1A

Florida holds a special election tomorrow for a House seat that has long been solidly red. Now? Maybe a bit less so.

Former Congressman Mike Waltz gave up his seat in the 6th Congressional District – the area around Daytona Beach – to accept the post of President Donald Trump's national security advisor. In line to win his vacant seat tomorrow is Trump-backed Randy Fine, a state senator.

But in recent days polls have been too close for comfort for many Republicans. Fine's Democratic opponent, math teacher Josh Weil, has raised $10 million for his campaign. Fine has brought in just $1 million.

We discuss what we could learn from tomorrow's results.

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We've spent a lot of time in 2025 talking about the president. The executive orders. The court challenges. The cabinet appointments. Now, the Signal group chats.

It's a challenge to report on the administration, full stop. But what if you're not reporting on the administration for an audience directly affected by the U.S. federal government? What kinds of challenges does that present?

In a 1A first, we sit down in front of an audience at our home base at WAMU in Washington, DC, to talk to three international journalists about their experiences covering the Trump administration for their audiences back home.

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This week the Atlantic published messages shared between national security officials on a Signal group chat laying out plans for U.S airstrikes in Yemen. It appears that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the message thread. European leaders have been cautious in their comments on the scandal.

President Trump is threatening to suspend security clearances and access to federal buildings of lawyers he does not like.

Meanwhile, Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza after breaking the ceasefire agreement with Hamas earlier this month.

And five lions rescued from the frontlines of the war in Ukraine have now been resettled in England by the Wild Animals Rescue Center.

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The acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, Nicholas Enrich, was placed on administrative leave in early March.

Before his departure, he had made a series of chilling predictions in memos concerning the consequences of the Trump administration's gutting of the agency.

These include some 18 million additional cases of malaria and 166,000 resulting deaths. One million children who will remain malnourished. And 200,000 additional children paralyzed by polio.

And he placed the blame squarely at the feet of USAID leadership, the State Department, and DOGE.

We discuss what the world will look like without American aid to help address global problems.

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As the earth continues to heat up unsustainably due to society's love of fossil fuels, scientists say natural disasters are only going to become more frequent and more destructive. That's something California knows all too well. Wildfires burned more than 58,000 acres this year and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

For many towns, a disaster like a wildfire or hurricane can completely destroy the town and its history, leaving its residents wondering if it can ever be what it once was.

The Altadena community is seeing that process play out. The Eaton fire killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 homes when it burned through the neighborhood outside of Los Angeles earlier this year.

We discuss what choices families are left to face in the aftermath of a disaster that destroys their home, and what the process looks like if you do try to rebuild.

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If you've been following the news lately — including with 1A — it can be a lot to take in.

We've heard from many of you about how the news makes you feel. But what can we do in chaotic moments of history to build a sense of control in our lives? Maybe it's organizing in your community, starting a new hobby, or picking up that TV show from 10 years ago that you promised you'd get around to watching.

We talk about what finding agency in the chaos can look like, and why we should actively focus on something rather than simply react to what's happening.

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It's safe to say the Trump administration has shaken up the federal government.

That includes environmental policy and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Trump administration is making deep cuts to the department. The agency's top official, Lee Zeldin, says he wants to cut 65 percent of its budget.

The EPA has already slashed jobs at the environmental justice office, which addresses disproportionate environmental and health effects on minority and low-income populations. The agency is now bracing for more cuts.

The administration has already rolled back regulations, frozen funds, and made larger moves like pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate agreement.

We discuss what's next for environmental policy in the U.S.

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The story of TikTok in the U.S. is one that's had many chapters, to say the least.

First, then-President Donald Trump called for its ban in 2020. Then, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law in 2024 requiring the company in charge of the video-sharing platform to sell the app or face a ban. Then, the app went dark this January after failing to sell, only to come back hours later, thanking newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump for his support in keeping the app operational. The president extended the deadline for the sale until April.

Why is the government so uncomfortable with TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance? What's going to happen in April when the same deadline to sell arises once again?

We discuss what the future holds for TikTok with our friends at the Click Here podcast.

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Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas filed resolution to impeach the judge who ordered the Trump administration to stop deportations of Venezuelans.

Two federal judges have ordered tens of thousands of fired federal workers to be rehired in recent weeks, but the White House is moving to appeal the decision leading to more questions for and about the fates of federal workers.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed this week as Israel began airstrikes once again on the blockaded Strip.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spent 90 minutes on the phone this week discussing the war in Ukraine.

We cover all this and more during this week's News Roundup.

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More than forty percent of American families are struggling to find affordable childcare.

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that childcare for one infant now costs more than rent in 17 states and more than in-state college tuition in 38 states.

These increasing costs mean more parents of young children are at a crossroads: Drop out of the workforce to save on childcare, or have their salaries eaten up by high childcare costs?

We discuss the cost of childcare and the effect high childcare costs have on our economy.

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