Month: July 2025

On Monday, the U.S Supreme Court said that the Trump administration may proceed with mass firings at the Department of Education by lifting an injunction while litigation proceeds in the courts. Within two hours, the Department of Education sent notices to employees indicating it is immediately resuming its plans to shrink the department.

In an unsigned order, the justices lifted for now a lower court ruling that had indefinitely paused Trump’s plan. The Supreme Court’s decision puts that ruling on hold while the legal challenge plays out. In March, the agency’s workforce was slashed in half, 1,378 employees, in an effort by Trump to ultimately dismantle the agency.

The vote was 6-3 with all the liberal judges dissenting. The conservatives didn’t issue an opinion as is customary in an emergency ruling but Justice Sonia Storomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Sotomayor, the court’s senior liberal member, said her colleagues had made an “indefensible” decision to let Trump proceed with taking apart an agency that ordinarily can be dismantled only by Congress: “The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave .. The Department is responsible for providing critical funding and services to millions of students and scores of schools across the country. Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, another civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended.”

In March, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the agency, which was created in 1979 when Jimmy Carter was president. However U.S. District Judge Myonmg Juon, serving in Massachusetts, blocked the firings in May, determining that congressional authorization was needed. Juon was appointed by President Joe Biden.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the layoffs would resume, writing in a statement: While today’s ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities grant to him by the U.S. Constitution.”

In addition, Trump praised the high court’s decision in a Truth Social post Monday: “The United States Supreme Court has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country, by declaring the Trump Administration may proceed on returning the functions of the Department of Education BACK TO THE STATES. Now, with this GREAT Supreme Court Decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process.”

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Emergency crews have suspended the search for flooding victims in Central Texas, amid new flood warnings in the area that might again cause waterways to surge.  Forecasters issued warnings of additional flash flooding, after torrential rains last week led to catastrophic conditions and claimed over 100 lives.

Ingram Fire Department officials ordered search crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr County until further notice, where search-and-rescue teams have been searching for missing victims of the July 4 weekend flooding — when the Guadalupe River rapidly rose more than 20 feet in the Texas Hill Country. The surge proved especially deadly in Kerr County, where 103 people lost their lives. Authorities say more than 160 people are still missing, according to the Kerrville Police Department.

Videos posted to Instagram show flooding and fallen trees along the Guadalupe River. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that water levels reached 8 to 9 feet in Hunt, Texas, on Sunday morning—well above the 7-foot threshold that marks flood stage.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center anticipate that 3 to 6 inches of rain could fall on Sunday in areas already inundated last week, with potential for flooding in places not yet affected. Strong thunderstorms drifted into northern Llano and Burnet counties, dumping rain at rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour. The National Weather Service issued warnings that flooding was either already occurring or imminent in these areas.

Forecasters also stated that the storm system is expected to continue moving southeast, pushing into the Hill Country and southern parts of the Edwards Plateau; with authorities urging the public to avoid flooded roadways and obey any barricades. In Williamson County, rising water levels in the San Gabriel River prompted officials to issue an alert, warning residents of flash flooding and advising them to stay off the roads. A flash flood warning is active for the northwestern part of the county until 10 a.m.

Kerr County, already devastated by last week’s flooding, remains under a flash flood warning until 11:30 a.m., the city of Kerrville announced via social media. Officials stressed the seriousness of the situation. “This is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening emergency. Do not travel unless you are escaping a flood zone or have been ordered to evacuate.”

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Four people were hospitalized over the weekend after a shooting erupted at a class reunion in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

According to authorities, Chattanooga police are looking for the suspect(s) who are responsible for the shooting on Saturday afternoon, which took place at the Tyner Recreation Complex, where former students of Tyner High School had gathered for a reunion.

The school, now known as Tyner Middle High Academy, reopened earlier this year after the original building was demolished to make way for a modernized campus. Earlier this month, the Tyner Alumni Association shared on Facebook that alumni from 38 different graduating classes would be attending this year’s reunion weekend.

Four victims who were standing nearby a fight when the shots rang out were hospitalized with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. A spokesperson for the Chattanooga Police Department stated that all four individuals were transported to a hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening. Authorities have not yet released details about a potential suspect, and it’s unclear whether anyone has been taken into custody. The circumstances leading up to the shooting were also unclear.

Investigators are working to collect evidence and determine what exactly led up to the shooting. Those with information about the incident were encouraged to call the Chattanooga Police Department at 423-698-2525. The investigation is ongoing.

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The Secret Service suspended six agents without pay for their conduct during the assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, nearly a year ago. Confirmation of the suspensions come just days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting on July 13, 2024. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers on site.

The agency issued the suspensions, which ranged from 10 to 42 days and included both people in supervisory roles and line-level agents, following an investigation into the assassination attempt in which a gunman’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear. It is unclear when the agents were formally suspended, but it is said to have happened in recent months, with the agents given the right to appeal.

Multiple Secret Service officials were placed on leave for their actions before and after the assassination attempt, including the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office (who was tasked with coordinating security with local law enforcement ahead of the rally). Almost immediately after the assassination attempt, lawmakers questioned the security failures that gave a 20-year-old gunman the opportunity to target and shoot Trump and kill firefighter Corey Comperatore, in what federal officials called an act of potential domestic terrorism.

The assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and a second, foiled attempt against Mr. Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, a few weeks later, spurred the resignation of then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle 10 days after the attack after facing strong criticism for the agency’s actions.

The Department of Homeland Security did an independent review of the event: “The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission. The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved.”

A 180-page report released by a bipartisan House task force in December found that the security lapses that led to the first incident were “not isolated to the campaign event itself,” with lawmakers noting that “preexisting issues in leadership and training created an environment” in which the failures could occur, like giving significant responsibilities to Secret Service personnel with little to no experience in advanced planning roles. “Lawmakers also noted a lack of coordination and planning between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners. The events of July 13, 2024, were tragic and preventable, and the litany of related security failures are unacceptable.”

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A federal judge in New Hampshire agreed Thursday to issue a new nationwide block against President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire barred the Trump administration from enforcing his executive order limiting birthright citizenship nationwide after the Supreme Court restricted the ability of judges to block his policies using nationwide injunctions.

Laplante made the ruling July 10 after immigrant rights advocates implored him to grant class action status to a lawsuit filed seeking class-action protection for all babies nationwide who could be impacted by the policy, as well as their families. Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), emphasized that the affected children would face lasting and serious harm if denied birthright citizenship—a claim the judge found credible.

The executive order, announced by Trump shortly after he took office in January, would limit automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. only if at least one parent is either a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. It would exclude children born to mothers in the country on temporary visas—including tourists, students, and those in the Visa Waiver Program—if the fathers do not hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. Although the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of Trump’s birthright citizenship policy, it previously allowed the order to move forward starting July 27, unless blocked by further court action.

During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Laplante called the denial of birthright citizenship an “irreparable harm,” and described the right to citizenship as “the greatest privilege that exists in the world.” The judge approved the class-action request, but limited it to children who would be affected by the order. Parents, he ruled, would not be included in the certified class. In addition, he granted a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop the executive order from being enforced. However, he delayed the implementation of the injunction for seven days to allow the federal government time to appeal.

Wofsy said during a press conference following the ruling: “Today the court took a critical step by certifying a nationwide class of children affected by the President’s order and blocking its implementation. This decision ensures protection for every child in the U.S. from an unlawful, unconstitutional, and harsh executive action.”

Lawyers representing the Department of Justice argued against both the injunction and the class certification, claiming the relief requested was overly broad and said the timing of the legal challenge was premature. They also expressed concern about whether the legal standards for class-action certification had been satisfied.

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