U.S.and world news for Feb. 14

Ukraine says Russia attacked Chernobyl nuclear power plant

 Russia has attacked the site of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s government. Chernobyl was the site of the worst nuclear accident in history rendering a wide area around the plant uninhabitable. Russia denies that it attacked Chernobyl, but photos and video do show that an incident took place. Ukraine says the remains of the power plant were hit by a Russian drone with an explosive warhead. Ukraine also says there were no immediate signs of an increase in radiation.

Trump Administration begins mass layoffs

The Trump Administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has ordered mass layoffs of federal employees to begin. OPM wants to get rid of at least 220,000 federal workers and instructed agencies to begin by firing new workers who have been with the government for less than a year and still are in their probationary period. The mass layoffs come after the buyout offer from Elon Musk and Donald Trump expired with only about 3% of the federal workforce opting in, less than the 10% they had hoped to get. The buyout offered to pay workers who quit until September. However, Congress has not appropriated the money to make those payments.

Retail sales fall in January

Statistics released this morning by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that retail sales dropped 0.9% in January, coincident with the Biden Administration winding down and the Trump Administration gearing up. Americans especially cut back in spending at specialty stores, which were down 4.3%, and at auto dealers that saw a 3% decline. The January activity was sharply down from December, when retail spending went up by 0.7%. The January drop was the largest in about two years.

Prosecutors resign over the Mayor Eric Adams case

The top federal prosecutor in New York, Danielle Sassoon, has resigned rather than follow the orders of the Trump Justice Department to drop the current corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. After she resigned, the case was moved from the Southern District of New York to Washington, D.C., where five prosecutors resigned rather than follow orders to drop the charges. Sassoon had indicated that more corruption charges against Adams were imminent. Adams recently had started cooperating with the Trump Administration on immigration. The administration said it would drop the charges against him for now but could file charges again after the next election for mayor of New York.

Trump Administration again blocks AP from covering event

The Trump Administration yesterday blocked a reporter from the Associated Press from covering a news conference by Donald Trump and India’s prime minister. The White House event was supposed to be open to all White House press for coverage. An Associated Press official called what the administration did a clear violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. This marks the third time in recent days that the Trump Administration has blocked the Associated Press from covering something at the White House. The administration wants the AP to stop following its stylebook and international convention when it reports that the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf of Mexico and doesn’t use the new name for the body of water chosen by Donald Trump, the Gulf of America.

RFK Jr. takes over health in the U.S.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed by the Senate and has been sworn in as head of Health and Human Services for the U.S. The Senate vote was along party lines, with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell being the only Republican to vote against Kennedy. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York had said that Donald Trump was strong-arming Republicans into voting for Kennedy. Schumer said that if the Senate confirmation vote would be by secret ballot Republicans would vote against Kennedy.