As he had wanted, President Donald Trump signed his budget bill on July Fourth that will give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy while slashing Medicaid and food-assistance benefits for millions of Americans. The budget measure puts the country on a perilous fiscal path by increasing the federal deficit through huge... Read more →
July 4, 2025, marks the 249th birthday of the United States of America. Millions of people celebrate the day with barbecues, parades, and fireworks. And also travel, with more than 72 million Americans planning to travel 50-plus miles from home this year. About 61 percent of Americans will attend a... Read more →
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday severely limited the scope of the nation’s most important environmental law. For more than 50 years, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, has required federal agencies to analyze the potential environmental harms of a proposed project, engage with communities that could be affected,... Read more →
Memorial Day is a day to honor Americans who have died in service to their country. Many Americans attend parades or decorate the graves servicemembers who have passed away. In addition to being a day of remembrance, Memorial Day weekend has become a time when families gather for a backyard... Read more →
Photo: Wildlife Madagascar Recently, I was lucky to get to go to San Diego for book signing to raise money for Wildlife Madagascar. The organization was founded in 2023 by my niece Debra Erickson. I was the first member of Wildlife Madagascar. The speaker for the event was Keriann McGoogan,... Read more →
Early in the Trump administration, I felt reassured. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, was continuing to regularly issue recalls for unsafe products, just like it has for decades. Not so fast. The Trump administration is now calling for the elimination of the agency – not slashing its budget,... Read more →
Photo: Library of Congress The already marginal U.S. health care system is being rocked by massive cuts in staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. On Tuesday, HHS began to layoff thousands of employees across its departments, a downsizing that will reduce its workforce by about... Read more →
Photo: Hannob In a letter to a bankruptcy court Monday, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission said any company that buys 23andMe, a genetic testing company, in a bankruptcy proceeding, needs to abide by the 23andMe’s privacy policy on use of customer data. Andrew N. Ferguson said: The FTC... Read more →
A judge granted a motion Friday for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought. In a 112-page opinion, the judge agreed that the defendants were trying to eliminate the agency. Plaintiffs in the case are the National Treasury Employees... Read more →
It’s fun on St. Patrick’s Day to think about my Irish ancestors and my trip to Ireland. The photo on the left is Laura Jane Baylee Slingsby, my paternal grandmother. Born in Canada, her father Alexander Baylee was born in County Clare, Ireland, and her grandfather Henry Thomas Baylee was... Read more →