Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A dramatic attack in Ukraine: “A drone armed with a warhead hit the protective outer shell of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, punching a hole in the structure and briefly starting a fire, in an attack Kyiv blamed on Russia. The Kremlin denied it was responsible.”
* Retail sales data: “Consumers sharply curtailed their spending in January, indicating a potential weakening in economic growth ahead, according to a Commerce Department report Friday.”
* These folks are new hires who lack civil service protections: “President Donald Trump’s administration began a mass firing of federal workers Thursday. Office of Personnel Management officials met with agency leaders and advised them to dismiss probationary employees, according to a person familiar with the matter. Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management, although the exact number of people who will be terminated was not immediately clear.”
* We’re due for a larger conversation about nuclear security: “The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has laid off about 1,200 to 2,000 workers at the Department of Energy, including employees at a power grid office, the nuclear security administration and the loans office, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.”
* A case we’ve been following: “Texas and Louisiana are moving forward with legal action against an abortion provider in New York who prescribed abortion medication through telemedicine. On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, who late last month was indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pills via telehealth to a minor patient in that state.”
* At the VA: “Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs say President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders and policy changes have already chipped away at staff morale, and now they fear the impact will be felt by the country’s 9 million veterans for whom the VA provides lifelong care and benefits.” * I fear Louisiana won’t be the last state to do this: “Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses. The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would ‘encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider’ but would ‘no longer promote mass vaccination.’” * Oh my: “Linda McMahon, testifying before a Senate committee considering her nomination to be secretary of education, said she did not know whether a school would be legally permitted to offer a Black history class or allow clubs centered on racial or ethnic identity.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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