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WASHINGTON — A new round of layoffs at the Education Department is depleting an agency that was hit hard in the Trump administration’s previous mass firings, threatening new disruption to the nation’s students and schools in areas including special education, civil rights enforcement and after-school programs.

The Trump administration started laying off 466 Education Department staffers on Friday amid mass firings across the government meant to pressure Democratic lawmakers over the federal shutdown. The layoffs would cut the agency’s workforce by nearly a fifth and leave it reduced by more than half its size when President Trump took office Jan. 20.

The cuts play into Trump’s broader plan to shut down the Education Department and parcel its operations to other agencies. Over the summer, the department started handing off its adult education and workforce programs to the Department of Labor, and it previously said it was negotiating an agreement to pass its $1.6-trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.

Department officials have not released details on the layoffs and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AFGE Local 252, a union that represents more than 2,700 department workers, said information from employees indicates cuts will decimate several offices within the agency.

All workers except a small number of top officials are being fired at the office that implements the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that ensures millions of students with disabilities get support from their schools, the union said. Unknown numbers are being fired at the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates complaints of discrimination at the nation’s schools and universities.

The layoffs would eliminate or heavily deplete teams that oversee the flow of grant funding to schools across the nation, the union said. They affect the office that oversees Title I funding for the country’s low-income schools, along with the team that manages 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs.

It will also hit an office that oversees TRIO, a set of programs that help low-income students pursue college, and another that oversees federal funding for historically Black colleges and universities.

In a statement, union President Rachel Gittleman said the new reductions, on top of previous layoffs, will “double down on the harm to K-12 students, students with disabilities, first generation college students, low-income students, teachers and local education boards.”

The Education Department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office. After the new layoffs, it would be down to fewer than 2,000. Earlier layoffs in March had roughly halved the department, but some employees were hired back after officials decided they had cut too deep.

The new layoffs drew condemnation from various education organizations.

Although states design their own competitions to distribute federal funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the small team of federal officials provided guidance and support “that is absolutely essential,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.

“Firing that team is shocking, devastating, utterly without any basis, and it threatens to cause lasting harm,” Grant said in a statement.

The government’s latest layoffs are being challenged in court by the American Federation of Government Employees and other national labor unions. Their suit, filed in San Francisco, said the government’s budgeting and personnel offices overstepped their authority by ordering agencies to carry out layoffs in response to the shutdown.

In a court filing, the Trump administration said the executive branch has wide discretion to reduce the federal workforce. It said the unions could not prove they were harmed by the layoffs because employees would not actually be separated for an additional 30 to 60 days after receiving notice.

Binkley writes for the Associated Press.

Sept. 26 (UPI) — The gunman who killed four people in a New York City office building housing the NFL had a generative brain disease linked to repeated head injuries while playing sports, the city’s medical examiner’s office said Friday.

On July 28, Shane Tamura, 27, killed himself after opening fire at 345 Park Ave. Tamura’s note said: “Study my brain please. I’m sorry.”

“Following a thorough assessment and extensive analysis by our neuropathology experts, OCME has found unambiguous diagnostic evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, in the brain tissue of the decedent,” the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement obtained by ABC News and other media outlets. “The findings correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria.”

The report added: “CTE may be found in the brains of decedents with a history of repeated exposure to head trauma.”

Pathologists, led by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham, didn’t say whether CTE played a role in his behavior, including shooting people.

“We continue to grieve the senseless loss of lives, and our hearts remain with the victims’ families and our dedicated employees,” the NFL said in a statement.

“There is no justification for the horrific acts that took place. As the medical examiner notes ‘the science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study.'”

His family didn’t comment to The New York Times. They had said he suffered from migraines, mental illness and multiple concussions.

Tamura had two Mental Health Crisis Holds on his record, and a prior arrest for trespassing in Nevada, where he also received his concealed carry license.

Tamura, a former high school football player in California, wrote in the three-page note: “The League knowingly concealed the dangers to our brains to maximize profits.”

The note was found in his pocket.

He drove from his apartment in Las Vegas to Manhattan. Authorities said he took the wrong elevator bank and instead reached the offices of Rudin Management, where he again opened fire after spraying bullets across the building’s lobby.

NFL employees were warned during the incident to shelter in place, although the shooter never arrived in those offices.

Four people died in the shooting: NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone real estate executive Wesley LePatner and Rudin employee Julia Hyman, who was named by the New York Post.

In all, he fired 47 rounds, reloading once.

Researchers have studied cases of former athletes who played in contact and collision sports, including football players, ice hockey players and boxers.

“Being a high school football player is certainly a possibility for CTE,” Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the Boston University CTE, told CBS News. “We have a recent study where we found about 30% of former high school players had CTE. Now that’s a very select group of people. It doesn’t mean 30% of the general population of high school football players have CTE, but it’s a distinct possibility.”

Researchers say the link is not conclusive because most families donate the brains because they were displaying the symptoms.

“There is damage to the frontal lobes, which can damage decision making and judgment,”McKe recently told The Times. “It can also cause impulsivity and rage behaviors, so it’s possible that there’s some connection between brain injury and these behaviors.”

The center has studied thousands of brains of athletes, soldiers and others exposed to brain trauma.

In 2023, the center reported 90% of 376 deceased NFL players’ brains examined were diagnosed with CTE.

Some former NFL players committed suicide, including Dave Duerson, who deliberately shot himself in the chest to preserve the brain. Duerson left a note asking to have his brain studied.

“I would never draw a direct line between someone’s brain pathology and any specific violent act, because the majority of people who have CTE never committed anything like this,” Dr. Daniel H. Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, recently told The Times.

In 2024, the NFL allowed players to wear special head protection, called Guardian Caps.

Also, the NFL changed kickoffs to reduce full-speed tackles.

“They need to do much more than just the helmet design, which is never going to prevent CTE,” McKee told CBS News. It’s really rules of play and styles of play, eliminating the hits to the head that occur in practice as well as games, paying attention to the players, monitoring the players for the number of hits they’ve sustained and actually keep track of the players over time.”

Sept. 20 (UPI) — Sacramento Police officers arrested Anibal Hernandezsantana on Saturday morning for allegedly shooting at the occupied office of a local ABC affiliate.

Hernandezsantana, 64, was arrested on charges that accuse him of assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building and negligent discharge of a firearm, KXTV reported.

“Thanks to the diligent work of our responding officers and investigators, the suspect vehicle was identified, leading to a resident in the 5400 block of Carlson Dr.,” the police department posted on X.

Police officers responded to reports of shots fired in the 400 block of Broadway in Sacramento just after 1:30 p.m. PDT on Friday and found evidence of at least three gunshots into a window of the KXTV building.

The FBI assisted the police department in determining a suspect and locating him, according to the Sacramento Police.

They made the arrest at about 6:15 p.m. on Friday, according to KCRA.

Hernandezsantana was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail near midnight with bail set at $200,000 and was released on Saturday, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

The motive for the shooting is under investigation, but it occurred within days of ABC announcing it was suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! over comments that Kimmel made during an opening monologue on Monday regarding the alleged shooter of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Anti-corruption protesters in Serbia set fire to the Valjevo offices of the country’s ruling political party, city leaders said, amid clashes sparked by the deadly collapse of a rail station in November.

Saturday was the eighth night of unrest in the country, this time mostly centered in the western Serbian city, Balkan Insight reported Sunday. Protests also took place in the capital of Belgrade.

Demonstrations began peacefully in Valjevo on Saturday night before protesters broke windows and set fire to the facilities of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the BBC reported. President Aleksandar Vučić was a founding member of the SNS.

Balkan Insight reported that protesters also broke windows at Valjevo City Hall, the local court building and the prosecutor’s offices. Police allegedly used stun grenades and tear gas on the Valjevo protesters and used violence against those in Belgrade and Novi Sad, the BBC reported. The interior ministry denied the allegations.

Ivan Manic, an opposition leader in the Valjevo city assembly, told N1 he’d never seen the anti-corruption protests escalate to this level.

“The past few days have been the most dramatic in our history,” he said in a translation provided by Balkan Insight. “Nothing like this has ever been seen on our streets. The direct responsibility lies with the mayor, the city administration, the ruling SNS, as well as the police department.”

The protests were were originally organized by students after a railway station collapse in Novi Sad in November killed 16 people. Protesters blame the tragedy on government corruption and infrastructure negligence.

Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, also a member of the SNS Party, resigned in January after members of his party allegedly attacked student protesters who were spray-painting anti-government slogans outside the party’s Novi Sad offices.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — The suspected shooter on Emory University’s campus and near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters is dead and a DeKalb County officer responding to the incident was killed Friday, authorities said.

The shooting occurred before 5 p.m. EDT at Emory Point CVS, which is part of a shopping center of restaurants, shops and apartments where some students live, CNN reported. No civilians were injured, police said.

Police believe the unnamed suspect targeted the CDC because of unhappiness with the Covid-19 vaccine, CNN reported. He reportedly was wearing a surgical mask, and possessed two handguns, one rifle and a shotgun.

Late Friday, the officer was identified as 33-year-old David Rose, married and the father of two, interim DeKalb County Police Department Chief Greg Padrick said in a news conference.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the loss of the life of one of our very own DeKalb County police officers,” Padrick said. “This officer responded to the call as he was trained to do, and during that incident, he received gunfire and he lost his life in this incident. He was committed to serving the community.”

He started with the agency in September 2024 after graduating from the police academy.

“This evening there is a wife without a husband,” DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said. “There are three children, one unborn, without a father.

“There is a mother and a father, as well as siblings, who also share in this traumatic loss.”

The Atlanta Police Department can’t confirm why the police officer was present in its jurisdiction.

“It’s not uncommon for patrol patterns to cross multiple jurisdictions that may share the space,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told reporters. “Was he going to work? Was he coming home from work? We don’t know if he was on patrol.”

Schierbaum said multiple rounds struck four nearby CDC buildings, including windows.

The police chief said 911 calls about an active shooting were received around 4:50 p.m. in front of the CDC campus.

Responding officers found the critically injured DeKalb County officer.

The suspect died on the second floor of the CVS of gunshot wounds, police said. An official told CNN that the shooter fired at an officer’s cruiser.

“We do not know at this time if it was an officer’s or if it was self-inflicted,” Schierbaum said.

A shelter-in-place was lifted late Friday at the CDC with CDC buildings closed until further notice, according to a message to employees.

“We at CDC are heartbroken by today’s attack on our Roybal Campus, which remains on lockdown as authorities investigate the shooting,” CDC Director Susan Monarez posted on X.

She said the CDC is cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.

At 5:31 p.m., Emory’s Office of Critical Events Preparedness and Response instructed people to shelter in place on the private college’s campus.

About one hour later, a DeKalb County official said the situation was contained and there was no active threat, NBC News reported. But county residents should remain indoors as a precaution during the investigation.

Police said there was a single shooter.

The father of the alleged shooter’s father called law enforcement before the shooting to report that he believed his son was suicidal, a law enforcement official told CNN.

A CDC employee told CNN a man approached the steps of a building at the agency’s campus, put a backpack down, pulled out a rifle, and shot at the building.

Chris Weaver told WXIA that he believed he heard the shots.

“I was stunned at first,” he said, adding he thought he was safe.

The FBI sent agents to assist local law enforcement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation.

This was the second shooting in Georgia this week.

On Wednesday, an active-duty soldier opened fire at Fort Stewart, injuring five service members. The suspected shooter was taken into custody.

Fort Stewart, which is part of the Savannah metropolitan area, is 243 miles southeast from Emory.

Gov. Brian Kemp posted on X: “Twice this week, deranged criminals have targeted innocent Georgians. Each time, brave first responders rushed toward the danger to subdue the shooter and save lives, reminding us of just how crucial they are.”

Emory is a liberal arts research university with enrollment of 5,727.

July 24 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will head to the Federal Reserve on Thursday amid his ongoing calls for Chair Jerome Powell to resign.

A U.S. president hasn’t visited the nation’s central bank since President George W. Bush in 2006. Trump is slated to arrive at 4 p.m. EDT and take an hour-long tour of the site, as he has expressed disdain for renovations at the office building.

The $2.5 billion renovation project has been part of Trump’s criticism Powell, and the Trump administration has also pushed at Powell, who Trump nominated to the job in 2017.

Trump, as recently as Wednesday, lashed out at Powell, who he has dubbed “Too Late.”

“Housing in our country is lagging because Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell refuses to lower interest rates,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. “Families are being hurt because interest rates are too high, and even our country is having to pay a higher rate than it should be because of ‘Too Late.'”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, who has also taken to referring to Powell as “Too Late” on social media, has also been critical of the renovations. Blair has accused the Fed of trying to hide what is being spent on the project before announcing Tuesday that Trump and his people will be making the Thursday visit.

Blair had said on Monday that the Fed released a virtual video of its offices in what he considered an effort to stymie a review at the construction.

“What do they not want us to see?” he said on X.

“We go Thursday!” Blair posted to X Tuesday after inferring that the Fed had relented on blocking a visit due to pressure by the White House.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday on X he has called for an assessment of the Federal Reserve.

“While I have no knowledge or opinion on the legal basis for the massive building renovations being undertaken,” Bessent said. “A review of the decision to undertake such a project by an institution reporting operating losses of more than $100 billion per year should be conducted.”

Trump has expressed in the past a desire to fire Powell and has suggested that overruns on the cost of the renovations would be a viable excuse to terminate the Fed Chairman. However, Trump has since yielded on that notion and has indicated he will likely instead allow Powell to keep his job until his term expires next May.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice due to a heatwave smashing the EU and has issued warnings for Brits visiting Spain, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus

The Foreign Office has issued travel advice for Brits heading to Spain, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus as a heatwave sweeps across the European Union.

Northern Europe is currently enduring an early summer heatwave, with forecasters warning of soaring temperatures in the weeks to come. Here in the UK, we’ve also been feeling the heat, with thermometers hitting 34C on Saturday.

France’s national weather agency, Meteo France, has echoed these warnings, cautioning that the high temperatures put “everyone at risk, even healthy people.”

Portugal recently recorded its highest temperature this year at 40.5 degrees, while parts of Spain have seen the mercury rise above 42 degrees.

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The situation is already much more serious in Southern Europe, with Chios in Greece in the grips of a fearsome wildfire at the moment. Locals have been evacuated after the tinder-dry island burst into flames over the weekend.

On its website, the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) has issued warnings about extreme heat in four countries, including in Greece, where nighttime temperatures are sticking stubbornly above 30C in large parts of the country.

The FCDO has also issued heat-related warnings for Turkey, Cyprus and Spain:

Greece: “Greece can experience extreme natural phenomena such as earthquakes, wildfires, extreme heat and flash floods.

“Take extra care when planning a hike or walk, especially during higher temperatures than you are used to. Trails often lack shade and the quality of route markings can vary.

“Do not light fires as it is both dangerous and illegal due to the high risk of wildfires.”

Turkey: “Extreme temperatures can affect many areas of Turkey over the summer months. Wildfires happen frequently in Turkey during summer.”

Cyprus: “The Department of Meteorology of Cyprus issues warnings for severe weather, especially during summer. Weather can sometimes cause travel disruption.”

Spain: “Temperatures in some parts of Spain can change very quickly. Take extra care when planning a hike or walk. Check local weather reports for warnings of extreme heat or cold temperatures.”

Bas Amelung, Wageningen University environmental systems analysis professor, forecasts that popular holiday destinations like Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey could become unbearably hot in summers to come.

“Countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey that currently attract the traditional ‘sun and sand’ summer tourists are likely to become too hot for comfort in the summer,” he cautions.

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“People take decisions based on their perceptions,” Amelung further explains. “So if a large majority of holidaymakers thinks some European destinations will soon be ‘too hot’, they may well start adapting, either by going somewhere else in summer or by going to the same place in another season.”

In Chios, the government declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of the fires on Sunday, leading to several villages being evacuated. As of Tuesday, the wildfires are still raging, with hundreds of firefighters, aided by aircraft, tackling multiple blazes.

The fires have caused significant disruption, including power cuts, water shortages, and property damage. Indeed, as of 24 June 2025, wildfires continue to blaze on the Greek island of Chios. Hundreds of firefighters, backed by aircraft, have been battling numerous wildfires in various parts of the island for the third day running.