President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are in talks for an agreement in which the U.S. would buy Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from Washington, the Ukrainian leader told the New York Post. The “mega deal” would have Ukraine sharing its battle-tested drone technology and know-how from its three-year war with Russia,…
Migrants are suing to bar the Trump administration from arresting people making appearances at immigration court proceedings. The class action suit, brought by migrants who have had cases dismissed or expect to see their cases dismissed, accuses government agencies of a “campaign of courthouse arrests through coordinated policies.” They say the administration is luring migrants to court…
The Trump administration plans to put solar and wind projects through an elevated review process, saying that moves toward approval will have to be vetted by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office. In a press release on Thursday, the department said that all “decisions and actions concerning wind and solar energy facilities will undergo elevated review…
How your salary compares not only depends on occupation, but also location and experience.
by Eric Umansky ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. What Happened: Former New York Police Department Commissioner Thomas Donlon sued Mayor Eric Adams and other top police officials on Wednesday, accusing Adams of running the force as a “criminal enterprise” that the mayor used to “consolidate power, obstruct justice and punish dissent.” In the 251-page complaint, Donlon said the mayor used the department’s Community Response Team for political gain. “CRT became the enforcement arm of Defendant Adams’ political strategy,” the complaint says, “a tool for projecting ‘tough on crime’ optics at the expense of civil rights and constitutional law.” It also calls the CRT a “rogue” unit that answered “only to City Hall.” The suit drew extensively from a recent ProPublica investigation, which detailed how the mayor championed the CRT despite concerns within the Police Department about the unit. Adams, former officials said, was so close to the unit he had access to a little-known livestream of the CRT’s body-worn camera footage, a detail that Donlon cited in his legal complaint. What They Said: “The Community Response Team speaks to the culture under Adams of willfully violating the constitutional rights of civilians and officers,” John Scola, Donlon’s lawyer, told ProPublica. That culture is: “We’ll do whatever we want.” Background: In 2023, a senior NYPD official wrote a scathing internal audit after finding that CRT officers were wrongfully stopping New Yorkers and failing to document the incidents. Weeks later, Adams took to Instagram to boost the unit. “Turning out with the team,” he wrote, showing a photo of him wearing a wide smile and khaki pants, CRT’s official uniform. The official who wrote that audit was pushed out months later. He and other top former commanders recently sued Adams alleging favoritism and misconduct, charges the mayor denies. Why It Matters: Donlon, a former FBI agent who held the job of police commissioner for only two months, from September to November 2024, lobbed his accusations against Adams as the mayor has been waging an uphill battle to keep his job. Adams was indicted last fall on federal charges of bribery, fraud and illegally taking campaign contributions from foreigners. He pleaded not guilty. He avoided trial by making a deal with President Donald Trump, who dropped the prosecution in exchange for Adams working with the administration on immigration enforcement. Still, he remains unpopular in the city and is running for reelection as an independent against a popular Democrat, Zohran Mamdani. Response: In a statement, the mayor’s office dismissed Donlon’s claims. “These are baseless accusations from a disgruntled former employee who — when given the opportunity to lead the greatest police department in the world — proved himself to be ineffective,” the statement said. “This suit is nothing more than an attempt to seek compensation at the taxpayer’s expense after Mr. Donlon was rightfully removed from the role of interim police commissioner.” Previously, Adam has defended the CRT. Asked about the unit at a press conference this spring, the mayor said, “CRT is here.” He continued, “I support all my units.” The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment about the suit.
At a Monitor Breakfast, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director took a victory lap – and pledged more government cuts to come.
The writer-director of “Sorry, Baby” focuses on the restoration – rather than the victimization – of the main character after an assault. Our critic describes the film as “a diary of personal reclamation.”
Senate Republicans voted in the wee hours of Thursday morning to cut $9 billion worth of congressionally appropriated funds to NPR, PBS, and foreign aid—yet another move that hurts the rural communities that back Republicans at the ballot box. The funding cuts—which were made using a rarely used budget maneuver called a recissions package that is not subject to filibuster rules—passed by a vote of 51-48. Two Republicans—Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—voted no alongside Democrats. The package now goes back to the House, which is expected to quickly pass it before the Friday deadline that would require the Trump administration to spend the funds. The $9 billion in cuts make permanent some of the funding reductions former co-President Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wanted to make. “Warning Siren” by Mike Luckovich Cutting public radio and television funding will hurt rural communities, which rely on public media for extreme weather warnings. It will also hurt rural farming communities, which took in billions of foreign aid dollars to grow the food that was shipped abroad to help end hunger in poor countries. But President Donald Trump, who would rather line the pockets of his billionaire buddies than help the poor, didn’t want to spend funds helping end world hunger. He also loathes public media, which accurately covers his corrupt behavior—unlike the right-wing propaganda networks like Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN that fawn all over him and feed lies to viewers to scare them into voting for the GOP. “Republicans are gutting PBS and NPR because Trump hates the truth,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) said in a post on X. “Millions rely on public broadcasting for free, local, even lifesaving news. I’ll vote NO against any cuts—and hold the line against censorship.” Even some Republicans were wary of voting for the recissions package, saying the Trump administration was not clear enough on what exact programs would be cut, or how it would impact the rural communities they represent. But since Republicans do whatever Trump tells them to, they ultimately went along with undermining their own power of the purse to give Trump what he wanted. “Let’s not consider this a precedent,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) told Politico, adding that he voted for the bill “with reservation.” Passing the recissions package could have other long-term negative consequences for the GOP. Because Republicans showed Democrats that any deals they make during a government funding negotiation are meaningless, as the GOP will renege on those agreements in future recissions packages, it will make passing a government funding bill this fall more challenging. “There’s little reason for the minority party in Congress to agree to a deal when the Administration and the majority party can strip away funding they don’t like in a purely partisan way, or if the Administration may attempt unilaterally—and illegally—not to implement it at all, with no pushback from the majority party in Congress,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a piece warning Republicans not to pass the recissions package. “As a result, it would be far more difficult to reach the bipartisan agreements necessary to fund the government on time and with the resources required to serve the country’s needs.” Democrats said as much ahead of the vote. “What they’re doing is cutting out of the budget all the things that DOGE targeted. With this recissions bill they are going after all the foreign aid funding that DOGE hates, and they’re going after PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They’re literally going to take Sesame Street off the air,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in a video posted on X. “Why would Democrats ever again negotiate a bipartisan budget with Republicans if Republicans two months later can just pass a partisan bill that keeps the spending that Republicans like and cuts the spending that Democrats supported in the bipartisan process? So this isn’t just really bad policy, this is just another way that Republicans are corroding the rule of law, the institutional norms that have held together our democracy for decades.”
President Donald Trump wants Coca-Cola to taste like it used to, even if it means shaking up a key part of the American economy to do it. On Wednesday, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he’s pushing soda giant Coca-Cola to replace high-fructose corn syrup with cane sugar in its flagship product. And in true Trump fashion, he claimed victory before anything had actually changed. “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” the president posted. “This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!” Coke fans have long praised Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar and, according to enthusiasts, tastes crisper and less syrupy than the U.S. version. But within hours of Trump’s post, Coca-Cola issued a carefully worded statement that did not confirm any sweeping change, saying only that it would have “more details on new innovative offerings” coming soon. Still, Trump’s pressure campaign was enough to unsettle the corn industry—and send markets into a spin. A farmer uses a corn combine to harvest his crop in October 2022, in Johnson, Nebraska. “Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense,” said John Bode, president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, a large trade group. “President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers, and reducing the trade deficit. Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.” Wall Street appeared to agree. According to Axios, shares of Archer Daniels Midland, a top corn processor, dropped nearly 6% in pre-market trading on Thursday—a loss of about $1.5 billion in value. Ingredion, another major corn refiner, fell almost 7%. Coca-Cola has used high-fructose corn syrup in U.S. products since the 1980s. Cane sugar remains more common in countries like Mexico and India, and the Mexican version of Coke is sold in even some American stores. A full switch to cane sugar, however, would likely hurt Midwestern states like Iowa—America’s top corn producer—while benefiting sugar-producing states, like Florida. That’s not lost on political observers, nor is the fact that Trump’s announcement comes at a time when his relationship with American farmers is already strained. In Iowa, soybean farmers are still recovering from Trump’s revived trade war with China. The New York Times reported in May that exports have plummeted and prices are falling as China turns to other suppliers. Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has abandoned earlier commitments to protect undocumented agricultural workers, instead pursuing mass deportations that threaten farm labor pipelines. And now, with his Coke campaign, Trump is aligning himself with another culture-war figure. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has criticized high-fructose corn syrup as “just a formula for making you obese and diabetic,” is leading a broader push to eliminate artificial dyes and additives from food. A recent report from his “Make America Healthy Again” commission flagged high-fructose corn syrup as a driver of obesity and metabolic disease, despite minimal scientific consensus that cane sugar is significantly better. So sure, Trump may be trying to Make Coke Great Again. But if he gets his way, he might devastate corn country—and alienate the very voters who helped send him to the White House.
