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An Alabama man who spent more than 40 years behind bars speaks out, Florida natural habitats are disappearing, and spring allergies hit hard in Connecticut.

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After another campus shooting, President Trump says people, not guns, are the issue. Alaska Sen. Murkowski says Republicans fear Trump's retaliation, and voting rights groups sound the alarm over an executive order on elections.

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Money meant for schools in timber country is uncertain as Congress fails to reauthorize a rural program, farmers and others will see federal dollars for energy projects unlocked, and DOGE cuts threaten plant species needed for U.S. food security.

Hearing today in CA on lawsuit to halt firings of federal workers

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Thursday, February 27, 2025   

A lawsuit to halt the firing of probationary federal workers gets a hearing before a district court judge in San Francisco this afternoon, even as the Trump administration readies a new round of job cuts.

A coalition of unions and nonprofits is asking for thousands of federal workers to be able to stay on the job while the matter is litigated.

Don Neubacher, a retired former superintendent of Yosemite National Park and Point Reyes National Seashore, works with the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. He said civil servants deserve better treatment.

"They were told they were fired because they were bad employees but the evidence so far is just the opposite," Neubacher pointed out. "They were good employees and it was just an excuse, so we believe it was an illegal firing and they didn't follow a lawful process."

Yesterday, the Trump administration doubled down, indicating it will now seek to lay off people with civil service protections in order to cut costs. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management instructs agencies to submit a plan for a reduction in force by March 13. By mid-April, agencies must offer a plan to reorganize management and move certain jobs out of Washington, D.C.

Neubacher argued the chain saw approach is counterproductive.

"This is just chaos," Neubacher stressed. "Right now, the National Park Service probably has the lowest morale that I've ever seen in my career in the Park Service, and I worked 36 years, so it's overall just crippling."

A dozen groups are party to the lawsuit, including the American Federation of Government Employees, VoteVets, and the United Nurses Association of California.


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