AURN News

President Donald Trump is again moving to dismantle America's education system.

Confusion swirled as the White House insisted the Education Department would continue overseeing federal student loans, even as Trump’s own orders suggested otherwise, citing a lack of staffing to manage the department’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio.

Trump is seeking to shift these responsibilities elsewhere.

At the signing, Trump blamed the Education Department for America’s academic shortcomings, saying states could do a better job. "It’s doing us no good," he said.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Linda McMahon pledged a smooth transition, even as the agency faces deep cuts — slashing its workforce by half and gutting key civil rights and research divisions.

The order states that the education secretary will, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department and return authority over education to states and local communities.

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(AURN News) — The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into whether the city of Chicago is making race-based hiring decisions — specifically, whether it has hired ‘too many Black people’ — according to a letter sent to Mayor Brandon Johnson.

The probe follows comments Johnson made during a recent visit to the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, where he praised the racial diversity within his administration.

In remarks cited by the DOJ, Johnson listed several senior-level city officials and highlighted their race.

According to a letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division, the department’s investigation is “based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race.”

The letter quotes Johnson as saying:

According to the letter, Johnson reportedly concluded that list by saying he was “laying” these positions “out” to “ensure that our people get a chance to grow their business.”

In response, the DOJ says it is examining whether such decisions reflect a broader “pattern or practice of discrimination” in city hiring.

“If these kind of hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions in your administration, then it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions,” Dhillon wrote.

The letter also states that no conclusions have been reached and invites Johnson’s cooperation in the ongoing investigation.

This marks the latest move by the Trump administration in what it has described as a fight against ‘woke DEI.’ Officials have made rolling back diversity-focused hiring initiatives a key policy goal. One lingering question: How does this benefit Black America?

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It’s called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — more than a thousand pages of tax cuts, spending reductions and border crackdowns, bundled into a package critics say is anything but beautiful for working families.

The bill makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, temporarily eliminates taxes on tips and overtime, but also removes food assistance and Medicaid coverage by imposing strict new work requirements.

An estimated 8.6 million people could lose health care coverage.

The bill also funds expanded immigration enforcement, including 1 million deportations annually, 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and the return of the $46 billion border wall.

The bill also bans Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and requires parents with children older than six to meet work requirements for SNAP, even as affordable child care remains out of reach.

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According to the Associated Press, the Justice Department announced Wednesday it will cancel consent decrees with Minneapolis and Louisville that aimed to reform policing after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The decision comes just before the five-year anniversary of Floyd’s murder.

In January, Minneapolis approved a federal consent decree requiring court oversight of police training and use-of-force practices. However, the Trump administration requested a delay and told the court it will not proceed.

“The United States no longer believes the proposed consent decree would be in the public interest,” the DOJ stated.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the department will continue reforms under a separate agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

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As the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder approaches, the Trump administration has dealt a gut punch to communities demanding police accountability. In a sweeping rollback of civil rights enforcement, the DOJ is shutting down federal oversight agreements in Minneapolis and Louisville — two cities where investigators previously found rampant police abuse, excessive force and systemic racism.

That means no more federal push for reform in the city where Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck. No more binding accountability in Louisville, where Breonna Taylor was killed in her home.

The DOJ is also closing civil rights investigations into six other cities, including Memphis, Phoenix and Lexington, where findings include officers punching restrained individuals, deploying canines on children and tasering men until they collapsed.

Trump’s DOJ claims the Biden-era investigations were “micromanagement” and based on flawed methodology.

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(AURN News) — With talk of the 2026 midterm elections beginning to heat up, a new poll offers early insights into the political landscape — and a potential shift in Democratic Party leadership.

The latest survey from Co/efficient shows Democrats holding a narrow lead over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, with 45% of respondents saying they would vote for a Democrat compared to 42% for a Republican. Among independents, the gap widens slightly, with Democrats leading 40% to 31%.

But it’s the question of party identity that may draw the most attention.

When asked who they view as the face of the Democratic Party, 26% of likely general election voters named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — the highest for any individual. Sen. Bernie Sanders followed at 12%, while Rep. Jasmine Crockett received 8%. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries each received 5%.

The Co/efficient poll surveyed 1,462 likely general election voters from May 7 to May 9. Of those polled, 72% identified as white, 11% as Hispanic and 10% as Black. In terms of ideology, 24% said they were MAGA voters, 16% identified as conservative, 29% as moderate, 15% as liberal and 16% as progressive.

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Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died Wednesday morning at age 75, his family announced, according to CNN.

In a statement, the family said Connolly died peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones.

Last month, Connolly announced he would not seek reelection and would step down from his leadership role on the House Oversight Committee following the return of his esophageal cancer, first diagnosed in November. He vowed transparency, saying he would continue serving “with grace.”

Connolly had represented Virginia’s 11th District since 2009 and previously served 14 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

His family remembered him as a devoted public servant who championed justice and the voiceless, saying, “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts.”

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Is your immune system strong enough for politics? In a reversal of federal public health policy, the Trump administration announced it will restrict access to seasonal COVID-19 shots, reserving them mainly for seniors and high-risk individuals. That’s despite the fact that COVID-19 claimed more than 47,000 American lives last year, including 231 children.

Under new FDA guidance backed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., most healthy Americans under 65 will not be eligible for updated boosters unless new clinical trials prove they’re necessary. That means, for the first time, your access to a shot could depend on whether you’re deemed high-risk.

The new policy reflects a growing movement inside the administration to pull back on vaccines, especially for the young and healthy. Dr. Vinay Prasad, now the FDA’s top vaccine official, described the decision as a compromise. Critics call the policy dangerous.

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(AURN News) — President Donald Trump’s fiscal policies are under renewed scrutiny after Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing the nation’s rising debt, widening deficits and mounting interest costs.

While Moody’s did not name Trump in its downgrade announcement, the agency pointed to long-term trends that have intensified under his administration. Federal spending has increased sharply, and Trump has called for extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — moves that analysts say are worsening the country’s fiscal outlook.

“Over more than a decade, US federal debt has risen sharply due to continuous fiscal deficits. During that time, federal spending has increased while tax cuts have reduced government revenues,” Moody’s said in a statement.

The agency projected that without changes to taxation or spending, the government’s budget flexibility will remain limited. It expects mandatory spending — including interest payments — to rise from 73% of total federal outlays in 2024 to 78% by 2035.

Moody’s also warned that extending the 2017 tax law would add about $4 trillion to the federal primary deficit over the next decade. Deficits are projected to reach nearly 9% of GDP by 2035 — up from 6.4% this year — with debt rising to 134% of GDP, up from 98% in 2024.

According to CBS News, federal spending under Trump is now higher on a day-to-day basis than in nine of the past 10 years. In the first 100 days of his presidency, spending was $200 billion higher than during the same period the year before.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog group, called the downgrade a warning sign that policymakers are heading in the wrong direction.

“Can you hear that? It’s the sound of not one, not two, but all three major credit rating agencies now saying the same thing: the US fiscal situation is unsustainable,” said Maya MacGuineas, the group’s president.

“At the very least, we should not be considering adding more than $3 trillion to the debt — or $5.2 trillion if temporary provisions are made permanent — after we were just told our credit worthiness is inferior to what it was,” she added.Trump has touted cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency, but so far, overall federal expenditures have continued to grow.

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