Unprecedented Turnover In Trump Administration Comes With Steep Cost, Analysis FindsThe second Trump administration is an extraordinarily high-turnover workplace, according to a new analysis.The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service published a report Wednesday showing that Senate-confirmed officials were leaving the administration “at record rates,” leaving much of the federal government run by “acting officials who never face Senate confirmation.”“Turnover during the second Trump administration has surpassed even the high pace of the president’s first term,” the group found.At least 27 Senate-confirmed officials have left their positions within Trump’s cabinet so far — more than any modern president and six times the average rate between the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, according to the report.What’s more, Trump is not filling roles as they open up. He has made 578 nominations so far, the lowest on record since Ronald Reagan, the group said.Although the story of attrition within the administration hasn’t gained much public attention, the Partnership for Public Service warned that it comes at a steep cost.“Turnover on this scale does not just thin the government’s leadership ranks — it concentrates power in the president,” the group said. “Each seat left to an acting official is one the president can fill on his own terms without the Senate’s advice and consent: no vetting, no confirmation hearing, no vote.”Read more of their analysis here.Latest Live UpdatesJudge Extends Pause On Paramount's Acquisition Of Warner Bros.A judge has extended the temporary restraining order, putting Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on hold until at least Aug. 18, to allow the parties to hash out their differences regarding legal proceedings on a preliminary injunction, which would pause the merger for an extended period of time.California and 11 other states have sued to block the deal, arguing that it would stifle competition in film distribution and cable TV.Meanwhile, the European Union has cleared the deal, but the U.K. has signaled it could intervene in the acquisition.Romania Shoots Down Drone Breaching Its Airspace, President SaysA Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone breaching the country’s airspace early on Friday, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said, the latest in a series of incursions into the NATO member’s airspace.“This morning, around 11:00, a Romanian pilot on an F-16 aircraft shot down a drone that entered our country’s airspace,” Dan wrote on social media platform X.“The area was uninhabited, so the pilot was able to shoot without any risk. Currently, teams of the relevant institutions are investigating the area to come up with all the details about the incident.”Dan did not specify the origin of the drone.The Romanian Defense Ministry said the drone was shot down near the town of Padina in Buzau County in the east of the country.EU and NATO member Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has reported multiple breaches of its airspace by Russian drones since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River following its full-scale invasion in 2022.In late May, one drone crashed into an apartment building, injuring two people, the first time a strike hit a densely populated area in a NATO country and caused injuries during Russia’s war in Ukraine.CDC Links 4 More States To U.S. Cyclosporiasis Outbreak: ReportThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that four more U.S. states are part of a national cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to shredded lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing two sources familiar with the investigation.Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania join five other states — Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia — already involved in the outbreak that has sickened thousands of people in the U.S. over recent months.The Post said the addition of more states means investigators have linked the lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in nine states to Taylor Farms de Mexico.Read more at The Washington Post:France Orders Total Evacuation Of Cap Ferret Peninsula As Wildfires RageFrench authorities ordered on Friday the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast, sending boats to remove people from an area threatened by a major wildfire.The order for a total evacuation of the area, which is home to many valuable properties and is currently full of tourists enjoying their summer vacations in camp sites and rental homes, underlined the severity of the fire.French President Emmanuel Macron said he had requested help from the European Union as the country’s battle against wildfires intensifies.Read more at Reuters:Explosions Heard Near U.S. Base In Northern Iraq After U.S. Strikes IranA series of explosions were heard near a military base hosting U.S. forces in northern Iraq, hours after the U.S. military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.An Associated Press journalist heard at least seven blasts around 9:30 a.m. local time in the city of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and observed at least four plumes of black smoke rising into the sky from areas near or inside a base at the city’s airport.Read more at The Associated Press:There's No Bodycam Footage Of Fatal Madison Police ShootingAs officials review widely circulated bystander videos of the fatal police shooting of a homeless man in Madison, Wisconsin, one key perspective won’t be emerging: footage from the officers’ body-worn cameras.Unlike nearly every other similarly sized city, Madison doesn’t require its police to wear them.Read more from The Associated Press:Brent Oil's Price Briefly Tops $100 Per Barrel, As Stocks Are Set To Drop On Wall StreetBrent oil shot to its highest price since May after increased fighting in the Middle East on Thursday threatened to slow the global flow of crude. At the same time, sharp drops for two of Wall Street’s most influential companies, Alphabet and Tesla, yanked the U.S. stock market to its worst loss in a month.The S&P 500 fell 1.2% and is on track for its first back-to-back weekly loss since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 506 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.2%.Read more from The Associated Press.Pentagon Removes 4 Service Members From List Of Casualties: ReportPentagon officials gave conflicting explanations for why four U.S. service members were removed from a list of casualties in the war on Iran, The New York Times reported. The Defense Department this week lowered its number of service members killed in the war from 18 to 14.Three military officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Times that four service members had been removed from the list because their deaths occurred after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire in April. However, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez told the paper that the change was due to “temporary data disruptions” on the website and suggested it would be fixed quickly.Read more in The New York Times: Time To Check Your Refrigerator Shelves, PeopleMore than 19 million—That’s how many eggs have just been recalled due to a possible salmonella contamination. Midwest Poultry Services said the white shell eggs and brown cage-free shell eggs were produced in Texas and have “sell by” or “best by” dates between July 20, 2026, and Aug. 17, 2026.25 States Sue DHS, FEMA Over Trump's 'Illegal Attempts To Force Them Into Compliance'More than two dozen Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., are suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that they wrongfully withheld funding to pressure states into complying with the Trump administration’s election and immigration policies. “Congress never gave DHS or FEMA authority to rewrite state election law, require cooperation with federal immigration agents, or terminate federal funding streams at any time and for any reason,” plaintiffs said in the complaint.The plaintiffs include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.“This Administration is using the safety of Americans as collateral by attempting to bully the states into relinquishing their constitutional right to enact policies and laws that best serve their residents,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, one of four state attorneys general leading the suit, said in a press release Thursday. “Moreover, Congress allocated these funds to the states for preparing for and responding to emergencies including counterterrorism and natural disasters, and the executive branch has no legal say in the matter. Federal emergency funding cannot and will not be held hostage from states who are lawfully resisting the President’s illegal attempts to force them into compliance. We’ll make sure of it.”A FEMA spokesperson told HuffPost the “partisan pushback” was “nothing new.”“We fully expected these left-wing politicians to oppose common-sense measures designed to protect election security and safeguard the integrity of American democracy,” the spokesperson added.See All Updates