How latest federal action is affecting our region
• Federal return to work: Two of the biggest missions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) and the 88th Air Base Wing — say they have enough desks and workstations to accommodate employees returning to in-person work. But for workers returning to the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, not all workers have been immediately accommodated.
• Tariffs: Steel and aluminum tariffs caused stock prices to soar Monday for Cleveland-based Cleveland-Cliffs, a large area employer at its Middletown Works plant. Cliffs Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves in a recent financial report praised Trump’s approach to trade and urged tariffs on steel “against our adversaries and allies who have taken advantage of our market.”
• Halted projects, purchases: Federal funding reviews suspended a $2 million study of U.S. 35, called Revive35. This Dayton project would include a comprehensive planning study on the U.S. 35 corridor, including looking at restructuring intersections to allow increased mobility and mitigate environmental and public health issues.
• Employment cuts: A Tipp City editorial content company — Dragonfly editorial — laid off five employees after U.S. Agency for International Development funding became more uncertain for some of its government contractor customers. The Department of Veterans Affairs, too, announced this week that it had dismissed more than 1,000 employees amid reports that the Trump administration was dismissing probationary employees across the federal government. It’s unclear if the Dayton VA has experienced any of these cuts.
• Grant funding: Amid the Trump administration’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion jobs and programs, some local organizations — like the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission — have not seen any changes in equity-related programs or employment, but fear regarding access to federal funding still looms.
Other recent developments
• The Trump Administration paused a $400 million State Department plan to buy armored electric vehicles from Tesla, owned by DOGE head Elon Musk.
• The Trump administration’s USAID funding freeze is being challenged judicially.
• President Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
• The newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget told the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau last weekend to stop its investigations and work on proposed rules. He instructed the agency to suspend the enforcement dates of any rules that had been finalized but not yet put into effect, and closed the CFPB’s offices for a week. Here’s an explainer on that.
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