pelespirit

“You are receiving this email as one of approximately 7,000 probationary employees who were separated from service and have been reinstated in compliance with recent court orders,” the email states. “At this time, while you remain on administrative leave, you will soon receive instructions for how to return on full-time duty by April 14.”

The agency recently reinstated these probationary employees to comply with rulings from federal judges, but put them on paid administrative leave, rather than bring them back to work.

The IRS says employees who choose to return to their jobs will soon be given instructions on obtaining a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, IT equipment and workspace assignments.

A coalition of advocacy organizations sued the Trump administration Monday over President Donald Trump's executive order requiring Americans to present proof of citizenship to register to vote. Such a requirement — beyond exceeding the president's authority over state-run elections — would effectively silence the voice of college students registering for the first time, unsheltered voters and Native voters, argued the Arizona Students' Association, one of the parties to the lawsuit.

"We really saw firsthand what it looks like in Arizona if we do have these onerous citizenship requirements, so we really wanted to be a part of the voice fighting back to make sure that doesn't happen across the country," Kyle Nitschke, the organization's co-executive director, told Salon, referring to a now-blocked state law that also requires proof of citizenship. In a statement accompanying the lawsuit, he described Trump's order as a "clear attack on our voting rights," arguing that a federal proof of citizenship requirement would further disenfranchise college students.

Unlike other systems that Doge has accessed, two former HHS officials say, the UAC portal contains no financial or employee records and is intended to be a means of tracking unaccompanied children to provide them with care. The portal’s data is highly sensitive because the children’s case files may include reports of trauma such as physical or sexual abuse, and because the data could be used for immigration enforcement purposes.

“I certainly would be concerned about Doge access to the portal – why it was used, which child information was accessed and for what purpose? Were mental health records accessed?” former HHS official Jen Smyers said. “These are the most vulnerable children in their most vulnerable moments.”

Teams that fulfilled requests for government documents lost their jobs on Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's 10,000-person staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Their work, mandated by Congress since the 1960s under the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, gives the public a view of the inner workings of federal health agencies.

Some public records teams were entirely cut at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies on Tuesday, according to multiple current and former staffers who did not want to be named because of fears of retribution. A few people have been left standing on other FOIA teams within these agencies, for now.

A band of Republican lawmakers sank an effort Tuesday by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to kill a plan to allow remote voting for lawmakers who become new parents, a bitter dispute that brought the House floor to a halt.

A procedural rule vote to advance the House GOP’s package of bills for the week failed 206-222, with nine Republicans bucking Johnson and voting with all 213 Democrats. The failed vote means that, for now, those pieces of legislation cannot move forward for final votes.

He insists he did not regret his years working for the Kushners and other landlords. There was a system in place, and he had played a part in that system. “I honestly felt that if every attorney could have had the same philosophy and treated people fair and put people in the position to take control of their life,” he said, “then debt collectors wouldn’t be such bad people. They’d be assistants to people paying off their debts.”

Still, the article instilled an unease that only grew with time. He was almost always facing off against people who lacked their own attorney, in a state with laws that were unusually favorable to landlords. “It was like a heavyweight sparring featherweights over and over again,” he said. “That’s just not satisfying.”

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín’s order runs through April 16 and requires the Trump administration to resume funding for the Acacia Center for Justice and other nonprofit groups.

Martínez-Olguín determined that nonprofit groups have legal standing to sue the government to preserve funding. Plaintiffs are arguing that they’re entitled to funds through the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.

Martínez-Olguín’s order prevents the termination of funding for legal representation for these children, allowing the Acacia Center for Justice to continue its services while legal proceedings continue.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday largely upheld the Food and Drug Administration’s denials of two companies’ applications to sell flavored liquids for use in e-cigarettes. In a unanimous ruling, the justices threw out a ruling by the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit holding that the FDA had improperly pulled a “regulatory switcheroo” when it gave the companies instructions that they followed but then ignored those instructions and denied authorization while imposing new requirements. In a 46-page ruling by Justice Samuel Alito, the court sent the case back to the court of appeals so that it could take another look at one aspect of the dispute – specifically, whether it made a difference that the FDA had changed its position and failed to consider marketing plans that the companies had submitted as part of their applications.

Since January, the Trump administration has held up federal money across many different agencies while it says it's reviewing the spending. Along with Oregon, Democratic officials from 21 states and the District of Columbia sued, saying the trillions in federal dollars were already allocated by Congress. A federal judge on March 6 ordered that the money start flowing again.

But the states are telling the judge that, in particular with the FEMA funding, the administration is not following his order.

The order from U.S. Judge Dale Ho brings an end to the case against Adams, who had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and other charges following his indictment last year.

Ho said he was dismissing the case with prejudice, meaning the government could not bring the charges again later — contrary to the Justice Department's request to dismiss the case without prejudice.

Adams was scheduled to go on trial in April until new leadership at the Justice Department under the Trump administration ordered prosecutors in New York in February to drop the case.

In a less-publicized move, Blasingame, a former bilingual educator, proposed omitting several chapters from a textbook for aspiring educators titled “Teaching.” One of those chapters focuses on how to understand and educate diverse learners and states that it “is up to schools and teachers to help every student feel comfortable, accepted and valued,” and that “when schools view diversity as a positive force, it can enhance learning and prepare students to work effectively in a diverse society.”

Blasingame did not offer additional details about her opposition to the chapters during the meeting. She didn’t have to. The school board voted 6-1 to delete them.

Crawford, a Dane County circuit judge who was backed by Democrats, secured a 10-year term on the court over Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge and a former Republican attorney general. As the first major battleground state election of President Donald Trump’s second term, the technically nonpartisan contest drew national attention and became the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history.

Some also pointed out that Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, sued in Wisconsin this year challenging a state law banning carmakers from owning dealerships. The case could end up before the state Supreme Court.