TV News LIES

Tens of thousands of federal government probationary workers fired in recent weeks as part of President Donald Trump's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce must be reinstated immediately, a California judge ordered Thursday.

The decision from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco is one of the most far-reaching court defeats so far in the Trump administration's efforts, led by top White House adviser Elon Musk, to gut the federal bureaucracy.

The judge ordered six federal agencies ‒ the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury ‒ to reinstate recently hired or promoted probationary employees who were terminated by the Trump administration.

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Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said Thursday that it is laying off more than 2,200 people as a result of President Donald Trump's deep budget cuts, with another 100 furloughed on reduced schedules. It's the largest layoff in the university's history. Johns Hopkins was the largest university recipient of federal research funding, and is the largest employer in the state of Maryland.

“This is a difficult day for our entire community," a university spokesperson told USA TODAY. Affected workers will receive at least 60 days notice before the cuts take effect, the spokesperson said. Many of the jobs are in other countries, since the university specializes in USAID-funded research projects, which Trump has slashed.

The historic layoffs come as other universities are cutting spending, freezing hiring and in some cases rescinding admissions acceptance for graduate students as they face budget cuts from Trump and Congress.

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President Donald Trump, in an emergency request Thursday, asked the Supreme Court to allow restrictions to birthright citizenship to take effect for some people as challenges to his executive order are litigated.

Multiple judges in separate cases across the U.S. blocked the order from going into effect and appeals courts have declined to lift the holds.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to limit the scope of the pauses to specific challengers and to allow the administration to develop guidance on how it would implement Trump's directive if it is upheld.

One federal judge, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle, has called Trump's order "blatantly unconstitutional."

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A federal judge on Wednesday said she will temporarily halt President Donald Trump's new restrictions on law firm Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton during her failed 2016 bid for the presidency.

In a March 6 executive order, Trump directed federal agencies to terminate contracts with Perkins Coie "to the extent permitted by law," to limit the firm's approximately 1,200 lawyers' access to federal buildings and federal employees, and to halt security clearances for employees at the firm. By explanation, the order claimed the law firm hired Fusion GPS to compile of dossier of information critical of Trump while it was representing Clinton, and − in reference to its workforce diversity and inclusion policies − that the firm discriminates on the basis of race in hiring decisions.

Judge Beryl Howell said at a hearing Wednesday that she would issue a temporary restraining order to block Trump's order while the firm's lawsuit challenging it plays out.

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The Department of Agriculture has cut over $1 billion in funding aimed at helping schools and food banks purchase from local farmers, according to a news report and a school nutrition nonprofit. The cuts come amid the Trump administration's push to purge federal spending.

States were notified recently that the USDA had cut the funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program for 2025, the organization School Nutrition Association said in a news release.

The agency also cut funds for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which operates similarly for the food supplies for local food banks and organizations in underserved communities, according to a report from Politico. Citing an unnamed spokesperson within the USDA, Politico reported that existing LFPA agreements would continue but that there would not be another round of funding this year.

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