Court Finds Michigan Coal Emergency Lacked An Emergency
A unanimous panel ruled that the Energy Department’s last-resort authority did not cover a long-planned power-plant retirement.
The Ledger
Fiscal Responsibility
39 stories on fileGuarding every taxpayer penny with the seriousness it deserves, right up until it costs four cents to make one.
Senate Republicans Bring $32 Million To The Texas Race They Left Alone
A leadership-aligned super PAC entered the Paxton campaign after sitting out the summer, joining Trump- and Musk-backed groups already spending in Texas.
Texas Protects Medicaid Accuracy While 211,000 Applications Wait To Be Checked
Only 65 percent of applications were processed on time in July as new federal rules added work to an eligibility system the state says is not struggling.
Every Adult Gets $5,000 After Republicans Win, Congress Approves It And The Money Appears
The president attached a trillion-dollar dividend to the midterm result without legislation, a funding plan or authority to issue it himself.
Texas Finds $298 Million Of Progress Inside A $1.5 Billion Prison Heat Problem
The prison agency asked lawmakers to cool 15,700 beds while a federal judge considers what the Constitution requires for the rest.
Abbott Promises Cheaper Power By Breaking Up Two Lower-Cost Texas Utilities
Austin and San Antonio say the governor’s competition plan would cost customers more than $1 billion to implement and remove hundreds of millions from city services.
Whistleblower Says ICE Put Job Offers Ahead Of Fingerprints
The agency hired 12,000 officers in under a year while basic identity, credit and criminal checks struggled to keep their place in line.
Texas Preserves Its Economic Miracle As One In Five Residents Face Food Insecurity
Twenty food banks now serve more than four million Texans, while SNAP, which supplies nine meals for every pantry meal, contracts.
Labor Department Finds Hostile Working Conditions Inside The Labor Department
The agency responsible for workplace standards documented harassment, personal errands, travel violations and unreported gifts in its own leadership suite.
The War That Is Not A War Sends Diesel To A Record $5.85
Six months of fighting have raised the freight economy's principal fuel by 56 percent, a material consequence of an increasingly immaterial noun.
Texas Funds The School Choice Families Already Made
The state's August award snapshot shows 70 percent of the students in its prior-school comparison were already outside public education. An award is not the same as a claimed payment.
Texas Gives Data Centers Permission To Keep Asking For Permission
ERCOT released provisional classifications September 3 after a delay. Inclusion in its large-load review still comes with conditions, not a blanket green light to connect.
Brownsville Secures Water Funding By Becoming Less Brownsville
The city agreed to remove roughly 445 acres from its limits in a deal for up to $220 million from SpaceX. The offer came with a same-day deadline.
Congress Secures Government Funding Through The Part Where Congress Faces Voters
Trump signed the extension through December 11. The full-year spending decisions will remain available for a post-election reunion.
America Expands Trade Deficit, Preserving Room For Further Victory
July's gap rose to $88.6 billion. The year-to-date figure improved, giving the national scoreboard something for every speech.
State Department Proves Old Anti-Disinformation Office Was Wasteful By Planning An $11 Million Replacement
The new proposal would counter Chinese propaganda with paid influencers after the old center was dismantled as a censorship machine.
Army Commits Up To $2.2 Billion To Get Five Bases Partly Off The Grid They Will Remain On
The first microreactors will supply a fraction of each installation's power while contractors and utilities preserve the necessary connections.
Family Planning Grants Now Include A Five-Year Plan For Agreeing With The Administration
Twenty-three states sued after HHS required applicants and recipients to remain aligned with federal policy priorities.
Treasury Opens The G20 To Nearly 300 Journalists After Selecting Which Treasury Reporters May Attend
The department denied credentials to reporters from three major financial newsrooms and explained that the choices had nothing to do with point of view.
America First Refugee Aid Nearly Doubles For The Refugees America Is Still Admitting
Initial support could rise to $4,500 per person as South Africans account for more than 99 percent of this year's refugee arrivals.
Military Promises $86,665 Severance; Veteran Gets $10,000 After Sleeping In Her Car
A Texas National Guard veteran accepted an honorable discharge and enhanced separation pay. The discharge arrived first.
White House Construction Disrupts Marine One Radio; Fix Fails Again
An antenna was moved after the president's helicopter came too close to a passenger jet. Controllers lost contact again the day the repair was announced.
Telescope President Tried To Cancel Launches Ahead Of Schedule And Within Budget
Congress preserved NASA's Roman mission through two Trump administrations. The observatory responded by departing early.
American Diplomacy Arrives In Italy With Two Helipads And Four Hot Tubs
Ambassador Tilman Fertitta is touring Italy aboard his $450 million yacht. The republic's message now comes with a scuba room.
The Gas Was Cheap Because The Fuel Bill Wasn't Paid, Supplier Alleges
Trump praised a network selling gas 40 cents below market. A lawsuit says a distributor behind some of those gallons left nearly $4 million unpaid.
Texas Discovers Its Car-Insurance Fee Bought 3,200 Surveillance Cameras
A $1 fee approved to fight catalytic-converter theft funded an AI license-plate network. The governor paused state money as the investigation arrived.
Golf-Course Renovation Starts With 60 Trees And No Renovation Plan
The administration says the cutting is routine maintenance. The public-course redesign still lacks a final plan, schedule, disclosed cost, and required approvals.
The Four-To-Five-Week Iran War Enters Month Seven Right On Schedule
The original military timeline has survived by becoming a ceasefire, a peace memorandum, a blockade, and an open-ended economic campaign.
ICE Sets Second-Term Arrest Record After Expanding Beyond People With Criminal Records
The agency arrested 49,571 people in July. More than half had no criminal conviction and no pending criminal charge.
Canceled Wind Deal Produces $900 Million Tailwind For Trump Donor
A federal settlement reimburses RWE for abandoning offshore wind, then directs most of the money into a gas investment purchased from a donor-led fund.
Trump's Fed Pick Prepares To Raise The Rates He Was Chosen To Lower
Chairman Kevin Warsh says inflation remains too high and that the central bank has work to do if prices do not move faster toward 2 percent.
President Breaks Meatpacking Monopoly By Asking Ranchers To Become Meatpackers
The administration plans to waive processing rules after first trying to lower beef prices with more imported beef.
ICE Buys $16.7 Million Of Electric Gloves To Make De-Escalation Hurt On Contact
The no-bid order covers 6,000 pairs designed to gain compliance from detainees and protesters through painful electrical pulses.
EPA Helps Drivers Save $790 Billion By Valuing Their Fuel Savings At 23 Cents On The Dollar
Economists say correcting that and other assumptions turns the agency's claimed benefit into a $670 billion cost.
Job Market Protects Existing Positions By Creating Almost No New Ones
Layoffs remain rare and unemployment is low. The arrangement works less well for anyone attempting to obtain a job.
America First Beef Plan Begins With 300,000 Metric Tons From Somewhere Else
The 90-day tariff holiday is meant to lower grocery prices. Ranchers would prefer the domestic cattle market not be the part that gets cheaper.
Federal Reserve Confirms Prices Will Settle Right After The War The Country Started Ends
A Fed official said the inflation target is out of reach until the fighting stops. The Fed does not control the fighting.
National Debt Reaches $40 Trillion Ahead Of Schedule, In A Rare Display Of Federal Punctuality
The figure doubled in under a decade and arrived months earlier than forecast. Nobody has decided whether the speed is the good news or the bad.
Treasury Stops Making The Penny After Confirming It Costs Nearly Four Cents To Make A Penny
The move saves about $56 million a year. It only took nineteen years of losing money on the coin to stop making the coin.