• ENERGY SECURITYStates Fast-Track Wind, Solar Permits and Contracts to Beat Trump’s Deadline

    By Alex Brown

    Since taking office, the Trump administration has pursued a number of policies aimed at dismantling support for renewable energy, particularly targeting wind and solar power, which President Trump described as a “scam.” Federal tax credits have brought project costs down 30-50%, advocates say.

  • TARGETING SCIENCEThe True Cost of Abandoning Science

    By Steven R. Furlanetto

    “We now face a choice: to remain at the vanguard of scientific inquiry through sound investment, or to cede our leadership and watch others answer the big questions that have confounded humanity for millennia —and reap the rewards.”

  • ASSAULT ON SCIENCEFoundation for U.S. Breakthroughs Feels Shakier to Researchers

    By Max Larkin

    With each dollar of its grants, the National Institutes of Health —the world’s largest funder of biomedical research —generates, on average, $2.56 worth of economic activity across all 50 states. NIH grants also support more than 400,000 U.S. jobs, and have been a central force in establishing the country’s dominance in medical research. Waves of funding cuts and grant terminations under the second Trump administration are a threat to the U.S. status as driver of scientific progress, and to the nation’s economy.

  • ENERGY SOURCESTrump’s Bid to Support Coal Could Cost Ratepayers Billions: Report

    By Alex Brown

    The market has spoken: Across the country, coal plants have phased out as they’ve been unable to compete with cheaper renewables and natural gas. A recent report found that 99% of existing U.S. coal plants “are more expensive to run than replacement by local wind, solar, and energy storage resources.” Mandates from the Trump administration to subsidize aging, uncompetitive coal plants would cause taxpayers billions and lead to a massive spike in energy costs.

  • EUROPEAN DEFENSEEurope Is Significantly Boosting Its Defense Spending. Can the Continent Become a Military Superpower?

    By Tanner Stening

    Military spending across the European Union is ramping up in what observers have noted is a significant and “extraordinary” pivot from the comparatively placid postwar decades. Mai’a Cross thinks Europe’s shift toward an “era of rearmament” will be in its long-term interest.

  • HOBBLING U.S. INNOVATION Attacks on the U.S. Innovation Ecosystem Are an Attack on a Wellspring of American Prosperity

    By Neera Tanden, Ryan Mulholland, and Adam Conner

    The Trump administration’s attacks on the country’s science and innovation ecosystem — its cuts to federally funded R&D; its war on higher education; and its aggression toward immigrants, including skilled immigrants — are dismantling America’s science and technology advantage—putting the country’s future prosperity at risk. This frontal assault on the key source of U.S. industry’s competitive advantage is not a recipe for American greatness; it is a recipe for long-term decline.

  • HOBBLING U.S. INNOVATIONWhy the U.S. Is Letting China Win on Energy Innovation

    By Stephen Lezak

    The frontiers of global technology have pivoted to AI and next generation energy. In AI, the U.S. has far outpaced any other nation, but in energy, the U.S. has just tied its shoelaces together. The reason isn’t technology, economics or, despite the administration’s misleading official line, even national security. Rather, it is politics. The fact is, the U.S. does not have an energy security problem. It does, however, have an energy cost problem combined with a growing climate change crisis. These issues will only be made worse by Trump’s enthusiasm for fossil fuels.

  • CHEMICAL HAZARDSFeds Move to Eliminate Petrochemical Watchdog, Putting Texans and Others at Risk

    By Elena Bruess, Capital & Main

    Amid increasingly intense weather, the Chemical Safety Board is the lone independent agency watching over the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical corridor.

  • ENERGY SECURITYWill New Interior Department Rules Shackle Wind and Solar? Insiders Are Divided.

    By Rebecca Egan McCarthy

    Some Republicans felt that the massive budget bill that President Trump signed into law earlier this month did not go far enough in discouraging the growth of wind and solar power. So we know new Interior Department rules will slow wind and solar development — but we don’t yet know how much.

  • ENERGY SECURITYTrump Is Fast-Tracking New Coal Mines — Even When They Don’t Make Economic Sense

    By Katie Myers

    In Appalachian Tennessee, mines shut down and couldn’t pay their debts. Now a new one is opening under the guise of an “energy emergency.”

  • DISASTER ALERTSCuts to Early Warning Systems Are Leaving the U.S. Unprepared for Summer Floods

    By Alice C. Hill

    The extreme costs and death toll of recent floodings across Texas, New Mexico, and the Northeast have put into question the future of the United States’ emergency preparedness amid major budget and staffing cuts to critical risk-reduction agencies and programs.

  • ARGUMENT: ACHIEVING DRONE DOMINANCEFactories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts

    Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”

  • FORENSICSForensic Crime Labs Are Buckling as New Technology Increases Demand

    By Amanda Hernández

    Across the country, state and local crime labs are drowning in evidence. From rape kits to drug samples to vials of blood, delays in forensic testing are stalling prosecutions, stretching court calendars. A major federal funding cut could make labs’ struggles worse.

  • DEFENSE BUDGETWill Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Defense Spending Last?

    By Erin D. Dumbacher, Michael C. Horowitz, and Lauren Kahn

    Trump’s signature legislation will push defense spending past $1 trillion, with new funding for innovation and other capabilities. But those investments are at risk of becoming one-off acquisitions without sustained follow-on funding.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHFDA Layoffs Could Compromise Safety of Medications Made at Foreign Factories, Inspectors Say

    By Victoria Malis, Katherine Dailey, Sadie Leite, Debbie Cenziper, and Megan Rose

    Beyond staff cuts, the departures of some longtime investigators in recent months have left less experienced people tasked with rooting out dangerous manufacturing practices.