News

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Alt National Park Service:  upside down flag hung by employees at Yosemite National Park signals dire distress

February 25, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – In what’s been dubbed a Valentine’s Day massacre, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired 1,000 National Park Service employees from the nation’s 63 national parks, plus another 2,000 U.S. Forest Service workers. Additional cuts target Bureau of Land Management’s 245 million acres and other federal lands.  The action is creating havoc, including in California, which has more national parks than any other state.

At Yosemite, where the cuts have forced temporary closure of four popular campgrounds, park employees hung an upside-down flag, a universal symbol of distress, atop El Capitan as crowds gathered for the annual firefall event. 

“It’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,” Gavin Carpenter, a Yosemite maintenance worker who supplied the flag, told the San Francisco Chronicle.  “We’re bringing attention to the parks, which are every American’s properties.”

Alex Wild is now the only ranger at Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California who is certified as an emergency medical technician. “I’m the only person available to rescue someone, to do CPR, to carry them out from a trail if they got injured,” he told NBC. The cuts could mean “life or death for someone who’s having an emergency.”

Fire prevention workers have also been let go, including Michael Maierhofer, a Forest Service trail maintenance worker at the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. He says his crew was dubbed a “fire militia” for its efforts to help with fires in the district ranging from extinguishing abandoned campfires to aiding in larger wildfire suppression, Montana Free Press reports.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado has been forced to close two days a week due to lack of staffing, the site posted on Facebook, while visitors to Zion National Park in Utah found long lines of vehicles due to not enough staff to man entry booths, CNN reports.

At Wrangell ST. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, which encompasses more than 14 million acres, the only bush pilot was fired, Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers told CNN. “Now how do they protect the wildlife and detect poaching activities, or find somebody that’s overdue in the park or climbers in distress and so forth?” he asked.

Without enough rangers to patrol vast areas such as Yellowstone National Park, environmentalists fear poaching of endangered or threatened wildlife and destruction of sensitive plant species.

Photo, left by Miriam Raftery: moose at Yellowstone National Park

 Beth Pratt, California Director of National Wildlife Federation, recalls that when parks were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t have staffers there, “people were cutting down Joshua Trees” at Joshua National Park, she recalls, adding that graffiti, trash, and driving on protected meadowlands also occurred.

“There’s no real staffing plan. It’s chaotic, and there’s no leadership from the Secretary of the Interior,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, NPR reports.

 Fired workers accuse DOGE of lying in claims of poor performance reviews, with many saying they had positive recent reviews. “It’s a complete lie,” says Andria Townsend,  a fired Yosemite specialist on carnivores.  “I work really hard at my job. I have two degrees,” she told KFSN.

Richard Midgette, an IT specialist in Yellowstone who was also fired on Feb. 14, says he’s done “great work” including helping to optimize Yellowstone’s communications system and developing computer code to streamline onboarding and offboard employees.  He believes his firing is both unwarranted and illegal. Claiming poor performance without evidence is “just a legal way that they’re trying to cover their ass.”

The layoffs present hardships for the thousands of employees let go, since most were low paid and moved long distances to work for the park or forest service,  and now have no alternative jobs in the vicinity.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, the union representing Forest Service and National Park Service workers, has filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the firings of those and other federal agency employees, a total that the union said could impact a half million federal workers, the Montana Free Press reports. The suit contends that DOGE and an executive order signed by President Donald Trump violate federal law outlining how federal workforce reductions must be handled—which requires action by Congress.

“There is no statute that expressly authorizes the President to slash roughly one-quarter of the federal workforce, imperiling the statutory missions that Congress has assigned to federal agencies,” the unions’ Feb. 14 filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states,” adding that the executive branch’s efforts to “hobble agencies that Congress created” by carrying out “mass firings and a pressure campaign for resignations violates separation of power principles.”

Since the initial Feb. 14 mass firings, the Trump administration has backtracked partially, agreeing to hire nearly 3,000 seasonal workers for the summer season, Associated Press reports. But seasonal jobs are entry-level, and won’t make up for management-level employees fired, says Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association.

“You really can’t have the seasonals without the other full0time staff people who are helping to manage them,” Brengel told CNN. 

Brengel notes that national parks were already short-staffed before the recent lay-offs, operating with 20% fewer employees than in 2010. “There was no fat to trim,” she asserts.

The cuts also come after the Trump administration has voiced support for opening up federal lands including national forests to mining, logging, oil and gas drilling.

“It feels like if nothing is done to prevent this administration from dismantling our public lands and the support behind them, we could very well lose access to the trails, the mountains, the plains and the wildlife that we all love so dearly,” former National Parks employee Midgette says.

Twenty Congressional Democrats did sign a letter calling the cuts “damaging and short-sighted” and warning that the mass layoffs could cause “staffing chaos” in national parks and even lead to closure of some parks entirely.  But Democrats lack power, since Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency. While most Republicans have been silent on the issue, Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine has voiced concerns over the impacts on Acadia National Park in her state.

Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, believes it’s up to the public to take action and save America’s most beloved places.

“It’s clear that the people of this country really love their national parks,” he told CNN. “and now it’s time for them to do something about it.”

Republicans also seek to increase national debt to fund tax breaks for wealthy

By Alexander J Schorr

Image: Cc by NC-ND via Bing

February 24, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – Republican senators pushed a $340 billion budget framework to passage early Friday that would give massive new tax cuts to wealthy people and corporations, while slashing Medicaid and other programs benefitting vulnerable Americans.The budget passed  the Senate in spite of an all-night session during which Democrats raised numerous objections, including to  releasing money that the Trump administration says is required for mass deportations and border security. The budget now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote.

The budget includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit, and aims to slash $1.5 trillion from social programs while boosting spending on border security and the military.

The hours-long process trudged through a critical part of the budget process as senators considered one amendment after another to the budget proposal. Republicans, largely on party-line vote, passed the budget 52-48, with all Democrats and one GOP senator opposing it.

One supporter, Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), said “What we're doing today is jump-starting a process that will allow the Republican Party to meet President Trump’s immigration agenda.” 

Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the number two ranking Senate Republican, said that GOP lawmakers are acting quickly to get the administration the resources they have requested and need to curb illegal border crossings. “The budget will allow us to finish the wall. It also takes the steps we need toward more border agents,” Barrasso said. “It means more detention beds… It means more detention flights.”

GOP leadership insists that “the whole thing,” in this case, “The Wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border will be paid for, rather than piled onto debt, with potential spending cuts and new revenues. The committees are expected to consider rolling back the Biden Administration’s methane emissions fee, which was approved by Democrats as part of climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and are hoping to draw new revenue from energy leases as they aim to spur domestic energy production.

One amendment that was accepted after several hours of debate was actually a Republican effort to deflect criticism that the package would be paid for by cutting safety net programs. The amendment from Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said that Medicaid and Medicare would be strengthened during the budget process. 

Democrats pushed a vote to prevent tax breaks for billionaires, an amendment that was repeated in various forms throughout the night but failed to get enough votes. House Democrats argue that the GOP tax cuts approved in 2017 flowed to the wealthiest Americans, and extending them as Trump wants Congress to do later this year would prolong the gratuity. Even though the billionaire  amendments failed, they picked up some Republican support; Susan Collins of Maine voted for several of them, and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri voted for another.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, launched a strategy early this week to use the budget to focus debate on the impacts of the tax policy and the Trump Administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is slashing programs and personnel across the federal government. 

Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that the single biggest driver of the national debt since 2001 has been a series of Republican-led tax cuts for the very wealthy. She stated, “You’ll never guess what our Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle are focused on right now, nothing to lower the cost of eggs, it's actually more Republican tax cuts.” She called the budget plan a “roadmap for painful cuts to programs [which] families count on each and every day, all so they can give billionaires more tax cuts.” This information was available by the Associated Press.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise scheduled a vote this week on the budget resolution, after the House Budget Committee adopted it alongside party lines last week. In order to appease some conservative holdouts and get resolution over the finish line, House GOP leaders made adjustments that would affix up to $2 trillion in spending cuts, even though committees would have to work out the details of such a matter. 

That puts some programs like Medicaid in danger, which has already raised concerns from some Republican members. The House bill also calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade. These include renewing the Trump tax cuts enacted in 2017 as well as adding other provisions Trump campaigned on, such as no tax on tips, overtime or social security. Some Senate Republicans want to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent.

While Republicans in the House and Senate disagree on the strategy of one bill versus two bills to implement in Trump's agenda, they are united in using budget reconciliation to pass the legislation with only Republican support. Reconciliation is a budget tool that enables some legislation to pass with just a simple majority and avoid the issue of a filibuster, which requires 60 senators to overcome; this is the same process that enabled congressional Democrats to pass parts of former President Joe Biden’s agenda.

According to NPR, negotiations on the budget reconciliation package are expected to become more difficult to overcome in the coming months, as committees craft detailed provisions impacting government programs and tax policy; leaders are speeding ahead to complete action to get a package that both the House and Senate can pass before the end of the year, when Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire.

Programs like Social Security, food and rental assistance, Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax credit lifted more than 34 million people above the poverty line 2023. They are also largely responsible for the 29.7% to 12.9% in poverty rate drop between 1967 and 2023, according to a CBP analysis which utilized the more comprehensive of the Census Bureau’s two poverty measures. Medicaid also provides health coverage for over 70 million people, giving access to healthcare and reducing debt and medical costs. Economic security supports are effective in the decreasing of differences in child poverty between racial and ethnic groups.

Cutting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (SNAP), which is currently $6.20 per person a day on average, and shifting part of the cost of benefits to states would increase food insecurity and poverty. Shifting even a smaller portion of SNAP benefit costs to states would and will strain state budgets, forcing cuts in eligibility and benefits overall. This would include during the event of a recession, when hardships rise and state revenues fall. Preventing potential and future updates and resolutions to SNAP benefits to ensure that people are afforded an adequate diet, or reversing the most recent updates, would increase poverty as well. A 2021 update, the first in decades to account for changes in the scientific evidence on the makeup of a healthy diet, was estimated to lift more than 2 million people above the poverty line, according to the Urban Institute, with the largest poverty reductions for Black and Latino people. 

In Programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and rental assistance, most people who can perform paid work already do so. Taking assistance away from people who cannot document that they are complying with a work amount requirement does not increase employment, research shows, but will increase poverty and hardships for citizens. An Arkansas experiment with Medicaid work requirements found no evidence that the policy increased work, but one in four of those subject to the requirements lost coverage. The Child Tax Credit, now worth up to $2,000 per child, reduces child poverty. Denying the credit to children who are U.S. citizens if their parents lack a Social Security Number (SSN) would increase poverty among children, especially for Latino children, hurting children’s long-term objectives in contributing to the economy as adults.

Additionally, Reducing Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for the low-income disabled children with conditions like Down Syndrome, Autism, blindness, deafness, and cerebral palsy, if another member of the family also receives SSI, this could push many further into poverty. Those families who care for children with disabilities, especially those with more than one disabled child, are more likely than other families to be poor and face more financial and material hardships.

Slashing funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which sends funds to states to provide basic cash assistance and services like child care to low-income families, would further limit this program’s reach in responding to poverty levels. Only about one in five families below the poverty line receive TANF assistance.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the agenda represented by The Trump proposals would make millions of people worse off while extending and expanding tax breaks for wealthy households and businesses. Congress could expand rental assistance to reach more people who struggle to afford housing, close the Medicaid “coverage gap,” and expand Child Tax Credit for the 17 million children who don’t get the full credit because their families’ incomes are too low,but the Republican Majority refuses to do this.

Social Security and Medicare are largely off limits due to their popularity with seniors, even if the programs are costly. That makes Medicaid, the largest single source of funding for medical and health-related services to 72 million low-income and medically disabled Americans, a prime target. The House Republican budget plan directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to find $880 billion in offsetting spending cuts over the next ten years. On February 19, President Trump publicly endorsed the plan. Although Trump will likely need to garner the votes he needs, it won’t be simple, as significant cuts to Medicaid will be fiercely opposed by powerful interest groups, including hospitals, doctors, managed care plans, the nursing home industry, and patient advocacy groups. Additionally, with a narrow majority in the Senate, Republicans have few votes to spare.

Congress must also consider the impact that Medicaid cuts will have on their voters; three days before Trump endorsed the House Republican budget plan, Steve Bannon, a former Trump advisor, warned Republicans of the political risks. “Medicaid, you gotta be careful,” He told listeners to his podcast, “because a lot of MAGAs are on Medicaid, I’m telling you.” Due to this complication, a split has already opened in the Republican Caucus, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Another reason for Congress to reconsider Medicaid slashing or aborting the Affordable Care Act (dubbed ObamaCare), is that the cuts will do nothing to reduce the costs of healthcare in the United States. It will make healthcare more expensive and harder to obtain; according to a recent Gallup poll, this should be a concern for Congress, as affordability and access are America's top two healthcare concerns.

On average, uninsured Americans get only about half of the preventive services and medical coverage insured Americans receive. According to Forbes, Existing safety-nets are not sufficient to overcome the gap between those with health insurance and those without. The consequences economically are grim; if one family member lacks coverage, the entire family is exposed to financial burden of severe illness or injury. If states were to scale back their Medicaid programs and push larger numbers of beneficiaries off the rolls, then more rural hospitals, safety net clinics, and public hospitals will close their doors to them. When those patients who were previously assisted by these institutions have nowhere to go, many will turn to private hospital ERs for treatment, and, if needed, hospitalizations. Throughout the decades, hospitals have charged privately insured patients more to offset the costs of treatments for patients who cannot pay. If private insurance companies refuse to capitulate, more facility closures will follow. In the end, everyone will face higher healthcare costs; additionally, access to care will decline for insured and uninsured alike.

This controversial and damaging decision, which is pulled directly from the Project 2025 playbook, would strip Americans of trillions of federal funding dollars; these are funds that help people keep their electricity on, sustain clean drinking water, aid communities recovering from floods and wildfires, where state Tribal governments are required to deliver service to communities, and much more. It shall put roughly 2,600 federal programs at risk, and with it, the livelihood of millions of Americans. 

Even if the budget does not pass the House, President Trump has threatened to withhold federal aid from key programs and risk a potential government shutdown.

In what is referred to as the “Appropriations Clause,” the U.S. Constitution gives the spending “power of the purse” to Congress, not to the President. It states: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” The clause underscores an aspect of the system of checks and balances that make up the government and prevents the executive branch from spending money without Congressional oversight and approval. 

Additionally, should President Trump enforce this spending without Congress, these actions may violate the U.S. Impoundment Control Act of 1974. While this act allows some limited presidential control over funds, it explicitly prohibits a president from withholding funds, also known as “impoundment,” even if that president disagrees with the policy objectives related to spending. The Office of Management and Business (OMB) memo directing funding cuts is doing precisely that.

There has been obvious court action against this behavior; in one case the states argue that Trump’s executive actions are plainly illegal, where the judge is likely to issue a restraining order. In another scenario, nonprofit groups who use federal funds have already secured a near-term stay of the administration's actions; the legal and political landscape continues to change hour to hour.

President Trump’s cuts may shut down dozens of programs that reduce the cost of housing for everyday Americans, including loan guarantees that keep mortgage rates lower. The president may also gut the Home Energy Rebate programs and the Weatherization Assistance Program, which helps families save money by upgrading their homes to be more efficient and healthier, permanently lowering utility bills. The funding cut may also slam the brakes on vital clean transportation programs like the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI), which provides states with funding to deploy a nationwide network of electric (EV) chargers to help make EVs more accessible, practical, and a money saving option for all Americans, all while addressing air pollution, carbon emissions, and  EV range anxiety for all drivers. Additionally, the  NEVI program can tackle pollution in communities of color, which would undoubtedly lose money and protections.

Non-profit organizations, like those serving climate and environmental justice communities, have already been blocked from the federal system that allows them to access grant money. Among the many programs being affected, Trump’s move could impede the Community Change Grants, which provided $2 billion to environment and climate justice projects which would help benefit disadvantaged communities. The president’s funding cuts disproportionately impact Tribal Nations and Native People, who receive a wide range of federal grants and loans. Looking specifically at the cross between Tribal governance and the environment, programs under financial threat could include climate resilience programs, wildlife grants, and energy programs delivering cleaner, safer, and more reliable energy that support Tribal governments to regulate environmental quality, and even more.

Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB)  memo may potentially sever funding for countless infrastructure and manufacturing projects in communities across the country, jeopardizing tens of thousands of middle-class, union jobs. Those workers who repair roads, install broadband and so on will face layoffs and furloughs due to the Trump cuts. Apprentices learning their trade in federally supported programs will likely have their sessions and education interrupted and fractured, perhaps even permanently, with many being students in federally supported financial aid programs. These same cuts are a direct attack on current and future workers, students, and by extension, the economy at large. Additionally, according to Evergreen Action, extreme weather disasters like the flooding in North Carolina and the fires in California show us why competent governance is crucial and how federal grants and loans can help American citizens recover when disaster strikes. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is vital to natural disaster response, is one of the programs on the president’s chopping block. Trump has repeatedly threatened to eliminate FEMA.  The Associated Press illustrates that presidents can currently authorize the reimbursement of some expenses at 100%, just as former president Biden did for the costs from Hurricane Helene and the California fires. About 6 in 10 voters in November’s election approved of how FEMA was handling its job, according to AP VoteCast; roughly 4 in 10 disapproved, yet the number was higher among Trump’s voters, as two-thirds of them said they disapproved of how FEMA was handling its job. Naturally, there are some facts to consider: FEMA encourages insured survivors to apply, and it does not duplicate assistance for damage that is covered by insurance but may cover other losses that insurance may not. If FEMA funds arrive before an insurance settlement, one can use the FEMA money as a bridge loan until insurance settlement arrives. You would have to repay FEMA for any duplication in benefits. Also, a homeowner who lived in the home at the time of the disaster may be eligible for funds to repair the area of their home damaged by the disaster, even those areas that have pre-existing damage. Moreover, applying for disaster assistance does not grant FEMA or the federal government authority or ownership of your property or land. By slicing funding for FEMA entirely, President Trump runs the risk of disproportionately affecting millions of homeowners, and predisposing them to poverty and death.

The president is cutting off opportunities just as America is hitting its manufacturing resurgence. Federal funding under the Inflation Reduction Act propelled $110 billion of private investments and created 90,000 manufacturing clean energy industries. Blocking federal funding, such as the nearly $400 million Pennsylvania clean manufacturing grant, will undermine our growing clean economy and deprive the Commonwealth of about 6,000 new jobs.The current presidential administration is going out of its way to stifle and kill off economic growth in service of a divisive culture war agenda. 

The budget bill could be voted on as early as today, but must be passed no later than March 14 to avoid a government shutdown.

East County News Service

February 24, 2025 (Dulzura) – A Lakeside woman, 60, was killed in a collision that occurred yesterday on State Route 94 west of Marron Valley Road in Dulzura.

The victim was riding a 2019 Can Am 3-wheel motorcycle westbound on the highway when a 2024 Subaru Crosstek entered the westbound lane from a dirty driveway at 17771 State Route 94.  The Subaru was driven by a San Diego woman, 29, who had a passenger, 31, also from San Diego.

“For reasons still under investigation, the Subaru and the Can Am crashed within the westbound lane, causing the rider of the Can Am to be ejected,” says Officer Jasmine Lopez with the California Highway Patrol. “The rider of the Can Am motorcycle succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene by medical personnel.”

The driver and passenger of the Subaru were uninjured.

This is an ongoing investigation, and it is unknown at this time if drugs and/or alcohol were a factor in the crash, Officer Lopez said.

The Center for American Progress has set up a link for concerned citizens to contact their members of Congress and urge opposition to the SAVE Act.

By Alexander J Schorr

Photo:  Suffragists outside White House in 1917 urged that women be granted right to vote, which was approved with passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920

February 22, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – The19th Amendment guarantees women in the U.S. the right to vote.  But H.R. 22, the ironically named “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE), Act is actually poised to take away that right for millions of married women, as well as anyone else whose current name does not match the name on their birth certificate. Potentially, hundreds of millions of voters could become disenfranchised if the Save Act becomes law.

Currently, House majority Republicans are fast-tracking the Save Act, which was originally introduced in 2024 and has been brought back in the 119^th Congress by Representative Chip Roy, on a pretext of making sure undocumented immigrants don't vote.  But if enacted, it  would force every single American citizen to prove their citizenship status in person when registering to vote.This “show-your-papers” bill would require proof of citizenship once more even for those who have already registered, or wish to update their voting information, such as when moving or changing parties.

For the majority of Americans, this means having to present a passport or birth certificate at their local election office. But if you don’t have a passport, or the name on your passport or other ID does not match the name on your birth certificate, you would not be allowed to vote.The Save Act would disenfranchise 146 million Americans who do not have a passport and nearly 70 million women who are married do not have a birth certificate that matches their new legal name, according to PolitiFact.

Working-class and low-income Americans would also be disproportionately disenfranchised if the bill becomes law, as the vast majority of these groups do not have a passport. As of October of 2024, only 51% of Americans had a passport, according to USA Today. Additionally, the U.S. Department of State stated that in fact about only half of American citizens possess only a passport (American Progress).

Nationwide, approximately 146 million Americans do not possess a passport (League of Women Voters); to put that number into perspective, 153 million Americans cast a ballot in the 2024 Presidential General Election ((American Progress). According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning voting rights advocacy group, more than 21 million Americans, or 9% of eligible voters, do not have access to citizenship documents like passports or driver’s licenses according to survey data.

Elections are run at the state level, with each individual state deciding its requirements for registration and voting; this illustrates unconstitutional federal overreach and a violation of privacy.

Critics have also said that the bill would make it difficult for a person who takes a spouse’s last name after marriage-- overwhelmingly women -- to register to vote. If someone lacks a passport with a current name, providing documents with the correct name would be more difficult, especially if an individual’s former name on their license or birth certificate was different when or if they lived in another state than the state in which they currently live.

In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport: West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Only in four states, New York, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey, are more than two-thirds of citizens in possession of a valid passport. In West Virginia, the state with the lowest rate of passport possession, only about 1 in 5 citizens, or rather 20.7%, possess this documentation. New Jersey has the highest rate of citizen passport possession: 4 in 5 citizens, or 80%, possessing a valid passport. In general, higher volumes of passport ownership are predominantly centered in blue states, while lower rates of passport ownership are overwhelmingly concentrated in red states (Swift Passport Services).

Under the Save Act, it would disproportionately make it more difficult for American citizens in red states to present one or more of the primary forms of citizenship documentation: a birth certificate, driver’s license, certain REAL IDs, or a passport, to be able to register or re-register to vote.

Transgender people could also lose their right to vote.  As of February of 2025, passports will only be marked matching the individual's assigned biological sex at birth. The American Medical Association supports policies that “allow for a sex designation or change of designation on all government IDs to reflect an individual’s gender identity, as reported by the individual.” Designating sex as either male or female regardless of current biological or social expression only fails to factor in “the medical spectrum of gender identity,” risking the marginalization of individuals with distinct individual self expression, the organization says. Those of the LGBTQ+ community will also be discriminated against because of The Trump Administration's forcing of assigned gender names at birth and marital status (TravelState).

The measure could also disenfranchise Native Americans who rely on tribal IDs, Native News online reports.  Voting rights could also be stripped from anyone who does not have a copy of their birth certificate, such as people whose records were lost in a disaster, home births, or naturalized citizens born overseas.

It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in elections— yet the act would institutionally place roll purges on ordinary American citizens, making it even more difficult and inconvenient for eligible voters to register and vote. The bill prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant displays documentary proof of US citizenship. “Further, the bill (1) prohibits states from registering an individual to vote in federal elections unless, at the time the individual applies to register to vote, the individual provides documentary proof of U.S citizenship, and (2) requires states to establish an alternative process under which an applicant may submit other evidence to demonstrate U.S citizenship” (CONGRESS.GOV).

The documentation goes on to say that “each state must take affirmative steps on an ongoing basis to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote, which shall include establishing a program to identify individuals who are not U.S citizens using information supplied by a specific source.” And furthermore, “the bill requires states to remove non-citizens from their official lists of eligible voters.” And lastly, the bill “allows for a private right of action against an election official who registered an applicant to vote in a federal election who fails to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship… (including) criminal penalties for certain offenses” for those who fail to present evidence of citizenship. The Election Assistance Commission has required, under the bill, and within 10 days, to adopt and “transmit guidance” for implementing the bill’s requirements to chief state election officials.

The bill would ultimately upend longstanding methods of voter registration for all voters, including registration by mail, voter registration drives, online voter registration and automatic voter registration. The bill functionally eliminates mail registration by requiring voters registering by mail to produce citizenship documents in person to an election official before the deadline; the bill does not acknowledge or consider copies or electronic records of citizenship documents, severely halting automatic voter registration, as many of those transactions do not occur in person while someone has citizenship documents with them. Additionally, address changes could be impacted too; instead of registration being automatically updated when an individual changes their driver’s license online, they will have to bring their passport or birth certificate to an election agency office to update voter registration.

The bill, a priority of House Republicans, would require people registering to vote or update their registrations to use certain documents including military IDs and enhanced IDs displaying citizenship, birth certificate or passports to prove citizenship. For people who lack passports, any mismatch between their birth certificates and IDs would present problems with registration, which was elaborated on by Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center, stating that such mismatches are common for people who change their names following marriage (Brennan Center).

A Pew research survey found that 79% of married women in opposite-sex marriage took their spouses last names, with about 5% of men having changed their last names after marriage. For same-sex marriages, Pew said that the sample was too small to measure (Pew Research).      

In a statement provided by Representative Roy’s office, Cleta Mitchell, the founder of Only Citizens Vote Coalition, a lawyer and former Oklahoma state representative, who pushed conspiracy theories of voter fraud and worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, said that women regularly have to provide birth certificates and marriage licenses in order to change their names for social security documents, bank accounts, and other documents. She acknowledged that the process “is a pain,” and that “millions of women do it every day.”

The bill requires states to have a process to address discrepancies, yet the bill does not express how this is to be done. Additionally, a person who registers an application to vote without proof of citizenship may be subject to a fine of indeterminate amount as well as a sentence of five years in prison.                                                                       

Lastly, Americans who have completed less education as well as Americans with lower incomes are far less likely to have a passport than Americans with higher levels of education or higher income levels. Among Americans whose highest level of education is a high school degree or less, approximately 1 in 4 have a valid passport; among Americans with a household income below $50,000, only 1 in 5 have a passport (Center For American Progress.)

The Policies in The Save Act are a serious socio-economic issue that would disproportionately impact the voting rights of  working-class and lower-income Americans.

East County News Service

February 22, 2025 (New York) -- California Attorney General Rob Bonta today released a statement after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York's issuance of a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Americans’ personal and private information maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department.

“We are pleased the court granted our request to further halt the Elon Musk-led DOGE from accessing millions of Americans’ private and sensitive data,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Californians can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the California Department of Justice is going to the mat for them and standing up against the Trump Administration’s chilling overreach of power.”  

Background

On February 7, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit seeking to block DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury Department material, including millions of Americans’ bank account and social security numbers. Hours after filing the lawsuit, the court responded by granting a temporary restraining order barring DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems and information. Today’s preliminary injunction keeps those restrictions in place pending further order of the court.

Since Inauguration Day, DOGE has infiltrated executive agencies with the goal of eliminating federal funding, services, and personnel. Starting last month, there were reports of billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE associates gaining an unprecedented level of access to vital payment systems of the U.S Treasury.

The Treasury Department payment systems — managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) — are responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments. Millions of Americans rely on the support of these payments for services like health care, childcare, and other essential programs, including Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, veterans’ benefits, salaries for federal employees, and tax refunds. The Treasury Department’s payment systems are critical, sensitive, and incredibly vital. Given their critical importance to U.S. government operations, these systems have been highly regulated and tightly guarded — but with the election of Donald Trump, are no longer safe. 

In their complaint, the attorneys general allege the Trump Administration has no constitutional, statutory, or regulatory authority to widen access to the BFS payment system for political appointees or special government employees, including members of DOGE. 

Specifically, the court temporarily prohibits DOGE from being granted access any Treasury Dept. records containing personally identifiable or confidential financial information. The Dept. of the Treasury must submit a report to the court by March 24 certifying that DOGE team members have received all training typically required of individuals granted access to the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems containing personal data such as tax return information and sensitive financial data.

In addition, the judge asks for certification on the vetting process for DOGE team members and how that compares to career employees previously allowed access to the system.

“The public interest is plainly served by requiring the Treasury Department to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the security of these systems and the information contained therein,” Judge Jeannette A. Vargas wrote.

A copy of the court's order can be found here.

New agency head lays off staffers overseeing epidemics, cancels flu vaccine campaign and takes aim at chemicals in food. 

By G. A. McNeeley 

Photo by Ron Logan

February 22, 2025 (Washington D.C.) - The Senate last week confirmed anti-vaccine activist Robert F.. Kennedy Jr. to head the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on a party-line vote, with Mitch McConnell the only Republican voting against the controversial appointee opposed by every Democratic Senator. 

Now at the helm of the nation’s largest public health agency, Kennedy is implementing major changes to remedy what he views as sources of chronic diseases.But healthcare professionals are raising concerns over some of Kennedy’s early actions, including ending a flu vaccine campaign and laying off employees in charge of investigating potential public health threats to ward off future epidemics. 

Kennedy implored federal health agency workers to “let go” of preconceived notions of him and start from “square one,” but also promised that “nothing is going to be off limits” in his pursuit to reduce chronic disease, Politico reported. “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized,” he told HHS staff, in his first address to the department he now leads. “I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science.” 

What Is His Plan? 

Hours after Kennedy pledged to Senators that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would not undergo a staff purge, it did. 

The Trump administration laid off half of its Epidemic Intelligence Service. The lay off affected 1,260 staff members, NBC reported. 

Kennedy made no mention of the dismissals, but hinted towards his previous comments threatening the jobs of federal agency staff resistant to his reforms. “Those who are unwilling to embrace those kinds of ideas can retire,” he said. 

For years, Kennedy has cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines and spread misinformation linking vaccines to autism. During his Senate confirmation hearings, he refused to disavow those comments, only promising he would if “shown the data.” 

He appeared to indirectly reference his vaccine comments to HHS employees, by asking that they be open minded to his views. In return, he said he would acknowledge that he’s asked “a lot of difficult questions and come to unpopular conclusions.” 

Kennedy nevertheless signaled he would prioritize fresh efforts to question long-held health standards to reduce chronic disease, listing the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule as among the formerly “taboo” areas he planned to scrutinize. 

Among the potential contributors to chronic disease, he suggested he would direct the HHS to investigate anti-depression drugs, ultra-processed foods, electromagnetic radiation and glyphosate pesticides found in some foods. 

“We will remove conflicts of interest from the committees and research partners whenever possible or balance them with other stakeholders,” he said. “We will shut the revolving door.” 

Kennedy’s role as secretary of HHS will have him oversee a budget of nearly $2 trillion and a staff of 90,000 federal employees, and give him control of other critical health programs under the fold of the HHS, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again (MAHA),” believes chronic disease is, in part, driven by additives in food and pollution in the environment. It also hasn’t been laid out in specifics, but he has vaguely promised to tackle the nation’s rising obesity rates and SNAP benefits, and has claimed he will work with the Department of Agriculture to eradicate

ultra-processed foods from the American market. 

Flu Vaccination Campaign Halted 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is stopping a successful flu vaccination campaign that juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts, like a kitten, as an analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu. This happened during Kennedy’s first week as head of the HHS. 

The news was shared with staff during a meeting, according to two CDC staffers who spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity. 

During the meeting, leadership at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases told CDC staff that the Department of Health and Human Services had reviewed the campaign and advised that it would not continue. 

The "Wild to Mild" flu vaccination campaign sought to encourage people to get the flu vaccine. The campaign aimed to communicate that flu vaccination can lessen symptoms and the chance of getting severely ill, even if it doesn't prevent someone from catching the flu. The website for the campaign is already offline. 

The campaign sought to "reset public expectations around what a flu vaccine can do in the event that it does not entirely prevent illness," according to the CDC's webpage describing the launch of the campaign in 2023. It was renewed for the current flu season. 

The campaign was a response to falling flu vaccination rates since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and targeted groups at higher risk, "especially pregnant women and children." 

"We found that it was very successful — people understood the message, [and] they were swayed by the message," Erin Burns, associate director for communications in the CDC's Influenza Division, told the trade website FiercePharma in October 2024. 

The Trump administration's decision to pull the campaign comes in the midst of a brutal flu season that's still raging. More than 50,000 patients were admitted to hospitals for influenza during the week that ended on Feb. 8 (the highest level in 15 years). 

It's unclear how much time was left in the campaign, but it would have at least gone through the end of this flu season and the materials would have stayed on the agency's website, one of the CDC staffers told NPR. 

What About Those Staff Cuts? 

Top-ranking officials with the CDC, the HHS sub agency that oversees the program, told CBS News that the cuts would have a devastating effect on the country’s ability to assess blooming diseases. 

They are just some of the thousands of probationary workers taking a hit as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency combs the federal government for possible programs to slash, as Washington reels from firings and funding cuts. Musk has targeted those at the HHS, leaving career officials and lawmakers worried about the impact on public health. 

“The country is less safe,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, an alumna of the disease research program said. “These are the deployable assets critical for investigating new threats, from anthrax to Zika.” 

Many staffers that go through the program serve on the frontlines of public health responses before later rising through the ranks of the CDC. 

In an interview with Fox News after he was sworn in, Kennedy pledged that employees who work in service of public health had “nothing to worry about” under his tenure fronting America’s health policy. 

“If you’ve been involved in good science, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Kennedy said. “If you care about public health, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” 

What Are Opposers Saying? 

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) delivered remarks on the Senate floor to oppose the nomination of Kennedy to lead the HHS, raising the alarm on the disastrous public health implications before he was confirmed. 

“I oppose this nomination for his wildly misinformed beliefs and his utter lack of experience. I believe he is fundamentally unfit and unprepared, and Americans will be less healthy if he is confirmed, Padilla said. 

Kennedy has repeatedly spread dangerous conspiracy theories, even going as far as to say that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” 

Padilla called him out for making false accusations that vaccines cause autism, and that COVID-19 targets specific racial and ethnic groups. Padilla also criticized Kennedy for founding his own anti-vaccine organization, authoring several books that push public health conspiracies, and making millions of dollars off of anti-vaccination lawsuits filed by Kennedy, an attorney. 

“I get the fear. I’m proud to represent California in the Senate. I’m proud to have an engineering background. But I, too, am a parent of three boys. And I remember what it was like to hold a baby in your arms, and to worry every time there was a sniffle and a cough. I’d do anything to protect my children, just as you would do anything to protect yours,” Padilla said, on the senate floor, in a video press release from his website. 

Padilla, a co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, also highlighted the dangers Kennedy poses to mental health care access and Medicaid benefits. He slammed Kennedy for his dangerous lack of knowledge regarding Medicaid funding and benefits. 

“At a time when Republicans are looking to cut funding for lifesaving services, I’d rather see a fierce defender of Medicaid at HHS. Yet, during his confirmation hearings, Mr. Kennedy failed to show even a basic understanding of Medicaid. Not the sources of funding, not the benefits, and at one point, he even seemed to conflate or confuse Medicaid and Medicare,” Padilla said. 

As Republicans threaten major cuts to Medicaid, Padilla underscored the importance of confirming a nominee with the necessary qualifications and experience to protect public health. He urged his colleagues to vote against Kennedy’s confirmation. 

What Are Supporters Saying? 

Del Bigtree, who leads a group promoting Kennedy’s MAHA movement, dismissed widely replicated studies finding no link to autism because he alleged that they were conducted by scientists who wanted to find that result. 

“Get scientists who say, ‘I think I can prove vaccines do cause autism,’” Bigtree said. “If they can’t pull that off, now you have a true safety profile.” 

Bigtree said that the HHS has long approved “poisons” produced by industry for public consumption, and urged Kennedy to root out corporate influence. 

Bigtree also said federal agencies should not be funded by industries, suggesting Kennedy’s advisers are pushing for major reforms to the current user fee system at the HHS agency that oversees food and drugs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

“Finally we have someone at the head of HHS not owned by these corporations,” Bigtree said of Kennedy. “I think he’s looking for the right type of people.” 

Bigtree said Kennedy should review HHS employees’ histories to see whether they worked for industry and also vet their views about the causes of chronic disease. 

“Robert Kennedy Jr. has to sit down with the team and bring people and say, ‘What have you done over the last four years,’” Bigtree said. “If they’re not producing real results and good science, maybe there’s a better job for them somewhere else.” 

Bigtree said that hiring scientists who are skeptical of the industry and existing vaccine science would help restore the public’s flagging trust in the government’s health care bureaucracy, adding that he thought Kennedy could safely downsize HHS’ 80,000-person staff. 

Bigtree isn’t part of the administration, but he serves as a powerful leader of the MAHA movement. He also endorsed Kennedy’s comments to HHS staff that nothing was off limits for review. 

Sources: 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/18/kennedy-lays-out-hhs-plan-00204675 

https://newrepublic.com/post/191579/robert-f-kennedy-jr-cdc-infectious-disease-research 

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/19/nx-s1-5302906/cdc-flu-vaccine-campaign-terminated 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a_TNAPHiePM 

https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-slams-rfk-jr-nomination-to-lead-health-and-human-services/ 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/19/rfk-jr-vaccine-scientists-00204870

East County News Service

February 22, 2025 (San Diego) --  East County Magazine has been selected by FeedSpot as the fifth best local magazine among the Top 15 San Diego Magazines on the web.

The site ranks  the best San Diego magazines from thousands on the web ranked by relevancy, authority, social media followers & freshness.

East County Magazine was established in 2008 and now averages 10 million hits and a quarter million visits each month. The site has won 147 major journalism awards.  Its mission is to provide in-depth news, views, and events coverage daily for the inland areas in San Diego County, reflecting the broad diversity of people and issues in our region, particularly those under-represented in other media.

“We are honored by this recognition of our award-winning news site’s relevance and importance in our community,” says East County Magazine Editor and Founder Miriam Raftery.

View the full list of best online magazine sites in San Diego at:
https://magazine.feedspot.com/san_diego_magazines/

You can donate to support East County Magazine’s journalism at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/donate

Visit East County Magazine at https://www.EastCountyMagazine.org. 

Subscribe to East County Magazine’s free newsletter and wildfire/emergency alerts at https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/wild-fire-alerts.

East County News Service

February 21, 2025 (San Diego) – State Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) held a press conference today to announce introduction of his Senate Bill 554, the Safety Before Criminal Sanctuary Act.  The bill would prevent local jurisdictions from restricting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement beyond what SB 54, existing state law,  already allows. In addition, Jones’ bill would make it mandatory for cities and counties to turn over undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of certain violent or serious felony crimes, as SB 54 allows but does not mandate.

The Safety Before Criminal Sanctuary Act is a commonsense measure to tighten up California’s Sanctuary State policies in favor of public safety,” said Jones, the State Senate Minority Leader. “Importantly, this bill ensures violent criminals are not shielded from federal immigration authorities, using every tool in the toolbox to keep our communities safe.”

Specifically, those crimes include child abuse, unlawful weapon possession or use, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, trafficking controlled substances, rape, kidnapping, torture, murder, gang activity, arson, and those on the sex offender registry.

State law prohibits cooperation for anyone not convicted of one or more of those crimes.

SB 554 is in response to a recent San Diego County ordinance declaring itself a “Super Sanctuary County,” banning law enforcement from cooperating with ICE for any offense—even those exempted under SB 54—unless a federal warrant is issued. 

“We are stopping ‘super sanctuary’ cities and counties,” said Jones.

Last December, County  Supervisors voted 3-1 to restrict the use of county resources for federal immigration enforcement. Former Chairwoman Nora Vargas said at the time that the policy was intended to “ensure local resources are focused on addressing the county's most urgent needs, while protecting families and promoting community trust."

San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez later stated that her department will follow state law, however, making the Supervisors’ action ineffective.

Supervisor Joel Anderson voted no on the county measure. ““I’m grateful for Senate Minority Leader Jones’ laser focus on keeping our kids and communities safe,” he said at the press conference.

Supervisor Jim Desmond said, “The current sanctuary state law ties the hands of local law enforcement, preventing them from cooperating with federal authorities to address real threats.” He added that he will be asking his colleagues on the board of Supervisors to support Jones’ bill.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa also backs Jones’ measure. ““The authors and advocates of California’s sanctuary laws claim they protect people. But that’s not true. For years, they have instead shielded many of the most dangerous criminals in the country, all of them here illegally, and the names of the innocent California victims are a roll call of shame on the Governor and the Legislature.

Click here to read the bill’s factsheet. SB 554 is awaiting assignment to a Senate policy committee for a hearing.

East County News Service

February 21, 2025 (Ramona) – The Sheriff’s office is searching for Yolanda  Marodi, also known as Yolanda Olejniczak, who is suspected in the stabbing death of her wife, Cal Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi. The couple had been married for approximately two years.

The suspect previously served time in prison for killing her first spouse, James Joseph Olejniczak, with a knife in San Bernadino County. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2003 and was imprisoned from February 2004 until November 2013, 10 News reports.

Rebecca Marodi served over 30 years with Cal Fire, including Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. 

On Feb. 17, Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an assault at the couple’s Ramona home on Rancho Villa Road. First responders found the victim, who had suffered multiple stab wounds. Despite lifesaving efforts by deputies and paramedics, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 166 pounds with brown hair. Olejniczak is believed to be driving a silver 2013 Chevrolet Equinox with California license plate "8BQJ420." She is traveling with a small white dog.

At this time, Olejniczak's whereabouts are not known. Out of an abundance of caution, the Sheriff's Office has alerted authorities on both side of the border about this suspect.

If you have any information for law enforcement on Olejniczak's whereabouts, reach out to the Homicide Unit at 858-285-6330 or call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

A tribute from Cal Fire San Diego states, “Captain Marodi, 49, dedicated more than three decades to serving and protecting our communities with unwavering bravery, leadership, and commitment.”

According to the post, Rebecca Marodi was caregiving for her 77-year-old mother, who lived with her in Ramona.  The Cal Fire San Diego Benevolent Fund is asking for donations to cover continuing care for Marodi’s mother, as well as funeral expenses. You can donate at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/fire-captain-rebecca-marodi-fundraiser.