WASHINGTON (AP) —White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered an update from Trump during a briefing Tuesday, saying the Federal Aviation Administration approved the flights, which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/drones-new-jersey-buzz-6ef6cfdd5dd6508da22b3c3a1d2f6718">captured the public’s attention over a month ago</a>.

“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” Leavitt said. “Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones.

She added: “It got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.” She said the news came directly from the president.

The drones led to widespread curiosity as well as some confusion and worry last month. State and Biden administration officials had said there was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/drones-mystery-new-jersey-york-b37fda04755803392178b1f39b76ccd8">no evidence</a>&nbsp;of anything nefarious with the sightings.

Trump had said the “government knows” what was happening with the drones. He said at the time, “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy because if it’s the enemy they’d blast it out.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734228753383.png" alt="Image from New Jersey Senator Andy Kim" />
 <figcaption>Image from New Jersey Senator Andy Kim</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered an update from Trump during a briefing Tuesday, saying the Federal Aviation Administration approved the flights, which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/drones-new-jersey-buzz-6ef6cfdd5dd6508da22b3c3a1d2f6718">captured the public’s attention over a month ago</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> Karoline Leavitt reads statement from President Trump: &quot;The drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by FAA for research and various other reasons...this was not the enemy.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/M5Qk5exLPn">pic.twitter.com/M5Qk5exLPn</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1884307003289272431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” Leavitt said. “Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones.She added: “It got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.” She said the news came directly from the president.The drones led to widespread curiosity as well as some confusion and worry last month. State and Biden administration officials had said there was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/drones-mystery-new-jersey-york-b37fda04755803392178b1f39b76ccd8">no evidence</a>&nbsp;of anything nefarious with the sightings.Trump had said the “government knows” what was happening with the drones. He said at the time, “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy because if it’s the enemy they’d blast it out.”

🎥 White House: Drone mystery solved

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a “predator” who is addicted to power, Caroline Kennedy urged the U.S. Senate in a Tuesday letter to reject the nomination of her cousin to be President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;health secretary.

In a letter to Senators, Ms. Kennedy, who previously served as a U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan and is the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, etched a damning sketch of her cousin, the latest condemnation Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has received from members of his own, prominent Democratic family.

Several denounced her cousin's bid for the presidency last year. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, was first reported by The Washington Post.

Ms. Kennedy said in the letter that her cousin’s views on vaccines are disqualifying. She offered senators personal details from their lives growing up together that she said pose an even greater concern.

She described her cousin’s basement, garage and dorm as being an epicenter for drug use, where he would also put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks.

“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence,” she wrote. She also read the letter in a video recording, sharing it on social media. Attempts to reach Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for comment were not immediately successful.

He has openly talked about his heroin use and he pleaded guilty for bringing it on an airplane in 1984.

Kennedy now “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children,” she told senators, noting that he has vaccinated his own children while discouraging others from vaccinating theirs.

She also pointed out that Kennedy plans to still profit off a lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. Last year, he made over $850,000 from the arrangement.

“In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls,” she wrote. She had previously not spoken about his candidacy or nomination for health secretary.

Her father was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jfk-files-trump-release-381cd547e10e4f41d27a8e020bb6a435">assassinated</a>&nbsp;in 1963 when she was a young girl. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968 during his presidential campaign event.

“Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father – but I am certain that he and my uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public services, and my uncle Teddy, who devoted his Senate career to improving health care, would be disgusted,” Ms. Kennedy wrote.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday in his bid to become Trump’s health secretary. Another hearing for his nomination will be held on Wednesday in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee, the panel his uncle, Ted Kennedy, once chaired.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a “predator” who is addicted to power, Caroline Kennedy urged the U.S. Senate in a Tuesday letter to reject the nomination of her cousin to be President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;health secretary.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Ambassador Caroline Kennedy’s statement to the US Senate on RFKJr’s nomination for HHS Secretary This is a reading of a letter she just sent to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions I’m so proud of my courageous mother, who’s lived a life of dignity,… <a href="https://t.co/feysNA0Wwp">pic.twitter.com/feysNA0Wwp</a>&mdash; Jack Schlossberg (@JBKSchlossberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/JBKSchlossberg/status/1884294384474046900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a letter to Senators, Ms. Kennedy, who previously served as a U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan and is the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, etched a damning sketch of her cousin, the latest condemnation Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has received from members of his own, prominent Democratic family.Several denounced her cousin's bid for the presidency last year. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, was first reported by The Washington Post.Ms. Kennedy said in the letter that her cousin’s views on vaccines are disqualifying. She offered senators personal details from their lives growing up together that she said pose an even greater concern.She described her cousin’s basement, garage and dorm as being an epicenter for drug use, where he would also put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks.“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence,” she wrote. She also read the letter in a video recording, sharing it on social media. Attempts to reach Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for comment were not immediately successful.He has openly talked about his heroin use and he pleaded guilty for bringing it on an airplane in 1984.Kennedy now “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children,” she told senators, noting that he has vaccinated his own children while discouraging others from vaccinating theirs.She also pointed out that Kennedy plans to still profit off a lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. Last year, he made over $850,000 from the arrangement.“In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls,” she wrote. She had previously not spoken about his candidacy or nomination for health secretary.Her father was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jfk-files-trump-release-381cd547e10e4f41d27a8e020bb6a435">assassinated</a>&nbsp;in 1963 when she was a young girl. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968 during his presidential campaign event.“Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father – but I am certain that he and my uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public services, and my uncle Teddy, who devoted his Senate career to improving health care, would be disgusted,” Ms. Kennedy wrote.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday in his bid to become Trump’s health secretary. Another hearing for his nomination will be held on Wednesday in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee, the panel his uncle, Ted Kennedy, once chaired.

🎥Caroline Kennedy shocks Senators ahead of RFK Jr. confirmation hearing

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement investigating after three bodies were found in a rural Kansas home have released the names of the victim as Thomas R. Noble, 79, Ruth D. Noble, 76, and Kristin M. Noble, 41, all of Berryton, Kansas, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. Investigators learned that the individuals were immediate family.

Just before 6p.m. Monday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call reporting a disturbance at a home in the 7800 Block of Ratner Road, according to Christian.

When deputies arrived at the residence, they located two adult females suffering from gunshot wounds and one adult male that appeared to have sustained a single self-inflicted gunshot wound. All three individuals were pronounced deceased at the scene.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738063904552.png" alt="Photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement investigating after three bodies were found in a rural Kansas home have released the names of the victim as Thomas R. Noble, 79, Ruth D. Noble, 76, and Kristin M. Noble, 41, all of Berryton, Kansas, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. Investigators learned that the individuals were immediate family.Just before 6p.m. Monday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call reporting a disturbance at a home in the 7800 Block of Ratner Road, according to Christian.When deputies arrived at the residence, they located two adult females suffering from gunshot wounds and one adult male that appeared to have sustained a single self-inflicted gunshot wound. All three individuals were pronounced deceased at the scene.

Sheriff IDs 3 found dead at rural Kansas home

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action Tuesday afternoon, minutes before it was set to go into effect. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.

The White House had planned to start the pause as they begin an across-the-board ideological review of federal spending.

The plan sparked confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.

Administration officials have said federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion on Tuesday by pausing federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives, setting the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.

Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants — a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations around the country — was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-has-trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0">blitz of executive orders.</a>&nbsp;The Republican president wants to increase&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-climate-change-environmental-policy-e4fb2b2495c0bcf880fab46605936b09">fossil fuel production</a>, remove protections for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-sex-gender-transgender-dei-order-245350b97e0c4dcc221fefc49ef44699">transgender people</a>&nbsp;and end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.</a>

But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.

“This sort of came out of the blue,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, one of countless districts that receives federal funding. Now they're trying to figure out what it means “based on zero information.”

Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term.

However, the effects were being felt far from the nation’s capital. Organizations like Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, were worried about getting cut off.

“The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos,” spokeswoman Jenny Young said. She said “seniors may panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”

The National Science Foundation postponed this week’s panels for reviewing grant applications. Officials in Prichard, Alabama, feared they wouldn’t receive infrastructure funding to fix their leaking drinking water system. Republican leaders in Louisiana said they were “seeking clarity” to ensure nothing was “jeopardizing financial stability of the state.”

“Trump’s actions would wreak havoc in red and blue communities everywhere,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We are talking about our small towns, our cities, our school districts.”

The full scope of the administration’s review was spelled out in a 51-page spreadsheet sent to federal agencies and viewed by The Associated Press. Each line was a different government initiative, from pool safety to tribal workforce development to special education.

Officials were directed to answer a series of yes or no questions for every item on the list, including “does this program promote gender ideology?” or “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?” Responses are due by Feb. 7.

Trillions of dollars are potentially under review. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also supposed to be halted if they might violate one of Trump’s executive orders.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a memo distributed Monday.

Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.” He also wrote that the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

The pause on grants and loans was scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. ET, just one day after agencies were informed of the decision.

Democrats described the Trump administration’s decision as capricious and illegal. They argued that the president had no right to unilaterally stop spending money appropriated by Congress.

New York Attorney General Letitia James planned to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the funding pause.

“There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” she said.

Separately, group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit in Washington saying that the funding pause is “devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale.”

The issue dominated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-leavitt-white-house-first-press-briefing-5ba5ff116e18c29b04c934a24a8983d1">the first briefing</a>&nbsp;held by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said the administration was trying to be “good stewards” of public money by making sure that there was “no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”

She denied that Trump was deliberately challenging Congress to establish his dominance over the federal budget.

“He’s just trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and the priorities of the American people,” she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that it would implement the pause to “align federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through President Trump’s priorities.” The Department of Energy also said it was conducting a review of its spending.

The funding pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.

For example, federal employees are being asked to report their colleagues if they try to continue&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-dei-7ef0bf4ce1d465f6b61f3fcfde544593">diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.</a>

“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.

He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.

“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle,” Light said. “You’ve got to deliver.”

Fears about interruption in government services were exacerbated as states reported problems with the Medicaid funding portal, where officials request reimbursement for providing healthcare to poor residents.

Democrats condemned the Trump administration, connecting the issue to the funding pause.

But Leavitt said the portal would be back online soon.

“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent," she posted on social media.

Associated Press writers JoNel Aleccia, Moriah Balingit, Collin Binkley, Matthew Daly, Lisa Mascaro, Adithi Ramakrishnan, Amanda Seitz, Michael Sisak and Tammy Weber contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars.U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action Tuesday afternoon, minutes before it was set to go into effect. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738073386129.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738073444144.png" alt="Trump" />
 <figcaption>Trump</figcaption>
 </figure>The White House had planned to start the pause as they begin an across-the-board ideological review of federal spending.The plan sparked confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.Administration officials have said federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion on Tuesday by pausing federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives, setting the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants — a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations around the country — was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-has-trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0">blitz of executive orders.</a>&nbsp;The Republican president wants to increase&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-climate-change-environmental-policy-e4fb2b2495c0bcf880fab46605936b09">fossil fuel production</a>, remove protections for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-sex-gender-transgender-dei-order-245350b97e0c4dcc221fefc49ef44699">transgender people</a>&nbsp;and end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.</a>But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.“This sort of came out of the blue,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, one of countless districts that receives federal funding. Now they're trying to figure out what it means “based on zero information.”Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term.However, the effects were being felt far from the nation’s capital. Organizations like Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, were worried about getting cut off.“The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos,” spokeswoman Jenny Young said. She said “seniors may panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”The National Science Foundation postponed this week’s panels for reviewing grant applications. Officials in Prichard, Alabama, feared they wouldn’t receive infrastructure funding to fix their leaking drinking water system. Republican leaders in Louisiana said they were “seeking clarity” to ensure nothing was “jeopardizing financial stability of the state.”“Trump’s actions would wreak havoc in red and blue communities everywhere,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We are talking about our small towns, our cities, our school districts.”The full scope of the administration’s review was spelled out in a 51-page spreadsheet sent to federal agencies and viewed by The Associated Press. Each line was a different government initiative, from pool safety to tribal workforce development to special education.Officials were directed to answer a series of yes or no questions for every item on the list, including “does this program promote gender ideology?” or “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?” Responses are due by Feb. 7.Trillions of dollars are potentially under review. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also supposed to be halted if they might violate one of Trump’s executive orders.“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a memo distributed Monday.Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.” He also wrote that the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”The pause on grants and loans was scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. ET, just one day after agencies were informed of the decision.Democrats described the Trump administration’s decision as capricious and illegal. They argued that the president had no right to unilaterally stop spending money appropriated by Congress.New York Attorney General Letitia James planned to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the funding pause.“There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” she said.Separately, group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit in Washington saying that the funding pause is “devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale.”The issue dominated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-leavitt-white-house-first-press-briefing-5ba5ff116e18c29b04c934a24a8983d1">the first briefing</a>&nbsp;held by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said the administration was trying to be “good stewards” of public money by making sure that there was “no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”She denied that Trump was deliberately challenging Congress to establish his dominance over the federal budget.“He’s just trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and the priorities of the American people,” she said.The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that it would implement the pause to “align federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through President Trump’s priorities.” The Department of Energy also said it was conducting a review of its spending.The funding pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.For example, federal employees are being asked to report their colleagues if they try to continue&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-dei-7ef0bf4ce1d465f6b61f3fcfde544593">diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.</a>“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle,” Light said. “You’ve got to deliver.”Fears about interruption in government services were exacerbated as states reported problems with the Medicaid funding portal, where officials request reimbursement for providing healthcare to poor residents.Democrats condemned the Trump administration, connecting the issue to the funding pause.But Leavitt said the portal would be back online soon.“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent," she posted on social media.____Associated Press writers JoNel Aleccia, Moriah Balingit, Collin Binkley, Matthew Daly, Lisa Mascaro, Adithi Ramakrishnan, Amanda Seitz, Michael Sisak and Tammy Weber contributed to this report.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump admin. freeze on federal grants and loans

<a href="mailto:jbklaudt@ksu.edu">By Jacob Klaudt</a> K-State Research and Extension&nbsp;

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Non-irrigated cropland prices in Kansas rose 3.8% last year, while pasture and hay ground increased by approximately 2.7%, according to information in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.agmanager.info/land-leasing/land-buying-valuing/kansas-land-values-book-2024">2024 Kansas Agricultural Land Values and Trends publication</a>&nbsp;released earlier this year.

Kansas State University farm economist Robin Reid said these figures point to land prices tapering off after many years of rapid growth, as much as 24% per year in some areas. With some regions of the state seeing decreases compared to 2023, Reid notes that land values may lower even more considering tightening margins and decreasing farm income.

“If we look at the state level, we are up just a little bit,” she said. “You will see in the book there are regions that have come down, but overall, I would say the market is starting to flatten and that land values are stabilizing, not continuing to increase at the rapid, unsustainable pace that they have in recent years.”

The cause of this stabilization: a lower profitability environment in the farm economy. Apart from cattle, producers are seeing lower commodity prices after a period of really high ones.

“Add that to relatively high input costs, and specifically, when you're looking at financing and interest rates, we're just at a point where the difference between income and expenses are super tight, creating difficulty for our farmers,” Reid said.

Regarding non-irrigated crop ground, Reid said there is drastic variation in land value between different areas. In southwest Kansas, for example, prices jumped 11-12%, likely influenced by the dairies and feedyards located in that area. Yet, the north-central region of Kansas experienced a drop.

“That was due to a large increase last year,” Reid said. “The north central region had the largest increase in land value in 2023, and then turn around in 2024 and have dropped off the most. I would say that's more of a balancing.”

On the other hand, eastern Kansas continues to grow in land value both for non-irrigated crop ground and pastureland, which can be attributed to such factors as urbanization, hunting pressure and the quality of ground compared to the rest of the state, Reid said.

“The northeast region had a 16% increase,” she said. “The average per acre value for non-irrigated ground is at $7,479 – the highest average value and most rapidly increasing in the state.”

Looking ahead, economic assistance will affect the land market in 2025, according to Reid. A continuing resolution passed through both sides of the U.S. legislature at the end of 2024 will afford producers $10 billion in direct payments, with additional payments possible in the name of disaster assistance in drought-impacted areas

“Those get based on planted acres that a farmer had in 2024, and farmers can look at anywhere from $30 to $40 an acre that is coming in the name of economic assistance,” Reid said. “Those will influence the land market and the cash rental rates in 2025. If we didn't have those support payments, I think we would see things coming down more than we probably will.”

<a href="mailto:jbklaudt@ksu.edu">By Jacob Klaudt</a> K-State Research and Extension&nbsp;MANHATTAN, Kan. – Non-irrigated cropland prices in Kansas rose 3.8% last year, while pasture and hay ground increased by approximately 2.7%, according to information in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.agmanager.info/land-leasing/land-buying-valuing/kansas-land-values-book-2024">2024 Kansas Agricultural Land Values and Trends publication</a>&nbsp;released earlier this year.Kansas State University farm economist Robin Reid said these figures point to land prices tapering off after many years of rapid growth, as much as 24% per year in some areas. With some regions of the state seeing decreases compared to 2023, Reid notes that land values may lower even more considering tightening margins and decreasing farm income.“If we look at the state level, we are up just a little bit,” she said. “You will see in the book there are regions that have come down, but overall, I would say the market is starting to flatten and that land values are stabilizing, not continuing to increase at the rapid, unsustainable pace that they have in recent years.”The cause of this stabilization: a lower profitability environment in the farm economy. Apart from cattle, producers are seeing lower commodity prices after a period of really high ones.“Add that to relatively high input costs, and specifically, when you're looking at financing and interest rates, we're just at a point where the difference between income and expenses are super tight, creating difficulty for our farmers,” Reid said.Regarding non-irrigated crop ground, Reid said there is drastic variation in land value between different areas. In southwest Kansas, for example, prices jumped 11-12%, likely influenced by the dairies and feedyards located in that area. Yet, the north-central region of Kansas experienced a drop.“That was due to a large increase last year,” Reid said. “The north central region had the largest increase in land value in 2023, and then turn around in 2024 and have dropped off the most. I would say that's more of a balancing.”On the other hand, eastern Kansas continues to grow in land value both for non-irrigated crop ground and pastureland, which can be attributed to such factors as urbanization, hunting pressure and the quality of ground compared to the rest of the state, Reid said.“The northeast region had a 16% increase,” she said. “The average per acre value for non-irrigated ground is at $7,479 – the highest average value and most rapidly increasing in the state.”Looking ahead, economic assistance will affect the land market in 2025, according to Reid. A continuing resolution passed through both sides of the U.S. legislature at the end of 2024 will afford producers $10 billion in direct payments, with additional payments possible in the name of disaster assistance in drought-impacted areas“Those get based on planted acres that a farmer had in 2024, and farmers can look at anywhere from $30 to $40 an acre that is coming in the name of economic assistance,” Reid said. “Those will influence the land market and the cash rental rates in 2025. If we didn't have those support payments, I think we would see things coming down more than we probably will.”

Land market starting to flatten, says K-State economist

KANSAS CITY—Authorities are investigating a house fire in a Kansas City suburb.&nbsp;

Just after 8a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Kansas City Fire Department and Raytown fire companies responded to a fire at a home in the&nbsp;7800 block of Crescent Avenue in Raytown, according to Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.

Crews reported heavy smoke from a split-level occupied home.&nbsp; Searches of the structure came back all clear. The occupants were able to evacuate on their own. One pet, a cat, was lost in the fire. No injuries were reported.&nbsp; Authorities have not released a damage estimate.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738083086118.png" alt="Photo Kansas City Fire Department" />
 <figcaption>Photo Kansas City Fire Department</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—Authorities are investigating a house fire in a Kansas City suburb.&nbsp;Just after 8a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Kansas City Fire Department and Raytown fire companies responded to a fire at a home in the&nbsp;7800 block of Crescent Avenue in Raytown, according to Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.Crews reported heavy smoke from a split-level occupied home.&nbsp; Searches of the structure came back all clear. The occupants were able to evacuate on their own. One pet, a cat, was lost in the fire. No injuries were reported.&nbsp; Authorities have not released a damage estimate.

Pet dies in Kansas City area house fire

TOPEKA&nbsp; – Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Iowa attorney General Brenna Bird today led a coalition of 19 state attorneys general in a letter to Costo urging the retail giant to cease its unlawful DEI policies, according to a media release from Kobach's office.

The state attorneys general are working to stop discriminatory practices."Racial discrimination is both immoral and illegal," Kobach said. 

"Race-based employment hiring violates state and federal law, and as the chief enforcement officer of Kansas, I intend to enforce the law vigorously."The letter notes that some companies face lawsuits related to their DEI practices and policies, and the attorneys general warn that its DEI policies expose Costco to potential legal liability. 

The letter suggests that Costco deal with more important matters like questions about its alleged connection between company products and child slave labor in China.“The Supreme Court has repeatedly warned against using race-based preferences and classifications… Race neutral practices, on the other hand, honor the founding ideals of this country,” the letter reads.

The letter isn’t the first time state attorneys general have issued warnings to corporate America to stop unlawful policies. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2023 that struck down affirmative action programs in universities, a coalition of 13 attorneys general sent letters to some of the nation’s largest businesses warning of serious legal consequences if they continued to use race as a preferential qualification for hiring. Many companies listened, including Amazon, Ford, John Deere, McDonald’s, Meta and Walmart. However, Costco doubled down on DEI, according to the letter.

“Costco’s position runs contrary to the Supreme Court’s recent decisions and raises concerns about Costco’s compliance with state and federal laws,” the letter reads.The letter Gives Costco officials 30 days to notify state attorneys general that the company has&nbsp;repealed its DEI policies or explain to why Costco has failed to do so.In addition to Kobach and Bird, attorneys general from Missouri, Alabama,&nbsp;Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota&nbsp;signed onto the letter.

TOPEKA&nbsp; – Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Iowa attorney General Brenna Bird today led a coalition of 19 state attorneys general in a letter to Costo urging the retail giant to cease its unlawful DEI policies, according to a media release from Kobach's office.The state attorneys general are working to stop discriminatory practices."Racial discrimination is both immoral and illegal," Kobach said. "Race-based employment hiring violates state and federal law, and as the chief enforcement officer of Kansas, I intend to enforce the law vigorously."The letter notes that some companies face lawsuits related to their DEI practices and policies, and the attorneys general warn that its DEI policies expose Costco to potential legal liability. The letter suggests that Costco deal with more important matters like questions about its alleged connection between company products and child slave labor in China.“The Supreme Court has repeatedly warned against using race-based preferences and classifications… Race neutral practices, on the other hand, honor the founding ideals of this country,” the letter reads.The letter isn’t the first time state attorneys general have issued warnings to corporate America to stop unlawful policies. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2023 that struck down affirmative action programs in universities, a coalition of 13 attorneys general sent letters to some of the nation’s largest businesses warning of serious legal consequences if they continued to use race as a preferential qualification for hiring. Many companies listened, including Amazon, Ford, John Deere, McDonald’s, Meta and Walmart. However, Costco doubled down on DEI, according to the letter.“Costco’s position runs contrary to the Supreme Court’s recent decisions and raises concerns about Costco’s compliance with state and federal laws,” the letter reads.The letter Gives Costco officials 30 days to notify state attorneys general that the company has&nbsp;repealed its DEI policies or explain to why Costco has failed to do so.In addition to Kobach and Bird, attorneys general from Missouri, Alabama,&nbsp;Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota&nbsp;signed onto the letter.

Kan. AG leads coalition urging Costco to cease unlawful DEI practices

LINN COUNTY— Linn County Sheriff's deputies are investigating after two missing children were found dead on a lake in Linn County.&nbsp;

Just after 8p.m. Monday, sheriff's deputies responded to the Lake Chaparral Community in rural Linn County for a report of two missing children who had not been seen for several hours, according to Linn County Sheriff James Akes.

Deputies quickly assessed the need for more resources, the Linn County Fire Department responded to the area and assisted in the search for the two juveniles. Searchers found evidence leading them to believe the two juveniles had been around the lake. The Sheriff’s Office utilized an aerial drone to search above the water and the two juveniles were discovered deceased in the water and trapped under the ice. 

The Overland Park Fire Dive Team was called in for assistance retrieving the two juveniles from the icy water.&nbsp; The sheriff released no additional details early Tuesday.

LINN COUNTY— Linn County Sheriff's deputies are investigating after two missing children were found dead on a lake in Linn County.&nbsp;Just after 8p.m. Monday, sheriff's deputies responded to the Lake Chaparral Community in rural Linn County for a report of two missing children who had not been seen for several hours, according to Linn County Sheriff James Akes.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738083648511.png" alt="Google map" />
 <figcaption>Google map</figcaption>
 </figure>Deputies quickly assessed the need for more resources, the Linn County Fire Department responded to the area and assisted in the search for the two juveniles. Searchers found evidence leading them to believe the two juveniles had been around the lake. The Sheriff’s Office utilized an aerial drone to search above the water and the two juveniles were discovered deceased in the water and trapped under the ice. The Overland Park Fire Dive Team was called in for assistance retrieving the two juveniles from the icy water.&nbsp; The sheriff released no additional details early Tuesday.

Sheriff: Two missing children found trapped under ice on Kan. lake

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20035776">Kansas felon&nbsp;</a>convicted in the fatal stabbing of a Kansas woman is going to prison

On Monday&nbsp;&nbsp;District Judge Christopher Magana followed the plea agreement in the case and sentenced Goldy Metcalfe, 39 of Wichita, to 467 months on a charge of 2nd degree murder and 59 months on a charge of attempted 2nd degree murder with 36 months post release, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Judge ordered the prison sentences run concurrently for a controlling sentence of 467 months. Judge also ordered $3,900 in restitution.&nbsp; 

In November, Metcalfe pled guilty to<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20035776">&nbsp;charges of 1st&nbsp;degree</a> murder and attempted 1st&nbsp;degree murder, according to the district attorney's office.

Just after 8 a.m. Dec. 4, 2021, police responded to a disturbance with a weapon at a home in the 600 block of South Green in Wichita, according to Officer Charley Davidson.

 Upon arrival, officers located a 64-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man with multiple stab wounds. 

EMS transported both victims to an area hospital where the 64-year-old woman died, according to Davidson. The 73-year-old man had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The investigation revealed at approximately 5 a.m. on Dec. 4, officers responded to a call in the 1800 block of North Kansas regarding a citizen who had Metcalf at gunpoint for unlawfully entering his vehicle.&nbsp; 

Metcalfe was cooperative with officers, cited for misdemeanor tampering with an automobile, and given a courtesy transport to St. Francis Hospital for medical treatment due to a previous injury to his mouth, according to Davidson.

Metcalfe left St. Francis Hospital against medical advice and at approximately 8 a.m. stole a blue Ford pick-up in the 600 block of North Waco that was left running.

Metcalf fled in the truck and crashed it into a building in the 600 block of South Green. He then fled the scene and forced his way into the residence on South Green, where he stabbed the two victims. Metcalf fled from that residence and entered an unoccupied residence in 600 block of South Erie, and attempted to gain access to a church in the same block. Thanks to information provided by citizens, police responded quickly, located&nbsp; Metcalf and arrested him.

Metcalf was paroled from prison in July 2021 and has prior convictions for aggravated battery, criminal possession of a firearm, burglary, flee law enforcement, and aggravated robbery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638721469657.png" alt="Metcalfe -photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Metcalfe -photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20035776">Kansas felon&nbsp;</a>convicted in the fatal stabbing of a Kansas woman is going to prisonOn Monday&nbsp;&nbsp;District Judge Christopher Magana followed the plea agreement in the case and sentenced Goldy Metcalfe, 39 of Wichita, to 467 months on a charge of 2nd degree murder and 59 months on a charge of attempted 2nd degree murder with 36 months post release, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Judge ordered the prison sentences run concurrently for a controlling sentence of 467 months. Judge also ordered $3,900 in restitution.&nbsp; In November, Metcalfe pled guilty to<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20035776">&nbsp;charges of 1st&nbsp;degree</a> murder and attempted 1st&nbsp;degree murder, according to the district attorney's office.Just after 8 a.m. Dec. 4, 2021, police responded to a disturbance with a weapon at a home in the 600 block of South Green in Wichita, according to Officer Charley Davidson. Upon arrival, officers located a 64-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man with multiple stab wounds. EMS transported both victims to an area hospital where the 64-year-old woman died, according to Davidson. The 73-year-old man had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.The investigation revealed at approximately 5 a.m. on Dec. 4, officers responded to a call in the 1800 block of North Kansas regarding a citizen who had Metcalf at gunpoint for unlawfully entering his vehicle.&nbsp; Metcalfe was cooperative with officers, cited for misdemeanor tampering with an automobile, and given a courtesy transport to St. Francis Hospital for medical treatment due to a previous injury to his mouth, according to Davidson.Metcalfe left St. Francis Hospital against medical advice and at approximately 8 a.m. stole a blue Ford pick-up in the 600 block of North Waco that was left running.Metcalf fled in the truck and crashed it into a building in the 600 block of South Green. He then fled the scene and forced his way into the residence on South Green, where he stabbed the two victims. Metcalf fled from that residence and entered an unoccupied residence in 600 block of South Erie, and attempted to gain access to a church in the same block. Thanks to information provided by citizens, police responded quickly, located&nbsp; Metcalf and arrested him.Metcalf was paroled from prison in July 2021 and has prior convictions for aggravated battery, criminal possession of a firearm, burglary, flee law enforcement, and aggravated robbery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Felon who left hospital, killed Kan. woman in her home is going to prison

TOPEKA —The current Kansas City, Kansas metro tuberculosis (TB) outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, according to a statement from Jill&nbsp;Jill Bronaugh, with the Kansas Department of Health and Enviornment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started monitoring and reporting TB cases in the 1950s.

This outbreak is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/2242/Tuberculosis-Outbreaks">Click here to visit the Tuberculosis Outbreak</a>&nbsp;page on the KDHE website for current case counts updated each week and general information on TB.

The KDHE is working with and following the guidance of the CDC.

As of Jan. 24, 2025, there are 67 individuals, including 60 in Wyandotte County and seven (7) in Johnson County, currently being treated for confirmed active TB related to this outbreak. There are 79 confirmed latent TB cases, which include 77 in Wyandotte County and two (2) in Johnson County. Cases related to the outbreak were first reported in January 2024.

Last year, KDHE reported 79 active and 213 latent, outbreak and non-outbreak, TB cases in Wyandotte and Johnson counties (active cases: Wyandotte 65, Johnson 16; latent cases: Wyandotte 124, Johnson 89). Those 2024 case counts are still provisional, as they will be reviewed and confirmed officially by the CDC near the end of March 2025. In 2023, the CDC recorded 46 active TB cases in Kansas.

There are two reported TB deaths in 2024 associated with this outbreak.

In an effort to provide efficient and quality care to those individuals affected by the outbreak, KDHE assumed responsibility for the coordination and distribution of testing, treatment and medical consultation in Wyandotte County.

TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, speak, or sing. While there is a very low risk of infection to the general public in these communities, KDHE is working to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate treatment, which will limit the ability to spread this disease and prevent additional cases from occurring.

According to CDC, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is not generally recommended for use in the United States because of the low risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the variable effectiveness of the vaccine against adult pulmonary TB, and the vaccine's potential interference with tuberculin skin test reactivity.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.pdf">https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.pdf</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1707492278650.png" alt=" A digitally colorized scan of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which cause tuberculosis in human beings. Although tuberculosis cases have been rising, public health departments say they lack the resources to stop the disease from spreading (Courtesy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)." />
 <figcaption> A digitally colorized scan of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which cause tuberculosis in human beings. Although tuberculosis cases have been rising, public health departments say they lack the resources to stop the disease from spreading (Courtesy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA —The current Kansas City, Kansas metro tuberculosis (TB) outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, according to a statement from Jill&nbsp;Jill Bronaugh, with the Kansas Department of Health and Enviornment.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started monitoring and reporting TB cases in the 1950s. This outbreak is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/2242/Tuberculosis-Outbreaks">Click here to visit the Tuberculosis Outbreak</a>&nbsp;page on the KDHE website for current case counts updated each week and general information on TB.The KDHE is working with and following the guidance of the CDC.As of Jan. 24, 2025, there are 67 individuals, including 60 in Wyandotte County and seven (7) in Johnson County, currently being treated for confirmed active TB related to this outbreak. There are 79 confirmed latent TB cases, which include 77 in Wyandotte County and two (2) in Johnson County. Cases related to the outbreak were first reported in January 2024.Last year, KDHE reported 79 active and 213 latent, outbreak and non-outbreak, TB cases in Wyandotte and Johnson counties (active cases: Wyandotte 65, Johnson 16; latent cases: Wyandotte 124, Johnson 89). Those 2024 case counts are still provisional, as they will be reviewed and confirmed officially by the CDC near the end of March 2025. In 2023, the CDC recorded 46 active TB cases in Kansas.There are two reported TB deaths in 2024 associated with this outbreak.In an effort to provide efficient and quality care to those individuals affected by the outbreak, KDHE assumed responsibility for the coordination and distribution of testing, treatment and medical consultation in Wyandotte County.TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, speak, or sing. While there is a very low risk of infection to the general public in these communities, KDHE is working to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate treatment, which will limit the ability to spread this disease and prevent additional cases from occurring.According to CDC, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is not generally recommended for use in the United States because of the low risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the variable effectiveness of the vaccine against adult pulmonary TB, and the vaccine's potential interference with tuberculin skin test reactivity.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.pdf">https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.pdf</a>

KDHE: Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas now largest in U.S. history

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending.

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The pause takes effect at 5 p.m. ET, and it’s unclear from the memo how sweeping it will be. Vaeth said that all spending must comply with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-has-trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0">Trump’s executive orders</a>, which are intended to undo progressive steps on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-sex-gender-transgender-dei-order-245350b97e0c4dcc221fefc49ef44699">transgender rights</a>, environmental justice and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts</a>.

Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.”

Washington is a hub of spending that flows to various departments, local governments, nonprofits and contractors, and the memo has left countless people who are dependent on that money wondering how they will be affected.

The pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.

“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle. You’ve got to deliver.”

Medicare and Social Security benefits will be unaffected by the pause, according to the memo. But there was no explanation of whether the pause would affect Medicaid, food stamps, disaster assistance and other programs. The memo said it should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

“Are you stopping NIH cancer trials?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote on social media, referring to the National Institutes of Health.

A briefing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-leavitt-white-house-first-press-briefing-5ba5ff116e18c29b04c934a24a8983d1">her first</a>, is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rose DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees, expressed “extreme alarm” in a letter to Vaeth.

“This Administration’s actions will have far-reaching consequences for nearly all federal programs and activities, putting the financial security of our families, our national security, and the success of our country at risk,” they wrote.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738031108770.png" alt="President Donald answers questions from the press on the flight home from Doral, FL to Washington Monday night-photo by Margo Martin, Assistant to the President" />
 <figcaption>President Donald answers questions from the press on the flight home from Doral, FL to Washington Monday night-photo by Margo Martin, Assistant to the President</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending.The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738073386129.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738073444144.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.The pause takes effect at 5 p.m. ET, and it’s unclear from the memo how sweeping it will be. Vaeth said that all spending must comply with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-has-trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0">Trump’s executive orders</a>, which are intended to undo progressive steps on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-sex-gender-transgender-dei-order-245350b97e0c4dcc221fefc49ef44699">transgender rights</a>, environmental justice and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts</a>.Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.”Washington is a hub of spending that flows to various departments, local governments, nonprofits and contractors, and the memo has left countless people who are dependent on that money wondering how they will be affected.The pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle. You’ve got to deliver.”Medicare and Social Security benefits will be unaffected by the pause, according to the memo. But there was no explanation of whether the pause would affect Medicaid, food stamps, disaster assistance and other programs. The memo said it should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”“Are you stopping NIH cancer trials?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote on social media, referring to the National Institutes of Health.A briefing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-leavitt-white-house-first-press-briefing-5ba5ff116e18c29b04c934a24a8983d1">her first</a>, is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rose DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees, expressed “extreme alarm” in a letter to Vaeth.“This Administration’s actions will have far-reaching consequences for nearly all federal programs and activities, putting the financial security of our families, our national security, and the success of our country at risk,” they wrote.

Read the order: White House pauses all  federal loans and grants

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN &nbsp;AP Technology Writer</a>

A frenzy over an artificial intelligence chatbot made by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-tariffs-trump-rates-52c54e361616509280bd2775674b6b4b">upending stock markets</a>&nbsp;Monday and fueling debates over the economic and geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China in developing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence">AI technology</a>.

DeepSeek's AI assistant became the No. 1 downloaded free app on Apple's iPhone store Monday, propelled by curiosity about the ChatGPT competitor. Part of what's worrying some U.S. tech industry observers is the idea that the Chinese startup has caught up with the American companies at the forefront of generative AI at a fraction of the cost.

That, if true, calls into question the huge amounts of money U.S. tech companies say they plan to spend on the data centers and computer chips needed to power further AI advancements.

But hype and misconceptions about DeepSeek's technological advancements also sowed confusion.

"The models they built are fantastic, but they aren't miracles either," said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who follows the semiconductor industry and was one of several stock analysts describing Wall Street's reaction as overblown.

“They’re not using any innovations that are unknown or secret or anything like that," Rasgon said. "These are things that everybody’s experimenting with.”

The startup DeepSeek was founded in 2023 in Hangzhou, China and released its first AI large language model later that year. Its CEO Liang Wenfeng previously co-founded one of China's top hedge funds, High-Flyer, which focuses on AI-driven quantitative trading. The fund, by 2022, had amassed a cluster of 10,000 of California-based Nvidia's high-performance A100 graphics processor chips that are used to build and run AI systems, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=Mzk0MjE3MzQ5Mg%3D%3D&amp;mid=2247484702&amp;idx=1&amp;sn=5157e2c6564c41171ad7973f861e3a12&amp;chksm=c2c67945f5b1f053a997f8213dee6284e9c1ecedaf13fd4f6165a6aaea77eee92ed3320da163&amp;token=1745415996&amp;lang=zh_CN&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawIE55lleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSgJsH2e-5vS6WZVhiZxX4w6lG7HsWy5IOt5Sgx1AAp7Z1-lzkWk4ZN0rw_aem_wRijzkBSGrULAdTk9RvZSw#rd">post that summer</a>&nbsp;on Chinese social media platform WeChat. The U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-china-global-trade-nvidia-corp-5b5f7476a427182229f620ae82ddb939">soon after restricted sales</a>&nbsp;of those chips to China.

DeepSeek has said its recent models were built with Nvidia’s lower-performing H800 chips, which are not banned in China, sending a message that the fanciest hardware might not be needed for cutting-edge AI research.

DeepSeek began attracting more attention in the AI industry last month when it released a new AI model that it boasted was on par with similar models from U.S. companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and was more cost-effective in its use of expensive Nvidia chips to train the system on troves of data. The chatbot became more widely accessible when it appeared on Apple and Google app stores early this year.

But it was a follow-up research paper published last week — on the same day as President Donald Trump's inauguration — that set in motion the panic that followed. That paper was about another DeepSeek AI model called R1 that showed advanced “reasoning” skills — such as the ability to rethink its approach to a math problem — and was significantly cheaper than a similar model sold by OpenAI called o1.

“What their economics look like, I have no idea,” Rasgon said. “But I think the price points freaked people out.”

Behind the drama over DeepSeek's technical capabilities is a debate within the U.S. over how best to compete with China on AI.

“Deepseek R1 is AI’s Sputnik moment,” said venture capitalist Marc Andreessen in a Sunday post on social platform X, referencing the 1957 satellite launch that set off a Cold War space exploration race between the Soviet Union and the U.S.

Andreessen, who has advised Trump on tech policy, has warned that overregulation of the AI industry by the U.S. government will hinder American companies and enable China to get ahead.

But the attention on DeepSeek also threatens to undermine a key strategy of U.S. foreign policy in recent years to restrict the sale of American-designed AI semiconductors to China. Some experts on U.S.-China relations don't think that is an accident.

“The technology innovation is real, but the timing of the release is political in nature,” said Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Allen compared DeepSeek's announcement last week to U.S.-sanctioned Chinese company Huawei's release of a new phone during diplomatic discussions over Biden administration export controls in 2023.

“Trying to show that the export controls are futile or counterproductive is a really important goal of Chinese foreign policy right now,” Allen said.

On Monday, Trump said DeepSeek’s breakthrough was “good because you don’t have to spend this much money.”

Speaking Monday to House Republicans in Miami, Trump called the DeepSeek news “positive” if it is accurate because “you won’t be spending as much and you’ll get the same result.” He called the development a “wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing to win.”

Trump signed an order on his first day in office last week that said his administration would “identify and eliminate loopholes in existing export controls,” signaling that he is likely to continue and harden Biden’s approach.

DeepSeek’s progress on AI without the same amount of spending could possibly undermine the potentially $500 billion AI investment by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that Trump touted at the White House.

Nvidia’s stock dropped 17% Monday, but the company in a statement commended DeepSeek’s work as “an excellent AI advancement” that leveraged “widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant.”

One thing that distinguishes DeepSeek from competitors such as OpenAI is that its models are “open source” — meaning key components are free for anyone to access and modify, though the company hasn’t disclosed the data it used for training.

But what's attracted the most admiration about DeepSeek's R1 model is what Nvidia calls a "perfect example of Test Time Scaling" — or when AI models effectively show their train of thought, and then use that for further training without having to feed them new sources of data.

“It’s just thinking out loud, basically,” said Lennart Heim, a researcher at Rand Corp.

OpenAI's reasoning models, starting with o1, do the same, and it's likely that other U.S.-based competitors such as Anthropic and Google have similar capabilities that haven't been released, Heim said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738002758127.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN &nbsp;AP Technology Writer</a>A frenzy over an artificial intelligence chatbot made by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-tariffs-trump-rates-52c54e361616509280bd2775674b6b4b">upending stock markets</a>&nbsp;Monday and fueling debates over the economic and geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China in developing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence">AI technology</a>.DeepSeek's AI assistant became the No. 1 downloaded free app on Apple's iPhone store Monday, propelled by curiosity about the ChatGPT competitor. Part of what's worrying some U.S. tech industry observers is the idea that the Chinese startup has caught up with the American companies at the forefront of generative AI at a fraction of the cost.That, if true, calls into question the huge amounts of money U.S. tech companies say they plan to spend on the data centers and computer chips needed to power further AI advancements.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Trump: &quot;The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing to win.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/5UNC8Md8wM">pic.twitter.com/5UNC8Md8wM</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1884048772574884080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>But hype and misconceptions about DeepSeek's technological advancements also sowed confusion."The models they built are fantastic, but they aren't miracles either," said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who follows the semiconductor industry and was one of several stock analysts describing Wall Street's reaction as overblown.“They’re not using any innovations that are unknown or secret or anything like that," Rasgon said. "These are things that everybody’s experimenting with.”<h2>What is DeepSeek?</h2>The startup DeepSeek was founded in 2023 in Hangzhou, China and released its first AI large language model later that year. Its CEO Liang Wenfeng previously co-founded one of China's top hedge funds, High-Flyer, which focuses on AI-driven quantitative trading. The fund, by 2022, had amassed a cluster of 10,000 of California-based Nvidia's high-performance A100 graphics processor chips that are used to build and run AI systems, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=Mzk0MjE3MzQ5Mg%3D%3D&amp;mid=2247484702&amp;idx=1&amp;sn=5157e2c6564c41171ad7973f861e3a12&amp;chksm=c2c67945f5b1f053a997f8213dee6284e9c1ecedaf13fd4f6165a6aaea77eee92ed3320da163&amp;token=1745415996&amp;lang=zh_CN&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawIE55lleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSgJsH2e-5vS6WZVhiZxX4w6lG7HsWy5IOt5Sgx1AAp7Z1-lzkWk4ZN0rw_aem_wRijzkBSGrULAdTk9RvZSw#rd">post that summer</a>&nbsp;on Chinese social media platform WeChat. The U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-china-global-trade-nvidia-corp-5b5f7476a427182229f620ae82ddb939">soon after restricted sales</a>&nbsp;of those chips to China.DeepSeek has said its recent models were built with Nvidia’s lower-performing H800 chips, which are not banned in China, sending a message that the fanciest hardware might not be needed for cutting-edge AI research.DeepSeek began attracting more attention in the AI industry last month when it released a new AI model that it boasted was on par with similar models from U.S. companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and was more cost-effective in its use of expensive Nvidia chips to train the system on troves of data. The chatbot became more widely accessible when it appeared on Apple and Google app stores early this year.But it was a follow-up research paper published last week — on the same day as President Donald Trump's inauguration — that set in motion the panic that followed. That paper was about another DeepSeek AI model called R1 that showed advanced “reasoning” skills — such as the ability to rethink its approach to a math problem — and was significantly cheaper than a similar model sold by OpenAI called o1.“What their economics look like, I have no idea,” Rasgon said. “But I think the price points freaked people out.”<h2>The ‘Sputnik’ backdrop</h2>Behind the drama over DeepSeek's technical capabilities is a debate within the U.S. over how best to compete with China on AI.“Deepseek R1 is AI’s Sputnik moment,” said venture capitalist Marc Andreessen in a Sunday post on social platform X, referencing the 1957 satellite launch that set off a Cold War space exploration race between the Soviet Union and the U.S.Andreessen, who has advised Trump on tech policy, has warned that overregulation of the AI industry by the U.S. government will hinder American companies and enable China to get ahead.But the attention on DeepSeek also threatens to undermine a key strategy of U.S. foreign policy in recent years to restrict the sale of American-designed AI semiconductors to China. Some experts on U.S.-China relations don't think that is an accident.“The technology innovation is real, but the timing of the release is political in nature,” said Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Allen compared DeepSeek's announcement last week to U.S.-sanctioned Chinese company Huawei's release of a new phone during diplomatic discussions over Biden administration export controls in 2023.“Trying to show that the export controls are futile or counterproductive is a really important goal of Chinese foreign policy right now,” Allen said.On Monday, Trump said DeepSeek’s breakthrough was “good because you don’t have to spend this much money.”Speaking Monday to House Republicans in Miami, Trump called the DeepSeek news “positive” if it is accurate because “you won’t be spending as much and you’ll get the same result.” He called the development a “wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser focused on competing to win.”Trump signed an order on his first day in office last week that said his administration would “identify and eliminate loopholes in existing export controls,” signaling that he is likely to continue and harden Biden’s approach.DeepSeek’s progress on AI without the same amount of spending could possibly undermine the potentially $500 billion AI investment by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that Trump touted at the White House.Nvidia’s stock dropped 17% Monday, but the company in a statement commended DeepSeek’s work as “an excellent AI advancement” that leveraged “widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant.”<h2>What makes DeepSeek different?</h2>One thing that distinguishes DeepSeek from competitors such as OpenAI is that its models are “open source” — meaning key components are free for anyone to access and modify, though the company hasn’t disclosed the data it used for training.But what's attracted the most admiration about DeepSeek's R1 model is what Nvidia calls a "perfect example of Test Time Scaling" — or when AI models effectively show their train of thought, and then use that for further training without having to feed them new sources of data.“It’s just thinking out loud, basically,” said Lennart Heim, a researcher at Rand Corp.OpenAI's reasoning models, starting with o1, do the same, and it's likely that other U.S.-based competitors such as Anthropic and Google have similar capabilities that haven't been released, Heim said.

What is DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company upending the stock market?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service.

He also on Monday ordered troops to be reinstated who had left voluntarily or been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programs and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the U.S. — all on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Hegseth</a>&nbsp;'s first day.

Trump and Hegseth had described parts of the anticipated orders throughout the day, but the exact language did not drop until late Monday.

A transgender ban had been widely expected, and Trump's order largely sets the stage for a future ban — but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy.

In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.

Trump had tried to ban transgender troops during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by then-President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.

Two groups, Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign, which represented transgender troops the first time, vowed to fight again.

“We have been here before and seven years ago were able to successfully block the earlier administration’s effort,” Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert said. “Not only is such a move cruel, it compromises the safety and security of our country and is particularly dangerous and wrong. As we promised then, so do we now: we will sue.”

During his first presidency, Trump established U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force, which just marked its fifth birthday. Space continues to be a priority for the president, who has now directed the Pentagon to begin to develop the capability to shoot down missiles from space.

For years, the U.S. has cautioned that China, Russia and others were weaponizing space. It has at times declassified information about both countries' efforts to create offensive weapons to disable critical U.S. satellites, including the capability to move satellites from orbit, temporarily blind them or potentially even destroy them.

The Space Force is building a low-orbit ring of redundant satellites that can more quickly track and detect potential missile launches.

But establishing a way to shoot missiles down from space is something the U.S. has not pursued since President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative — “Star Wars” as it was commonly known — in the 1980s. The system was never developed due to cost and technological limitations.

In his order called “an Iron Dome for America,” Trump called for a multilayer missile defense system capable of countering an array of threats to the U.S., to include development and deployment of space-based interceptors.

At least 8,200 troops were forced out of the military in 2021 for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. Notices advising them they could return were sent out in 2023, but just 113 have reenlisted.

The reinstatement process for any who now want to return requires that they meet military entry standards. Trump and Hegseth have persistently stated that the military must not reduce standards.

″We will offer full reinstatement to any service member who was expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID vaccine mandate,” Trump told a Republican crowd at the Trump National Doral Miami, a resort he owns. “And we will restore them to their former rank with full pay. ″

In addition to troops forced out for refusing the shot, the order extends the same offer to anyone who signs a sworn statement saying they left the service voluntarily to avoid the vaccine.

The order isn’t expected to have a major impact on the number of service members returning. But it could take a bite out of the budget if more do now, since it requires back pay.

To return, all would have to meet weight, fitness, medical and other requirements, and they could be refused if they now have a criminal record or other disqualifying factor. Officers would have to get recommissioned, which is a simple appointment process.

According to the services, 3,748 Marines were discharged, and 25 have opted to re-enlist; 1,903 Army soldiers were discharged, and 73 returned; 1,878 sailors were discharged and two returned; 671 airmen were discharged and 13 returned.

The Pentagon&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-us-military-requirement-pentagon-3975940c732352f72e41f6e34a3a2669">made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory</a>&nbsp;in August 2021 for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said getting the vaccine was critical to maintaining a healthy, ready force that could be prepared to defend the nation.

The Pentagon formally dropped the mandate in January 2023.

Defense officials said then that many troops appeared to use the vaccine mandate as a way to quickly and easily to get out of their service obligations.

Trump also, as expected, issued a sweeping order to abolish all programs, initiatives and mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Defense Department and the Coast Guard, which is governed by the Department of Homeland Security.

The order looks to scrub “any vestiges” of such initiatives that seek to “promote a race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy, perpetuates unconstitutional discrimination, and promotes divisive concepts or gender ideology.”

It prohibits the departments from promoting or following “un-American” theories that suggest that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist; that discuss gender ideology; and that promote “divisive concepts” such as “race or sex stereotyping.”

The order says the defense and homeland security secretaries must issue guidance to implement the order in 30 days. It calls for a review to find any instances of actions taken in pursuit of DEI, which will be due to the defense secretary in 90 days.

The secretaries must submit a report to the White House in six months outlining their progress.

The Pentagon had already been taking steps to comply with Trump’s initial action ending DEI programs across the U.S. government, and it has had far-reaching consequences. Without clearer direction,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">agencies were taking a broad approach</a>&nbsp;to removing any content that seemed to run afoul of Trump's ban.

That temporarily included&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/air-force-dei-tuskegee-women-wwii-pilots-ecdeac68dc7696535d093c7690ab73bc">videos of the storied Tuskegee Airmen</a>&nbsp;and World War II Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, which were part of DEI training courses for the Air Force's basic military training. Videos on both the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were removed as the courses were taken down last week, causing an uproar.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738070098080.png" alt="Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth answers questions from reporters after arriving at the Pentagon for his first day of work on Monday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth answers questions from reporters after arriving at the Pentagon for his first day of work on Monday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service.He also on Monday ordered troops to be reinstated who had left voluntarily or been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programs and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defense shield for the U.S. — all on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Hegseth</a>&nbsp;'s first day.Trump and Hegseth had described parts of the anticipated orders throughout the day, but the exact language did not drop until late Monday.<h2>Transgender order</h2>A transgender ban had been widely expected, and Trump's order largely sets the stage for a future ban — but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy.In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.Trump had tried to ban transgender troops during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by then-President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.Two groups, Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign, which represented transgender troops the first time, vowed to fight again.“We have been here before and seven years ago were able to successfully block the earlier administration’s effort,” Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert said. “Not only is such a move cruel, it compromises the safety and security of our country and is particularly dangerous and wrong. As we promised then, so do we now: we will sue.”<h2>Space-based missile defense</h2>During his first presidency, Trump established U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force, which just marked its fifth birthday. Space continues to be a priority for the president, who has now directed the Pentagon to begin to develop the capability to shoot down missiles from space.For years, the U.S. has cautioned that China, Russia and others were weaponizing space. It has at times declassified information about both countries' efforts to create offensive weapons to disable critical U.S. satellites, including the capability to move satellites from orbit, temporarily blind them or potentially even destroy them.The Space Force is building a low-orbit ring of redundant satellites that can more quickly track and detect potential missile launches.But establishing a way to shoot missiles down from space is something the U.S. has not pursued since President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative — “Star Wars” as it was commonly known — in the 1980s. The system was never developed due to cost and technological limitations.In his order called “an Iron Dome for America,” Trump called for a multilayer missile defense system capable of countering an array of threats to the U.S., to include development and deployment of space-based interceptors.<h2>COVID-19 vaccination</h2>At least 8,200 troops were forced out of the military in 2021 for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. Notices advising them they could return were sent out in 2023, but just 113 have reenlisted.The reinstatement process for any who now want to return requires that they meet military entry standards. Trump and Hegseth have persistently stated that the military must not reduce standards.″We will offer full reinstatement to any service member who was expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID vaccine mandate,” Trump told a Republican crowd at the Trump National Doral Miami, a resort he owns. “And we will restore them to their former rank with full pay. ″In addition to troops forced out for refusing the shot, the order extends the same offer to anyone who signs a sworn statement saying they left the service voluntarily to avoid the vaccine.The order isn’t expected to have a major impact on the number of service members returning. But it could take a bite out of the budget if more do now, since it requires back pay.To return, all would have to meet weight, fitness, medical and other requirements, and they could be refused if they now have a criminal record or other disqualifying factor. Officers would have to get recommissioned, which is a simple appointment process.According to the services, 3,748 Marines were discharged, and 25 have opted to re-enlist; 1,903 Army soldiers were discharged, and 73 returned; 1,878 sailors were discharged and two returned; 671 airmen were discharged and 13 returned.The Pentagon&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-us-military-requirement-pentagon-3975940c732352f72e41f6e34a3a2669">made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory</a>&nbsp;in August 2021 for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said getting the vaccine was critical to maintaining a healthy, ready force that could be prepared to defend the nation.The Pentagon formally dropped the mandate in January 2023.Defense officials said then that many troops appeared to use the vaccine mandate as a way to quickly and easily to get out of their service obligations.<h2>DEI initiatives</h2>Trump also, as expected, issued a sweeping order to abolish all programs, initiatives and mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion across the Defense Department and the Coast Guard, which is governed by the Department of Homeland Security.The order looks to scrub “any vestiges” of such initiatives that seek to “promote a race-based preferences system that subverts meritocracy, perpetuates unconstitutional discrimination, and promotes divisive concepts or gender ideology.”It prohibits the departments from promoting or following “un-American” theories that suggest that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist; that discuss gender ideology; and that promote “divisive concepts” such as “race or sex stereotyping.”The order says the defense and homeland security secretaries must issue guidance to implement the order in 30 days. It calls for a review to find any instances of actions taken in pursuit of DEI, which will be due to the defense secretary in 90 days.The secretaries must submit a report to the White House in six months outlining their progress.The Pentagon had already been taking steps to comply with Trump’s initial action ending DEI programs across the U.S. government, and it has had far-reaching consequences. Without clearer direction,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-executive-order-diversity-inclusion-f67ea86032986084dd71c5aa0c6b8d1d">agencies were taking a broad approach</a>&nbsp;to removing any content that seemed to run afoul of Trump's ban.That temporarily included&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/air-force-dei-tuskegee-women-wwii-pilots-ecdeac68dc7696535d093c7690ab73bc">videos of the storied Tuskegee Airmen</a>&nbsp;and World War II Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, which were part of DEI training courses for the Air Force's basic military training. Videos on both the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were removed as the courses were taken down last week, causing an uproar.WASPs were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military. The Tuskegee Airmen were the nation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tuskegee-airmen-detroit-students-pilots-9b462b5c424bbd21843499d8dfa025e0">first Black military pilots</a>, serving in a segregated WWII unit, and their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records of all the bomber escorts in the war.On Sunday, the Air Force clarified that the DEI courses had been removed to be edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP content would continue to be taught.___