 |
|
|
|||||
Hurricane season officially begins in 10 days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today that the U.S. is likely to see an above-average number of hurricanes this year, with 1319 named storms, six to 10 hurricanes, and three to five major hurricanes. It’s not just hurricane season, but disaster season in general. Recent tornadoes have killed dozens of people. As the summer progresses, there’s a bigger risk of both extreme heat and wildfires. (The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists calls May through October “danger season,” and points out that the risk of major hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and fires keeps getting significantly worse because of climate change.) We’re not ready for the next big disaster. At NOAA, which collects crucial data and makes forecasts, more than 1,000 employees have been fired or took retirement offers because of DOGE. The administration also wants to cut NOAAs budget by around 30%. At FEMA, an internal memo last week said that the agencys normal process to prepare had been derailed by other activities like staffing and contracts. At least 2,000 of the agencys roughly 6,000 full-time employees have left or plan to leave. I think Americans are going to start seeing after a major disaster that the response they normally see from FEMA is just not there, says Joel Scata, a senior attorney at the nonprofit NRDC. Theyre going to be left fending for themselves. Theyre going to be left wondering where FEMA staff are because FEMA doesnt have the capacity to address it right now. Some changes are already apparent. In St. Louis, a historic 23-mile-long tornado killed five people, injured 38, and caused more than $1.6 billion in damages on May 19. Despite the scale of the disaster, FEMA was slow to arrive. Republican lawmaker Josh Hawley had to beg for help. In Mississippi, the state is still waiting for approval of a disaster declaration for tornadoes that happened two months ago. Tornado damage in Tylertown, Mississippi, March 2025. [Photo: Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images] Trump suggested maybe getting rid of FEMA, shortly after taking office, and Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in March that she wanted to eliminate FEMA. Project 2025, the policy blueprint that the Trump administration is closely following, calls for moving the responsibility for disasters to states. Trump has echoed that idea. But states arent ready to fill the gap. Right now, states depend on support from FEMA, including through grants for emergency management and preparedness. Those grants have been put on pause, says Scata. Other grants that would really help states prepare and shoulder some more of the burden that the Trump administration keeps pushing them to do have also been cut. So they’re kind of putting states in a position where they’re saying, You need to take on more responsibility, but also undercutting their ability to take on more responsibility. FEMAs newly appointed head, David Richardson, reportedly admitted this month that the agency didnt yet have a plan for hurricane season. Richardson, who doesn’t have a background in emergency management, also seemed unfamiliar with what his job entailed. I feel a little bit like Bubba from Forrest Gump, he said in a recent video viewed by the Wall Street Journal. Weve got hurricanes, weve got fires, weve got mudslides, weve got flash floods, weve got tornadoes, weve got droughts, weve got heat waves and now weve got volcanoes to worry about. At NOAA, DOGEs push to cut employees and funding could potentially impact forecasting. Weather balloons record data, such as wind speeds, used in forecasts. But the National Weather Service has started reducing balloon launches. Ocean buoys measure temperature, a key factor in forecasting hurricanes. They require regular maintenance, which will be more challenging with fewer employees. (At a press conference today, however, NOAA said that it’s continuing to roll out more accurate models for forecasting, and emphasized that it believes it’s fully prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.) The Trump administration is also pushing to shut down a research division that includes hurricane hunters who fly into oncoming storms to gather more data to predict a hurricanes path and strength. Proposed budget cuts would also gut research on climate change and models to improve future forecasting. Grants to help communities become more resilient to disasters have also been cut. Some National Weather Service field offices are now severely short staffed and scrambling to try to find more employees, including offices in Texas and Louisiana. At the moment, some dont have regular overnight coverage. At the offices, meteorologists take warnings from the National Hurricane Center and localize the information, predicting where flooding and other impacts may hit hardest, and working with local emergency managers to plan evacuations. While other offices can provide remote support, and employees can work extra shifts if a severe storm is predicted, the shortages will strain the remaining staff. Brian LaMarre, who recently accepted an early retirement offer at the Tampa Weather Forecast Office, says he still expects the National Hurricane Center to provide excellent data. But if staff shortages continue in local offices, the people who need to provide critical cverage in emergencies could quickly burn out. We make it work, but is it sustainable? Probably not, LaMarre says. Because the more active the weather becomes, you can only do that so many times before burning people out, and morale gets impacted. That’s why hiring needs to start and there needs to be real strong congressional and public support for the National Weather Service. It’s a public safety mission. The weather knows no bias when it comes to politics. The weather impacts everyone the same. In a statement, a National Weather Service spokesperson said, “The National Weather Service continues to meet its core mission of providing life-saving forecasts, warnings, and decision support services to the public, our partners and stakeholders. In the near term, NWS has updated the service level standards for its weather forecast offices to manage impacts due to shifting personnel resources.” The spokesperson didn’t comment on whether the agency had an exemption from a current federal hiring freeze. NOAA was short-staffed even before DOGE began aggressively trying to push more people out. NWS staff will have an impossible task to continue its current level of services, all five former National Weather Service directors wrote in a recent open letter about the DOGE cuts and proposed budget cuts. Some forecast offices will be so short-staffed that they may be forced to go to part-time services. Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life.
Category:
E-Commerce
It seems like a triumph for a cryptocurrency industry that has long sought mainstream acceptance: Top investors in one of President Donald Trump’s crypto projects invited to dine with him at his luxury golf club in Northern Virginia on the heels of the Senate advancing key pro-crypto legislation and while bitcoin prices soar.But Thursday night’s dinner for the 220 biggest investors in the $TRUMP meme coin has raised uncomfortable questions about potentially shadowy buyers using the anonymity of the internet to buy access to the president.While Democrats charge that Trump is using the power of the presidency to boost profits for his family business, even some pro-Trump crypto enthusiasts worry that the president’s push into meme coins isn’t helping their efforts to establish the credibility, stability and legitimacy they had thought his administration would bring to their businesses.After feeling unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, the industry has quickly become a dominant political force, donating huge sums to help Trump and crypto-friendly lawmakers. But that’s also served to tether the industrysometimes uncomfortablyto a president who is using crypto as a platform to make money for his brand in unprecedented ways.“It’s distasteful and an unnecessary distraction,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, who said the president is “hugging us to death” with his private crypto businesses. “We would much rather that he passes common-sense legislation and leave it at that.” Concerns about Trump’s crypto ventures predate Inauguration Day At the swanky Crypto Ball held down the street from the White House three days before he took office on Jan. 20, Trump announced the creation of the meme coin $TRUMP as a way for his supporters to “have fun.”Meme coins are the crypto sector’s black sheep. They are often created as a joke, with no real utility and prone to extremely wild price swings that tend to enrich a small group of insiders at the expense of less sophisticated investors.The president’s meme coin is different, however, and has a clear utility: access to Trump. The top 25 investors of $TRUMP are set to attend a private reception with the president Thursday, with the top four getting $100,000 crypto-themed and Trump-branded watches.Trump’s meme coin saw an initial spike in value, followed by a steep drop. The price saw a significant increase after the dinner contest was announced. Its creators, which include an entity controlled by the Trump Organization, have made hundreds of millions of dollars by collecting fees on trades.First lady Melania Trump has her own meme coin, and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr.who are running the Trump Organization while their father is presidentannounced they are partnering with an existing firm to create a crypto mining company.The Trump family also holds about a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president’s relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The project got a boost recently when World Liberty announced an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.A rapidly growing form of crypto, stablecoins have values pegged to fixed assets like the U.S. dollar. Issuers profit by collecting the interest on the Treasury bonds and other assets used to back the stablecoins.Crypto is now one of the most significant sources of the Trump family’s wealth.“He’s becoming a salesman-in-chief,” said James Thurber, an American University professor emeritus who has long studied and taught about corruption around the world. “It allows for foreign influence easily. It allows for crypto lobbying going on at this dinner, and other ways. It allows for huge conflicts of interest.” How Trump changed his mind on crypto “I’m a big crypto fan,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One during last week’s trip to the Middle East. “I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign.”That wasn’t always true. During his first term, Trump posted in July 2019 that cryptocurrencies were “not money” and had value that was “highly volatile and based on thin air.”“Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade,” he added then. Even after leaving office in 2021, Trump told Fox Business Network that bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, “seems like a scam.”Trump began to shift during a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, receiving assurances that industry backers would spend lavishly to get him reelected. Another major milestone came last June, when Trump attended a high-dollar fundraiser at the San Francisco home of David Sacks.He further warmed to the industry weeks later, when Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with bitcoin miners. The following month, he addressed a major crypto conference in Nashville, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”Those close to Trump, including his sons and billionaire Elon Musk, helped further push his embrace of the industry. Sacks is now the Trump administration’s crypto czar, and many Cabinet membersincluding Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethhave long been enthusiastic crypto boosters.“I don’t have faith in the dollar,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a 2023 interview. “I’m bullish on bitcoin.” Trump + crypto: A political marriage of convenience Many top crypto backers were naturally wary of traditional politics, but gravitated toward Trump last year. They bristled at Democratic President Joe Biden ‘s Securities and Exchange Commission aggressively bringing civil suits against several major crypto companies.Since Trump took office, many such cases have been dropped or paused, including one alleging that Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur, and his company engaged in market manipulation and paid celebrities for undisclosed promotions.Sun, who once paid $6.2 million for a piece of art involving a banana taped to a wall, and then ate the banana, helped the Trumps start World Liberty Financial with an early $75 million investment.Sun has disclosed on social media that he is the biggest holder of $TRUMP meme coins and is attending Thursday’s dinner.“I’m excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry,” Sun said. Are Trump family profits hurting other crypto investors? Trump has signed execuive orders promoting the industry, including calls to create a government bitcoin reserve. In March, Trump convened the first cryptocurrency summit at the White House.But some of the industry’s biggest names, often brash and outspoken, have kept mostly mum on Trump’s meme coins and other projects.“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at a recent public event.Meanwhile, a top legislative priority for crypto-backers, a bill clarifying how digital assets are to be regulated, has advanced in the Senate. But some Democrats have tried to stall other pro-crypto legislation over the president’s personal dealings.“Never in American history has a sitting president so blatantly violated the ethics laws,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said during a contentious House hearing earlier this month.The White House referred questions about dinner attendees to the Trump Organization, which didn’t provide a list of who is coming.“The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.In addition to Sun, however, some attendees have publicized qualifying for the dinner. Another will be Sheldon Xia, the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange called BitMart that’s registered in the Cayman Islands.“Proud to support President Trump’s pro-crypto vision.” Xia wrote in both English and Chinese on social media.Thurber, the expert on government and ethics, said Trump’s “personal attention to crypto at this dinner helps the crypto industry.”“But also it’s risky,” he said, “because they could all lose a lot of money.” Will Weissert and Alan Suderman, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Walmart Inc. is laying off approximately 1,500 employees in the United States in a bid to restructure as it works to keep up with fast-moving technological changes. The job cuts will impact corporate staff at the companys headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and other offices. Some workers losing their jobs include members of the global technology team, e-commerce fulfillment managers, and members of Walmart Connect, the companys advertising business. Reached for comment, a Walmart representative shared with Fast Company a copy of the memo that was sent to staff on Wednesday afternoon. We are reshaping some teams in our Global Tech and Walmart U.S. organizations where we have identified opportunities to remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly. the memo said. This isnt the first report of layoffs for the big-box store this year. In February, Walmart laid off hundreds of workers and closed its North Carolina office. Some employers were asked to relocate to the retailers headquarters. Technology, not tariffs, cited for reason Many retailers are looking for ways to trim expenses to combat the rising cost of doing business due to tariffs. One way retailers are reacting is by passing on added costs to the consumer with price increases. Some companies are also reducing labor costs with layoffs, although Walmart told the Wall Street Journal that the current job cuts are not connected to tariffs. Rather, Walmarts memo says, The world of technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and reshaping our structure allows us to accelerate how we deliver and adapt to the changing environment around us.” At the same time, during Walmarts first-quarter earnings call for fiscal 2026, CEO Doug McMillon shared that some products would be impacted by price increases due to tariffs. Given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we arent able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins, McMillon warned. Over the weekend, President Trump retaliated by lashing out on social media, suggesting that the company should absorb the costs instead of passing them onto consumers. Walmart employs approximately 1.6 million workers in the United States, making it the largest private employer in the country. The Wall Street Journal first reported the retailers plans to cut jobs on Wednesday. Walmart stock (NYSE: WMT) was mostly flat in late-morning trading on Thursday. Shares have increased roughly 6.77% year to date.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||