Transcript

9.29.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, September twenty ninth. As a reminder,
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Radio I is a reading service intended for people who
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are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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to read printed material.
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Speaker 2: Your reader for today is Rod.
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Speaker 1: Brotherton, and as you know, generally on Monday, we start
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with Paul Prayther's weekly column from yesterday's Herald Leader. But
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no column from Paul today. He got the week off,
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So let's take a look at the weather today. It
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will be cloudy and very warm, with a high of
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eighty six. Tonight clear with a low of sixty one.
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Tuesday partly sunny and warm, high eighty three, low sixty one.
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Wednesday warm with sunshine still eighty one as a high
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and low fifty seven. Thursday sunshine and warm, high seventy nine,
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low fifty six. Friday it will be sunny and beautiful, as.
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Speaker 2: It will be through the weekend.
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Speaker 1: Friday will be a high seventy eight and low fifty seven.
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Saturday sunny, high seventy nine, low fifty six, and Sunday
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brilliant sunshine with a high of seventy eight and a
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low of sixty. Looking at the almanac, yesterday's high and
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low or eighty three and fifty six normal is seventy
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six and fifty four. Last year it was seventy three
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and sixty six. The record high in twenty nineteen was
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ninety four degrees and the record low in nineteen forty
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two was a mere thirty seven precipitation on Saturday nothing.
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Month to date we've had three point two seven with
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a normal of three point six, and year to date
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we have had forty six point four to one inches
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of rain, with the normal being thirty eight and a quarter.
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Last year we'd have thirty nine point three five and
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the record fore yesterday's date was just last year at
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two point twenty nine inches. For the sun and the moon,
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the sun rose this morning at seven thirty two, it
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will set tonight at seven twenty four. And as you
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can see, we've switched over at the twelve hour autumnal
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equinox and now the evenings are longer at night than
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the daytime hours. The moon will come up this afternoon
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at three h four pm, and there will be no
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moon set at our weather trivia. What animal is customarily
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found on a weather vane well, if you're an old timer,
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it's a.
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Speaker 2: Rooster, all right.
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Speaker 1: Let's look the headlines from the Washington Post. Our first story.
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FBI searches for motive after a gunman kills four at
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a Michigan church. Authorities say the suspect was killed after
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police exchange gunfire with him. The FBI is investigating the
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incident as an act of targeted violence. Federal agents are
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searching for a motive after at least four people were
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killed when a gunman rammed a truck into a Michigan
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church on Sunday, opening fire and then setting the building ablaze.
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At least eight people were injured in the attack, official said,
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which happened as the facility was packed with worshippers. Police
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said the only suspect, Thomas Jacob Sandford, who was forty
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of the nearby city of Burton, was killed by law
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enforcement within minutes of the attack, which took place at
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the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter day Saints
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building in Grand Blank Township, some ten miles south of Flint.
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The FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating
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this as an act of targeted violence. Reuben Coleman, the
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FBI is a special Agent in charge of the bureau's
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Detroit Field office, said Sunday night, federal agents are conducting
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interviews and combing through evidence as they searched for a
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possible motive.
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Speaker 2: He said.
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Speaker 1: Ten gunshot victims were sent to hospitals, Grand Blank Township
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police Chief William Rennie said, and two of whom later died.
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Two more victims were found Sunday night in the debris
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of the fire that began during the attack and engulfed
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the church. More victims could be found as authorities search
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through the rubble, Rainie said during a news conference Sunday night.
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He added that the entire church had not yet been
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cleared and that it was not known how many people
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were unaccounted for. Authorities said the suspect appeared to have
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used an accelerant to set the church on fire. I
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will confirm that there was some suspected explosive devices that
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were located, said James Deer, specialition in charge at the
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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Attack prompted some
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major cities, including Los Angeles and New York, to boost
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security presence around places of worship out an abundance of caution.
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The shooting in grand Blanc also comes weeks after a
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shooting in a church in Minneapolis left too dead and
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more than a dozen wounded. President Trump on truth Social
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said he had been briefed on the incident in Grand Blanc,
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and although law enforcement officials had not publicly identified a
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motive for the violence, he said this appears yet to
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be another targeted attack on Christians in the United States
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of America. Doug Anderson, a spokesman for the Mormon Church,
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said the organizations leaders were in communication with local law enforcement.
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We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of prayers and
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concern from so many people around the world, Anderson said
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in a statement. Places of worship are meant to be
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sanctuaries of peace making, prayer, and connection. We pray for
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peace and healing for all involved. The attacks started about
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ten thirty five a m. Law enforcement officers arrived on
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the scene within moments, Rainey said, and two offers neutralized
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the suspect by ten thirty three a m. When the
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officers arrived, the church was already on fire, which authorities
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believe was deliberately set by the suspect, Rainey said. According
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to U s Marine Corps records. Sandford served between June
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thirtieth and twenty oh four and June of twenty oh eight,
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reaching the rank of sergeant, and was deployed in Operation
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of RACKI Freedom from August twenty oh seven to March
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twenty oh eight.
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Speaker 2: Officials well execute.
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Speaker 1: Search warrants on his residence and combed through his cell
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phone records as they searched for a motive. Rainy said
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additional bomb threats were reported at other locations, including churches.
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Michigan State Police specialist Lieutenant Kim Vetter told reporters Sunday night,
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please continue to stay vigilant and if you see something suspicious,
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say something. Vetter said some of the threats were made
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against churches, which she said had been cleared by state police.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier said agents from the FBI
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and ATF were on their way to grom Blanc, and
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local authorities said more than one hundred FBI agents will
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be devoted to the case. Such violence at a place
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of worship is heartbreaking and chilling, Bondi said on x
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The city of groand Blanc, just outside Flint, is roughly
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sixty miles north of Detroit with a population of about
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eight thousand. The surrounding Groan Blanc Township, which encompasses thirty
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six square miles around the city, is home to nearly
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forty thousand people in southeast Genesee County. We are a
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very close community. This sort of thing is painful for
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our entire community. John Creasy, Grand Bloc City Mayor, said
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in an email. I'm struggling to digest all that's happened,
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and my heart goes out to all of the affected families.
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in
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Groan Blanc Township neighbors a Jehovah's Witness church in a
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residential neighborhood. My heart is breaking for the Grand Blanc community.
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Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable.
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Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrats said in a statement, we
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will continue to monitor this situation and hold the Church
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of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc
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close Next Democrats Republicans dig in head of Trump meeting
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on the funding bill. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer,
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the Democrat of New York, said Sunday he will use
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a planned meeting with President Trump and top congressional leaders
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to insist on including an extension of Affordable Care Act
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subsidies as part of a deal to avert a government shutdown.
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So far, they have stonewall and said we're not discussing
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any of that. Schumer told NBC's Meet the Press. We'll
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see if it changes on Tuesday, referring to the last
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day the federal government is funded. Trump willet with Schumer,
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the Republican of South Dakota,
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House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and House Minority Leader
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Hakeem Jeffreys, the Democrat of New York, on Monday afternoon
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to discuss congressional efforts to avert a government shutdown. Schumer
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and Jeffreys insisted that Trump opened negotiations, particularly after the
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President suddenly canceled a schedule meeting with the two Democratic
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leaders last week, arguing it could not possibly be productive
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because of Democratic demands. But over the weekend, Republicans appeared
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to be far off from agreeing with Democrats position. Johnson
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and Thune remained steadfast in their conviction that the GOP
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proposal would not be tweaked any further, regardless of any
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future conversations with the Democrats. Johnson said Sunday that Trump
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will push Democratic leaders to drop partisan demands that would
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prevent the government from remaining operational when he meets with
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them in the White House on Monday. It's important to
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point out the only thing we are trying to do
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is buy a little ton t Johnson told CNN's Jake
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Trapper on Sunday morning, referring to the September thirtieth expiration
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of government funding. Johnson said, any debate on the Affordable
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Care Act subsidies can be discussed at the end of
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the year and not right now while we're trying to
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simply keep the government open. Johnson said he spoke with
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Trump on Saturday and said the President wants to persuade
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Democrats to reverse course on their demands. Trump, he said,
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wants to bring the leaders to come in and act
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like leaders and do the right thing for the American people.
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It's fine to have partisan debate and squabbles, Johnson continued,
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but if you don't hold the people hostage for their
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services to allow yourself political cover, and that's what Chuck
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Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are doing right now. Trump told
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Reuters in an interview Sunday afternoon that he thinks the
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Democrats are interested in making a deal to avert the shutdown.
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If they don't make a deal, the country closes, Trump
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said in a phone interview with Reuters, So I get
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the impression they want to do something. Johnson also put
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the onus on Democrats to negotiate. The results are going
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to be on them, Johnson said on Fox News Sunday
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Morning Futures. I haven't seen all the specifics yet. Congressional
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Republicans have proposed a funding extension through November twenty first,
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which does not include additional policy priorities except for new
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funding for security in each branch of the government in
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response to Charlie Kirk's killing. While Republicans have the majority
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in the House and Senate, they need some Democratic support
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to pass a funding extension. In the Senate, Democrats have
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proposed their own funding extension that would keep the government
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open through October thirty first, including several policies Democrats have
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been seeking. Among the priorities are extending health care subsidies
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that were in place under the coronavirus pandemic. Without those subsidies,
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millions of Americans face huge increases in their health insurance costs,
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and many could flee government run market places as a result.
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Trump has also faced intense lobbying by conservative organizations asking
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that he not allow an extension of the Affordable Care
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Act subsidies. On Friday, more than thirty conservative groups and activists,
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including the Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, and
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the Club for Growth sen a letter calling for Trump
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to reject Democrats' unseerious and ridiculous demands. The democrats proposal
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would also restore some funding that has been frozen by
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the Trump adminsministration to reverse cuts to Medicaid enacted under
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the GOP's Tax and Immigration Bill, and returned four hundred
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and ninety one million dollars to public broadcasting that was
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rescinded in July. The House passed to the Republican funding
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extension on September nineteenth, then left Washington with no plans
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to return before the fiscal year ends on September thirtieth.
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The Senate did not pass the Republican or Democratic proposal
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on September nineteenth. Jeffries sent on ABC's This Week on
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Sunday that the White House did not explain why Trump
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canceled last week's meeting. Jeffrey said Johnson contacted him on Saturday,
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indicating the GOP leaders and Trump had spoken in that
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as a result, the meeting with all the leaders was
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on the table. This will be Jeffrey's first formal meeting
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with Trump since the second term began in January. Jeffries
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argued that Democrats' view going into the meeting is that
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we need and want to find by partisan common ground
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to find a spending agreement that avoids a government shut
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down and actually meets the needs of the American people
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in terms of their health, their safety, and their economic
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well being. Thune dismissed the idea of further negotiations, saying
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that Democrats are holding up government funding.
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Speaker 2: There is a.
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Speaker 1: Bill sitting at the desk in the Senate right now,
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Thune told Meet the Press in an interview recorded Saturday
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before Trump announced the money meeting. So this decision, in
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my judgment, at this point in time, is up to a.
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Speaker 2: Handful of Democrats.
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Speaker 1: Throon acknowledged that Congress will have to pass some sort
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of affordable care reform telling meet the press that hopefully
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there'll be some steps taken that can address the concerns
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that the Democrats have, but we can't do that by Tuesday,
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said and then noted that a few months ago Schumer
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said a government shut down would be chaotic, harmful, and painful.
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He's right, and that's why we shouldn't do it. Thane said,
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Now a little break with this story. The used oil
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from your French fry order may be fueling your next
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airplane flight. Les diplomat had an emergency. After a week
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of frying frets. The kitchen at Washington's famous standby for
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French cuisine was full to bursting with used grease. Two
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waist high storage tanks in the back of the restaurant
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sloshed to the room with dark, viscous oil during the
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weekend rush. The staff stored some of the grease that
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was spent in plastic tubs, but they were quickly running
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out of places to put it. Restaurants are prohibited from
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dumping grease down the drain because it clog the city sewers,
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so on a Tuesday afternoon, James Howell nimbly backed his
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truck up into an alley behind Lee diplomat, and he
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hopped down from the cab, snaked rubber hose into the kitchen. Then,
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with a flip of the switch and a loud drone,
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the hoe slurp the used cooking oil into the truck's
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gleaming steel two thousand, two hundred gallon tank. The spent
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grease that restaurants unload is waste. It has become a
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valuable commodity. If you've been on a plane lately, there's
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a chance that used cooking oil has helped launch you
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into the sky. Refineries recycle waste oil into kerosene pure
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enough to power a Boeing seven seventy seven. The process
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is expensive, but it can create seventy to eighty percent
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less planet warming pollution than making jet fuel out of
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crude oil. Experts SA. Last year, airlines burned three hundred
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and forty million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel called SAF
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and nearly all of it was made from used cooking
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oil or animal fat left over from meat packaging. That's
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a drop in the bucket compared to one hundred and
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fourteen billion gallons of fuel airlines burned overall, which create
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two point five percent of humanity's carbon pollution according to
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the International Energy Agency, but airlines have vowed to use
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much more SAF to lower their greenhouse emissions. European regulators
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have set strict rules requiring airlines to use more SAF
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over time, while US regulators dole out tax credits to
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cox companies into buying it. This is the airline's main
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plan for dealing with their greenhouse emissions. Upgrading new planes
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with more efficient engines helps a little, and one day
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planes may run on electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells,
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but those are still decades away and may never.
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Speaker 2: Work for long flights.
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Speaker 1: To manage most of their climate impact for the foreseeable future,
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airlines are betting everything on alternative fuels. Ninety eight percent
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of our greenhouse emissions come from the fuel we burn
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SAT Lauren Riley, chief sustainability officer at United Airlines. We'll
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continue to look everywhere we can around technology and innovation
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of the aircraft itself and the engine, but we have
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to look at replacing our fuel. Experts say this plan
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can work, but it will require fuel refiners to dramatically
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raise SAF production and find new raw materials besides old
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cooking oil to turn into kerosene. Depending on what they use,
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and how they refine it. This new class of fuel
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could make flying more sustainable or cause a whole new
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set of environmental headaches. On his rounds one day in
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early May, Howe made about two dozen stops at commercial
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kitchens around Washington, including an upscale cafe in the Michelin Guide,
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an assisted living facility, a soul food spot where old
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chicken bones clogged the house, and an Italian resting where
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two unfortunate rats had drowned in the grease bin while
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diving for a wayward meatball. And by midafternoon, his truck
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had about twelve hundred gallons of grease and its belly.
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The company he works for, Mahoney Environmental, pays a few
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cents a gallon for the wist fat it collects from
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ninety thousand businesses in the United States. Hundreds of companies
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gathered grease around the globe, with an especially large hall
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in Southeast Asia, where densely packed restaurants serve up so
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much fried food that they've become the waste oil equivalent
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of Saudi Arabia's rich petroleum fields. Waste oiled from kitchen
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and animal tallow left over from meat packing plants used
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to be and recycled into livestock feed, but now they
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are mostly turned into fuel. Fat molecules hold a lot
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of energy, and they're relatively easy to rearrange into diesel
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and kerosene. Turning fat into fuel keeps grease out of
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the landfill and.
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Speaker 2: Petroleum in the ground.
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Speaker 1: The demand, though, has begun to outstrip the supply.
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Speaker 2: There's only so.
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Speaker 1: Many waste oils to go around, and you can't really
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squeeze out much more, said Nikida Pavlinko, leads the Aviation
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and Fuels team at the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation.
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People aren't going to be frying more food or processing
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more cattle to get waste tallowed to make fuel. You're
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kind of stuck with watching it have as regulators push
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companies to buy and make more fuel from fat. The
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price of grease has also been rising, along with the
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crime surrounding it. Thieves sometimes steal grease from collection bins
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and sell it themselves.
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Speaker 2: Once, Hal said he.
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Speaker 1: Stopped at a restaurant only to find an empty bin
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and a confused cook who told him an unmarked van
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had come by earlier and siphoned off their oil.
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Speaker 2: Grease fraud is a problem too.
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Speaker 1: In some areas, used cooking oil sells for more than
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new cooking oil, prompting hucksters to sell virgin oil, including
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palm oil, which is associated with deforestation in Southeast Asia,
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as if it were used. It's hard to catch. Since
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fresh oil spiked with a little restaurant grease is almost
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indistinguishable from the real thing, You're potentially paying a premium
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for something that is worse than fossil fuel. Pavlinko said
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fuel companies cracked down on fraud by hiring inspectors to
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go out and check that their grease suppliers really are
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pumping their product out of the deep fat fryars. On
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his route, Hal takes pictures of every bind before and
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after he drains it, and uploads the proof to a
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Mahoney environmental app that verifies where his oil came from.
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At the end of the day, Howl unloads this truck
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at a depot where the oil is filtered to remove water, flour, spices,
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and any other floating food chunks. Used grease as a
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global commodity. Once it's collected, tanker ships and pipelines carry
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it to fuel refineries around the world.
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Speaker 2: Much like they do for crude oil.
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Speaker 1: Grease ships arrive a couple of times a week at
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a refinery and rotterdam run by Nestley, roll's top producer
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of sustainable jet fuel. The ship pumps their greasy cargo
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into insulated holding tanks heated to one hundred and forty
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degrees to keep the fats and oils liquid so they
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will flow easily through the pipelines. Nesley uses a type
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of clay called bleaching earth to strip out chemicals it
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doesn't want, sodium left over from salty foods, phosphorus, and
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other various materials. Then it introduces a catalyst to knock
24:30
out the oxygen molecules, which would otherwise bond with hydrogen
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when burn and create moisture that could damage the engines.
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The process creates a mixture of kerosene, diesel, propane, and
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a plastic precursor called naphtha. Jet Fuel goes through at
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least one last step to keep it from freezing mid
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flight in the minus forty degree air. Its straight hydrocarbon
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chains are bent into spiky, irregular branches that won't stack
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up and lump themselves into a solid even at very
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low temperatures. In twenty twenty three, a Boeing seven seventy
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seven flew across the Atlantic Ocean, burning fuel made from
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nothing but waste fat and sugar. The flight was a first,
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but it was really a publicity stunt, carrying virgin Atlantic
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big wigs, not paying passengers. The fuel is too expensive
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and too scarce for that to make business sense. Instead,
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Nesley blends its French fry fuel with standard kerosene made
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from crude oil before delivering it to airports. SAF is
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almost identical to standard jet fuel, and it releases just
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as much CO two when it's burned, but experts say
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there is a key difference. Drilling for oil takes carbon
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that was locked away underground and releases it into the atmosphere.
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Making fuel from used cooking oil and hallow takes carbon
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that was already circulating through the air in the bodies
26:05
and plants and animals, and recycles it. No new carbon
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moves from underground storage into the atmosphere. It takes energy
26:16
to collect and transport used cooking oil, rearrange fat molecules
26:20
into jet fuel, and get that fuel to the planes.
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But overall, making and burning SAF adds as much as
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eighty percent less carbon to the atmosphere as making and
26:32
burning fossil fuel from crude oil. But because there isn't
26:37
enough waste oil in the world to satisfy the airplane industries,
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thirst companies are developing other ways to make low carbon
26:46
jet fuel. One option is to grow more crops like
26:50
soy that can be crushed for oil and turned into
26:53
jet fuel, although that raises the risk that more land
26:57
will be cleared for farming and fragile ecosystems like the
27:00
Brazilian Amazon. Environmentalists have raised similar concerns about raising more corn, sugarcane,
27:06
or beets to create ethanol and convert it into kerosene.
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The problem with crop based biofuels is that it takes
27:17
up land to produce them at a time when we're
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already expanding crop land, which means more deforestation. The carbon
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losses are far greater than the potential savings from reduced
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fossil fuel use, said Tim Serchinger, a senior research scholar
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at Princeton Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment. Alternately,
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farmers could grow more cover crops on their fields between
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their regular planting seasons, which would create a new source
27:48
of plant oils. Or ethanol without using extra land. Some
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companies have experimented with turning trash into jet fuel, but
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the most prominent player went Bankrup up to last year.
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Others are splitting water molecules to harvest their hydrogen and
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combining it with captured carbon to make fuel. Experts say
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we'll take a combination of all these methods to make
28:15
enough green fuel.
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Speaker 2: To power the world's planes.
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Speaker 1: The one thing every alternate fuel recipe has in common
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is that they are more expensive than fossil fuel, and
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experts say.
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Speaker 2: They always will be.
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Speaker 1: Making SAF from waste oil is locked in at a
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cost which is about two times the cost of fossil jet,
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and it's going to be entirely reliant on subsidies. According
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to pad Flinko, the other methods could be even more expensive,
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even after they've had time to raise production and lower costs.
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Speaker 2: The future of.
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Speaker 1: The industry will depend on whether the United States keeps
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tax credits in place and the European Union stands by
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its green fuel mandates. Nesley is expanding its Rotterdam refinery
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and anticipation of stricter EU blending rules in the United States,
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the first large scale SAF operations starting pumping out fuel
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in recent years in response to new tax credits that
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have since been weakened and back at led diplomat amid
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the evening rush hour, freet's flow out of the kitchen
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to feed hungry diners who are unwittingly help launch planes
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into the sky with every single bite. And our next story,
29:36
the full force of Trump's federal job cuts is about
29:41
to hit the DC region. The Washington d C. Region
29:45
is bracing for new economic pain next week, as paychecks
29:50
stopped coming for thousands of federal workers who took the
29:54
government's offer of deferred resignation, and the threat of a
29:57
shutdown could make it worse. Since January, the region's unemployment
30:03
rate has already increased more than eight times as quickly
30:07
as that of the country as a whole, according to
30:10
analysis by the Brookings Institution.
30:12
Speaker 2: Published last week.
30:14
Speaker 1: The region has also shed federal jobs at a higher rate,
30:18
and both the share of residents with low credit scores
30:21
and the number of homes for sale has grown more
30:24
quickly than the rest of the country. Meanwhile, private sector
30:28
job growth has plateaued. That's all before the full effects
30:34
of President Trump's cuts to the federal workforce hit When
30:38
the fiscal year ends Tuesday night, government workers who have
30:42
been on paid leave for months will be officially out
30:45
of their jobs. A prolonged shutdown, which could also begin
30:49
next week, could delay pay for the remaining federal workers too,
30:54
and contractors who don't usually get back pay from shutdowns
30:59
would suffer as well. The White House Budget Office told
31:03
agencies that if the government shuts down, they should prepare
31:06
for mass firings, dealing another blow to the civil service.
31:12
We see a lot of strong early warning signs, said
31:15
Tracy hadn't low a fellow at Brookings Metro. From the
31:20
loss of federal jobs to changes in federal contracts and
31:24
federal real estate, the region has shouldered one blow after another.
31:29
For many government employees, the economic danger is already here.
31:34
In interviews, seven federal workers of varying ages, backgrounds, and
31:39
life stages, all of whom live in or around Washington
31:43
and took the resignation offer, describe a despair inducing job
31:48
search saga. Brian Najarro, a fifty five year old former
31:53
State Department employee, said he has unsuccessfully thrown his resume
31:58
at more than fifty positions since resigning in May. He
32:01
expected a rough job market, he said, but nothing this bad.
32:07
Speaker 2: It's terrible.
32:08
Speaker 1: You have far more people going for those very specialized
32:12
jobs and would normally be out there. And then Ranjo said,
32:15
and a lot of the usual places people turn into Washington.
32:19
Speaker 2: Are not just hiring.
32:22
Speaker 1: Some workers have canceled donations to charity or date nights.
32:26
Speaker 2: For others, the.
32:27
Speaker 1: Changes have been more sweeping, waving goodbye to career paths
32:31
they had dedicated decades too, and weighing whether to move
32:35
out of the region altogether. I'm more and more apprehensive
32:39
as October approaches, said Jennifer mallinab, who resigned from the
32:43
Department of Homeland Security after more than twenty years struggling
32:47
to find a new job. She lives with her husband
32:50
and four children in northern Calvert County, Maryland. This is
32:55
not where you want to be at forty two with
32:57
a family. Federal workers opted into the deferred resignation offer
33:04
because they were nearing retirement. Some had ethical qualms about staying.
33:10
Others thought they would soon be fired anyway. After all,
33:14
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, his leading cost cutter through
33:19
the US DOGE Service, had vowed to slash jobs as
33:23
part of the biggest reorganization of the federal bureaucracy in decades.
33:28
Musk promoted the offer soon after it first hit employees
33:32
inboxes in January, arguing it was crucial to reorganize a
33:37
workforce he has long characterized as lazy and disloyal. The email,
33:43
titled fork in the Road, instructed workers to reply resign
33:48
if they wanted to accept. Most civil servants were eligible.
33:53
The offer was briefly stalled by a lawsuit, but then resumed. Still,
33:59
the federal government has spent more this year on federal
34:02
salaries than last year to this point. As of this
34:06
past summer, more than one hundred and fifty four thousand
34:09
federal workers nationwide had volunteered to leave government, but we're
34:14
still getting paid, the Washington Post reported in July. The
34:19
Office of Personnel Management, the federal government's hr ARM was
34:24
not shared, has not shared how many of those workers
34:27
will be off the payroll next week, but an agency
34:30
spokeswoman estimated about two hundred and seventy five thousand workers
34:34
will have voluntarily left government through buyouts and retirements by then.
34:40
The cuts hit the d C metropolitan area hard in
34:45
the region, which as the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines
34:49
it stretches far beyond the district into Virginia, Maryland, and
34:53
a patch of West Virginia. About one in ten jobs
34:57
are with the federal government. Many more residents work for
35:01
companies and nonprofit groups reliant on federal spending. While job
35:07
growth is sluggish nas than wide, it is stronger in
35:10
other metro areas than in the DC region. Private sextor
35:15
growth is not compensating for the shock that's happening to
35:19
the regional labor market, said Lo from Brookings. It's a
35:23
similar story for residents. Credit getting worse across the country,
35:28
but getting worse here much faster, she said. DOGE has
35:34
been a disaster for Washington d C. Said in it Jane,
35:38
one of the district's two shadow senators who advocate statehood,
35:43
Representative James Walkinshaw, Democratic West Virginia, said he hears daily
35:49
from current and former federal workers and contractors in his
35:53
Northern Virginia district about the cuts. A handful, he said,
35:57
have felt no choice but to leave the area. That's
36:01
a gut punch, Walkinshaw said, both on a personal level
36:05
and as a public official who cares about the economic
36:08
future of his community, Our biggest strength is our workforce,
36:14
a highly educated, highly skilled, motivated, mission focused workforce.
36:19
Speaker 2: He said.
36:21
Speaker 1: Anytime one of those folks leaves to go somewhere else,
36:24
that is a loss for our region. Naranjo, the former
36:29
State Department worker, has said he has friends in their
36:33
forties and fifties, all former federal employees, who are considering
36:37
leaving DC to move back in with their parents in.
36:42
Speaker 2: Owings, Maryland.
36:44
Speaker 1: Melanab forty two, took the deferred resignation offer because she
36:48
worried that DHS would abolish her job anyway, because she
36:53
was asked to divert funds from counter terrorism to immigation enforcement,
36:57
which she believed was illegal. Her office has been stripped
37:01
of funding, and all her former colleagues have been fired
37:05
or reassigned, or have otherwise departed. She has applied to
37:09
upward of three hundred and fifty positions since she went
37:12
on paid leave in June. She has been invited to
37:16
six interviews, she said, but none so far have led
37:19
to offers. During two calls, she said she was described
37:24
as over qualified. She has tried for chief of staff positions,
37:30
HR jobs, and lower level administrative officer slots within state
37:35
and county governments. She and her husband canceled day care
37:39
so she balances caring for her twenty month old with
37:42
the daily scouring of LinkedIn. They also canceled all planned
37:46
family vacations and told their oldest daughter they can no
37:50
longer promise to pay for college. If Melanab can't find
37:56
work well in the next year, she may have.
37:59
Speaker 2: To move away, she said.
38:01
Speaker 1: A former Peace Corps staffer who spoke on the condition
38:04
of anonymity out of fear of harassment and negative consequences
38:08
in her job search, said she stopped eating out and
38:12
limited her trips to the local laundromat. Instead, she sometimes
38:16
hand washes her clothes with old bars of soap she
38:19
saved from her time overseas. She thinks she can stretch
38:23
her savings through January, but after that may have to
38:27
leave her DC apartment and move in with her aunt.
38:31
But like some other former federal workers, she's not sure
38:35
what she'll do about health insurance once her government coverage
38:39
runs out. The loss of federal jobs isn't the only
38:43
problem the DC region faces now. By several key indicators,
38:48
marketing forecasts, street level foot traffic, hotel occupancy, Washington's tourism economy.
38:56
Speaker 2: Is sliding too.
38:59
Speaker 1: Beyond neral employment. We relied on tourism, but foreign tourists
39:05
aren't coming, and we relied a whole lot on universities
39:09
bringing talent would then stay here and be part of
39:11
our talent pool, and that's kind of gone too. Said Yes,
39:16
I'm cy In, executive director of the DC Policy Center
39:20
or a local thank tank. So what are we now?
39:24
Speaker 2: We just don't know.
39:27
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, elected officials and regional leaders from the public
39:30
and private sectors will unveil on online one stop shop
39:35
resource to help residents navigate the job search and better
39:39
understand available support services across the region, said Clark Mercer,
39:44
executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. A
39:49
lot of other states have been aggressively marketed in this
39:51
region to try to attract folks to leave. We need
39:55
to speak with one voice to remind these folks just
39:58
how valued they are, also appoint them in the direction
40:02
of a really comprehensive resource.
40:05
Speaker 2: He said.
40:06
Speaker 1: Local nonprofits were already contending with the cancelation of government
40:11
funded grants when the administration threatened to shut down the
40:14
annual charity drive that federal workers can donate to. Although
40:19
the fundraising campaign will continue this year, nonprofit groups are
40:23
bracing for fewer donations because of job losses and greater need,
40:28
including from former federal workers. This region stands to take
40:33
a hard hit from those who are no longer employed
40:38
but can't find new employment and now find themselves in need,
40:42
said Rosie Allan Herring, President and chief executive of the
40:47
United Way of the National Capital Area. It's a full
40:51
circle moment to be a donor and now finds yourself
40:54
in need, but it is very real for this area.
41:00
One of the program's United Way supports, a financial empowerment
41:04
center on Prince George's Community College campus, has come in
41:08
handy for Helen Robinson, a former Food and Drug Administration
41:11
program analyst who lost her job after two decades during
41:16
the agency's mass dismissals in the spring. She needs advice
41:20
for how to make ends meet now that she's making
41:22
significantly less working part time. It's a terrible blow, said Robinson,
41:28
sixty two. Worried about greater demand and costs, including higher
41:32
food prices. DC's Central Kitchen, a nonprofit group that distributes
41:38
food to the needy, began its preparations for Thanksgiving a
41:41
month early, said Chief Development Officer Alexander Moore. Not only
41:46
are people losing their careers and their paychecks, but they
41:49
are also losing a sense of self too, former federal
41:54
workers and contractors say. In Fairfax County, Amanda Rose Parker,
42:01
thirty nine, is staring down a radically different life than
42:05
the one she thought she was living. She worked for
42:08
the federal government for fourteen years, most recently with the
42:12
Federal Emergency Management Agency. After earning a master's in public
42:16
policy from American University. She chose to resign because she
42:22
found her agency's changed mission unpalatable and the rigid returned
42:28
to office work schedule unworkable. Now she has applied to
42:34
more than three dozen jobs without results. She's pursuing a
42:37
teaching certification and in the interim, pondering working part time
42:42
at a preschool or maybe driving a bus to help
42:46
pay the bills. She's also taking over the majority of
42:50
child care and household chores, such as buying the groceries
42:53
and cooking, once duties split evenly with her husband. It's
42:58
not that she dislikes cook looking or that she would
43:01
find driving a bust meeting, she said, but it's all
43:04
so demotivating because I had a career. I was speaking
43:09
at conferences, I was doing important work.
43:12
Speaker 2: She said.
43:13
Speaker 1: Now I don't have a career anymore. This is not
43:17
the person I was.
43:20
Speaker 2: Next.
43:21
Speaker 1: Trump to attend gathering of top generals, upending last minute plans.
43:28
President Trump has decided he is going to the last
43:31
minute global gathering of the nation's top generals that Defense
43:35
Secretary Pete Hegseith ordered last week, he said Sunday, setting
43:40
the stage for a highly unusual meeting between the commander
43:43
in chief and the US military leaders. Trump's appearance at
43:48
the Marine Corps based Quantico in Virginia not only overshadows
43:53
hegseith planned address, but adds new security concerns to the
43:57
massive and nearly unpressed sidented military event, which was required
44:03
some generals and admirals to travel thousands of miles. Trump
44:08
casts the discussion largely as a pep talk. It's really
44:12
just a very nice meeting, talking about how well we're
44:15
doing militarily, talking about being in greape shape, talking about
44:20
a lot of good positive things. It's just a good message,
44:24
Trump said in an interview with NBC News. We have
44:27
some great people coming in and it's just a a
44:30
spree to corps, you know, the expression of spree to corps.
44:33
Speaker 2: That's all it's about.
44:35
Speaker 1: We're talking about what we're doing, what they're doing, and
44:39
how we're doing. The comments came after Washington Post reported
44:44
earlier in the day that Trump was joining the event,
44:47
whose creation caught senior military leaders by surprise last week.
44:53
We have confirmation from the White House that Potus is
44:57
now attending the speech on Tuesday, states a planning document
45:01
since Saturday that was viewed by the Post. Notice went
45:04
out to offices around the Pentagon that the decision will
45:07
significantly change the security posture of the speech, set for
45:11
Tuesday morning at the Marine Corps University. The addition of
45:15
the President at Quantico will now put the Secret Service
45:19
in charge of securing the event. Hundreds of the military's
45:23
top commanding generals and admirals ranking one star and above,
45:28
along with their senior enlisted leaders, were ordered to attend
45:32
by Hegcith last week. The orders provided no reason for
45:36
the event and initially raised concern among attendees and military
45:40
officials that Hegsith was gathering the group to inform them
45:44
of mass firings or demotions. Last week, The Post first
45:49
reported that hegcith was ordering all generals and commanding positions
45:53
to Quantico to hear him speak for less than an
45:56
hour about military standards and his vision a warrior ethos.
46:02
But the now expanded visit from the President could change
46:05
that schedule and add a more politicized tenor to the gathering.
46:11
It's the mother of all photo ops, said Eugene R. Fidel,
46:14
a military law expert at Yale Law School. The potential
46:19
for the event to be politicized and add to the
46:22
politicization of the military is tremendously concerning, and we should
46:27
be tremendously concerning to the American people. It is estimated
46:31
that flying, lodging, and transporting all the military leaders, some
46:36
of whom will be traveling from the Middle East, Europe,
46:39
and the Indo Pacific, will cost millions. The event has
46:44
also raised security concerns about having all the top leaders
46:48
in one place, particularly given that Tuesday is the end
46:51
of the fiscal year and if the government shuts down,
46:55
it could leave key personnel stranded from their units. Hegcith
47:01
has committed to reducing the General Officer Corps by twenty
47:05
percent and has fired without cause roughly two dozen senior officers,
47:11
a disproportionate number of them female generals or flag officers,
47:16
since he was sworn in. HEGCITH is seriously considering reducing
47:21
the rank of the top commanding generals at several top
47:25
posts from four stars to three stars, and proposing a
47:29
significant consolidation of the combatant commands, which are major regional
47:35
headquarters focused on areas such as Africa, the Middle East,
47:39
and the Indo Pacific. Several officials familiar with that planning
47:43
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive
47:47
internal deliberations, told the Post all of those moves come
47:52
as the administration's new national defense strategy is expected to
47:57
significantly shift attention and resource from preparing for a conflict
48:02
with China to sharply focus on homeland defense and military
48:07
use at home. On Saturday, Trump, in a truth social post,
48:12
called for the Pentagon to send troops to what he
48:15
deemed war ravaged Portland, Oregon, authorizing them to use full
48:20
force to protect immigration and customs enforcement sites that have
48:25
drawn sporadic protesters. The order was not clear about whether
48:29
he intended to send troops under federal control or active
48:33
troops under state control, but any deployment could be challenged
48:37
in court. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, says she
48:43
doesn't think Trump has the authority to deploy federal troops
48:47
on state soil, as working with the Attorney General on
48:51
a potential response. Trump's deployment order also comes just days
48:57
after he signed an executive order direct the nation's law
49:01
enforcement and military capabilities to be used against domestic terrorism
49:06
an organized political violence, an edict that gives the administration
49:11
sweeping powers to investigate and prosecute an array of political opponents.
49:19
Speaker 2: Next.
49:21
Speaker 1: New York Mayor Eric Adams ends his reelection bid. New
49:27
York Mayor Eric Adams dropped his re election bid Sunday,
49:31
adding potentially dramatic dimension to the race to lead the
49:34
nation's biggest city. Zohran Mamdani, a thirty three year old
49:40
state assembly member who convincingly won the Democratic primary in June,
49:46
remains the front runner, but Adam's departure opens the door
49:50
for former New York Governor Andrew m cuomo to consolidate
49:54
opposition to mam Dami. A Democratic Socialists drawn on the
50:00
wrath of President Trump, as well as some established Democrats
50:04
who are wary of his leftward stances on Israel and
50:08
economic issues. Despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my
50:14
reelection campaign, Adams, a Democrat who had been running as
50:17
an independent, said in a video message. Trump, whose allies
50:22
have been pressuring Adams to drop out, told Reuters that
50:26
he welcomed the decision and believed it would benefit Cuomo.
50:31
Cuomo is running as an independent candidate after losing in
50:34
the Democratic primary to Mamdani. Curtis Sliwa is running as
50:40
a Republican in the overwhelmingly democratic city. Adam's name will
50:45
remain on the ballot because the deadline to remove it
50:48
has passed. Adams, in his sunny message, did not endorse
50:53
another candidate in the race, took veiled swipes at both
50:57
of his erstwhile rivals, Mam Donnie and Cuomo. New Yorkers
51:02
should be suspicious of any politician or political movement that
51:08
claims we must wholesale destroy the systems we created together
51:12
over generations to usher in a new, untested order led
51:17
by self styled saviors, he said, in an apparent reference
51:22
to Mam Donni. Mam Donnias sought to use such criticism
51:26
to bolster his outsider status, polls showing him leading by
51:31
double digits even when voters were asked how they would
51:35
vote without Adams and the race. His campaign recently reached
51:39
New York City's eight million dollar spending cap, with an
51:43
average contribution of twenty five dollars a person. In an
51:47
interview on MSNBC Sunday Evening, Mam Donnie said Trump and
51:51
his donors would not dictate the results of this election.
51:55
I'm excited and confident as I was yesterday at winning
52:00
this race on November.
52:01
Speaker 2: Fourth, he said.
52:03
Speaker 1: In a statement Sunday aimed at winning over Adams supporters,
52:07
Cuomo praised the incumbent mayor for putting the well being
52:10
of New York City ahead of his personal ambition. We
52:13
faced destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through
52:18
incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to
52:21
stop them, Cuomo added. Mamdani has been a vocal proponent
52:26
of Palestinian rights and has said that as mayor he
52:30
would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he came
52:34
to New York. Some of his fiscal policies, such as
52:39
calling for freezing the rent and rent controlled housing and
52:43
piloting low cost city run grocery stores have alarmed critics
52:49
in the county's financial in the country's financial capital, but
52:53
his message focusing on affordability has appealed to New Yorkers,
52:58
especially those of younger j generations struggling with the city's
53:02
high cost of living. He won the primary with a
53:06
record number of votes in any Democratic primary in the
53:10
city's history. Mamdani has been working to shore up endorsements
53:15
to strengthen his position against Cuomo, but some top Democrats
53:20
have yet to endorse him, including House Minority Leader Hakim
53:24
Jeffreys of New York and Jeffries praised Adams on Sunday
53:28
in a statement, saying he had served courageously and authentically
53:33
as a public servant, and indicated that he would publicly
53:36
weigh in with respect to the remaining candidates in the
53:40
mayor's race before.
53:42
Speaker 2: Early voting begins.
53:44
Speaker 1: Trump has denied encouraging Adams to drop out of the
53:48
race or offering him a role in the administration, but
53:53
has said he would prefer a two man race, and
53:55
has inaccurately called Mamdani a communist him the scenes, members
54:01
of his administration have dangled jobs to both Adams and
54:04
Sliwa in an attempt to clear the rest of the field,
54:08
but negotiations for an Adams ambassadorship fell apart, according to
54:13
two people familiar with those conversations, who spoke on the
54:16
condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. While sitting presidents
54:23
sometimes used their political muscle in big city mayor oral.
54:26
Speaker 2: Races, they rarely intervened to the.
54:29
Speaker 1: Extent that Trump's administration appears to have done. Frank Corone,
54:34
a top Adams advisor, said no role in the Trump
54:37
administration had been determined. We'll figure all that out later,
54:41
he said. Adams was charged with federal corruption last fall,
54:47
with prosecutors alleging that he had accepted the legal campaign
54:52
contributions and luxury travel benefits from Turkish business executives and
54:58
at least one unnamed government of official. Adams has long
55:02
denied wrongdoing and refused to leave office as he fought
55:05
the case. The indictment was dismissed in April, following a
55:10
controversial push by the Justice Department to determine the case
55:15
while denying a request by federal officials for the option
55:18
of reinstating the charges because it could appear that Adams
55:23
was beholden to government demands. In his Sunday video, Adams
55:29
referenced to his corruption case as having dented his standing
55:32
with voters. Some remained unsure of me after the unfortunate
55:36
events surrounding my federal case, Adams said, I was wrongfully
55:41
charged because I fought for this city, and if I
55:43
had to do it again, I would fight for New
55:46
York again. The same week that the case dismissal was requested,
55:52
Adams met Trump Borderzar Tom Holman in New York, where
55:56
he made a handful of immigration related announcements aligned with
55:59
the presidents. That episode further coroded the mayor's standing among
56:04
some New Yorkers and elected officials, who renewed calls for
56:07
him to resign. Adams had lost a key fundraising mechanism
56:12
when the New York City Campaign Finance Board withheld matching
56:16
funds for his campaign. The constant media speculation about my
56:22
future and the campaign finances board the decision to withhold
56:26
millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the
56:31
funds needed for a serious campaign, he said Sunday. Over time,
56:37
I hope you will see that despite the headlines and
56:39
innu window, I always put you before me always. And
56:47
there were almost six hundred people that comment on this story,
56:52
and the comments reflect a strong sentiment against Eric Adams,
56:56
with many suggesting his withdrawal from the New York mayor
57:00
race was due to corruption a potential deals with the
57:04
Trump administration. There is a notable support for Zoorn Mandami,
57:10
who is seen as a fresh alternative to the old
57:13
political establishment. Many commenters expressed relief at adams exit, viewing
57:19
it as an opportunity for change in New York City politics.
57:25
And this concludes the reading of the Washington Post for Today, Monday,
57:28
September twenty ninth. Your reader for today has been Rod Brotherton.
57:32
If you have any questions, comments, are suggestions concerning the program,
57:37
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
57:39
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening,
57:42
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
57:47
on Radio I