Joe

Local food banks and pantries across the country are already seeing increases in need due to layoffs and government workers being furloughed during the shutdown. As the winter months and the holiday season approach, food insecurity increases and more people look to food banks for assistance.

...However, during President Donald Trump's first term the USDA used reserve funds to provide funding for regular SNAP benefits during the government shutdown in February 2019.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture shared a letter with UPI stating that contingency funds are "not legally available to cover regular benefits." It explains that contingency funds could only be used for purposes like the Disaster SNAP program, providing food to disaster areas...

Food banks feeling strain ahead of potential SNAP lapse - UPI.com Local food banks and pantries across the country are seeing increases in need due to layoffs and government workers being furloughed during the shutdown.

More than 40 million people may be without access to adequate food beginning Saturday if the government shutdown continues.

Shutdown, Trump's beef deal compound troubles for farmers - UPI.com American farmers are facing difficult operating decisions as winter approaches due to tariffs, U.S. trade policies, high input costs and global competition.

Winter is coming for farmers in the Midwest and the long, cold months will be filled with questions about how to keep producing.

The beef market has been the bright spot for farmers but that may change with President Trump's plan to purchase from Argentina and rhetoric blaming ranchers for prices.

Most public land already open to energy production; Trump wants more - UPI.com The Trump administration has vowed to open up public land to usher in an age of American energy dominance but in the West there is little frontier left.

The push for "energy dominance" by opening up public lands to more drilling runs counter to the way the energy industry is moving, experts told me while putting this story together. There are not solid answers about what happens to the land when the drilling stops.

Doctors can continue recommending Tylenol despite FDA announcement - UPI.com Healthcare professionals maintain that acetaminophen is safe to use at recommended doses during pregnancy, despite the Trump claiming it is linked to autism.

Doctors expect to continue prescribing acetaminophen as usual for pain and fever management during pregnancy.

The Trump administration's position that there is a link between Tylenol use and autism has caused fear and confusion among patients, despite no new evidence supporting the claim.

1/ DEVELOPING: A journalist was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital following another incident with an ICE agent at 26 Federal Plaza, an immigration court in NYC. The last I heard, he was getting X-rays for his lower back.

TikTok deal answers some concerns, raises others - UPI.com President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to keep TikTok active for 170 million U.S. users with U.S. investors owning 80% of the company.

The deal to keep TikTok available to users in the U.S. seems on the surface to meet the requirements laid out by Congress last year: U.S. ownership, operation and oversight.

It also raises new concerns about propaganda and misinformation. But potentially serving new propagandists.

"If I could make it 100% MAGA I would but it's not going to work out that way unfortunately. Everyone is going to be treated fairly. Every group, every philosophy will be treated fairly."

-President Trump on the TikTok deal with the U.S.

JD Vance said TikTok will be valued at $14 billion

President Trump is signing executive orders in the White House right now. On the TikTok EO he just signed, he named a few of the investors, including Rupert Murdoch and I believe I heard him say Mike Lindell.

Trump, Carr push boundaries of broadcast law, FCC authority - UPI.com The FCC is prohibited from influencing network content but Chairman Brendan Carr and President Donald Trump have used pressure campaigns to test those limits.

Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air but FCC Chairman Carr and President Trump have still executed a pressure campaign that threatens free speech and it goes beyond late night shows.

a tweet that reads "This was all in Project 2025, btw" and a reply from the head of the FCC that shows the Jack Nicholson nodding meme.

this is real, and yes that reply that is the head of the FCC

Immigration policy drawing international students away from U.S. - UPI.com The fall semester has arrived with fewer international students on campuses in the United States, due in part to the Trump administration's student visa policy.

U.S. immigration policies and the State Department's student visa revocations have international students looking to global competitors for their studies, setting the stage for economic losses and few jobs created in the United States.

They just tear-gassed us. They tried to run us over in a van holding a peaceful protester. They shot us with pepper balls. They dragged another protester into the facility.

President Trump's school prayer proposal advances religious showdown - UPI.com President Donald Trump announced his intention to bring prayer into public schools, furthering a push to place religious symbols and practices in schools.

President Trump is pushing to bring prayer into public schools. A handful of states have passed laws to mandate religious symbols and teachings in public schools.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has started taking a different view on the subject of religion and public schools.

Murder. He’s calling for the murder of people, a significant percentage of whom are veterans who served in our country’s military.

This new Street Fighter movie is going to make the JCVD movie look like The Godfather.

Cowboys vs Eagles summary
#NFL

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' lame duck term and a Democrats' special election win - UPI.com A Democrat flipped an Iowa Senate seat for the second time this year in a state that has been won by President Donald Trump in the last three general elections.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' lame duck term looks just a little different after Democratic Senator-elect Catelin Drey's special election last week.

Experts and campaign operatives have different views of what the election result means. What is certain is some kind of change is coming to Iowa.

BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago.

Here is the text of his email shared with me:

I respect it.

Mail-in voting latest target of Donald Trump's election ire - UPI.com President Donald Trump's wish to end mail-in voting is only part of his grander vision for fundamentally changing the election process, experts say.

President Trump wants to end mail-in voting, which he has no authority to do. But his desire to change U.S. elections goes well beyond that. He has reduced the office that enforces many election laws, cut the budget for cybersecurity and sowed doubt in the system, experts say.

After this, he was arrested by the US Secret Service.

Texas redistricting sets course for partisan arms race - UPI.com Texas Republicans are near passing a new congressional map, sparking a response from California and igniting a new battle between Republicans and Democrats.

President Trump and Texas lawmakers' redistricting plan meant to increase Republicans' majority in Congress is setting the stage for a partisan arms race with California and other states ready to join the fray.

"What they're doing is unconstitutional," Justin Levitt told UPI.

Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. 'desensitizing' to military presence - UPI.com President Donald Trump's declaration of a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., has again placed military soldiers on the streets of an American city.

President Donald Trump’s declaration of a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., has again placed military soldiers on the streets of an American city.

Kavanaugh partially concurred with the majority opinion in a 5-4 ruling that held up key protections against racial gerrymandering.

He partially concurred bc he also agreed with the minority that "race-based redistricting" may be required in some circumstances, but not continue indefinitely.

Supreme Court poised to rehear voting rights case - UPI.com The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to rehear a redistricting case that will have implications on the Voting Rights Act when its next term begins in October.

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rehear a case that will likely have implications on the future of the Voting Rights Act and redistricting/gerrymandering cases.

A special focus is on Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Foreign aid community grapples with rescissions fallout - UPI.com Cuts to foreign aid continued with the passage of the rescissions package by Congress in July, pulling back the U.S. presence in the humanitarian arena.

Cuts to foreign aid, both from Trump's executive order folding USAID's duties into the State Department earlier this year and in the rescissions he was granted by Congress, are expected to cost hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.