Trump’s Shutdown Agenda, and a Wave of Mysterious Drones in Scandinavia

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, October 2nd. Here's what we're covering.

0:13Mr. Vice President, in every previous shutdown, workers have been furloughed, not laid off. So why does the president want to fire some workers and not just furlough them? Why is this shutdown any different? Well, first of all, we haven't made any final decisions about what we're going to do with certain workers. What we're saying is that we might have to take extraordinary steps, especially the longer this goes on. At the White House, the Trump administration is forging ahead with plans to conduct mass layoffs and slash already approved projects, saying that could be necessary to save money as the government shutdown enters day two.

0:46Those kinds of cuts have not been required in past shutdowns. But the Trump administration is looking at how to leverage this moment to cut programs and staff it considers not aligned with the president's agenda. And I think that the Democrats, if they're so worried about the effect this is having on the American people, and they should be, what they should do is reopen the government, not complain about how we respond to the fact that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have shut down the government in the first place. Vice President J.D. Vance denied the administration was targeting any federal agencies based on politics.

1:19But the White House has specifically highlighted its plans to cut$18 billion for transportation projects in New York, home to Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the two Democratic leaders in Congress. And the White House budget director also said he was cutting$8 billion in, quote, Green News scam funding to fuel the left's climate agenda, a move that affected projects in 16 states, most of which are led by Democrats. The two parties have been deadlocked over a temporary funding measure that would reopen the government. The Democrats are holding out for a deal that would extend subsidies that help millions of Americans pay for their health insurance.

2:05At the moment, despite the shutdown, many crucial government operations are continuing without interruption. Though depending on how long it lasts, some services like child care and grocery vouchers for low-income families could be affected. Yesterday, several federal agencies started using their websites to blame Democrats or the, quote, radical left for any disruptions. Some furloughed government employees have even been instructed to set their out-of-office message to a version of, I am out of the office for the foreseeable future because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill.

2:41The messaging is a remarkable breach for federal agencies and their typically nonpartisan workforce. Using government platforms to attack Democrats could violate the Hatch Act, which is designed to ensure the federal workforce operates free of political influence or coercion.

3:06Now, two more updates on the Trump administration. Yesterday, the Department of Education sent letters to nine universities urging them to pledge support for President Trump's political agenda. in order to help ensure access to federal funds. The letter came with a 10-page compact demanding that the schools cap the enrollment of international students, commit to strict definitions of gender, and freeze tuition for five years. In exchange, they'd get priority on federal research money. The letters went out to schools including MIT, the University of Texas, and Vanderbilt. The effort is part of the Trump administration's months-long pressure campaign on elite universities, which many conservatives have criticized as too liberal.

3:52The White House has pressured schools to pay millions of dollars to close civil rights investigations and frozen billions in funding. A top Education Department official said this compact could ultimately be extended to universities nationwide. And the Supreme Court said yesterday that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position for now. As part of Trump's effort to reshape the Fed, a traditionally independent body, he tried to fire Cook, claiming she'd committed mortgage fraud. It was the first time a president has ever attempted to remove a governor from the Fed in its more than 100-year history.

4:31In an unsigned decision yesterday, the Supreme Court said it will hear full arguments about the case in January. It will be one of at least three cases the court will hear about the limits of presidential power this term, which begins on Monday.

4:54On the Mediterranean, Israeli forces say they stopped more than a dozen boats that were part of a flotilla trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. The boats set sail from Spain last month. The activists organizing the effort say they're trying to address the hunger crisis in Gaza and protest the war. Messages on the side of some of the boats say, we see you, we hear you, we're coming. Israel says those who were intercepted will be directed to an Israeli port and deported. But the organizers say more than two dozen boats are still heading toward Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas is currently holding talks with mediators to discuss the ceasefire plan President Trump put forward this week to end the war.

5:37My colleague Liam Stack and other reporters working with The Times have been talking with Palestinians on the ground in Gaza as they wait to see what Hamas will say. I think every person we spoke with said they wanted Hamas to accept the deal, but there was quite a bit of skepticism from people that Hamas would do it. Several people we spoke with said they thought that Hamas needed to be thinking more about civilians, people who were really suffering on the ground throughout this war. One woman, a single mother who was seeking shelter in the South with her young daughter, told us that she felt like no one cared about them, that they were just dying and nobody was paying attention, and Hamas needed to be thinking about them more.

6:19We spoke to one man, Mahmoud Abu Mattar. He said at this point in the war, he is just disgusted by the negotiators. At one point he said something to the effect of, I'm here trying to get a bag of flour or get fresh water and nearly getting killed every day. and the negotiators who say they're speaking on my behalf, they're far away in a hotel room, in an air-conditioned conference room, not going through what I'm going through.

6:51Over the last 10 days, there's been a wave of mysterious drone sightings across Scandinavia, hovering over military bases, flying over airports, and putting people on edge. Authorities have implied that Russia is behind it, and analysts say it could be part of a Kremlin's strategy to probe European countries' military readiness and to unsettle the public. That part seems to be working. Police hotlines in Denmark, Sweden and Norway have lit up with people calling in false alarms that turned out to be everything from just small planes to even stars.

7:31And Danish news outlets have reported a surge in people buying emergency rations, radios, rice and canned foods. Analysts say Denmark is a logical place for Russia to target with this kind of campaign. It's one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters. It's a founding member of NATO. And its defenses are weak. The country announced it was boosting military spending in recent months, though many Danes feel officials haven't done enough. Yesterday, leaders from the European Union met in Copenhagen, under increased security, to discuss defense strategy. Some European officials have pushed for building what they're calling a drone wall, a system of overlapping radar stations and air defense units spread across the continent.

8:22And finally... In July 1960, Jane Goodall has embarked on a remarkable adventure. The scientist and conservationist Jane Goodall, who changed how the world thought about chimpanzees and humans, died yesterday at 91. Born in London in 1934, Goodall's research career began when she took an assignment to observe chimps in the wild in a remote area of Tanzania. When I arrived at the Gombe Stream Reserve, I felt that at long last, my childhood ambition was being realized. There, Goodall spent so much time among the animals, they got used to her presence, and she began noticing the chimps behaving in surprising ways.

9:04She saw one deliberately break off a stalk of grass and use it to fish around for insects in a termite mound. She saw other chimps using tools, too. Her observations stunned the scientific community. Making tools had been considered a hallmark of human behavior. Louis Leakey, the paleoanthropologist, said, quote, Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans. Goodall shared her research and her wild adventures in the rainforest, complete with crocodiles and giant deadly centipedes, on TV, in documentaries, and in books. That turned Goodall into a household name. Eventually, she moved to spend less time observing and more time trying to protect chimps and their disappearing habitats.

9:53The Jane Goodall Institute, which she established in the 70s, evolved into one of the largest research and conservation nonprofits in the world, and she kept working with the organization until her death. A colleague of Goodall's told The Times, quote, She kept her own curiosity and energy and enthusiasm that we all have as children and sometimes lose. I never saw her lose that.

10:19Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at the Democrats' strategy to make the shutdown fight all about health care costs. You can listen to that in The New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday News Quiz.