More than 26,000 New Jersey residents have been kicked off their monthly food benefits since the Trump administration’s federal work rules took effect, state officials said.
Emergency food advocates say it’s only going to get worse, further straining food pantries that are already seeing surging demand amid soaring gas prices and stubbornly high living costs.
“One of the most alarming things is it's just the beginning,” said Elizabeth McCarthy, CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, an anti-hunger group. “We really expect this to keep happening.”
The work requirements passed by congressional Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last summer overhauled the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps families afford groceries. The changes required states that were exempt from work requirements because of high unemployment rates to comply and made more groups of people subject to those rules, such as homeless people, veterans and older adults.\
26,000 New Jerseyans lost SNAP food benefits since Trump work rules kicked in
Juneteenth: How news of the Emancipation Proclamation spread through the South
Weeks after the Civil War's guns fell silent and barely two months after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas. They had come to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, an order freeing enslaved people in seceded Confederate states. And the date they arrived — June 19, 1865 — is now remembered as the first "Juneteenth."
The Emancipation Proclamation had been issued years earlier during the war, on Jan. 1, 1863. It's the version most commonly emphasized in history books: the executive order that Lincoln himself reportedly said was "the great event of the nineteenth century" and his lasting legacy.
But word of such an order had already been circulating throughout the South for months. A preliminary proclamation, which contained much the same wording as the historic order, was issued on Sept. 22, 1862, days after the Battle of Antietam — the single bloodiest day in American military history. The purpose of it was to "warn that if the Confederate states don't return to the Union by January 1st, [Lincoln] will in fact issue a final proclamation," according to Harold Holzer, a Lincoln historian.
Not all enslaved people immediately knew about Lincoln's orders, but many learned of it while the fighting was still raging. Rumors spread through informal networks, sometimes inadvertently from slaveholders themselves, says Holzer, who directs the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York.
Slaveholders would often discuss the proclamation right in front of the people they enslaved, he says. They wrongly assumed that since enslaved people were prohibited from reading and writing, they would be oblivious to discussion of events around them.
Italy's Meloni, once Trump's closest ally in Europe, says he made up a story about her
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has accused President Trump of fabricating a story that she "begged" him for a photo at the G7 summit, in a stunning public break between the two leaders once considered allies.
"Donald Trump's statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned," Meloni said in a video posted on X Friday. "I don't know why the president of the United States behaves like this toward his own allies. After all, it is not the first time."
She added: "I can only say it's a shame he doesn't show the same resolve toward with the enemies of the West and toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating. But there is one thing he should remember: Italy and I do not beg."
Meloni was responding to comments Trump allegedly made during a phone interview with an Italian journalist. NPR has not been able to independently verify what Trump said.
U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Trump Admin From Enacting New Plans To Slash Consumer Watchdog Staff
A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to immediately slash the workforce at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by about two-thirds, delivering a setback to the White House’s protracted efforts to shrink the consumer watchdog.
The order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came in response to a revised plan the Justice Department submitted in late March following repeated legal defeats over its plans to decimate if not eliminate the CFPB.
The appeals court had been reviewing the administration’s appeal of a March 2025 injunction by a federal district court judge which temporarily barred the mass terminations.
The Justice Department, which previously tried to cut up to 90% of employees, had argued that it should be permitted to carry out its new plan immediately.
Trump says there are ‘no limits’ to his power
President Trump insisted there are “no limits” to his power when asked in a new interview about his takeaways from the Iran war.
The president was pressed by Axios’s Marc Caputo during an interview about whether he learned there are bounds to his power during the Middle East conflict.
“I haven’t learned that lesson yet,” he replied. “I know there are, but there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.”
Caputo also asked Trump about his original promise that the war would end with an “unconditional surrender” from Tehran, pointing to the memorandum of understanding he signed on Wednesday.
The 14-point agreement includes provisions to lift sanctions on Iran and supply the nation with a $300 billion reconstruction fund, in exchange for Iran making concessions on its nuclear program and existing stockpile of nuclear material.
Trump unveils new plane for Air Force One, a gift from Qatar
President Trump unveiled the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One plane on Friday, saying it will fly “further and faster” than any other model of presidential plane.
Trump toured the renovated Boeing jet at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“There will never be one like this. This is very unique. This is considered the world’s most luxurious plane,” the president said. “When it was built, it was built at a level that will probably never be seen again.”
The plane features a new color scheme — red, white, gold and navy blue, a change from the two-toned lighter blues. It features the presidential seal on the left side and has a massive waving American flag on its tail.
The aircraft, designated by the Air Force as VC-25B, is expected to be a “bridge” aircraft in use between the aging Boeing 747-200s that have been used for more than two decades and the two new Boeing planes that were expected in 2024 but won’t be ready until 2028.
'We have lost': Trump's Iran pact seen as a strategic defeat in Washington
Imperial Germany famously signed a treaty under humiliating terms to end WWI at Versailles, codifying a surrender despite the fact that the war was overwhelmingly fought beyond its borders.
Likewise, Iran never got close to US shores during the war, and did not need to.
Its missile and drone attacks depleted the US’s stockpile of air defence interceptors to dangerous levels, while its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz drained Washington’s strategic oil reserve to a forty-year low and starved the global economy of fossil fuels.
The world was facing an “economic catastrophe”, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. The US president ended up signing a deal with Iran, at the same French palace where Germany and its foes ended WWI.
The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran ushers in 60 days of negotiations to reach a permanent end to the war started by the US and Israel. In Washington, both supporters and opponents have called the deal a debacle - even if they agree with ending the war on the MoU’s terms.
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate denounces Israeli seizure of church land in Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has denounced the “unlawful and illegitimate” Israeli seizure of its property in occupied East Jerusalem.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Patriarchate said that it "expressed grave concern over the Israeli raid and land grab targeting its Church property in Silwan".
During the operation, which took place on Monday, “the Patriarchate’s representative was forcibly removed, his equipment was confiscated, trees were uprooted, and the property was enclosed with fencing and gates”.
It said that the disputed land, which is adjacent to the Monastery of St Onuphrius, is registered under its ownership, and warned that this seizure “sets a dangerous precedent for Church rights in Jerusalem”.
Nearly 160 sick with flu at US air force base after Hegseth ends mandatory vaccines
An influenza outbreak has reportedly sickened more than 150 recruits in training at Lackland air force base in San Antonio, Texas.
The outbreak comes just weeks after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ended mandatory flu vaccination for the military, citing the need for bodily autonomy for servicemembers.
“We’re seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities,” said Hegseth in an April social media video. “In this case that includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.
“Your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable,” said Hegseth.
At least 159 recruits have fallen ill, according to the New York Times and ABC News. After Hegseth made influenza shots optional, only about 40% of recruits opted to get vaccinated, air force officials told the New York Times.
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