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By MARK SHERMAN, Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday began offering buyouts worth seven months of salary to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by Feb. 6 — part of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the U.S. government.A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce, including that most workers return to their offices full-time.It includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees wishing to participate.“If you choose not to continue in your current role in…

In the wake of a spate of fires at battery storage facilities across the state, the California Public Utilities Commission will soon vote on establishing new standards for maintaining and operating them.If passed, the proposal also increases oversight for emergency response at energy storage sites that use batteries.The announcement comes shortly after a dramatic fire broke out Jan. 16 at a 750-megawatt battery plant in the Northern California community of Moss Landing that led to the evacuation of 1,200 residents. The blaze burned for two days and closed a section of Highway 1 for three days.Emergency crews and the plant’s…

Former CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta is leaving CNN after being stripped of his morning show and offered a midnight (Eastern time) program in its place.CNN last week announced major lineup changes that included veteran newsman Wolf Blitzer moving his 6 p.m. ET “Situation Room” to the 10 a.m. ET spot currently occupied by Acosta. Former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, who first reported shakeups at CNN that included roughly 200 layoffs, reported Monday that Acosta didn’t see a future with CNN.The 53-year-old Washington D.C.-area native appeared to confirm those sentiments Tuesday when he announced the end of his…

The job in front of the Rams last offseason, impossible as it was to imagine, was to replace future Hall of Fame defensive lineman Aaron Donald, whose mere presence demanded the attention of every coach on the opposing sideline and at least two offensive linemen on the field.One season later, there are no questions about the Rams’ defensive front left to answer.Outside linebacker Jared Verse was named the PFWA’s Defensive Rookie of the Year after a six-sack, 77-pressure season that somehow did more talking than the outside linebacker did on his own. Yet it was second-round pick Braden Fiske who…

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” Stanford economist Paul Romer said at a venture capital seminar 21 years ago, referring to the increasing levels of education in other countries that would make them more competitive with the United States.Romer’s comment transmogrified into a political slogan when Rahm Emanuel, manager of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential victory, attributed it to exploiting popular angst over a deep recession.“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Emanuel told an interviewer.Notwithstanding the remark’s implied cynicism, crises — either real or merely perceived — can make or break political careers as news…

The bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches.The average price per dozen nationwide hit $4.15 in December. That’s not quite as high as the $4.82 record set two years ago, but the Agriculture Department predicts prices are going to soar another 20% this year.Also see: First US case of new bird flu strain found on California duck farmShoppers in some parts of the country are already paying more…

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made her debut in the briefing room on Tuesday and promised to speak frequently with the news media and open up the briefing room to podcasters and social media influencers.In her first briefing as the public face of President Donald Trump’s second administration, Leavitt spent about 47 minutes answering questions from the White House press corps on the impact of a White House freeze on federal grants and loans and on the early days of the administration’s efforts to deport migrants living in the U.S. illegally.While…

A rocky sojourn in the Midwest gave way to back-to-back dates in the Sunshine State, as the goal-starved Kings made their way south for clashes with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.All five Eastern Conference crowns this decade have stayed in-state, with the Bolts winning the Prince of Wales Trophy from 2020 to 2022 before the Panthers earned it the past two seasons. The Lightning twice captured the Stanley Cup during that period, and the Panthers are the defending champions.Both teams have already visited Crypto.com Arena this season, with Tampa Bay losing 2-1 in…

The embers haven’t even stopped smoldering and California’s affordable-housing industrial complex is swinging into fifth gear. Politically connected developers that by now have collected literally hundreds of billions in taxpayer subsidies to construct low-income housing and homeless housing in California are salivating over the opportunity to redevelop devastated neighborhoods in Los Angeles.But if the California policies that prevailed before the horrific fires are not changed, nothing will improve. Fire danger will remain elevated, and housing will remain unaffordable. Here’s a scenario, for example, that Californians might wish to avoid: The city of Altadena, previously a relatively low-density suburb with detached single-family…

By Jessica Nix and Gerry Smith | BloombergUS officials are investigating the appearance of a strain of bird flu identified in the US for the first time, a worrying sign that the virus is evolving in ways that could make it harder to contain.Detected on a duck farm in Merced County, California, it’s the first confirmed case of H5N9 in poultry in the US, according to the website for the World Organization for Animal Health, a Paris-based group focused on animal diseases.The California case wasn’t announced by US health officials, as the Trump administration has paused government communications on health…