"All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn't will be substantially 'docked.' ... For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU. You didn't step up to help the U.S.A. against the FAKE DEMOCRAT ATTACK that was only meant to hurt our country."
The slowdown at many of the nation's busiest airports did not cause immediate widespread disruptions. But it deepened the impact felt by the nation's longest federal shutdown. "We all travel. We all have somewhere to be," said Emmy Holguin, 36, who was flying from Miami to see family in the Dominican Republic. "I'm hoping that the government can take care of this." Analysts warn that the upheaval will intensify and spread far beyond air travel if cancellations keep growing and reach into Thanksgiving week. Already there are concerns about the squeeze on tourism destinations and holiday shipping.
What is the current shutdown's expected economic impact? The CBO estimate says the federal spending delay will produce short-term economic losses - largely in the fourth quarter of 2025 - that will mostly be recouped during the first quarter of 2026, assuming the shutdown ends by then. CBO projected how much the shutdown would hamper U.S. economic growth per quarter, adjusted for inflation and multiplied by four, to convert a quarterly figure into an annual one.
"After the DOGE actions to eviscerate USAID and pretty much punish many, many agencies and terminate thousands of contracts, I think the contractor community is tentative to actually enforce their rights," David Dixon, an attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said Thursday as part of the law firm's DC Disrupted webinar series. Dixon said this question he is getting from contractors reveals the depth of their anxiety: Will the government retaliate against me for simply asking to be reimbursed for costs caused by the shutdown?
The ongoing federal shutdown is threatening jobs, benefits and social programs for millions of Americans, and if it lasts another month, it could put funding for public housing in jeopardy, too. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, commonly known as HUD, will likely run out of money that directly funds public housing authorities under the Section 9 program after November payments are issued unless lawmakers approve a continuing spending plan, an agency spokesperson told Gothamist.
Forcing a large swath of the federal workforce not to work for going on a full month is having significant and lasting impacts on the economy, according to a non-partisan legislative branch review, causing a loss of at least $7 billion dollars from the gross domestic product. That figure would grow to $11 billion if the shutdown lasts another two weeks or $14 billion if it were to last until Nov. 26, the Congressional Budget Office found in a report on Wednesday.
But this is no field trip. Instead, Boone has come to the outdoor classroom at the Ross Preschool, a half-hour drive from the park. He's part of a special program to bring furloughed rangers into local schools during the shutdown of the federal government, which caused Muir Woods to close its gates. Their small faces are riveted as he passes around a leaf from a California bay laurel tree.
Given the federal shutdown, they argued, they just didn't have the lawyers to do the work. "Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including 'emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,'" they wrote in their filing Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown.
This week, the current federal-government shutdown will become the third-longest ever, surpassing a 2013 shutdown that lasted 16 days. There are some significant echoes of the 2013 shutdown, which stemmed from a failed Republican effort to "defund" Obamacare just as that health-reform initiative was being fully implemented. Now the shoe is on the other foot: Democrats are demanding that Obamacare subsidies, which were significantly expanded in 2021, be extended. Without congressional action, upwards of 20 million Americans will see a huge Obamacare premium hike at the end of the year.
This is just the latest round of reductions to the CISA workforce since Trump came to office in January. Employees at the Agency have been worried about cuts for months. When we reported layoff fears in April, CISA had an estimated 3,300 person workforce; according to DHS' shutdown contingency document the agency had just 2,540 people as of the end of May.
New York State raised the weekly maximum unemployment insurance benefit rate to $869 on Monday, the first state raise in the weekly rate since 2019. Before Monday, the maximum rate was $504. NYS Commissioner of Labor Roberta Reardon and Gov. Kathy Hochul ushered in the change Wednesday morning. Though the new rate went into effect Monday, New Yorkers can expect to see the change reflected in unemployment checks starting next week.
Smoke filled the Embarcadero BART station late Tuesday afternoon, though trains were not delayed and the station did not close. According to the Chronicle, the smoke could have been caused by a blown electrical insulator, and officials will check the train that caused the smoke when it finished its route. [Chronicle] While the NorCal burger chain Nation's Giant Hamburgers was founded in San Pablo, it has never had a San Francisco location,
As top congressional Republican and Democratic leaders dig in their heels-a signal that the ongoing federal government shutdown may continue for a while-many older Americans are wondering if they will still get their Social Security checks, and questioning how a prolonged showdown will affect their future benefits. Currently, thousands of federal employees are working without pay and President Donald Trump is threatening mass federal layoffs.
Democrats want to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that millions rely on and undo health spending cuts from President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Warnock told Morning Edition that Georgians in rural areas have expressed concerns about losing access to health care. He said a small business owner told him she decided to close her business because paying for health insurance would be too expensive without ACA subsidies. The senator told NPR's Leila Fadel that the White House should "stop acting like these are pieces on a chessboard. These are people's lives."
Prescribed burns are an important tool to burn excess vegetation, keep landscapes healthy and reduce the risk of destructive wildfires. But starting last week, some Forest Service staff were told not to conduct burns in preparation for a potential shutdown. "We were told, 'No ignitions,'" said a Forest Service fire management officer, who didn't want to be named for fear of losing his job. "'Don't even start.'"
The $18 billion cut targets money for two major transportation projects. One is construction of a rail tunnel under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, due for completion in the next decade. It is a priority for Schumer and was backed by former President Joe Biden. The second is the Second Avenue project in the New York City subway system.
