Jenna McLaughlin

Employment Situation Frequently Asked Questions - 2025 M07 Results

A reminder that the job report establishment survey, where we get those monthly job numbers, has a margin of error of ***136,000***. www.bls.gov/news.release...

Jen Easterly has responded: "The opportunity to serve again at my alma mater was rescinded — a casualty of casually manufactured outrage that drowned out the quiet labor of truth and the steady pulse of integrity.
www.axios.com/2025/07/31/j...

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

Ok here’s something cool. Adopt a station — donate to the public media stations that rely the most on federal funds. >>> adoptastation.org

New York state cyber chief calls out Trump for cybersecurity cuts | TechCrunch The top cybersecurity official in New York told TechCrunch in an interview that Trump's budget cuts are going to put the government at risk from cyberattacks, and will put more pressure on states to s...

NEW: We spoke to Colin Ahern, the chief cyber officer for the state of New York.

He sounded the alarm after the "Big Ugly Bill" and all the Trump cuts to cybersecurity agencies and programs, and said states need Washington to be a better partner to secure its networks.

New: CISA says it will release a redacted version of a report on telecommunications network security vulnerabilities to get @wyden.senate.gov to remove his hold on Trump's CISA director nominee. Wyden had demanded that CISA first agree to release the report. Confirming @ddimolfetta.bsky.social.

Senate Homeland Security Committee vote on Sean Plankey to head CISA is teed up for Wednesday

Worlds colliding 😶

Donations to NPR and PBS Stations Surge After Funding Cuts

scoop: donations to NPR and PBS stations have exploded, with donors across the country giving in unprecedented numbers since Congress cut federal funding

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/b...

This ‘violently racist’ hacker claims to be the source of the New York Times’ Mamdani scoop They say Columbia is just one of five universities they’ve penetrated.

This account likes posting swastikas and taking credit for hacking universities www.theverge.com/cyber-securi...

There is widespread exploitation this weekend of a zero-day flaw in on-premises instances of Microsoft #Sharepoint. CISA, Microsoft and security companies are releasing advisories.

Cuts to public media will smash budgets of some local radio stations Congress voted to claw back federal funding to public media. Some of those hit hardest include community radio stations in areas that voted for the president.

Congress voted to claw back federal funding to public media. Some of those hit hardest include community radio stations in areas that voted for the president.

USDA Ends Key Support for Black Farmers Amid Trump Anti-DEI Orders The agency will no longer use the term "socially disadvantaged," saying it has sufficiently addressed historic discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ended key support for Black farmers and will no longer use the term “socially disadvantaged,” saying it has sufficiently addressed historic discrimination

Hello just wanted to say:

Public media is a useful public good. It is a source of great local news at a time when local news is being decimated. Also, in my 10 years in public media, I can say people who work here do it because they believe in the mission of informing people.

Just noting.

I'm already hearing anecdotes about farmers saying they're concerned about sharing data that DOGE might get its hands on....

Have a story to share?

I'm on Signal: JennaMcLaughlin.54

U.S. senator wants DOGE out of sensitive farmer payment system Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., wants the USDA to revoke high-level access granted to the Department of Government Efficiency to a database that controls payments and loans to farmers and ranchers.

NEW from me:

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin wants DOGE out of a sensitive farmer payment system at USDA:

www.npr.org/2025/07/15/n...

(Following my investigation from last week: www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...)

The State Department's cyber diplomacy bureau lost staffers working on regional policy engagement and communications strategy in the recent firings, and the head of its security-focused division may have been fired, @ddimolfetta.bsky.social reports. www.nextgov.com/people/2025/...

DOGE Denizen Marko Elez Leaked API Key for xAI Marko Elez, a 25-year-old employee at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been granted access to sensitive databases at the U.S. Social Security Administration, the Treasury an...

“One leak is a mistake,” he said. “But when the same type of sensitive key gets exposed again and again, it’s not just bad luck, it’s a sign of deeper negligence and a broken security culture.”

krebsonsecurity.com/2025/07/doge...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

In a warehouse in Dubai, 500 tons of high-energy biscuits for starving children were allowed to approach their expiration date. They're about to be incinerated. Important scoop from @hana-kiros.bsky.social. What are we doing here. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

IT glitches and mistakes can clearly have devastating ripple effects:

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/w...

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers DOGE recently gained high-level access to a database that controls government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

A DOGE staffer recently got high-level access to view and change the contents of a payments system that controls tens of billions of dollars in government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the United States, @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social scoops

www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers DOGE recently gained high-level access to a database that controls government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

"Putting aside the serious privacy concerns, we've also seen what happens when DOGE gets its hands on federal assistance programs," said @wyden.senate.gov. "Letting DOGE staff... call the shots on who gets a financial lifeline is an outright attack on rural America."

www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers DOGE recently gained high-level access to a database that controls government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE from @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social @npr.org: A DOGE staffer recently got high-level access to view and change the contents of a payments system that controls tens of billions of dollars in government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the United States.

NPR continues to focus on government restructuring and DOGE's access to sensitive data.

Sometimes, it happens without much fanfare or notice, even inside the agency.

Have a tip for us? Search for my username on Signal (JennaMcLaughlin.54) and send me a message.

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers DOGE recently gained high-level access to a database that controls government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

I saw access logs revealing that a DOGE staffer can now see/modify entries in an internal system at the Farm Service Agency, the National Payment Service system. It keeps track of billions of dollars in subsidies and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.:

www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers DOGE recently gained high-level access to a database that controls government payments and loans to farmers and ranchers across the U.S.

NEW from me:

DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers.

www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

Really not into the culture of screengrabbing tweets to bring them on here, but this is pretty newsworthy I think. Twitter's CEO stepping down the day after the site deployed a full-on racist/bigot/Nazi AI to its users. I don't know if that's the reason and haven't seen any indication either way.

As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas

As floods hit, key roles were vacant at weather service offices in Texas. We're likely to keep seeing impacts of staffing shortages (combined with forces outside human control.)

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/u...

ICE Is Searching a Massive Insurance and Medical Bill Database to Find Deportation Targets The database, called ISO ClaimSearch, is nearly all encompassing and contains details on more than 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills.

New from 404 Media: ICE is searching a massive insurance and medical bill database to find deportation targets, according to internal ICE material. The database is all encompassing, contains details on 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills www.404media.co/ice-is-searc...

I had the exact same reaction to John Wick lol

BREAKING: The Supreme Court *allows* the Trump administration to implement large-scale layoffs and reorganization plans across the federal government, despite a pending legal challenge. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissents. #SCOTUS
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...