MicroWave

Health care advocates and members of Congress expressed opposition to the cuts after being told of them earlier this week.

The Department of Health and Human Services is reinstating $2 billion in funds to address substance abuse and mental health after the department said it would cancel funds the day before, an administration official confirmed to NBC News.

The reinstatement came Wednesday after groups were informed Tuesday of the funding cuts, which were associated with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, attributed the reversal to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. having "bowed to public pressure."

"These are cuts he should not have issued in the first place," she said in a statement. "He must be cautious when making decisions that will impact Americans’ health. Our policy must be thoughtful — not haphazard and chaotic. This episode has only created uncertainty and confusion for families and healthcare providers."

The Senate voted to provide billions more to NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation than the president had asked for.

In a rebuff of the Trump administration’s proposal to drastically cut funding for federal science agencies, the Senate voted on Thursday to provide billions of dollars more to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the National Science Foundation than the president had asked for.

In an 82-15 vote, the Senate approved a minibus budget bill to fund agencies involved in science and the environment, among other issues, through Sept. 30. The bill passed in the House last week by a vote of 397 to 28.

Had Congress followed the Trump administration’s budget request, it would have slashed the National Science Foundation’s budget by 57%, and funding for the portion of NASA dedicated to science research by about 47%, according to a bill summary from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service, faced a 27% cut, according to congressional testimony last summer.

California is one of 23 states the Justice Department has sued for refusing to hand over voters’ Social Security numbers and driver’s license information.

A federal judge Thursday dealt a significant legal setback to the Trump administration in its efforts to obtain voter data held by states.

In a 33-page order, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in California dismissed a lawsuit that sought to give the Justice Department access to the Democratic-led state’s voter files, including records like Social Security numbers and driver’s license information.

The judge, a Clinton appointee, slammed those efforts in his ruling Thursday, writing that the administration's request “threatens the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy.”

“The Department of Justice seeks to use civil rights legislation which was enacted for an entirely different purpose to amass and retain an unprecedented amount of confidential voter data," Carter wrote. "The centralization of this information by the federal government would have a chilling effect on voter registration which would inevitably lead to decreasing voter turnout as voters fear that their information is being used for some inappropriate or unlawful purpose.”

Washington Post reports local medical examiner found ‘asphyxia’ to be cause of Geraldo Lunas Campos’s death

Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in July last year, was pronounced dead on 3 January. He had been in ICE custody at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso.

In a press release about his death, the agency claimed he died after “experiencing medical distress” and said his cause of death was under investigation. The Department of Homeland Security had previously highlighted Lunas Campos’s arrest as one of the “worst of the worst” a category used by DHS to trumpet what they claim as victories of Trump’s mass deportation campaign. He has convictions of child sexual abuse, possession of a firearm, and aggravated assault.

But in a recording reviewed and first reported on by the Washington Post, the El Paso county’s office of the medical examiner reportedly told a member of Lunas Campos’s family that the office was preparing to classify the death as a homicide, subject to results of a toxicology report.

The chair of the state’s House Education Policy and Administration Committee appears to have promoted the idea of “segregated schools” in a Signal chat.

Scandals involving the Signal messaging app keep popping up in the Republican Party.

Lest you believe such controversies are confined to the Trump administration, New Hampshire’s House Republican Office has issued a defiant statement on behalf of a top GOP state lawmaker who backed “segregated schools” in a newly leaked Signal chat.

The revelation comes as Donald Trump and the MAGA movement press forward with an unabashedly racist, pro-segregation political agenda and tries to whitewash the history of racism in the U.S.

The plunge in viewership comes as Weiss has ushered in an era of Trump-friendly politics for the network.

CBS’s “Evening News” program lost over a million viewers in its first week under its new anchor, Tony Dokoupil, compared to the same period last year, marking a sharp loss for the network after the network’s billionaire owners installed far right provocateur Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief in October.

Data from media audience measurement firm Nielsen shows that the show lost nearly a quarter of its viewership in the first five days of Dokoupil taking over the program, from January 5 to January 9, compared to the same period last year. 

While the program had an average of 5.4 million viewers each day over that period last year, Variety reports, only about 4.17 million watched the program this year. Other previous anchors’ debuts for the program have gotten roughly 5 million viewers or more, Variety points out.

While older members of leadership in the House and the Senate are retiring, some from the Silent Generation say their seniority is still a boon for their districts.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, is heading for the exits after nearly four decades in Congress. So is her longtime deputy, Rep. Steny Hoyer, 86, and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 83.

But of the two dozen members of the Silent Generation now serving in the 119th Congress, more than half (13) have decided to run again in 2026, according to an NBC News review.

In total, this Congress is the third-oldest in U.S. history, with an average age of 58.9 years at the start of this session one year ago. The median age in the U.S. is 39.1.

It may well be safer, easier and cheaper for US companies to procure whatever oil the US economy needs at home

There are a few reasons that Donald Trump – now self-anointed acting President of Venezuela, as well as the United States – might be so excited about appropriating Venezuela’s oil.

Trump may be counting on some boost from cheap oil to the US economy: he is obsessed with the price of gas. As the midterm elections approach, he has become concerned about unemployment. Deeply imprinted memories of scarcity during the oil crises of the 1970s may prime his belief that cheap oil cures it all.

The US president may also consider Venezuelan oil as an easy source of cash, either for the US government – to add to the tariff bonanza that he implausibly claims is being paid by foreigners – or for his own personal stash, which he may want to diversify away from crypto.

Officials ask at least 43 states for sensitive details as critics fear effort to sow doubt about midterm election results

Alarm as Trump DoJ pushes for voter information on millions of Americans

Officials ask at least 43 states for sensitive details as critics fear effort to sow doubt about midterm election results Sam Levine in New York Thu 15 Jan 2026 07.00 EST

The justice department is undertaking an unprecedented effort to collect sensitive voter information about tens of millions of Americans, a push that relies on thin legal reasoning and which could be aimed at sowing doubt about the midterm election results this year.

The department has asked at least 43 states for their comprehensive information on voters, including the last four digits of their social security numbers, full dates of birth and addresses, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Eight states have voluntarily turned over the information, according to the Brennan Center, and the department has sued 23 states and the District of Columbia for the information.

Many of the states have faced lawsuits after refusing to turn over the information, citing state privacy laws. Some of the states have provided the justice department with voter lists that have sensitive personal information redacted, only to find themselves sued by the department. Nearly every state the justice department has sued is led by Democratic election officials.

Senate Republicans are vowing to block any effort by Trump to seize Greenland by military force, as Trump officials on Wednesday refused to back off their demands to control the island during a meeting with top diplomats at the White House.

Republican senators are flummoxed by Trump’s insistence that he’s willing to use military force to seize control of Greenland from Denmark, something they fear will destroy the NATO alliance and give Russia a bigger advantage in its war against Ukraine.

Two Republican senators, Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), plan to travel to Copenhagen on Friday to assure the Danish prime minister that there would be strong Republican opposition to any effort by Trump to use military force to seize Greenland.

The move follows an announcement by Denmark that it will increase its military presence in Greenland immediately.

After meeting with the US vice president and secretary of state, the Danish foreign minister said it was 'clear that the president has this wish of conquering Greenland.'

KEY POINTS

NATO members are deploying small numbers of troops to Greenland for a joint military exercise, after a tense meeting with the White House about the island’s future.

French President Emmanuel Macron referred to the exercise as “Operation Arctic Endurance.”

Talks between U.S., Danish, and Greenlandic officials were “frank but constructive” but did not resolve the “fundamental disagreement” of Greenland’s future, the Danish foreign minister said.