Politics and government

OFAC adds persons to SDN List, blocks U.S. jurisdictional assets

1 min read13 hours ago

U.S. persons are prohibited from transactions with listed individuals effective August 7, 2026

GAO Finds Gaps in Ethics Oversight for DOGE Personnel in EOP

1 min read18 hours ago

Report identifies 206 DOGE staff in the Executive Office, including 27 special government employees, and notes incomplete training and disclosure records.

Politics

President issues permit for Cameron County to operate Brownsville-Matamoros Bridge

1 min read3 days ago

The July 30, 2026 Presidential Permit lets Cameron County, Texas own, operate and maintain the Brownsville-Matamoros Bridge, subject to conditions and approval.

Oversight

President issues order to add signage warning of ideological capture at Smithsonian

1 min read3 days ago

The order directs the Interior Secretary, OMB, GSA and domestic policy aide to install temporary signage on National Park Service walkways warning visitors about the National Museum of American History's alleged ideological bias, effective July 24, 2026.

Elsewhere

What other outlets are reporting on this beat. We link out; we do not republish.

Federal job listings provide clues for next set of Schedule P/C conversions
New data from the Partnership for Public Service analyzes the current and potential future scope of Schedule Policy/Career through federal job postings. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images As agencies prep for a reported second round of conversions of federal positions out of the competitive service and into the at-will Schedule Policy/Career, experts have taken to reading new job postings as tea leaves in an effort to understand the initiatives current and future scope.The new job category, ostensibly for “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, and policy-advocating” positions in government, was formally implemented in June, when President Trump signed an executive order converting around 8,000 positions from the apolitical competitive service into the excepted service.Employees placed into Schedule P/C are effectively at-will employees; they no longer may challenge adverse personnel actions before the Merit Systems Protection Board, and their whistleblower complaints would be investigated by their own agency, rather than the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.But since its initial implementation, it has been difficult to ascertain whom exactly has been impacted by the new policy. Thus far, the only public documentation of Schedule Policy/Career’s scope are the statements of officials, who have said 97% of conversions involved GS-15s or senior leaders (SL), and an appendix to Trump’s executive order listing various job titles by agency, along with a position number that agencies only use internally.New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service examining more than 130 listings that mention Schedule P/C on USAJOBS, the federal government’s dedicated online job board, has found at least a dozen positions—or nearly 10%—tagged for the new job category at the GS-13 level or below. In some cases, jobs like airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration were listed as Schedule P/C despite not being listed in the appendix, though the agenc
Government Executive 11 hours ago
GSA looks to ‘meaningfully increase’ hiring to replenish its workforce
Since the start of the second Trump administration, GSA’s Public Buildings Service has cut its total workforce by more than 2,500 employees through a combination of layoffs, attrition and voluntary separation incentives. David Ake/Getty Images The General Services Administration, the federal government’s landlord, is looking to increase its hiring after going through significant staffing cuts last year. GSA’s Public Buildings Service told staff in an internal notice last week that a total of 142 new vacancies have been posted to USAJobs, “reflecting our continued growth and need for talented individuals.” According to the notice obtained by Government Executive, PBS is hiring a mix of construction managers, lease contracting officers and building managers. GSA Administrator Ed Forst told office heads in a separate email that “we need to meaningfully increase our hiring in certain disciplines and decisively attract the best talent that will support GSA as we continue to grow as an agency.” “Recruiting the right people is one of the most important things we will do to strengthen our agency. The people we bring in will shape our capacity, our performance, and our ability to power the federal government for today and our future,” Forst wrote. An agency official familiar with the matter told Government Executive that 142 vacancies “constitutes just one week's worth of hiring news,” and that "GSA has a few hundred approved hiring opportunities, which will include external hires and internal merit promotions.” “Many positions have already been filled, and many more opportunities are in the offer or awaiting onboarding stage as GSA strategically invests to meet its evolving mission needs,” the official said. Current and former agency officials said significant hiring is needed at PBS to help it recover from last year’s deep staffing cuts. Since the start of the second Trump administration, PBS has cut its total workforce by more than 2,500 employees through a combination of
Government Executive 13 hours ago
NRC opens, defines hearing opportunity for Orano’s Project Ike
If a contested hearing is held, the licensing board “should manage the schedule such that the overall hearing process is completed within 315 days” of the FR notice. That timeline fits the NRC’s plans to complete its review of Orano Enrichment’s license application in 12 months; in the past, similar reviews typically have run 18–20 months.In the event there is a contested hearing on the application, the NRC does not intend to also conduct an uncontested hearing. In comments appended to the notice, NRC Commissioner Matthew J. Marzano expressed some doubts regarding the agency’s intended handling of a hearing on the application, saying, “The order rests on an overly permissive reading of Section 193 that I do not share.”Section 193 refers to the Atomic Energy Act section that addresses the licensing of uranium enrichment facilities. It states that the NRC “shall conduct a single adjudicatory hearing on the record with regard to the licensing of the construction and operation of a uranium enrichment facility under sections 53 and 63.”Commission guidance on the selection of hearing procedures provided in the FR notice suggests that a contested hearing—should one be conducted—would fulfill the requirement for an uncontested hearing. Once a licensing board rules on contentions, either on threshold admissibility or on merits, the hearing record would be held open until after an environmental impact statement is prepared.Marzano said he supports the NRC’s efforts at “timely, efficient adjudication” but believes the proposed order does not meet the current requirements of the Atomic Energy Act.He expressed concern that if no uncontested hearing on the application was held in addition to a contested hearing, as suggested by the NRC in the FR notice, this action “sets the stage for the Commission to credit any form of an adjudicatory record as sufficient for the statute's hearing requirement.”Calling such an action a hollowing out of the statute’s requirements, Marzano clarifi
Nuclear Newswire 15 hours ago
Judge blocks law expanding Colorado public health’s power to inspect ICE detention center
Months before reports of tuberculosis infecting a detainee at an immigration detention center in Aurora, state lawmakers sought to expand the public health department’s ability to inspect the facility.DENVER (CN) — A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking a Colorado law that sought to expand the state public health agency’s ability to inspect an immigrant detention facility in Aurora.“HB-1276 applies only to civilian detention centers, of which there is one,” Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico wrote in the opinion. “Though Colorado argues that the law only brings GEO into compliance with existing state regulations applied to other detention facilities, that law singles out this one category of facility for a separately defined set of restrictions and rulemaking.”Colorado lawmakers passed HB26-1276, the Protect Safety of Individuals Who Are Immigrants Act, expanding the state’s ability to hold unannounced inspections at immigrant detention facilities and creating a $50,000 civil penalty for denying the state access. The law would also require operators of detention facilities to provide the state with annual reports disclosing detainee health issues from pregnancies to chronic conditions and disabilities.The GEO Group, which the federal government contracts to run a 1,500-person ICE detention center in Aurora, sued Colorado in federal court on June 8. Citing the intergovernmental immunity doctrine, GEO asked the federal judge to block the state law from taking effect.The Donald Trump appointee found the new law targeted the sole contractor operating the state’s sole immigrant detention facility in a way “that is sufficient to establish that HB-1276 discriminates against GEO based on its status as a federal contractor.”Rather than granting the injunction indefinitely, Domenico enjoined the state from enforcing the new law through Oct. 15, when GEO’s contract to operate the Aurora ICE Processing Center is set to expire.“The provisions o
Courthouse News 15 hours ago
FERC approves SPP ‘topology optimization’ plan for cutting grid congestion
Utility Dive 15 hours ago
Hackers Using AI to Target Siemens PLCs in Critical US Sectors
Several government agencies in the United States have issued a joint cybersecurity advisory warning critical infrastructure organizations about hacker attacks targeting Siemens programmable logic controllers (PLCs). According to the NSA, CISA, FBI, EPA, and DOE, the hackers are scanning the internet to identify exposed PLCs and developing exploits that could cause serious disruption to industrial processes. Other potential impacts include equipment damage, safety incidents affecting workers, compromise of sensitive data, and cascading effects on supply chains, associated facilities, and business operations. The unidentified threat actors have targeted sectors such as energy, critical manufacturing, water and wastewater, food and agriculture, chemical, and commercial facilities. Targeted devices include the S7-200, S7-300, S7-400, S7-1200, and S7-1500 series; for most of them, regardless of the CPU variant. The agencies said the attackers are using AI to create exploitation scripts for initial access, credential access, DoS attacks, and other purposes. The hackers can also exploit known vulnerabilities affecting the targeted PLCs. Open source industrial automation libraries such as snap7.dll and python-snap7 are being combined with AI-made scripts to create malicious tools that mimic legitimate OT monitoring software. These tools enable the attackers to tamper with the memory of the targeted Siemens PLC, as well as configuration data and ladder logic programs.Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading. The advisory notes: “Using AI to generate exploitation scripts represents an evolution in threat actor capabilities, dramatically reducing the technical expertise and time required to develop working ICS exploitation scripts and malicious tools. In addition, AI enables adversaries to rapidly leverage additional attack vectors and adapt to defensive measures. Threat actors can easily collect public information about vulnerabilities and weaknesses, find exposed and exploi
SecurityWeek 22 hours ago
Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fees Schedule Regarding Certain Free Trials
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 160 (Thursday, August 20, 2026)] [Notices] [Pages 53913-53915] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2026-16948] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-106146; File No. SR-CBOE-2026-073] Self-Regulatory Organizations; Cboe Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Amend Its Fees Schedule Regarding Certain Free Trials August 17, 2026. Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that on August 14, 2026, Cboe Exchange, Inc. (``Cboe Options'' or ``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II, and III below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The Commission is publishing this notice to [[Page 53914]] solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance of the Proposed Rule Change Cboe Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or ``Cboe Options'') proposes to amend the free trial provisions for its End-of-Day (``EOD'') Open- Close Data, Ten-Minute Interval Intraday Open-Close Data, and One- Minute Interval Intraday Open-Close Data to replace the current participant-selected six-month historical data window with a fixed, uniform time range of July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 for all three products. The text of the proposed rule change is provided in Exhibit 5. The text of the proposed rule change is also available on the Commission's websit
Federal Register - Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday
Energy Department Announces $500 Million to Secure America's Critical Mineral and Battery Supply Chains
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) today announced $500 million for seven selected projects to expand critical mineral and material processing, battery manufacturing, and recycling capacity in the United States. In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy, the selected projects advance the President’s agenda to strengthen America’s domestic critical minerals and materials supply chains, reduce reliance on foreign sources, bolster national security, and advance American energy dominance."For too long, America has depended on foreign actors for critical materials essential to modern life that underpin our economy, energy security, and national security," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. "President Trump is reversing that dependence by securing our critical supply chains, unleashing American industry, and bringing critical materials production and processing back to the United States.""DOE is taking decisive action to secure the critical supply chains necessary to power our nation," said Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson. "These projects underscore DOE’s commitment to driving innovation, reducing reliance on foreign sources, and promoting American energy dominance."This is the third round of funding from DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling programs, which support battery materials processing, recycling, and manufacturing projects. These include demonstration projects, construction of commercial-scale facilities, and retrofitting or retooling existing facilities.Critical minerals and materials are essential to American industry, energy production, and national security. Expanding domestic capacity will help ensure the resources America needs are processed, manufactured, and recycled in the United States.Information on the selected projects is available here and here.
Department of Energy news August 7, 2026

Newsletter

What the federal government did today, and what it changes - with the document behind every item.

Federal Reserve Opens Comment Period for American Exchange Co. BHC Application

Federal Reserve Issues Change-in-Control Notice for Dunlap Trust Acquisition

Federal Reserve opens comment period on Citizens Bancshares acquisition

Federal Reserve posts change-in-control notice for Anderson family share purchase

Politics and government

OFAC adds persons to SDN List, blocks U.S. jurisdictional assets

GAO Finds Gaps in Ethics Oversight for DOGE Personnel in EOP

President issues permit for Cameron County to operate Brownsville-Matamoros Bridge

President issues order to add signage warning of ideological capture at Smithsonian