21 state attorneys general sue to block Department of Education’s dismantling
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(WASHINGTON) — A group of 21 Democratic attorneys general are suing the Trump administration to block the dismantling of the Department of Education, alleging the firing of 50% of its employees “incapacitates” the department’s ability to compete its legally-required functions.
The lawsuit – filed in Massachusetts federal court – asks a judge to immediately pause the Trump administration’s mass firings and declare that the dismantling of the Department of Education is unlawful.
“This massive reduction in force is equivalent to incapacitating key, statutorily mandated functions of the Department, causing immense damage to Plaintiff States and their educational systems,” the lawsuit said. “Far from being just a ‘first step,’ the layoffs are an effective dismantling of the Department.”
The attorneys general allege that the twenty states and District of Columbia who brought the case would suffer irreparable harm from the dismantling of the Department, arguing the federal government is ” deeply intertwined” with their education systems through funding for low-income children, support for students with disabilities, federal student aid, and laws that prevent discrimination in education.
According to the lawsuit, the reduction in force would prevent the department from completing its legally mandated functions, and that neither President Donald Trump nor Education Secretary Linda McMahon have the authority to break down a department created by Congress.
“This massive RIF is not supported by any actual reasoning or specific determinations about how to eliminate purported waste in the Department—rather, the RIF is part and parcel of President Trump’s and Secretary McMahon’s opposition to the Department of Education’s entire existence,” the lawsuit said.
The DOE began sending “reduction in force” notifications on Tuesday night, impacting about 1,315 employees so far. The agency said it will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(LOS ANGELES) — Weather officials have issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warning for western Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County beginning on Tuesday at 4 a.m. into Wednesday at noon, warning of a heightened fire risk even as crews rush to extinguish blazes tearing through the region.
A new Santa Ana wind event is forecast today through Wednesday with the strongest winds Tuesday into Wednesday. Peak winds for this next event will be weaker than those last week.
Nevertheless, winds will be strong enough to potentially cause explosive fire growth.
On Monday morning and the rest of the day, winds will begin to pick up in the mountains and higher elevations, gusting 20 to 30 mph, locally as high as 50 mph.
Those winds are likely continue to fuel the historic wildfires raging in Southern California. The largest, the Palisades Fire, has spread by late Sunday to 23,713 acres with only 13% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Thousands of firefighters are battling the blazes across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. About 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings.
By Tuesday morning at 4 a.m., when the “PDS” conditions begin, gusts in the mountains are expected to near 70 mph possibly and humidity could be as low as 8% for some of the area
This Santa Ana wind event will be slightly in different areas than last week, more into western L.A. County, most of Ventura County and even part of Santa Barbara County.
“Emergency responders are ready tonight. Pre-positioned firefighters and engines are spread around Southern California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on social media late on Sunday. “Stay safe. Be ready to evacuate if you get the order.”
The strongest winds will begin to subside by noon on Wednesday. But forecast models show still very gusty winds in the mountains at noon Wednesday.
Higher humidity and lighter winds are forecast late in the week and into the weekend.
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Across the Pacific Palisades, where the current Los Angeles wildfires began on Jan. 7, homes and buildings have been reduced to rubble, the once-bucolic neighborhood left ashen and desolate.
But standing tall among the wreckage — almost entirely unscathed — remains Palisades Village, the outdoor mall owned by Rick Caruso, billionaire real estate developer and former Republican mayoral candidate.
To protect the high-end shopping center, several private water tankers, equipped with 3,000 gallons of water in each, were brought in to fend off the encroaching blaze, ABC News has reported.
“Our property is standing,” Caruso told The New York Times on Wednesday. “Everything around us is gone. It is like a war zone.”
Caruso did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News. On Sunday, he posted on X that he was committing $5 million to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
Amid the devastation of the fires, in which thousands of Californians have lost their homes, private firefighting companies have provoked controversy and ire, a symbol of the gaping disparity between the lives of the city’s wealthiest residents and those left struggling to rebuild.
The majority of private firefighters don’t actually work to serve individual customers, experts told ABC News. In most cases, they’re contracted by the government, aiding local firefighting crews, or by insurance companies, typically working to avert damage.
But some private firefighters offer their services to individuals, a practice that has shocked and infuriated many as its existence has entered the public eye. In 2018, so-called “concierge” firefighters saved Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s Hidden Hills mansion — along with several neighbors’ homes — during the Woolsey wildfire, according to reports at the time.
On Tuesday, real estate investor Keith Wasserman sparked widespread anger after posting to X about it.
“Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount,” he wrote in a now-deleted post.
Wasserman’s post inspired backlash, with users slamming the businessman as out of touch. He later deleted his account. Wasserman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Due to the private nature of these services, it’s not yet clear how widespread the use of private firefighters has been in battling the Los Angeles fires. Prices are not openly listed, and can vary widely, likely costing several thousand a day, The New York Times reported.
“I’ll be honest with you, we get a lot of calls in circumstances like this from private landowners who are interested in hiring some private resources to help mitigate fire risk,” Deborah Miley, executive director of National Wildfire Suppression Association, an organization representing over 300 private firefighting companies, told ABC News.
Though most private firefighting companies focus solely on work for the government and insurance companies, some openly offer their services to individual customers. Allied Disaster Defense, which the Los Angeles Times reported had sent staff to fight the recent fires, has a page on its website advertising “private client services.” The company offers to sign non-disclosure agreements for providing their services, which they recommend for “high-net worth individuals, and even celebrities.”
Aside from public backlash, the employment of private firefighters during such serious wildfires can be “extremely dangerous,” Cal Fire battalion chief David Acuña told ABC News.
“Where it becomes a problem is they don’t fall under our chain of command. We don’t know what personal protective equipment they have, and we don’t have radio contact,” Acuña said.
Acuña said he has no problems with private firefighters working in advance to prevent fire damage — but during a disaster like the one that’s ongoing, they can get in the way of official firefighters doing their jobs.
“All of those people are folks that we are going to have to come in and rescue if they stay in the area too long, and that takes away from us being able to attack the fire,” he said.
As the wildfires continue their brutal rampage, Acuña emphasized that local fire departments will remain on the ground working to battle the flames.
“We have a responsibility to the public — not to a customer,” he said.
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(ALBANY, N.Y.) — New York government employees are barred from downloading DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence application onto state devices due to security concerns, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday.
The DeepSeek chatbot, known as R1, responds to user queries just like its U.S.-based counterparts, such as the popular ChatGPT. But the China-based DeepSeek has code hidden in its programming that has the built-in capability to send user data directly to the Chinese government, experts told ABC News.
“Public safety is my top priority,” Hochul said in a statement. “New York will continue fighting to combat cyber threats, ensure the privacy and safety of our data, and safeguard against state-sponsored censorship.”
Last year, Hochul issued guidance for the “responsible use of AI” in New York’s government to help improve operations while “protecting privacy, managing risk and promoting accountability, safety and equity,” according to the governor’s office.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News he thinks DeepSeek should be banned “from all government devices immediately.”
“No one should be allowed to download it onto their device. And I think we have to inform the public,” he said.
Gottheimer and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., introduced a bipartisan bill to ban DeepSeek from all government devices last week.
“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans. Now, we have deeply disturbing evidence that they are using DeepSeek to steal the sensitive data of U.S. citizens. This is a five alarm national security fire,” Gottheimer said in a statement.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned DeepSeek on government devices, the first states to do so, on Jan. 31.
President Donald Trump was asked on Friday whether he believed DeepSeek was a national security threat, to which he replied, “No, I mean, I think it’s happening. It’s a technology that’s happening. … It’ll be a lot less expensive, the AI, we’re talking about, will be a lot less expensive that people originally thought. That’s a good thing. I view that as a very good development, not a bad development.”
