Jacob Bushno has spent his entire adult life serving his country. He enlisted in the military straight out of high school. After two tours in Iraq as part of the Army’s air assault division, he transitioned into civilian service in the federal workforce. Last month, just seven days before finishing his one-year probationary period with the U.S. Forest Service, he was abruptly fired. This week, he was rehired. Like many of the thousands of federal workers caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, Bushno has spent the last few weeks frustrated and confused. But as a veteran, he views his treatment by the new Administration with a different lens. “I feel very betrayed. All I’ve done my whole life since getting out of high school was serve this country,” says Bushno, 40, who worked in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. “I feel like, who's fighting for me, you know?” Bushno’s rehiring came after a federal judge on Monday ruled the Trump Administration’s mass terminations of probationary workers was illegal. Even as Bushno prepares to return to his position, he remains skeptical about the Administration’s commitment to those who have served. “I don’t trust it, and I think they’re gonna terminate probationary employees again,” he says. The impact of the Trump Administration's job cuts has reverberated across the federal workforce, where veterans make up nearly 30 percent of civilian employees. The Department of Veterans Affairs has not been spared, with over 1,000 employees—including staff at the Veterans Crisis Line—dismissed. While some have since been rehired, many remain in administrative limbo, left wondering whether they will ever be reinstated. To some veterans, the wave of firings, as well as cuts to workers tasked with helping veterans, has raised deeper questions about the Trump Administration’s commitment to those who served their country in uniform. They say the cuts present a contradiction at the heart of Trump's messaging: while he often positions himself as a champion of veterans, his Administration’s policies in its first months have placed many former service members in financial and professional jeopardy. “If they're the patriotic party, why are you guys firing disabled veterans?” asks Bushno, who says he has PTSD from his tours in Iraq. The political fallout from the firings may already be shaping upcoming congressional battles and the 2026 midterm elections. VoteVets, a progressive veterans’ organization, recently launched a six-figure ad campaign targeting Republican lawmakers in competitive districts, highlighting the economic uncertainty veterans face under the Trump Administration. The ad features laid off veterans discussing their growing frustration with the political forces behind the job cuts. “I did not put my life on the line for some tech bro billionaire from South Africa to come in here and try to destroy our country,” one of the veterans says, referring to White House advisor Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has played a role in the cuts. Exit polling from the November presidential election showed that veterans were much more likely to support Trump than his opponent, with more than 6 in 10 veterans casting their ballot for him. Ross Dickman, the chief executive of Hire Heroes, a nonprofit that helps veterans find employment, said his organization has seen a sharp increase in veterans seeking help compared to a year ago. He cautioned that while the labor market is strong, “it’s not enough to really overcome the amount of unemployed veterans that we’re going to see entering the market.” Tony Ruiz, a veteran from Orange County, Calif., was proud to be hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs last year as a Veteran Service Representative. Then he was fired last month, 10 days before his probation period was set to end. He says he was especially shocked to see the phrase “unacceptable performance” in his termination letter, after becoming the first employee in his division to win an employee of the quarter award in August. The firing left Ruiz feeling abandoned: “I feel like I got a big F-you from the American people, and I feel betrayed.” Ruiz says he had been recruited for the position by the VA and jumped at the opportunity. “I said to myself, this is a chance to serve my country again, serve the veterans again. So I took it, but ultimately it cost me my livelihood and it cost my career,” he says. Although he was technically still a probationary worker like many others let go, Ruiz suspects his firing was politically motivated and a result of his criticism of emails sent by the acting secretary to VA employees unwinding some of the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Unlike other probationary employees, Ruiz has not been offered reinstatement and believes it’s because he failed the Administration’s unofficial “loyalty test.” “As an American soldier, as a veteran, we value the oath. And so for me, I didn't take an oath to a king, or take an oath to the Administration.” “I'd rather be homeless… than to bow down to Donald Trump,” he adds. In a statement to TIME, VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said that Ruiz was fired for “poor performance” and that “his dismissal had nothing to do with VA’s Feb. 13 and Feb. 24 probationary termination announcements.” In Congress, Democrats are pushing legislation aimed at protecting veterans in the federal workforce. Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Andy Kim of New Jersey introduced a bill last week that would require the Trump Administration to reinstate veterans who were terminated and provide transparency on future dismissals. Duckworth, herself a disabled veteran, has been particularly outspoken, calling the Administration’s actions a betrayal. “He says he loves veterans. No, he doesn't,” she tells TIME. “He's firing veterans left and right. These are people who served their country in uniform and then chose to enter federal service to continue serving this country.” ExploreClose Subscribe Mar 20, 2025 9:11 PM IST For Veterans Fired by Trump, the Sense of Betrayal Runs Deep Politics Trump Administration Nik Popli by Nik Popli Reporter Jacob Bushno, a federal employee from Illinois, served two tours in Iraq as part of the Army’s air assault division before taking jobs at the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Forest Service. Bushno was fired in early February along with thousands of other probationary employees.Courtesy Jacob Bushno Jacob Bushno has spent his entire adult life serving his country. He enlisted in the military straight out of high school. After two tours in Iraq as part of the Army’s air assault division, he transitioned into civilian service in the federal workforce. Last month, just seven days before finishing his one-year probationary period with the U.S. Forest Service, he was abruptly fired. This week, he was rehired. Like many of the thousands of federal workers caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, Bushno has spent the last few weeks frustrated and confused. But as a veteran, he views his treatment by the new Administration with a different lens. Advertisement 00:06 03:00 Read More “I feel very betrayed. All I’ve done my whole life since getting out of high school was serve this country,” says Bushno, 40, who worked in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. “I feel like, who's fighting for me, you know?” Bushno’s rehiring came after a federal judge on Monday ruled the Trump Administration’s mass terminations of probationary workers was illegal. Even as Bushno prepares to return to his position, he remains skeptical about the Administration’s commitment to those who have served. “I don’t trust it, and I think they’re gonna terminate probationary employees again,” he says. The impact of the Trump Administration's job cuts has reverberated across the federal workforce, where veterans make up nearly 30 percent of civilian employees. The Department of Veterans Affairs has not been spared, with over 1,000 employees—including staff at the Veterans Crisis Line—dismissed. While some have since been rehired, many remain in administrative limbo, left wondering whether they will ever be reinstated. Advertisement Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang Branded Content Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang By China Daily Read more: Trump Administration Has Reversed Course More Than A Dozen Times To some veterans, the wave of firings, as well as cuts to workers tasked with helping veterans, has raised deeper questions about the Trump Administration’s commitment to those who served their country in uniform. They say the cuts present a contradiction at the heart of Trump's messaging: while he often positions himself as a champion of veterans, his Administration’s policies in its first months have placed many former service members in financial and professional jeopardy. “If they're the patriotic party, why are you guys firing disabled veterans?” asks Bushno, who says he has PTSD from his tours in Iraq. The political fallout from the firings may already be shaping upcoming congressional battles and the 2026 midterm elections. VoteVets, a progressive veterans’ organization, recently launched a six-figure ad campaign targeting Republican lawmakers in competitive districts, highlighting the economic uncertainty veterans face under the Trump Administration. The ad features laid off veterans discussing their growing frustration with the political forces behind the job cuts. “I did not put my life on the line for some tech bro billionaire from South Africa to come in here and try to destroy our country,” one of the veterans says, referring to White House advisor Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has played a role in the cuts. Advertisement Exit polling from the November presidential election showed that veterans were much more likely to support Trump than his opponent, with more than 6 in 10 veterans casting their ballot for him. Ross Dickman, the chief executive of Hire Heroes, a nonprofit that helps veterans find employment, said his organization has seen a sharp increase in veterans seeking help compared to a year ago. He cautioned that while the labor market is strong, “it’s not enough to really overcome the amount of unemployed veterans that we’re going to see entering the market.” Tony Ruiz, a veteran from Orange County, Calif., was proud to be hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs last year as a Veteran Service Representative. Then he was fired last month, 10 days before his probation period was set to end. He says he was especially shocked to see the phrase “unacceptable performance” in his termination letter, after becoming the first employee in his division to win an employee of the quarter award in August. The firing left Ruiz feeling abandoned: “I feel like I got a big F-you from the American people, and I feel betrayed.” Advertisement Former Veterans Affairs employee Tony Ruiz and VA Under Secretary Josh Jacobs pose in Los Angeles after Ruiz received an employee of the quarter award, which Jacobs presented to him. Courtesy Tony Ruiz Ruiz says he had been recruited for the position by the VA and jumped at the opportunity. “I said to myself, this is a chance to serve my country again, serve the veterans again. So I took it, but ultimately it cost me my livelihood and it cost my career,” he says. Although he was technically still a probationary worker like many others let go, Ruiz suspects his firing was politically motivated and a result of his criticism of emails sent by the acting secretary to VA employees unwinding some of the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Unlike other probationary employees, Ruiz has not been offered reinstatement and believes it’s because he failed the Administration’s unofficial “loyalty test.” “As an American soldier, as a veteran, we value the oath. And so for me, I didn't take an oath to a king, or take an oath to the Administration.” Advertisement “I'd rather be homeless… than to bow down to Donald Trump,” he adds. In a statement to TIME, VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said that Ruiz was fired for “poor performance” and that “his dismissal had nothing to do with VA’s Feb. 13 and Feb. 24 probationary termination announcements.” In Congress, Democrats are pushing legislation aimed at protecting veterans in the federal workforce. Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Andy Kim of New Jersey introduced a bill last week that would require the Trump Administration to reinstate veterans who were terminated and provide transparency on future dismissals. Duckworth, herself a disabled veteran, has been particularly outspoken, calling the Administration’s actions a betrayal. “He says he loves veterans. No, he doesn't,” she tells TIME. “He's firing veterans left and right. These are people who served their country in uniform and then chose to enter federal service to continue serving this country.” Advertisement Trump has repeatedly defended the workforce cuts. Asked last week whether he feels responsible for people losing their jobs, Trump said: "Sure I do. I feel very badly ... but many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work." White House counselor Alina Habba on March 4 suggested that some veterans working in the federal government were perhaps “not fit” for their positions. “As you know, we care about veterans tremendously… But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars, we have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work,” Habba told reporters. “That doesn’t mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work. … I wouldn’t take money from you and pay somebody and say, ‘Sorry, they’re not going to come to work.’ It’s just not acceptable,” Habba said. In response to a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic attorneys general, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar on Monday ruled that the mass firings were conducted illegally and ordered the administration to reinstate affected employees. More than 24,000 probationary employees across 18 agencies have since been offered their jobs back. Agencies are still sorting out how to bring back those workers and give them the back pay ordered by the courts. Yet the Trump Administration has signaled that its broader push to downsize the federal workforce is far from over. Already, the VA is planning to cut more than 80,000 workers beginning in June in an attempt to return to 2019 staffing levels, according to an internal memo obtained by TIME. Other agencies are planning similar reductions. Despite his misgivings with the new Administration, Ruiz says he fears losing his house and would take his job back if offered. “But then again if they don’t, I will never work for this government again,” he says.

March Madness is once again upon us; excitement abounds. We’re not wise enough to offer any bracket advice— and why bother consuming such punditry, when odds are your picks will be a mess by this weekend anyway? We can, however, share our enthusiasm over these six storylines, which serve as a justifiable excuse to drain your productivity this week. An Underhanded Maneuver By early February, the free-throw woes of Wofford College big man Kyler Filewich were becoming too much to bear: he had at one point missed 14 straight foul shots in conference play. So the Terriers coaching staff approached him with a radical idea: why not try shooting them underhanded? Such a “granny-style” approach to foul shooting has never really taken off, despite NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry hitting nearly 90% of his attempts as a professional underhanded. Filewich, however, was ready to try anything. After an extended tutoring session with Barry himself, Filewich hit his first underhanded attempt on Feb. 5, on national TV against University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and has attracted attention ever since due to his unorthodox style. Filewich hasn’t exactly put up Barry-esque numbers at the charity stripe: he was, for example, 5 for 17 in the recent Southern Conference tournament. But that’s better than 0 for 14, and the Winnipeg native won SoCon Tournament MVP honors in leading Wofford to the dance, where the 15-seeded Terriers will play Tennessee, in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday. California Dreaming The Southern California sports powers haven’t won a women’s basketball title since Police Academy—the very first one—was killing at the box office. UCLA, which owns a record 11 men’s titles, has never won a national championship on the women’s side. USC last won the women’s championship 41 years ago, when the legendary Cheryl Miller was playing for the Trojans. That could change this year, as UCLA, playing its first year in the Big Ten conference, finished with a 30-2 record, which included a 77-62 victory over the defending champion South Carolina in December. The Bruins, who play in the first round on Friday, earned the tournament’s top overall seed; South Carolina finished second. USC, however, handed UCLA its only two losses, and also earned one of the four top seeds. The Trojans are led by sophomore sensation JuJu Watkins, who averaged 24.6 points per game this season, good for second-best in the nation. Advertisement Red Storm Rising St. John’s coach Rick Pitino has more than proven his worth as a turnaround artist: in each of his six stops as a college head coach (Boston University, Providence College, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona, and St. John’s), he’s led teams with a losing or mediocre record at the time of his hiring to 20-plus victories by the end of his second year in charge. For the first time since 1986, St. John’s won both the Big East regular and conference tournament championships; the Red Storm packed Madison Square Garden all season and brought pizazz back to a New York City college basketball scene that felt languid for decades. St. John’s begins its quest to make its first Final Four in 40 years on Thursday night in Providence, against Omaha. If they advance to the second round to face Arkansas, who plays Kansas in the first round, Pitino will square off against Razorbacks coach John Calipari. Pitino reportedly helped Calipari get his head-coaching start, at Pitino’s alma mater, UMass, back in the late 1980s. Since then, the two alpha Hall of Famers have become, in the words of Sports Illustrated, “The Very Best of Enemies.” Advertisement The tournament selection committee clearly screwed up by putting underqualified North Carolina in March Madness. That UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham chaired the committee provided terrible optics for the NCAA. But a potential Pitino-Calipari duel in Round 2? That’s some quality work. Ivy, for Three The women’s selection committee also got it right when it broke convention to award a mid-major conference like the Ivy League not only one at-large bid to the tournament—a victory in itself—but a second as well, giving the Ivies three women’s NCAA tournament teams for the first time in history. All three teams made their case. Harvard was the automatic qualifier by beating Columbia in the Ivy League title game last Saturday: senior guard Harmoni Turner went out and dropped 44 points on Princeton in the semis of the Ivy tournament, before adding another 24-point outing against the Lions in the championship, to clinch Harvard’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007. The Crimson, seeded 10th, face No. 7 Michigan State in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday. Advertisement Columbia finished the regular season atop the Ivy League at 13-1; the Lions earned a second straight at-large bid to the NCAAs. Leading scorer Riley Weiss, a sophomore guard from Long Island, struggled from the field in the Ivy Tournament, shooting just 6-22 over two games; she’ll need to find her groove for the Lions to win their First Four game against Washington in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Thursday; the winner plays West Virginia in the first round on Saturday. Princeton finished second in the league at 12-2, and squares off against Iowa State’s dominant center Audi Crooks in a First Four game on Wednesday in South Bend, Ind. Princeton beat North Carolina State in the first round two years ago and knocked off Kentucky in 2022. Tiger coach Carla Berube, a member of Geno Auriemma’s first UConn national championship team in 1995, owns an impressive 121-24 record in her six years as Princeton’s coach. Auriemma can’t coach forever. Check out his potential successor this week. Advertisement McNeese Management Student managers of basketball teams get the spotlight: they’re too busy doing the behind-the-scenes grunt work, everything from dishing out towels to players to helping arrange travel to rebounding at shootarounds. McNeese State senior Amir Khan, however, has gone viral for leading the team’s tunnel walkouts, with a boom box, before games. Nicknamed “Aura” by his teammates, the hype man has become so popular, he’s signed Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick, and Insomnia Cookies; according to On3.com, Khan is the first manager to ever sign a NIL agreement. "If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court,” Khan says in his official McNeese State bio, “I'd put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers." Khan’s hype game will be in full force on Thursday, when the No. 12 Cowboys face Clemson in Providence. Advertisement One More Paige for the Record Books Two years ago, UConn’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Campus, came up with a list of the top 10 women’s basketball players in the school's history. No easy task, given all the greats that have come through Storrs during the Auriemma era, but the student journalists did a fine job: Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore, and Diana Taurasi topped the rankings. Paige Bueckers would surely be on such a list of it were done today. But unlike those 10 greats recognized a couple of years back, she’s never won a championship. By any measure, the senior standout is an all-time UConn great: in 2021, she became the first freshman in history to win National Player of the Year honors, and this season “Paige Buckets” reached the 2,000-point milestone faster than any other player in UConn’s storied history. But the lack of a title, at a school that produces them with regularity, is a frustrating hole in her otherwise stellar resume. Bueckers plans to forgo her extra year of college eligibility to enter the WNBA, where she’ll most likely be the top overall pick in April’s draft. Her last championship campaign starts Saturday, in the first round against Arkansas State.

If you’ve been sleeping on TikTok trends, you might not realize that across the internet, millions of people are stocking up on supplements like magnesium, eating kiwis before bed, or taping their mouths shut—all in pursuit of better sleep. “Sleepmaxxing,” as the trend is called, is an umbrella term coined by social-media users to describe hacks that can maximize or improve sleep quality and quantity. “You can sort of think of it as a modified or upgraded version of sleep hygiene,” says Dr. Sam Kashani, a sleep medicine specialist and assistant clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Advertisement Is it useful—or just another waste of time and money? “I think it’s a positive thing that people want to take measures to optimize their sleep,” he says. “But there’s a fine line between ‘healthy’ sleepmaxxing and being somewhat obsessive and hyper-fixated on sleep.” Here’s what experts want people to know about the trend—including the point at which it goes too far. What are the most popular sleepmaxxing strategies? There’s no single way to practice sleepmaxxing. Rather, people combine the products, techniques, and strategies that work for them. Among the options: Taking magnesium and melatonin supplements Avoiding liquids for two hours before bed Using a white-noise machine Mouth-taping Eating a kiwi before going to sleep Using a weighted blanket or cooling pillow Lowering bedroom temperature Wearing a sleep mask Showering one hour before bed Meditating Not setting an alarm clock

Abortion rights advocates are closely following what they call a growing and alarming trend: lawmakers in several states have introduced bills that would allow authorities to charge people who obtain abortions with homicide. Such bills have been introduced in at least 10 states for the 2025 legislative session: Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is tracking these proposals. Most of those states have already banned abortion either in nearly all circumstances or after six weeks of pregnancy. (Missouri and North Dakota are the only exceptions; both of them previously had near-total abortion bans that have since been overturned.) Advertisement The bills refer to an embryo or fetus as an “unborn child” or “preborn child.” They claim that an embryo or fetus can be a homicide victim, opening the door for authorities to charge and prosecute people who seek abortions. Some of the bills also propose removing clauses from state laws that protected pregnant people seeking abortions from prosecution. The bills include limited exceptions, such as in a situation resulting in “the unintentional death of a preborn child” after “life-saving procedures to save the life of a mother when accompanied by reasonable steps, if available, to save the life of her preborn child.” Lizzy Hinkley, senior state legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, says she believes there has been an uptick in the number of these bills that have been introduced this year, which is “very, very alarming.” Hinkley points out that many of the states considering these bills, such as South Carolina, allow for the death penalty. “It’s very much right out of the anti-abortion playbook to be introducing bills that try to control, try to oppress, and punish pregnant people,” she says. Three of these bills—in Indiana, North Dakota, and Oklahoma—have since failed to advance. And Mary Ziegler—a professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law with expertise in abortion—says the likelihood of the remaining bills passing is “relatively low.” These types of proposals are generally unpopular; Ziegler says that even conservatives and anti-abortion activists are divided on whether to penalize people seeking abortions. “Having said that, I think [these bills are] more likely to pass now than they were in previous years, and the fact that they keep coming back is significant,” Ziegler says. She adds that more of these bills have been introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the constitutional right to abortion.

If you subscribe to the “MAHA” approach to nutrition—the acronym for “Make America Healthy Again,” led by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—then you already know about beef tallow. One of the movement’s rallying cries is to “Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” and it’s already having an effect: the fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake recently announced that it now cooks its French fries in “100% all natural beef tallow” instead of seed oils, an ingredient much maligned by MAHA. In social media posts, Kennedy has largely blamed obesity on seed oils—a claim that nutrition experts dispute. Advertisement Beef tallow, however, is a less familiar ingredient to the rest of the country. Is it actually good for you? Is it really a healthy alternative to seed oils? Here’s what nutrition experts say. What is beef tallow? Beef tallow is an edible fat found underneath the skin and near the organs of a ruminant animal—typically a cow—“making up about 5-6% of the animal's total weight,” says Violeta Morris, a dietitian in Columbus, Ohio. The tallow used in food is produced by rendering, or melting down, this fatty tissue. “It’s been used for centuries in cooking—specifically for frying, roasting and baking,” says Kim Yawitz, a registered dietitian and gym owner in St. Louis. Its popularity has waxed and waned, largely due to shifting views on dietary fats. The nutritional profile of beef tallow can vary depending on the part of the cow from which the tallow is derived and whether the cattle are grass-fed or grain-fed, Morris says. But in general, nearly half of the fat in beef tallow comes from saturated fat—which raises concerns among experts about its risks for heart health.

Bone-dry winds tore across parts of Texas and New Mexico, kicking up dust storms and causing dangerous driving conditions, as forecasters said the risk of fires breaking out in the parched region would persist into Thursday. A red flag warning, indicating a high risk that fires could start or spread, was in place for parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois until Thursday. Wind gusts of over 60 miles per hour were forecast for northwestern Texas as well as the Texas Panhandle overnight, according to the Weather Service, with the potential for new fires and continued dust storms. The wind direction was expected to shift in some areas tonight in the southern Plains, which could create challenges for firefighters. Damaging winds were also expected to pick up in Oklahoma and West Kansas. The Weather Service’s bureau in Norman, Okla., said on social media that strong winds would continue for much of the day on Wednesday. It had warned on Tuesday night of “extremely hazardous” travel because of low visibility, especially in southwest Oklahoma.Blowing dust reduced visibility to near zero around Lubbock, Texas, as it moved into southwestern Oklahoma on Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said. Parts of the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma were under blowing dust warnings until early Wednesday. Severe dust storms also hit New Mexico, where the authorities had urged people to avoid driving on Tuesday. Poor visibility led to dangerous driving conditions and some road closures, according to New Mexico’s Transportation Department. Winds were diminishing on Wednesday but patchy blowing dust was still possible in the eastern part of the state, the Weather Service said. Severe weather and crashes led to the closure of a stretch of Highway 54, in the village of Ruidoso, N.M., about 65 miles west of Roswell, according to the authorities. On Tuesday night, the severe weather conditions knocked out power to On Wednesday, about 40,000 customers in Texas were without power after severe weather conditions knocked out service, according to PowerOutage.us, a tracking website. Critical fire conditions were expected to return to the eastern part of New Mexico on Thursday, the Weather Service said. In Texas, a fire near Borger in Hutchinson County broke out on Tuesday evening and by Wednesday it had spread to 500 acres, after wind gusts had reached 70 miles per hour, city authorities said in a statement on Wednesday. It was about 50 percent contained. Power was out for much of the city, which has a population of more than 12,000, on Wednesday, the statement said. Another fire in a largely agricultural area in northern Dallam County more than doubled, to about 18,000 acres, and was 50 percent contained by Wednesday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The authorities in the area shut down roads because of low visibility from blowing dust and wildfire smoke.

Wildfires in Los Angeles. Tornadoes in the South and Midwest. Flooding in North Carolina. From coast to coast, a wave of extreme weather events over the past year has destroyed homes and upended lives. As the planet gets warmer, it’s essential for home buyers to consider climate vulnerability. If you already own a home, how can you best protect it from the next weather disaster? A good place to start is double-checking your insurance policy (hazard insurance is often required when closing on a home). You may also want to make a record of all the items in your home, as most insurance carriers require policyholders to submit comprehensive lists of everything lost in a disaster. Here are some more tips on how to defend your home against three distinct climate threats. Flooding To best protect and prepare your home for a flood, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends purchasing flood insurance, which is a good idea even if you don’t live in a flood zone (and even if you’re a renter). If a strong storm is in the forecast, go outside and make sure that sidewalks, curbs and storm drains are clear of debris and leaves. Then do some checkups around the house: Does water pool around the foundation or windows? Are the gutters or downspouts clogged? If you see trouble, call a professional. If your basement is prone to flooding, consider installing French drains, a sump pump and an ejector pump, all of which can prevent water from breaching your basement floor. Installing a water alarm could be helpful too. FEMA also suggests that homeowners “elevate and anchor” critical utilities, like electrical panels, propane tanks, sockets, wiring, appliances and heating systems. For example, if your water heater is in the basement, replace it with a tankless one mounted on the wall, or move it to the first floor. Elevating or moving some furniture and valuables to a higher floor or attic is also a good idea. You can even elevate your entire home. If you plan to renovate, consider installing ceramic-tile floors instead of wood and carpet, cement board instead of drywall, and flood vents. Wind The increase in hurricanes, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms means not just more water, but more wind. Even if your home is strong enough to fend off a wind storm, the trees and objects around it may not be. Let’s start inside. Storm shutters, stormproof glass, and shatter-resistant film can protect windows from flying debris. If you have an attached garage, you can reinforce it by strengthening the wheel tracks. And if you have double-entry doors, secure them with a heavy-duty deadbolt. FEMA also suggests building a safe room to shelter in. Make sure that everything that lives outside — fencing, sheds, trash cans, patio furniture, gutters and downspouts — is secured and won’t become a projectile. That includes landscaping: Rock and gravel materials can ravage wood and vinyl siding. Think about mulch or dirt instead. The roof is often the first thing to go in a fierce wind. FEMA recommends fortifying it by reattaching loose shingles and installing roof strapping — metal connectors that strengthen the connection between the roof and the walls. Finally, strong winds can topple dead trees and send branches flying. Contact an arborist or landscape specialist to remove damaged or dead trees from your property, and consider cutting down any large trees that are close enough to land on your home. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Fire According to the National Fire Protection Association, small flames and airborne embers are often the culprits when homes are damaged or destroyed in wildfires. Flying embers can attach to your roof’s ledges and eaves, so consider installing noncombustible roof coverings, replacing loose shingles, and installing metal-mesh screening under eaves to stop embers from getting through. The “immediate zone” around your home — anything within five feet of the exterior — is the most important to address, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Make sure the roof and gutters are free from dead leaves, debris and pine needles, and move anything flammable away from the walls, such as mulch, leaves and firewood. Aside from the roof, you may want to replace your fences or decking with nonflammable materials, such as metal or tile. To get ahead, FEMA suggests installing some external sprinklers that have dedicated power sources, in case the hydrants don’t work. Embers can also enter your home via the vents, so consider installing fire-resistant vents or covering them with metal mesh.

The Trump administration said Wednesday it would suspend about $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its approach to transgender athletes, according to a White House social media account that trumpeted the pause. The move would intensify the government’s campaign against transgender people’s participation in public life and escalate a clash with elite colleges. The White House’s rapid response account on X said the decision was based on Penn’s “policies forcing women to compete with men in sports.” A person familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the administration had not formally announced the pause, confirmed the suspension and cited Penn’s past embrace of Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, as a member of its women’s swim team. In a statement, Penn said it was “aware of media reports suggesting a suspension of $175 million in federal funding to Penn” but that it had not “received any official notification or any details” from the government. The university added that it had been, and remained, “in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our N.C.A.A. and Ivy League peer institutions.” Penn, President Trump’s alma mater, is the second Ivy League university in two weeks to be so explicitly targeted by the administration. The administration announced on March 7 that it was pausing about $400 million in contracts and grants involving Columbia University, over accusations that it did not do enough to counter antisemitism on campus. Last week, U.S. officials sent Columbia a list of demands that they said needed to be met before negotiations about the canceled funding could begin. Dozens more schools are facing federal inquiries and are being squeezed by the administration’s broad efforts to cut federal spending. The administration is also putting pressure on the K-12 system. The U.S. Education Department told Maine officials on Wednesday that their federal funding was at risk because transgender athletes had been allowed to participate in girls and women’s sports.The administration’s move against Penn, which was first reported by Fox Business, came about three years after Ms. Thomas won a National Collegiate Athletic Association title in the 500-yard freestyle. Before her victory, more than a dozen members of Penn’s swim team complained, in an anonymous letter to the university and the Ivy League, that Ms. Thomas enjoyed “an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category.” Ms. Thomas was a talented athlete, they acknowledged, who had been a top-tier swimmer in the Ivy League. But they said that her achievements in women’s competition were “feats she could never have done as a male athlete.” Ms. Thomas graduated soon after, and a decision from swimming’s international governing body kept her from competing for a spot on the United States’ Olympic team. She could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, and a lawyer who has represented her in the past did not respond to a message. The acrimony over her Penn career has lingered, in part, because of Mr. Trump’s decision to make the participation of transgender people in sports a signature rallying cry during last year’s campaign and once he returned to power. In February, one day after three former Penn swimmers sued the university and others over Ms. Thomas’s participation, he issued an executive order that declared it to be “the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.” The next day, the Department of Education said it would investigate whether Penn had violated Title IX. The department’s announcement quoted a Penn swimmer, Paula Scanlan, saying she had been “forced to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete.” The Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus newspaper, reported that Penn’s athletic department removed a website about diversity, equity and inclusion, which had included the university’s policy about transgender participation, soon after. Mr. Trump’s executive order also led the N.C.A.A., which sponsors competition for more than 500,000 college athletes, to decide that transgender women would be forbidden from competing in women’s events. Penn, like many other universities, had already been bracing for a financial storm. A threatened change involving National Institutes of Health funding, the university has warned, could cost it about $240 million a year. If other federal agencies adopt similar formulas, the toll could rise to roughly $315 million annually, according to Penn. The university said this month that it was imposing freezes on hiring and midyear salary adjustments, as well as starting reviews of capital spending and faculty hiring. “The scope and pace of the possible disruptions we face may make them more severe than those of previous challenges, such as the 2008 financial crisis or the Covid pandemic,” Provost John L. Jackson Jr. and Craig R. Carnaroli, Penn’s senior executive vice president, wrote in an open letter announcing steps like the hiring freeze. The person familiar with the decision said Wednesday’s cuts were not a result of the Department of Education’s investigation into Penn but amounted to “immediate proactive action to review discretionary funding streams.” That suggests more funding reductions could be in the offing, with repercussions beyond this week’s anticipated loss of money from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense. The administration did not immediately detail specific Penn programs that stood to lose funding. But any cuts tied to medical science would be a blow to the university that prizes its hospitals and laboratories. (Medical sciences are so integral to the university at large that trustees voted last week to name J. Larry Jameson, an endocrinologist who had previously been the medical school dean, as Penn’s president.) Penn has an endowment of roughly $22 billion, which university officials say supports about 20 percent of the operating budget. Replacing lost funding, though, is not always as simple as tapping into such a war chest, and university officials across the country have been studying how long they could underwrite projects without federal backing. Johns Hopkins University, which boasts an endowment of about $13 billion, said last week that it would eliminate more than 2,000 jobs that had been connected to federal money. At Columbia, dozens of scientific studies may soon shut down after the N.I.H. moved to end more than 400 grants involving the university.

President Trump plans to sign an executive order on Thursday instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the agency, according to two White House officials. The department cannot be closed without the approval of Congress, which created it. But the Trump administration has already taken steps to narrow the agency’s authority and significantly cut its work force while also telegraphing plans to try and shutter it. The White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the plans, said the order instructed Ms. McMahon to return authority over education to the states. USA Today was first to report Mr. Trump’s intent to sign the order on Thursday. Republican attempts to shutter the agency date back to the 1980s. But the push gained steam in recent years after a parents’ rights movement grew out of a backlash to school policies and shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic. That movement, which includes key pro-Trump, grass-roots activists, expanded around opposition to progressive agendas that promoted mandating certain education standards and inclusive policies for L.G.B.T.Q. students. Activists contended that these policies undermined parental rights and values.But the hyper-partisanship around education issues has been present for decades, from progressive-leaning teachers’ unions who organized against President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policies to conservative Republican presidential candidates in 2016 who ran against the Common Core standards elevated by President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” program. Caught in the middle are the nation’s 50 million public school pupils, 15 percent of whom have disabilities. Also watching the debate are undergraduate students who receive Pell Grants because they qualify as low-income (nearly one-third of all college students) and those who receive federal student loans (about 28 percent). Public schools are mostly funded by taxes collected by states and municipalities that, by definition, already have control over that money. The federal government accounts for about 10 percent of total school funding, but that is distributed by the Education Department largely according to federal law — not the discretion of the president. That balance of power in Washington explains, at least in part, why no modern president has ever tried to unilaterally shut down a federal department. The Education Department was created by an act of Congress in 1979, and federal lawmakers would have to approve of eliminating it. Shuttering the Education Department is broadly unpopular, public opinion surveys show. Multiple polls in the past month have shown that roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea. Mr. Trump’s order is expected to spark another legal fight for the administration, which is already embroiled in multiple lawsuits. No modern president has ever tried to unilaterally shut down a federal department. Other agencies, such as the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Civil Aeronautics Board, were phased out under Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, but with the support of Congress through legislation. Additionally, no cabinet-level department has been abolished outright since the U.S. Postal Service replaced the Post Office Department more than half a century ago, and many of the programs the Education Department administers provide a lifeline to schools and students that most lawmakers have been hesitant to jeopardize in the past. Still, Republican lawmakers have already shown unusual deference to Mr. Trump, even as he has taken steps to challenge Congress’s authority in several areas while flexing his own. Notably, he directed agencies not to spend funds already authorized by Congress on programs he dislikes, a move that is banned under current law and may be unconstitutional. Closing the department would not by itself revoke the various laws that established federal funding for public schools and underserved school districts or for specific student populations, including those with disabilities. Furthermore, many education policies are controlled by other agencies, and the department does not oversee schools on military bases or in Native American territories. The Education Department has already reoriented itself to pick up many of Mr. Trump’s goals by winding down investigations started under the previous administration; starting new ones reflecting its own priorities; rolling back protections for transgender students; and cracking down on diversity programs.

The U.S. government has detained an Indian citizen who was studying and teaching at Georgetown University, and said he had been deemed “deportable” for violating the terms of his academic visa. On Thursday, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the scholar, Badar Khan Suri, could not be deported from the United States for now, pending further litigation. Mr. Suri was detained at his home in Rosslyn, Va., on Monday night, according to his lawyer, Hassan Ahmad. Mr. Suri was “awaiting his court date in immigration court” in Alexandria, La., Mr. Ahmad said. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Mr. Suri was “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” Ms. McLaughlin did not provide evidence to support the claim. Mr. Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime, according to Mr. Ahmad. Politico first reported on the news of Mr. Suri’s detention. Mr. Ahmad said that Mr. Suri denied all of the allegations in Ms. McLaughlin’s statement. He said that he believed the accusations against Mr. Suri were “seemingly based on who his father-in-law was,” but that he was still researching the case. Mr. Suri’s wife is Palestinian American. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, is a former adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader whom Israel assassinated last year in Iran. Mr. Yousef confirmed in a voice message that Mr. Suri is his son-in-law and said that Mr. Suri was not involved in any “political activism,” including on behalf of Hamas. Mr. Yousef, who lives in Gaza, said he had left his position in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago and does not currently hold a senior position with the militant group. He has publicly criticized Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. Ms. McLaughlin said that Mr. Suri had “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas,” and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had deemed him “deportable.” Ms. McLaughlin said Mr. Suri had been detained under a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the administration is using to try to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident who had a prominent role in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. The measure says the secretary of state can initiate deportation proceedings against any noncitizen whose presence in the United States he deems a threat to the country’s foreign policy interests. Mr. Trump said earlier this month that Mr. Khalil’s case was the first of “many to come.” Civil rights groups have said such arrests of immigrants with legal status are a clear violation of the First Amendment. While both men were deemed deportable under the same statute, Mr. Suri has a J-1 visa, which is used for students and academics, while Mr. Khalil has a green card. Georgetown University, where Mr. Suri is a postdoctoral fellow, said in a statement that it was not aware of Mr. Suri “engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention.” “Seeing our government abduct and jail another innocent person is beyond contemptible,” Mr. Ahmad said.