Court rulings open the door for thousands of fired federal workers to be reinstated. A U.S. official is noticeably absent from talks with Russia and Ukraine. And a couple is hit with over $100,000 in medical bills for services that their health insurance provider approved years ago.
Here’s what to know today.
Judges order thousands of fired federal workers to be reinstated
Dozens of agencies, departments and leaderships across the federal government that had terminated workers as part of their reduction-in-workforce efforts must temporarily reinstate those workers, a judge ruled yesterday.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Maryland wrote in his ruling, affecting thousands for former employees, that the government “gave no advance notice” when it conducted mass layoffs, which Bredar said is required. “There were no individualized assessments of employees. They were all just fired. Collectively,” Bredar wrote.
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The order applies to 12 departments and six agencies. They were given a deadline of before March 17 at 1 p.m. to reinstate the affected employees.
The ruling in Maryland came hours after another federal judge in California directed six federal departments to offer reinstatement to the thousands of probationary employees the Trump administration terminated “on or about February 13.” U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the Office of Personnel Management’s directive to fire all probationary employees, in a written memo and in a February phone call, was not legal. The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal in the case.
Read the full story here.
More politics news:
- In a reversal, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated he would vote to advance Republicans’ six-month funding bill, saying a government shutdown would give Trump “more power. Congress has until midnight tonight to reach an funding agreement.
- Farmers have found themselves caught in the middle of Trump’s agenda, leaving a number of them facing steep losses that could wreak long-lasting damage on the industry.
- Elon Musk made an unannounced visit to the NSA and met with its chief, days after he called for revamping the cyberespionage hub.
- The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the president’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, requesting the court limit the scope of lower court rulings against the practice.
- The White House has directed the U.S. military to draw up options to increase American troop presence in Panama to achieve Trump’s goal of “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
- Longtime Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalvia of Arizona, one of the leading progressive voices on Capitol Hill, died from “complications of his cancer treatment” at the age of 77.
The Trump admin official absent from Ukraine-Russia talks
When Trump administration officials met with Russian and Ukrainian officials at two recent summits in Saudi Arabia, one person was noticeably absent: retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. He’s too pro-Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s taste, a senior Russian official with direct knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking said. A U.S. official in the Trump administration also confirmed that Russia did not want Kellogg involved.
Instead, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is among the officials who have attended the critical meetings. Witkoff is also the one who traveled to Moscow to spend 3½ hours with Putin on Feb. 11 on a “trust building” assignment from Trump.
Where this leaves Kellogg, a staunch Trump loyalist who has written about what he called the Biden administration’s “incompetent” foreign policies, is unclear. Read the full story here.
Couple surprised with over $100,000 in retroactively denied medical claims
Navy veteran Harve Smith and his wife, Janice, said they were blindsided when Tricare, the military’s health care program, rescinded over $100,000 in medical claims it had approved and paid several years ago. Now, the couple said they are considering using their retirement funds or remortgaging their home to clear the debt while fearing what comes next.
The ordeal began in January, when Harve Smith received a $470 bill for dermatologist visits in 2020 and soon after found out that Tricare had retroactively denied 26 more claims for a total of about $3,000 worth of services it had already reimbursed providers. Janice Smith then learned that Tricare had reversed approvals for at least 10 claims, totaling about $100,000, in the same time frame. Nine other claims that had once been marked as completed are also being re-processed.
It’s unclear what prompted the reversals, which appear to be legal under federal law, according to two health care attorneys. The Defense Health Agency, which oversees Tricare, did not say if it had overpaid or made an error or whether the couple’s case was unique. But Janice Smith is convinced she and her husband are not alone. “We can’t be the only ones in this position,” she said. Read the full story here.
Read All About It
- Intense storms with winds gusting up to 90 mph and baseball-sized hail are forecast to strike a large area of the Midwest and South.
- A paralyzed Columbine shooting survivor’s death has been ruled a homicide nearly 26 years after the school massacre.
- Columbia University will temporarily revoke degrees and expel students who participated in a building occupation during pro-Palestinian protests at the campus last year.
- The indictment of a former megachurch pastor in Oklahoma on child abuse charges relied on the application of an frontier-era law.
- Formula 1 is revving up for its 2025 season kickoff, and a lot is changing, from Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari to the addition of six rookies to the grid. Here are the biggest storylines to follow.
Staff Pick: The cancer-fighting power of the microbiome
“Microbiome” and “gut health” have become trendy buzzwords these days, rolling off the tongues of social media wellness influencers. But what does science say? This story from contributor David Cox shows just how powerful the trillions of microbes living in our guts can really be. Cox spoke to Tim Story, a 53-year-old high school football coach whose cancer treatment was failing — until he joined a clinical trial that supercharged his gut bacteria with a highly experimental fecal transplant. — Sara G. Miller, health editor
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
One of the easiest ways to manage tooth sensitivity is to use specialized oral care products. Here are the best toothpastes for sensitive teeth. The NBC Select team also looked into the best shaving bar soaps, which have ingredients like glycerin to help retain moisture in the skin.
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