funding for government programs. But the impoundment legal theory holds that the president can decide not to spend that money on anything he deems unnecessary because Article II of the Constitution gives the president the role of executing the laws that Congress passes.

During&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-budget-hearing-vought-a0aa19815bdb509a4d9ccb895abdf52e">confirmation hearings</a>, Vought stressed that he would follow the law but avoided answering Democrats' questions on whether he would withhold congressionally allotted aid for Ukraine.

Democrats charged that Vought's responses amounted to an acknowledgment that he believes the president is above the law.

In response to questions from Republican lawmakers, Vought did preview potential budget proposals that would target cuts to discretionary social programs.

“The president ran on the issue of fiscal accountability, dealing with our inflation situation,” he said.

Vought has also unabashedly advanced “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-christian-evangelicals-conservatives-2024-election-43f25118c133170c77786daf316821c3">Christian nationalism</a>," an idea rising in the GOP that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and the government should now be infused with Christianity.

In a 2021 opinion article, Vought wrote that Christian nationalism is “a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738891651773.png" alt="Kan. U.S. Senator Roger Marshall met with Vought December 18- courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Kan. U.S. Senator Roger Marshall met with Vought December 18- courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/russell-vought-a-project-2025-architect-is-ready-to-shock-washington-if-trump-wins-second-term/">Russell Vought</a>&nbsp;as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump's power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47. With the Senate chamber full, Democrats repeatedly tried to speak as they cast their “no” votes to give their reasons for voting against Vought, but they were gaveled down by Sen. Ashley Moody, a Florida Republican who was presiding over the chamber. She cited Senate rules that ban debate during votes.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">CONFIRMED 🇺🇸 Congratulations to our Director of OMB, <a href="https://twitter.com/russvought?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@russvought</a>! Russ will deliver results for hard working Americans and reduce the waste, fraud, and abuse that&#39;s plagued our federal government - I look forward to the great work he will do with President Trump.&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1887674732243206606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The Thursday night vote came after Democrats had exhausted their only remaining tool to stonewall a nomination — holding the Senate floor throughout the previous night and day with a series of speeches where they warned Vought was Trump's “most dangerous nominee.”“Confirming the most radical nominee, who has the most extreme agenda, to the most important agency in Washington,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a floor speech. “Triple-header of disaster for hardworking Americans.”Vought's return to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he also helmed during Trump's first term, puts him in a role that often goes under the public radar yet holds key power in implementing the president's goals. The OMB acts as a nerve center for the White House, developing its budget, policy priorities and agency rule-making. Vought has already played an influential role in Trump’s effort to remake the federal government as one of the architects of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-project-2025-heritage-foundation-e2b1be71422f4afcfd4a397828f7cab6">Project 2025</a>, a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term.The budget office is also already shaking up federal spending. It had issued&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-presidential-power-executive-congress-grants-freeze-60fa3a9fabf6328f9aa3c45ed34e2cc3">a memo to freeze federal spending</a>, sending schools, states and nonprofits into a panic before it was rescinded amid legal challenges.In the Senate, Republicans have stayed in line to advance Vought's nomination and argued that his mindset will be crucial to slashing federal spending and regulations.Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushed for his confirmation this week, saying he “will have the chance to address two key economic issues — cutting burdensome government regulations and addressing excessive spending.”Vought has often advanced a maximalist approach to conservative policy goals. After leaving the first Trump administration, he founded the Center for Renewing America, part of a constellation of Washington think tanks that have popped up to advance and develop Trump's “Make America Great Again” agenda. From that position, Vought often counseled congressional Republicans to wage win-at-all-costs fights to cut federal programs and spending.Writing in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, Vought described the White House budget director's job “as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind.”The OMB, he declared, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.”During Trump's first term, Vought pushed to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-president-project-2025-33d3fc2999a74f4aa424f1128dca2d16">reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers</a>&nbsp;as political appointees, which could then enable mass dismissals.Vought has also been a proponent of the president using “impoundment” to expand the executive branch's control over federal spending.When Congress passes appropriations to fulfill its Constitutional duties, it determines funding for government programs. But the impoundment legal theory holds that the president can decide not to spend that money on anything he deems unnecessary because Article II of the Constitution gives the president the role of executing the laws that Congress passes.During&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-budget-hearing-vought-a0aa19815bdb509a4d9ccb895abdf52e">confirmation hearings</a>, Vought stressed that he would follow the law but avoided answering Democrats' questions on whether he would withhold congressionally allotted aid for Ukraine.Democrats charged that Vought's responses amounted to an acknowledgment that he believes the president is above the law.In response to questions from Republican lawmakers, Vought did preview potential budget proposals that would target cuts to discretionary social programs.“The president ran on the issue of fiscal accountability, dealing with our inflation situation,” he said.Vought has also unabashedly advanced “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-christian-evangelicals-conservatives-2024-election-43f25118c133170c77786daf316821c3">Christian nationalism</a>," an idea rising in the GOP that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and the government should now be infused with Christianity.In a 2021 opinion article, Vought wrote that Christian nationalism is “a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society.”___

Senate confirms Project 2025 architect to lead White House budget office

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Kansas City, Kansas Police Officers respond to approximately 320 calls daily, never knowing exactly what they will encounter, according to a media release from the department.&nbsp;

On Tuesday, a “routine” call for service resulted in the seizure of weapons and illegal drugs, with multiple individuals taken into custody. 

"While the call was anything but routine, it is the routine schedule of trainings which officers are required to take annually that allowed them to close out this potentially dangerous call without incident or injury to anyone involved."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738772008558.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Kansas City, Kansas Police Officers respond to approximately 320 calls daily, never knowing exactly what they will encounter, according to a media release from the department.&nbsp;On Tuesday, a “routine” call for service resulted in the seizure of weapons and illegal drugs, with multiple individuals taken into custody. "While the call was anything but routine, it is the routine schedule of trainings which officers are required to take annually that allowed them to close out this potentially dangerous call without incident or injury to anyone involved."

Kan. officers seize weapons, drugs during 'routine call'

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Thursday that he wants to root out “anti-Christian bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians.

Speaking at a pair of events in Washington surrounding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-james-lankford-mark-pryor-religion-2d3d2b1ca91fe7919427df5fe4489f0d">the National Prayer Breakfast</a>, Trump said the task force would be directed to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI — terrible — and other agencies.”

Trump said Bondi would also work to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”

The president's comments came after he joined the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol, a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship, and told lawmakers there that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year and urged Americans to “bring God back" into their lives.

An hour after calling for “unity” on Capitol Hill, though, Trump struck a more partisan tone at the second event across town, announcing that, in addition to the task force, he was forming a commission on religious liberty, criticizing the Biden administration for “persecution” of believers for prosecuting anti-abortion advocates.

And Trump took a victory lap over his early administration efforts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dei-trump-executive-order-diversity-834a241a60ee92722ef2443b62572540">roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs</a>&nbsp;and to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b">limit transgender participation in women’s sports</a>.

“I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but we got rid of woke over the last two weeks,” he said. “Woke is gone-zo.”

Trump’s new task force drew criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The group’s president and CEO, Rachel Laser, said “rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the subversion of our civil rights laws.”

Trump said at the Capitol that he believes people "can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”

The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the progressive&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fu7061146.ct.sendgrid.net%2Fls%2Fclick%3Fupn%3Du001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCzq4DfNfUEZ0mHMFWC9VpmcieqRkYiruGtEla-2F7yLbIdt1cN_eX2h6PLyiPpXQjMSXnyUfqF0U3d0enyR-2BPWDwV8iAlFE4dFGljN5UAI0pa8UNF-2F8Z-2BEBIO1C-2B7vGrZCa19mfmoaYrsYpZz0Gr5dOLBDE0GMfukZWEBlteBkVITm46vIFgmL-2Bhs3jUQ1pQSIi1vd6-2FINFRTAuNjM-2FyOJ7vWPNmxNouOylXXyfI5uz0Tp735qfCkSrwZgspMDHJajueeDtvIPA1G89W4MhrUKEC5HoX4FesfG6JjbaVYTx2YWahO0sgWc4sIakd-2B-2B0bPcgdwvxa4AiqAzqspP0fXDt046tnI7kPmAGUxjkSqGrWkcnPnICHAZqzqUau-2FbFiAa8Who-2FHA-3D-3D&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctstanley%40ap.org%7Cb9bcceefb13b463e043608dd46c8c1be%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638744552544248081%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C80000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=rpPHmVQQMALnd21uI%2BYa1y1K6FvhunkLempVTOvBbFM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Interfaith Alliance</a>, accused Trump of hypocrisy in claiming to champion religion by creating the task force.

“From allowing immigration raids in churches, to targeting faith-based charities, to suppressing religious diversity, the Trump Administration’s aggressive government overreach is infringing on religious freedom in a way we haven’t seen for generations,” Raushenbush said in a statement.

Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian legal organization, disagreed, praising the creation of the task force and religious liberty commission.

“All Americans should be free to exercise their faith without government intrusion in school, in the military, in the workplace, and in the public square. We are ready to stand with President Trump to ensure that the religious liberty of every American is safe and secure,” Shackelford said in a statement.

Trump also announced the creation of a White House faith office led by Paula White-Cain, a longtime pastor in the independent charismatic world. An early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidency bid, she led Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative in 2019, advising faith-based organizations on ways to partner with the federal government.

At Thursday’s prayer breakfast, she praised him as “the greatest champion” any president has been “of religion, of faith and of God.”

In 2023, the National Prayer Breakfast&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-james-lankford-mark-pryor-religion-2d3d2b1ca91fe7919427df5fe4489f0d">split into two dueling events</a>, the one on Capitol Hill largely attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it was funded.

Trump, at both venues, reflected on having&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-vp-vance-rubio-7c7ba6b99b5f38d2d840ed95b2fdc3e5">a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him</a>&nbsp;at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel."

“I feel even stronger," he continued. "I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.” Speaking later at the prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group at a hotel, he remarked, “it was God that saved me.'

He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.”

The Republican president, who's a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”

Trump and his administration have already clashed with religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Rev. Mariann Budde’s sermon the day after his inauguration, when she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-episcopal-bishop-budde-sermon-d393ab9df6278d884ba09fb8e679f563">called for mercy</a>&nbsp;for members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-catholic-bishops-migration-94138954824b68dbd0b29b28504e056e">Vice President JD Vance</a>, who's Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are worried about the removal of churches from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-churches-trump-immigration-crackdown-sanctuary-2746fa5c80aa8e2ce6db878e0d6e1c24">the sensitive-areas list</a>, allowing federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship.

The president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-ut-state-wire-acquittals-politics-93c85dcfb0e6b2185391965e77ebea51">the Senate acquitted him</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-international-news-politics-0756fda2b5143891c5da1c6897001cee">his first impeachment trial</a>.

Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she prayed for Trump, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8bb97971d2a2896875ab87fae9e706b2">his decision to vote to convict Trump</a>.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said then in&nbsp;<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-68th-annual-national-prayer-breakfast/">his winding speech</a>, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his acquittal. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year's prayer breakfast.

In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden, a Democrat,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-religion-d880899c458e2a0064ccb6c8e8810736">spoke at the Capitol Hill event</a>, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.

AP writers Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, Peter Smith in Pittsburgh, and Zeke Miller and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Thursday that he wants to root out “anti-Christian bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Trump Delivers Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/B7mzDw5NRJ">https://t.co/B7mzDw5NRJ</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1887506288130544083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Speaking at a pair of events in Washington surrounding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-james-lankford-mark-pryor-religion-2d3d2b1ca91fe7919427df5fe4489f0d">the National Prayer Breakfast</a>, Trump said the task force would be directed to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI — terrible — and other agencies.”Trump said Bondi would also work to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”The president's comments came after he joined the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol, a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship, and told lawmakers there that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year and urged Americans to “bring God back" into their lives.An hour after calling for “unity” on Capitol Hill, though, Trump struck a more partisan tone at the second event across town, announcing that, in addition to the task force, he was forming a commission on religious liberty, criticizing the Biden administration for “persecution” of believers for prosecuting anti-abortion advocates.And Trump took a victory lap over his early administration efforts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dei-trump-executive-order-diversity-834a241a60ee92722ef2443b62572540">roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs</a>&nbsp;and to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b">limit transgender participation in women’s sports</a>.“I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but we got rid of woke over the last two weeks,” he said. “Woke is gone-zo.”Trump’s new task force drew criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The group’s president and CEO, Rachel Laser, said “rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the subversion of our civil rights laws.”Trump said at the Capitol that he believes people "can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the progressive&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fu7061146.ct.sendgrid.net%2Fls%2Fclick%3Fupn%3Du001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCzq4DfNfUEZ0mHMFWC9VpmcieqRkYiruGtEla-2F7yLbIdt1cN_eX2h6PLyiPpXQjMSXnyUfqF0U3d0enyR-2BPWDwV8iAlFE4dFGljN5UAI0pa8UNF-2F8Z-2BEBIO1C-2B7vGrZCa19mfmoaYrsYpZz0Gr5dOLBDE0GMfukZWEBlteBkVITm46vIFgmL-2Bhs3jUQ1pQSIi1vd6-2FINFRTAuNjM-2FyOJ7vWPNmxNouOylXXyfI5uz0Tp735qfCkSrwZgspMDHJajueeDtvIPA1G89W4MhrUKEC5HoX4FesfG6JjbaVYTx2YWahO0sgWc4sIakd-2B-2B0bPcgdwvxa4AiqAzqspP0fXDt046tnI7kPmAGUxjkSqGrWkcnPnICHAZqzqUau-2FbFiAa8Who-2FHA-3D-3D&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctstanley%40ap.org%7Cb9bcceefb13b463e043608dd46c8c1be%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638744552544248081%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C80000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=rpPHmVQQMALnd21uI%2BYa1y1K6FvhunkLempVTOvBbFM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Interfaith Alliance</a>, accused Trump of hypocrisy in claiming to champion religion by creating the task force.“From allowing immigration raids in churches, to targeting faith-based charities, to suppressing religious diversity, the Trump Administration’s aggressive government overreach is infringing on religious freedom in a way we haven’t seen for generations,” Raushenbush said in a statement.Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian legal organization, disagreed, praising the creation of the task force and religious liberty commission.“All Americans should be free to exercise their faith without government intrusion in school, in the military, in the workplace, and in the public square. We are ready to stand with President Trump to ensure that the religious liberty of every American is safe and secure,” Shackelford said in a statement.Trump also announced the creation of a White House faith office led by Paula White-Cain, a longtime pastor in the independent charismatic world. An early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidency bid, she led Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative in 2019, advising faith-based organizations on ways to partner with the federal government.At Thursday’s prayer breakfast, she praised him as “the greatest champion” any president has been “of religion, of faith and of God.”In 2023, the National Prayer Breakfast&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-james-lankford-mark-pryor-religion-2d3d2b1ca91fe7919427df5fe4489f0d">split into two dueling events</a>, the one on Capitol Hill largely attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it was funded.Trump, at both venues, reflected on having&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-vp-vance-rubio-7c7ba6b99b5f38d2d840ed95b2fdc3e5">a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him</a>&nbsp;at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel."“I feel even stronger," he continued. "I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.” Speaking later at the prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group at a hotel, he remarked, “it was God that saved me.'He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.”The Republican president, who's a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”Trump and his administration have already clashed with religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Rev. Mariann Budde’s sermon the day after his inauguration, when she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-episcopal-bishop-budde-sermon-d393ab9df6278d884ba09fb8e679f563">called for mercy</a>&nbsp;for members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-catholic-bishops-migration-94138954824b68dbd0b29b28504e056e">Vice President JD Vance</a>, who's Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are worried about the removal of churches from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-churches-trump-immigration-crackdown-sanctuary-2746fa5c80aa8e2ce6db878e0d6e1c24">the sensitive-areas list</a>, allowing federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship.The president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-ut-state-wire-acquittals-politics-93c85dcfb0e6b2185391965e77ebea51">the Senate acquitted him</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-elections-international-news-politics-0756fda2b5143891c5da1c6897001cee">his first impeachment trial</a>.Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she prayed for Trump, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8bb97971d2a2896875ab87fae9e706b2">his decision to vote to convict Trump</a>.“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said then in&nbsp;<a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-68th-annual-national-prayer-breakfast/">his winding speech</a>, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his acquittal. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.”Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year's prayer breakfast.In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden, a Democrat,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-religion-d880899c458e2a0064ccb6c8e8810736">spoke at the Capitol Hill event</a>, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.___AP writers Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, Peter Smith in Pittsburgh, and Zeke Miller and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed to this report.___

🎥 What President Trump told the National Prayer Breakfast

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A figure skating tribute will take place in Washington, D.C., in early March&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-3aaad661331bc2379ad6b604dec6de0b">to support victims</a>&nbsp;of the midair collision and crash outside Ronald Reagan International Airport.

Organizers on Wednesday announced the “Legacy on Ice” benefit event scheduled for March 2 at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, home of the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-079cca60567e6929f4b84a8e9d6c330d">Twenty-eight members of the figure skating community</a>&nbsp;were among the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-62adba7fb1f546b4cf1716e42b86482b">67 people killed</a>&nbsp;when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight and crashed into the Potomac River on Jan. 29.

“This is a platform to be able to let people emote,” Monumental Sports &amp; Entertainment chairman and CEO Ted Leonsis said on a video call with reporters. “This has struck so many different people around Washington, D.C., in a very, very emotional way. We really want to make a platform for the entire extended community to come together.”

Figure skating was so prominently connected to the tragedy because many aboard had just been to a development camp after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. Monumental, U.S. Figure Skating, DC Fire &amp; EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation are putting on the tribute.

“We’re just very grateful to (executive producer Michael Burg) and Ted and everyone at Monumental to get this off the ground,” U.S. Figure Skating interim CEO Samuel Auxier said. “It certainly focuses our entire skating community on the recovery process, and this will be a real highlight of getting this moving forward.”

The event is set to be co-hosted by 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano and involve performances by 2024 world champion Ilia Malinin, two-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn and some of the most recognizable members of the sport, including Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton. Members of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-crash-figure-skating-club-boston-a2f015f02dab4cc2c22146dc1758de5d">Skating Club of Boston</a>&nbsp;and from those in Northern Virginia and Washington, organizations who were affected, will also take part.

Burg, who has been connected to figure skating in the past along with benefits for victims of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-fires-rain-palisades-eaton-mudflows-85c9d5ecb84d9a37d909fcffaacc68bb">Southern California fires</a>, said, “It just triggered within me, my gosh, what happened in a different way in LA is now happening in the skating world and overall everybody impacted by this plane crash, and we needed to do something.”

Proceeds from the two-hour show will go to the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation’s DCA Together Relief Fund and DC Fire &amp; EMS Foundation.

“I feel like it will be cathartic for the first responders to be there to see more about the lives about the people they tried to save and just to interact with their families,” said Amy Mauro, DC Fire and EMS Foundation's executive director.

The event is being paid for by in-kind donations, and much is being done at cost with the aim of making it a fundraiser, as well as a community gathering.

"We all need a lot of support right now," Leonsis said. “I hope we can raise a lot of money. At the end of the day, we not only want to be able to collectively bring all of the voices of all of the people affected, but we need to be able to raise a lot of dollars to help ease some of the pain.”

This story has been corrected to update the number of members of the figure skating community killed to 28 from the initial estimate of 14.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738593013304.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A figure skating tribute will take place in Washington, D.C., in early March&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-3aaad661331bc2379ad6b604dec6de0b">to support victims</a>&nbsp;of the midair collision and crash outside Ronald Reagan International Airport.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738771217231.png" alt="Images courtesy U.S. Figure Skating" />
 <figcaption>Images courtesy U.S. Figure Skating</figcaption>
 </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Honoring those we tragically lost. See below for tributes to our beloved club members. 🖤 ION FSC: <a href="https://t.co/UzVviMzAfJ">https://t.co/UzVviMzAfJ</a> The SC of Boston: <a href="https://t.co/S1rDUZ0QLa">https://t.co/S1rDUZ0QLa</a> SC of Northern Virginia: <a href="https://t.co/6bZ5htFQ0Y">https://t.co/6bZ5htFQ0Y</a> University of Delaware FSC: <a href="https://t.co/XfgjLlwHnP">https://t.co/XfgjLlwHnP</a> Washington… <a href="https://t.co/NtZgm3ImMB">pic.twitter.com/NtZgm3ImMB</a>&mdash; U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) <a href="https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/1886384339136491684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Organizers on Wednesday announced the “Legacy on Ice” benefit event scheduled for March 2 at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, home of the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-079cca60567e6929f4b84a8e9d6c330d">Twenty-eight members of the figure skating community</a>&nbsp;were among the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-62adba7fb1f546b4cf1716e42b86482b">67 people killed</a>&nbsp;when an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight and crashed into the Potomac River on Jan. 29.“This is a platform to be able to let people emote,” Monumental Sports &amp; Entertainment chairman and CEO Ted Leonsis said on a video call with reporters. “This has struck so many different people around Washington, D.C., in a very, very emotional way. We really want to make a platform for the entire extended community to come together.”Figure skating was so prominently connected to the tragedy because many aboard had just been to a development camp after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. Monumental, U.S. Figure Skating, DC Fire &amp; EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation are putting on the tribute.“We’re just very grateful to (executive producer Michael Burg) and Ted and everyone at Monumental to get this off the ground,” U.S. Figure Skating interim CEO Samuel Auxier said. “It certainly focuses our entire skating community on the recovery process, and this will be a real highlight of getting this moving forward.”The event is set to be co-hosted by 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano and involve performances by 2024 world champion Ilia Malinin, two-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn and some of the most recognizable members of the sport, including Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton. Members of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-plane-crash-figure-skating-club-boston-a2f015f02dab4cc2c22146dc1758de5d">Skating Club of Boston</a>&nbsp;and from those in Northern Virginia and Washington, organizations who were affected, will also take part.Burg, who has been connected to figure skating in the past along with benefits for victims of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-fires-rain-palisades-eaton-mudflows-85c9d5ecb84d9a37d909fcffaacc68bb">Southern California fires</a>, said, “It just triggered within me, my gosh, what happened in a different way in LA is now happening in the skating world and overall everybody impacted by this plane crash, and we needed to do something.”Proceeds from the two-hour show will go to the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation’s DCA Together Relief Fund and DC Fire &amp; EMS Foundation.“I feel like it will be cathartic for the first responders to be there to see more about the lives about the people they tried to save and just to interact with their families,” said Amy Mauro, DC Fire and EMS Foundation's executive director.The event is being paid for by in-kind donations, and much is being done at cost with the aim of making it a fundraiser, as well as a community gathering."We all need a lot of support right now," Leonsis said. “I hope we can raise a lot of money. At the end of the day, we not only want to be able to collectively bring all of the voices of all of the people affected, but we need to be able to raise a lot of dollars to help ease some of the pain.”___This story has been corrected to update the number of members of the figure skating community killed to 28 from the initial estimate of 14.

Figure skating event will benefit victims of DC plane crash 

The Kansas City Chiefs are going for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title when they face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. It's a rematch of a championship game from two years ago that Kansas City won in Arizona. Among the first elected officials from Kansas to announce a friendly wager is Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

The Kansas City Chiefs are going for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title when they face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. It's a rematch of a championship game from two years ago that Kansas City won in Arizona. Among the first elected officials from Kansas to announce a friendly wager is Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">To my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/PAAttorneyGen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PAAttorneyGen</a> Dave Sunday, I propose a gentlemen&#39;s bet on the Big Game. May the best team, the <a href="https://twitter.com/Chiefs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Chiefs</a>, win. <a href="https://t.co/oIGU0GUlf9">pic.twitter.com/oIGU0GUlf9</a>&mdash; Kansas AG&#39;s Office (@KSAGOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/KSAGOffice/status/1887524104330240256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

🎥Kansas AG announces friendly Super Bowl wager

JACKSON COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday in Jackson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported an eastbound train struck a 2002 Toyota Tacoma driven by Adam P. Foster, 51, Rossville, that was&nbsp;stopped facing north on the railroad tracks just north of 94th Road on a Private drive.

Foster was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Forensic Medical.&nbsp; There were no injuries on the train. Foster was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.&nbsp; &nbsp;The patrol had no additional details on why the driver was at that location at the time of the accident.

JACKSON COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday in Jackson County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported an eastbound train struck a 2002 Toyota Tacoma driven by Adam P. Foster, 51, Rossville, that was&nbsp;stopped facing north on the railroad tracks just north of 94th Road on a Private drive.Foster was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Forensic Medical.&nbsp; There were no injuries on the train. Foster was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.&nbsp; &nbsp;The patrol had no additional details on why the driver was at that location at the time of the accident.

KHP investigating a fatal train, pickup crash

Wendell Payton, the man accused in fatal fire that killed 32-year-old Kelsey Payton, and a juvenile made his first appearance in Reno County District Court Thursday and was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated arson and one count of aggravated endangering a child, and two counts of interference with a law enforcement officer.&nbsp;

Court records show that Payton is alleged to have concealed, destroyed or altered evidence. &nbsp;Records also show that he gave false information when questioned by police. &nbsp;

&nbsp;Just before 3:30a.m.&nbsp; Saturday, crews were dispatched to a fire at a home in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson with possible people trapped, according to a media release.

First responders&nbsp; located four individuals at the residence. Two of the individuals 32-year-old Kalsey M. Payton and one juvenile female were found deceased. The other two individuals 37-year-old Wendell Payton and one juvenile female, were transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, and later to Saint Francis in Wichita. The girl&nbsp; was later released from the hospital. Police arrested Payton.

He has a bond modification hearing scheduled for Friday and a waiver status hearing on March 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738764384897.png" alt="Payton -photo Reno Co." />
 <figcaption>Payton -photo Reno Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>MARC JACOBS Hutch PostWendell Payton, the man accused in fatal fire that killed 32-year-old Kelsey Payton, and a juvenile made his first appearance in Reno County District Court Thursday and was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated arson and one count of aggravated endangering a child, and two counts of interference with a law enforcement officer.&nbsp;Court records show that Payton is alleged to have concealed, destroyed or altered evidence. &nbsp;Records also show that he gave false information when questioned by police. &nbsp;&nbsp;Just before 3:30a.m.&nbsp; Saturday, crews were dispatched to a fire at a home in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson with possible people trapped, according to a media release.First responders&nbsp; located four individuals at the residence. Two of the individuals 32-year-old Kalsey M. Payton and one juvenile female were found deceased. The other two individuals 37-year-old Wendell Payton and one juvenile female, were transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, and later to Saint Francis in Wichita. The girl&nbsp; was later released from the hospital. Police arrested Payton.He has a bond modification hearing scheduled for Friday and a waiver status hearing on March 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Kan. man accused in fire that killed woman, child makes court appearance

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives, the latest twist in a chaotic and distressing saga playing out for millions of government employees.

The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for them to apply for the deferred resignation program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston directed the administration to extend that deadline until after a court hearing he scheduled for Monday afternoon. O'Toole did not express an opinion on the legality of the program, which is being challenged by several labor unions, and said he would weigh arguments next week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives, the latest twist in a chaotic and distressing saga playing out for millions of government employees.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738115904337.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for them to apply for the deferred resignation program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston directed the administration to extend that deadline until after a court hearing he scheduled for Monday afternoon. O'Toole did not express an opinion on the legality of the program, which is being challenged by several labor unions, and said he would weigh arguments next week.At the White House, press secretary Karoline Levitt said more than 40,000 federal workers have applied to leave in return for being paid until Sept. 30.“We encourage federal workers in this city to accept the very generous offer,” she said at about the same time as the judge's ruling came out. "They don’t want to come into the office. If they want to rip the American people off, then they’re welcome to take this buyout and we’ll find highly qualified people” to replace them.The deferred resignation program was orchestrated by Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who is serving as a top adviser to Trump. It is part of the Republican president's goal of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-power-border-tiktok-history-e77458bc0312c60f3f2b0eeb131d0056">remaking the federal government</a>, weakening what his allies describe as the “deep state” that undermined his first term. Administration officials said they can save taxpayer money by presenting employees with “a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."<h2>Democrats and unions warn that workers could be stiffed</h2>On Wednesday, the administration ramped up its pressure on employees to leave, sending a reminder that layoffs or furloughs could come next.“The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” said the message from the Office of Personnel Management, which has been a nexus of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-congress-4e0c025629e8a0c758d13dc916ab4f43">Musk's efforts to downsize the government</a>.The email said anyone who remains will be expected to be “loyal” and “will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward.” Some employees could be reclassified to limit civil service protections as well.“Employees who engage in unlawful behavior or other misconduct will be prioritized for appropriate investigation and discipline, including termination,” the email said.Democrats said workers shouldn't accept the deferred resignation program because it wasn't authorized by Congress, raising the risk they won't get paid.“It’s a scam and not a buyout,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.Kelley said he tells workers that “if it was me, I wouldn’t do it.”An employee at the Department of Education, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said the administration appeared desperate to get people to sign the agreement. However, she said there were too many red flags, such as a clause waiving the right to sue if the government failed to honor its side of the deal.<h2>The deal is ‘exactly what it looks like,’ says Trump official</h2>Trump put Musk, the world's richest man, in charge of the so-called&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-government-trump-executive-order-1a2fb7235b9d6f178c764cf6c78d3317">Department of Government Efficiency</a>, which is a sweeping initiative to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. The original email offering the deferred resignation program was titled “Fork in the road,” echoing a similar message that Musk sent Twitter employees two years ago after he bought the social media platform.Trump administration officials have organized question-and-answer sessions with employees as the deadline approaches.Rachel Oglesby, the chief of staff at the Department of Education who previously worked at the America First Policy Institute, said Trump is trying to reduce the federal workforce.“I know there’s been a lot of questions out there about whether it’s real and whether it’s a trick,” she said, according to a recording obtained by The Associated Press. “And it’s exactly what it looks like. It’s one of the many tools that he’s using to try to achieve the campaign promise to bring reform to the civil service and changes to D.C.”The issue was also discussed during a meeting with Department of Agriculture employees, according to another recording obtained by the AP. Marlon Taubenheim, a human resources official, acknowledged that “these are very trying times” and “there’s a lot of stress.”“Unfortunately, we don’t have all the answers,” he said.Jacqueline Ponti-Lazaruk, another agency leader, said employees “probably didn’t have the runway of time that you might have liked to make a life-changing decision.”For those who remain, she said, "we’ll just keep plugging along.”Assurances from administration officials have not alleviated concerns across a range of agencies. Some federal workers said they did not trust the validity of the offers, doubting that Trump has the authority to disburse money. Others point to his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/10bbe40a86774bac9ad1fbd3a936c808">record of stiffing contractors</a>&nbsp;as a New York real estate mogul.<h2>Musk's plans spark demonstrations in Washington</h2>Scattered protests have sprung up outside federal buildings, including on Tuesday at the Office of Personnel Management.“I’m taking a risk and being bold and trying to get more federal workers to take a risk to speak out," said Dante O’Hara, who said he works for the government. "Because if we don’t, then we’re all going to lose our jobs and they’re going to put all these loyalists or people that will be their shock troops.”Government jobs have often been considered secure positions, but O’Hara said there’s fear in the workforce. The sense from his colleagues is “I don’t know if I’m going to be here tomorrow because, like, we don’t know what’s going to happen.’”Dan Smith, a Maryland resident whose father was a research scientist at the Department of Agriculture, said federal workers are “so underappreciated and so taken for granted.”“It’s one thing to downsize the government. It’s one thing to try to obliterate it," Smith said. "And that’s what’s going on. And that is what is so frightening and disgusting and requires pushback.”Mary-Jean Burke, a physical therapist for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Indianapolis, said she's worried that too many people will leave, jeopardizing health care services.Burke, who also serves as a union official, said doubts have also been growing over whether to take the offer.“Originally, I think people were like, ‘I’m out of here,'" she said. But then they saw a social media post from DOGE, which said employees can "take the vacation you always wanted, or just watch movies and chill, while receiving your full government pay and benefits.”The message backfired because "that kind of thing sounded a little bit too good to be true and people were hesitant,” Burke said.Either way, she said, Trump has achieved his apparent goal of shaking up the federal workforce.“Every day, it’s something,” Burke said. “If he signed up to be a disrupter, he’s doing it.”___Associated Press writers Nancy Benac, Nathan Ellgren, Gary Fields, Joshua Goodman, Will Weissert and Brian Witte contributed to this report.