Geoff Bennett:
In Paris, the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed due to unsafe heat conditions, as more than 1,000 schools across France were either partially or fully canceled. Temperatures in Paris remained at 101 degrees Fahrenheit even at sunset.
The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender athletes from its women’s sports in order to resolve its federal civil rights case with the Trump administration. The Department of Education said as part of the voluntary agreement that Penn will restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost to Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school back in 2022 and became the center of controversy.
In a statement to the “News Hour,” Penn acknowledged the agreement and added — quote — “Penn has always followed and continues to follow Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes.”
A federal judge in Rhode Island today blocked the Department of Health and Human Services from moving forward with mass layoffs and ordered the agency to stop its plans to restructure the work force. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted a preliminary injunction sought by 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia, writing the “action was both arbitrary and capricious, as well as contrary to law.”
The judge also ordered the parties to address whether the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on limiting injunctions should apply to her order. The ruling comes just one day before thousands of layoffs were set to become final.
Still, today marks the end of an era for six decades of U.S. foreign assistance. The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, has been officially closed and absorbed into the U.S. State Department. It’s the final step for the aid agency that was a first target for cuts by the Trump administration and then by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end.”
Critics of the move say dissolving the agency could have devastating consequences for world hunger and famine. Those include former President Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and rock star Bono, who all shared private recorded messages with USAID employees yesterday.
It was a mixed day of trading on Wall Street after several days of record-setting highs. The Dow Jones industrial average was the only gain among the major indices, adding almost 1 percent. The Nasdaq fell by close to a percentage point, while the S&P 500 slipped just marginally.
And one of the most well-known televangelists in America, Jimmy Swaggart, has died.
Stephanie Sy has our look at his life, controversies, and legacy he leaves behind.
