Wednesday, January 29, 2025

It was another chaotic and unpredictable 24 hours in the second presidential term of Donald Trump. That's where we're starting the Seven from the Washington Post. I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Wednesday, January 29th. Let's get you caught up with today's Seven Stories.

The White House sent an email yesterday to millions of federal employees. It was titled Fork in the Road. It made them an offer, resigned from your job, and you can keep getting paid through September 30th. Those who accept the deferred resignation would be exempt from in-person work requirements until then. And they could see their duties changed in the meantime, or be reassigned or placed on leave.

This is the most sweeping effort yet by the new Trump administration to shrink the ranks of government employees. That was a centerpiece of his pitch to voters during the campaign. The offer expires on February 6th. That's a week from tomorrow. And it comes as many employees are facing return to office mandates and the threat of layoffs. So some may be tempted to take the jump.

But federal workers' unions urged their members not to take the deal, and some Democrats called it a threat to democracy. That wasn't all that happened at the White House yesterday, so stick with us for number two.

A federal judge blocked Trump's federal spending freeze after a day of confusion. That's number two. Yesterday, I told you about the White House ordering agencies to temporarily pause the disbursement of all federal grants and loans. The abrupt move caused immediate disruption to several vital government programs.

In her first news briefing, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt defended the order. It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That is something that President Trump campaigned on.

But before the order could officially take effect yesterday afternoon, a federal judge stepped in to put it on pause. The judge's order prevented the new restrictions from taking effect until at least February 3rd. If that sounds far away to you, it's Monday.

If the funding freeze goes into effect next week, it could halt trillions of dollars that go to programs funding all aspects of American life. But many important details remain unclear. For example, a correction from yesterday's episode, the original memo on Monday said it should not affect social security or Medicare, not Medicaid, as I said.

But then a further memo yesterday said that Medicaid should also not be affected. Despite that, officials told the post that they were unable to use a federal payment management system for Medicaid yesterday. And that effectively froze the program around the country. So we'll keep you up to date on whatever happens next.

3. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, warned senators against confirming him.

R.K. Jr. is Donald Trump's nominee for Health Secretary. Today, senators will question him in a confirmation hearing. Caroline Kennedy is a former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and the only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy. Ahead of the hearing, she issued a public letter to Congress warning about her cousin, and it was pretty scathing. Yesterday, a video was posted of Caroline reading her letter, urging the Senate to reject her cousin's nomination.

I've known Bobby my whole life we grew up together. It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because Bobby himself is a predator. He's always been charismatic, able to attract others through the strength of his personality, his willingness to take risks and break the rules.

In another part of the video, Kennedy said her cousin had given hypocritical advice to parents by discouraging them from vaccinating their children, even as he had his own children vaccinated. She also said that RFK Junior is, quote, addicted to power. It was an explosive prelude to today's hearing in the Senate. That gets going at around 10 a.m. Eastern. You can watch live coverage of the whole thing on our homepage or our YouTube channel.

Number four, a new strain of bird flu was detected in the US. Officials disclosed Friday that they had discovered the H5N9 form of bird flu on a duck farm in California.

The revelation comes as the US is confronting a growing outbreak of another bird flu strain, H5N1. A few weeks ago, a Louisiana man became the first person in the US to die from that strain. It's also spreading in poultry farms and among dairy cows across the nation. Officials said the new strain does not in itself pose a grave danger to humans, but its appearance raised concerns that the virus is transforming in a way that could eventually cause outbreaks among people.

Test scores show that students still aren't recovering from the pandemic. That's number five. A new report offers a troubling assessment of the nation's students. It showed that last year, reading scores continued to fall. Math results got a bit better, but they were still lower than pre-pandemic scores. The gap between low and high performers is widening, and chronic absenteeism remains a persistent problem since the pandemic.

This new data is likely to fuel competing political narratives about education in the US. Supporters of public schools argue that it shows they need more financial support. Others will say it's evidence of the need for educational reform. If you want to see how you stack up, we have a quiz with math questions designed for fourth, eighth, and 12th graders. I got eight out of 10. Could have been worse. You'll find that in our newsletter. Get the link for that in our show notes.

Number 6.

A civilian jet broke the sound barrier for the first time. Boom Supersonics' XB1 aircraft broke the sound barrier three times yesterday in a test flight over California's Mojave Desert. It's the first time that a privately developed and built aircraft has managed that feat.

The plane is small and very, very quick. Its maker, Boom, wants to bring supersonic air travel to the masses, in planes that can fly more than twice as fast as a regular passenger plane. It's been more than two decades since the Concord Jet last flew passengers at supersonic speeds across the Atlantic. Concord was grounded by a tricky business model with sky high ticket prices, but Boom thinks it can overcome those problems.

And at number seven, some prehistoric puke was discovered by a fossil hunter in Denmark. About 66 million years ago, an underwater predator had a snack. It ate two crinoids, which are ocean floor animals, also known as sea lilies. Then it threw them up.

We know this because of a gross but fascinating find by an amateur fossil hunter in eastern Denmark. The vomited remains were preserved as a fossil, which was discovered in November. Scientists were able to determine that the remains were fossilized vomit because of how the two crinoid species were so tightly packed in a round clump. The finding could tell us more about the diets of ancient sea creatures.

You can see a picture of the fossilized vomit in our newsletter today, if you're into that kind of thing. But maybe don't look while you're having breakfast, especially if you're planning to eat some crinoids.

All right, you're all caught up. But before you go, a reminder that if you're a subscriber to the Washington Post, you can get access to our shows, add free and Apple podcasts. All you have to do is find the Washington Post channel in Apple podcasts and connect to your post subscription. Then stay tuned for more subscriber-only audio benefits, like exclusive and early access episodes. If you're not a subscriber, this is a great time to start. You can sign up at our channel in Apple podcasts or through the link in our show notes.

I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.