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Hannah Jewell
The Supreme Court granted a request from the Trump administration to continue a pause on foreign aid. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, February 27th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Last night, the government faced a midnight deadline to resume nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments. Those payments have been suspended for weeks, but late yesterday, the Supreme Court's Chief justice, John Roberts, granted a request from the administration to extend that deadline. President Donald Trump halted aid to organizations who work in impoverished parts of the world last month. That left millions of people at risk of hunger and illness and thousands of employees at the U.S. agency for International Development without jobs. Some were stranded in dangerous places around the world. A lower court had ruled that the government had to fulfill its contractual obligations for work that had been completed. But now the extended deadline will allow time for a full Supreme Court review. This is the second time the new administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a lower court judge blocked Trump's efforts to reshape the federal government.
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Interjection/Unclear
Foreign.
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Hannah Jewell
Musk's Doge team is barreling toward a fresh round of firings. That's number two. Musk is on a mission to slash the federal workforce. Thousands of jobs have been eliminated in the first month of Trump's administration at a number of agencies, and the effort is about to ramp up even further. Yesterday, the Post reported that Doge is preparing to strike entire categories of jobs from the federal workforce. The firings will target entire teams across most agencies. In a memo, officials said some positions will be exempt, including those that are necessary to meet law enforcement and national security responsibilities. And yesterday, Musk attended the first cabinet meeting of Trump's second term. @ the meeting, he made this pretty alarming claim, and I should say we.
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Musk or Musk's Spokesperson
Also we will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make a mistake, we'll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with usaid, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention, so we restored the Ebola prevention immediately and there was no interruption.
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Hannah Jewell
Current and former USAID officials say that isn't true. They say the agency's Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and his DOGE allies moved last month to freeze its outgoing payments. Number three is some breaking news this morning. Actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their Santa Fe home. Hackman was 95 and a two time Oscar winner. Early this morning, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said he was discovered alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog. Arakawa was 64. A lot of the details are still unclear. The sheriff's office said that foul play was not a suspected factor in the deaths. The exact cause or causes of the deaths have not been confirmed. To get the latest on this developing story, check out our homepage for updates. Number four, A child in Texas died in a growing measles outbreak. The death of a school age child is the first confirmed fatality in the worst measles outbreak in Texas in three decades, and it's the first known death from measles in the US since 2015. There have been 124 reported cases in Texas since late last month. Nearly 80% of those sickened are children. Measles was once considered eliminated in the U.S. but outbreaks have been increasing amid declining vaccination rates. The child who died was not vaccinated against measles. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Was asked about the death yesterday at a Cabinet meeting.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
They were watching it and There are about 20 people hospitalized, mainly for quarantine. We're watching it. We put out a post on it yesterday and we're going to continue to follow it. Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year there were 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.
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Hannah Jewell
Those comments frustrated public health officials who said Kennedy was downplaying the seriousness and scale of the outbreak. Kennedy is an anti vaccine activist. Officials also clarified that patients are not being quarantined at hospitals, as Kennedy said, but were taken there for clinical care. The effort to extend the Gaza ceasefire is hitting a serious roadblock. That's our fifth story. Over the past six six weeks, the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has survived multiple disputes and fraught moments. Yesterday, Hamas returned the bodies of four more hostages to Israel and Israel released hundreds of Palestinian detainees It was the final swap under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire. That phase is set to expire on Saturday, and Israel and Hamas, along with American and Arab government mediators, appear to be far from reaching an agreement on the second second phase. That phase would involve the release of all living Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding that Hamas fully disarm and leave Gaza. That's a non starter for Hamas. The U S announced a one billion dollar plan to combat eg shortages. That's Number six Bird flu is impacting millions of hens and that's causing egg prices to soar. So yesterday the Agriculture Department laid out its plans to bring prices back down. The plan includes biosecurity upgrades to combat bird flu and purchasing millions of eggs from other countries. The plan comes less than a month after the price of eggs hit an all time high. In January, the average price for large Grade A eggs in cities reached $4.95 per dozen. That's nearly double the price from January 2024. Number seven today might be good news for people who want their pets to live forever. An anti aging pill for dogs is one Step Closer to approval Yesterday, the San Francisco based biotech startup Loyal announced that its pill for dogs had passed a big regulatory hurdle. The FDA certified the pill's reasonable expectation of effectiveness at extending senior dogs lifespans. That means it could gain full approval by the end of the year after a few more steps. The daily pill is intended for dogs that are 10 years or older and weigh 14 pounds or more. It aims to extend lifespans by improving a dog's metabolic fitness. And even if you don't have a dog, this news could someday affect you. The company's CEO says she hopes to eventually apply her findings about pets to help prolong human lives too. One note before we go. You may have seen that the owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, outlined a new vision for the Post's opinions side and that is a focus on free markets and personal liberties. As for the seven and Post reports, these are produced from our news side. It feels important to underline that our newsroom remains dedicated to independent reporting and fact based journalism. For 138 years, the Washington Post has been committed to holding power to account and that's what you can continue to expect right here. As always, thank you for listening, Hannah. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll be off tomorrow, but the rest of the team will meet you back here, then.
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