Mourners bury one of the last hostages released from Gaza as talks start for ceasefire future

• February 28, 2025

By JULIA FRANKEL

JERUSALEM (AP) — Mourners in Israel on Friday were burying the remains of one of the final hostages released in the first phase of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, as negotiators discussed a second phase that could end the war in Gaza and see the remaining living captives returned home.

The funeral procession for Tsachi Idan, an avid soccer fan who was 49 when he was abducted by Hamas, began at a Tel Aviv football stadium en route to the cemetery where he was to be buried in a private ceremony.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Idan, taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza, was killed in captivity.

His body was one of four released by Hamas early Thursday in exchange for over 600 Palestinian prisoners, the last planned swap of the ceasefire’s first phase, which began in January. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union.

Idan was the only one of his family taken to Gaza. His eldest daughter, Maayan, was killed as terrorists shot through the door of their saferoom. Hamas fighters broadcast themselves on Facebook live holding the Idan family hostage in their home, as his two younger children pleaded with them to let them go.

“My brother is the real hero. He held on,” Idan’s sister, Noam Idan ben Ezra, said in an interview on Israeli radio Friday. She said Idan had been “a pace away” from being released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023, when more than 100 of the 251 people abducted on Oct. 7 were released.

“Tsachi was forsaken twice. The first time when he was kidnapped from his home and the second time when the deal blew up,” she added. “The fact that Tsachi is not standing next to me today is the outcome of the decision-making and the policy here in Israel. They did not listen to us then, but it’s not too late to listen to us today.”

Concern for remaining hostages

With the first phase of the ceasefire deal set to end Saturday, relatives of hostages still held in Gaza are ramping up pressure on Netanyahu to secure the release of their loved ones.

According to Israel, 32 of the 59 hostages still in Gaza are dead, and there has been growing concern about the welfare of an unknown number who are still alive, particularly after three hostages released Feb. 8 appeared emaciated.

One of the three, Eli Sharabi, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 Friday that he and other hostages had been held in iron chains, starved and sometimes beaten or humiliated.

“During the first three days, my hands are tied behind my back, my legs are tied, with ropes that tear into your flesh, and a bit of food, a bit of water during the day,” he said, in one of the first interviews by a hostage released under the current deal. “I remember not being able to fall asleep because of the pain, the ropes are already digging into your flesh, and every movement makes you want to scream.”

Sharabi found out after his release that his wife and daughters had been killed during the Oct. 7 attack.

The next phase of the ceasefire

Under the terms of the truce Israel and Hamas agreed to, Phase 2 of the ceasefire is to involve negotiations on ending the war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. That includes the return of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory. The return of the bodies of the remaining deceased hostages would occur in Phase 3.

Hamas said in a statement released Friday that it “reaffirms its full commitment to implementing all terms of the agreement in all its stages and details.” It called on the international community to pressure Israel to “immediately proceed to the second phase without any delay or evasion.”

Officials from Israel, Qatar and the United States have started “intensive discussions” on the ceasefire’s second phase in Cairo, Egypt‘s state information service said Thursday. Netanyahu’s office confirmed he had sent a delegation to Cairo. Israel has reportedly been seeking an extension of the first phase to secure the release of additional hostages.

“The mediators are also discussing ways to enhance the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, as part of efforts to alleviate the suffering of the population and support stability in the region,” said the statement from the prime minister’s office.

Israel’s negotiators will return home Friday night, said an Israeli official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. Negotiations are set to continue Saturday, the official said. But it was not clear if the Israeli team would travel back to Cairo to attend them.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that the coming days are “critical,” and urged Israel and Hamas to fulfill their commitments.

The first phase of the ceasefire saw 33 hostages, including eight bodies, released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has vowed to return all the hostages and destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas, which remains in control of Gaza. The Trump administration has endorsed both goals.

But it’s unclear how Israel would destroy Hamas without resuming the war, and Hamas is unlikely to release the remaining hostages — its main bargaining chips — without a lasting ceasefire. After suffering heavy losses in the war, the group has nonetheless emerged intact, and says it will not give up its weapons.

The ceasefire, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, ended 15 months of war that erupted after Hamas’ 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but say over half the dead have been women and children.

The fighting displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population and decimated the territory’s infrastructure and health system.

Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid destroyed homes

Palestinians who returned to destroyed homes in Gaza City started Friday to prepare for Ramadan, shopping for essential household goods and foods. Some say the Islamic holy month feels better than one spent last year, but still far from normal.

“The situation is very difficult for people and life is very hard. Most people — their homes have been destroyed. Some people can’t afford to shop for Ramadan, but our faith in God is great as he never forgets to bless people,” said Gaza City resident Nasser Shoueikh.

Ramadan is a holy Islamic month during which observant Muslims around the world practice the ritual of daily fasting from dawn to sunset. It’s often known for increased prayers, charity and spirituality as well as family gatherings enjoying different dishes and desserts during Iftar, when Muslims break their fasting, and Suhoor, the last meal before sunrise.

Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

​ Orange County Register 

New stove that plugs into a normal wall outlet could be major gain for health and the climate

• February 28, 2025

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, Ed Yaker, treasurer of a New York City co-op with nearly 1,500 units, and fellow board members have dealt with gas leaks. It can mean the gas at an entire building is shut off, leaving residents unable to use a stove for months until expensive repairs are made to gas lines.

So Yaker was all in when he learned of a California startup called Copper that was manufacturing an electric stove and oven that could simply be plugged into a regular outlet. The sleek, standard four-burner electric induction stove runs on 120 volts, meaning there is no need to pay a licensed electrician thousands of dollars to rewire to 240 volts, which many electric stoves require.

“In terms of, ‘Is this the way to go?’ It’s a no brainer,” Yaker said, demonstrating a quart of water that boiled in about two minutes. His apartment is full of books, many on energy and climate change, and the energy efficiency was a motivation, too.

Then there are the health benefits of cooking with electricity. Gas stoves, which 47 million Americans use, release pollutants like nitrogen dioxide that has been linked to asthma and cancer-causing benzene.

“You wouldn’t stand over the tailpipe of a car breathing in the exhaust from that car. And yet nearly 50 million households stand over a gas stove, breathing the same pollutants in their homes,” said Rob Jackson, an environmental scientist at Stanford University and lead author on a study on pollution from gas cooking.

“I had a gas stove until I started this line of research. Watching pollutant levels rise almost immediately every time I turned a burner on, or my oven on, was enough to get me to switch” to an electric stove, he said.

Induction stoves are also a way to address the considerable amount of climate change that comes from buildings — emissions from cooking, heating and cooling living spaces and hot water.

In the case of gas stoves, about half of the flame’s heat escapes into the room. Electric stoves by comparison can be up to 80% efficient. Of those, induction stoves come out on top with up to 90% efficiency in part because they only heat where the surface contacts the pot.

Just the presence of a gas stove in a home contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, even when it’s not turned on. Jackson’s team found gas stoves bleed methane — the main constituent of natural gas — when they’re off, from loose fittings and at connections between the stove and wall. The climate impact of leaky stoves in U.S. homes was estimated to be comparable to carbon emissions from 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.

The stove contains a battery that is smart, meaning it can charge up when electrical rates are low, allowing people to cook without incurring peak-rate electrical charges.

The new Copper stoves are not cheap. Early adopters are relying on government incentives to defray the cost. When Yaker, who worked as a teacher and was a saver, bought his, it was $6,000 and a federal tax credit for clean energy appliances brought that down to $4,200.

The manufacturer now has an agreement with the New York City Housing Authority to buy 10,000 stoves at a maximum price of $3,200 each, set to arrive in 2026.

Eden Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, retrofitted a 32-apartment building in Martinez, California with Copper stoves using state and local programs, and hopes to purchase more.

“It’s pretty cool, it looks nice and it’s easy to clean,” said Jolene Cardoza, about the new appliance. Her adult daughter’s asthma was irritated by her old gas stove when she would come over to bake and she’s happy the Copper doesn’t release pollutants.

Other tenants found the transition to induction cooking more bumpy.

“I don’t really like the way it cooks my food in the oven,” said Monica Moore, who notices a difference in the texture of her cornbread. She is impressed with how quickly water boils, but misses cooking with a flame and said it was a hassle to switch out her pans with ones that are compatible with induction stoves.

For Jackson, though, the change is important.

“I think shutting the gas off to our homes and electrifying our homes is one of the best things that we can control individually to reduce our personal greenhouse gas emissions. I think of cars and homes as the two places to start for reducing our greenhouse gas footprint,” said Jackson.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Texas measles cases rise to 146 in an outbreak that led to a child’s death

• February 28, 2025

By JAMIE STENGLE

DALLAS (AP) — The number of people with measles in Texas increased to 146 in an outbreak that led this week to the death of an unvaccinated school-aged child, health officials said Friday.

The number of cases — Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years — increased by 22 since Tuesday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said cases span over nine counties in Texas, including almost 100 in Gaines County, and 20 patients have been hospitalized.

The child who died Tuesday night in the outbreak is the first U.S. death from the highly contagious but preventable respiratory disease since 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The child was treated at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, though the facility said the patient didn’t live in Lubbock County.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official and a vaccine critic, said this week that the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services was watching cases but dismissed the outbreak as “not unusual.”

The virus has largely spread through rural, oil rig-dotted West Texas, with cases concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said.

Gaines County has a strong homeschooling and private school community. It is also home to one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% skipping a required dose last school year.

Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. Anton has said the number of unvaccinated kids in Gaines County is likely significantly higher because homeschooled children’s data would not be reported.

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years. Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

Vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.

The U.S. had considered measles, a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours, eliminated in 2000, which meant there had been a halt in continuous spread of the disease for at least a year. Measles cases rose in 2024, including a Chicago outbreak that sickened more than 60.

Eastern New Mexico has nine cases of measles currently, but the state health department said there is no connection to the outbreak in West Texas.

​ Orange County Register 

Where do local booksellers get help when things get tough? Here.

• February 28, 2025

If the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that bookstores and booksellers can be counted on to step up and support their communities.

But who steps up to support the booksellers and bookstores – who operate on the slimmest of financial margins during even the best of times – when disasters like the Eaton and Palisades wildfires hit?

Turns out, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation does. The nonprofit, which got its start as an organization connected to Borders bookstores nearly 30 years ago, went national in 2012 with a mission to help book and comic book sellers across the country when times get tough.

“We are the only national nonprofit dedicated to assisting book and comic people,” says BINC communication coordinator Erika Mantz. “Our core program is we help the actual book people – booksellers, comic retailers and owners of stores and comic shops – with their personal financial crisis needs.”

“We provide an emergency financial grant – grant, not a loan,” says Mantz. “There’s no repayment.”

“We don’t write a check to somebody,” she says. “We pay the bills.”

While BINC’s support is confidential, Fables & Fancies bookseller Ana Buckley volunteered during an interview that she’d gotten help from the nonprofit – and wanted others to know how good the experience with her program manager had been.

“She called me back the same day,” says Buckley. “They really are what they say they are.”

BINC focuses on helping individuals with housing, healthcare or other issues, such as a death in the family.

“It could be a housing stability issue: Your landlord says, ‘Sorry, you have to leave; you need to find a new apartment,’” says Mantz. “We can help with the first month’s deposit, the starting out, getting you there.”

Or as some booksellers across Southern California have learned, BINC could help those impacted by the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.

“We can help in times of natural and manmade disasters – and obviously the wildfires,” says Mantz. “Before that was the southeast region of the country with the terrible flooding. … In other states, hurricanes Milton, Helene, Ian.

“Natural disasters are certainly the ones in the news cycle,” she says. “But you know, every day, even during the wildfires, we’re having just as many related to, you know, dental bills.”

But sweeping away these seemingly small obstacles can create profound improvements in a person’s life.

“If you can just get that paid and get ahead, you can take off from there and soar,” says Mantz.

The help, which Mantz says on average is about $2300 or so, doesn’t have to be large to be effective.

“A household can quickly become vulnerable. You know, we’re not talking about grants of tens of thousands of dollars. We’re not talking about massive amounts of money.

“You have a family member who passes away, you’ve got funeral expenses, you need to travel. You don’t have the extra money for that. This is where book and comic people can come in and help. We’ve distributed over $11 million to more than 10,000 individuals and stores in our history – and those numbers probably need a little updating.”

Mantz describes the process, which involves BINC program managers who take time to listen and determine the best way to help.

“We have program managers who talk one-on-one with anyone who comes seeking help or is referred to us for help. It’s completely confidential,” she says. “Your store owner doesn’t have to know. Your coworkers don’t know, and we work with you.”

“We offer resources. It might be financial – working on your finances, your taxes, free resources. We offer access to free mental health and wellness,” she says. “They’ll give resources for how to negotiate your medical bills, to get the cost down.

Mantz praises the nonprofit’s partners for their support and fundraising, which allow them to do this work.

“We really rely on our amazing partners –  the big publishers, the small publishers, Libro.fm, Bookshop.org. These organizations share the same values and see the value in what we do,” says Mantz. “We really could not do it without them.”

The admiration goes both ways, says Mark Pearson, CEO and co-founder of Libro.fm.

“Libro.fm is immensely grateful for BINC’s vital role in supporting booksellers and comic retailers in need. The needs are so great across thousands of bookstores that without BINC, no other organization could handle the needs at this scale,” says Pearson via email.

“BINC is uniquely positioned to redirect contributions from book lovers to booksellers who need it most during an emergency.”

Mantz says the goal is to keep our bookstores and comic book shops open and serving the community. Because that’s good for everyone.

“These stores are a safe harbor for ideas and equity and access, but without that help a lot of book and comic people would have to leave their profession and their communities,” she says. “We feel passionately … that the safe space they provide is so vital.

“I think most anyone I talk to has their store – they love their bookstore, and they wouldn’t want to see it be gone,” she says. “We provide this safety net for the people who work there, the employees who give them great hand-selling recommendations, and the stores who stay open and get in the materials that they’re looking for.

“If you want to keep your store in your community, this is one way you can help.”

For more about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, check out its website. 

Corinna Vallianatos shares a secret link between her stories

Corinna Vallianatos is the author of “Origin Stories,” which arrived 13 years after her Grace Paley Prize-winning debut collection, “My Escapee,” came out to raves. She’s also the author of the 2020 novel, “The Beforeland.” She spoke with correspondent Michael Schaub and took the Q&A.

Q: Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?

I’ve been recommending Joy Williams’ collected stories, “The Visiting Privilege,” to students and friends for years. If I sense they have a slight inner appetite for chaos, I’ll recommend “The Quick & the Dead” too.

Q: How do you decide what to read next?

I keep a stack of books on my bedside table. It’s often a matter of what kind of mind, what sort of logic and language, I want to be privy to.

Q: Can you recall a book that felt like it was written just for you (or conversely, one that most definitely wasn’t)?

Since I love being surprised by the strange workings of someone else’s mind, I prefer reading books that don’t feel as if they were written just for me. But I am grateful for the thuds of recognition that come over me when I read something that strikes me as particularly true, darkly true or courageously true or strangely true or hilariously true. That last is the best.

Q: Is there a genre or type of book you read the most – and what would you like to read more of?

I mostly read fiction — short stories and novels — but I find I’m reading more nonfiction lately, especially books by Janet Malcolm and Emmanuel Carrère.

Q: Do you have a favorite book or books?

“The Great Fires,” a collection of poetry by Jack Gilbert, is a book I return to again and again. And I read “The White Book” by Han Kang at least once a year.

Q: Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life – a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?

The children’s librarian at the Burke Branch library in Alexandria, Virginia. Mrs. Reinhart, possibly? She dressed up like a lion for story hour and showed Charlie Chaplin movies on a projector and pull-down screen and was tall and dashing and in possession of excitement and gravitas. My brother and I used to check out towers of books from the library each week.

Q: What’s something about your book that no one knows?

Two stories — “New Girls” and “Blades in Silver Water” — feature a common character named Emily. She’s a secondary character in “New Girls,” and the protagonist in “Blades in Silver Water.” “Blades” goes back in time — she’s younger there by several years. The story’s interested in understanding how she came to be. It’s not important that readers make this connection, but it’s there nonetheless.

Teen legal challenge

Huntington Beach teenagers sue over book review board, restricted access to books. READ MORE

• • •

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

• • •

Bookstores to the rescue

How bookstores in Pasadena and Monrovia became local aid resources after wildfires. READ MORE

• • •

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• Dive into all of our books coverage

New time for ‘Bookish’

The next event, which is Fri. March 21, at 4 p.m., will salute SCNG’s Notable list of California authors and feature novelist and writer Lidia Yuknavitch.

Sign up for free now.

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​ Orange County Register 

Already-lagging broadband program faces more uncertainty under Trump

• February 28, 2025

By Madyson Fitzgerald, Stateline.org

A massive federal program meant to expand broadband access to underserved areas across the country is falling behind schedule, state broadband officials and experts say, even as Trump administration actions create further uncertainty about its funding and rules.

Now in its third year, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, known as BEAD, is largely still in the planning phase.

In Alpine County, California, the vice chair of the county Board of Supervisors, David Griffith, said he is still waiting to see how BEAD funds will help his area. Out of the county’s roughly 1,100 residents, most rely on phone lines to connect to the internet and can’t afford high-speed connections.

That means instead of renewing their driver’s licenses online, for example, many of the county’s residents drive 30 miles to the closest department of motor vehicles location, he said. They lack internet speed for telemedicine, banking and tax filing.

“We all want government to work,” Griffith said, “and unfortunately, the BEAD program is an example where the need is there and the funding is there, but it’s just a very inefficient process.”

Congress awarded California $1.8 billion to ensure households get access to high-speed internet as part of the $42.45 billion BEAD program, created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

All 50 states have had their initial proposals approved, unlocking a portion — often 20% — of the money the feds will provide. Delaware, Louisiana and Nevada are the only states to have submitted their final proposals.

Some local officials and experts are questioning the efficiency of the program. Progress is slow in part, they say, because of inadequate federal mapping of where broadband is most needed and a lengthy challenge process to the maps. And some experts worry that states are favoring overly expensive infrastructure.

Federal and state broadband officials are also waiting to see how President Donald Trump’s funding freeze may affect the BEAD program, as well as how federal officials might change an affordability requirement or the type of technologies given preference under the program.

At his confirmation hearing, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who took office Feb. 19, said he supported the goals of BEAD but wanted to make sure it was done “efficiently and effectively” and sidestepped questions asking him to commit to sending money out to states.

Griffith said he’s hopeful the money will still flow, noting that most of BEAD’s funds will go to rural areas, many of which tend to elect and support Republicans.

State snags

Louisiana was the first state to have both its initial and final BEAD proposals approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The state plans to deploy more than $1.35 billion in funding through its GUMBO 2.0 program. States grant the federal money to internet service providers, local governments, nonprofits and other groups to build out the infrastructure.

Shortly after the state’s plans were approved in January, Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry sent a letter to the Commerce Department asking for changes within NTIA and the BEAD program, including a request to streamline the agency’s requirements and a commitment to more timely and transparent funding reviews.

NTIA declined to answer Stateline’s questions about the BEAD program.

Officials in some states have run into snags with challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map.

Through the map challenge process, local governments, internet service providers, nonprofits and other groups can help determine whether a particular location actually has internet service.

Griffith, the California county supervisor, said the map was originally “full of errors” in his area.

“We went through it in Alpine County, and about 7-8% of residences and businesses were left off of the National Broadband Map,” he said. “Unless you’re on the National Broadband Map, that money cannot be used to connect your home or business.”

The BEAD program also has an affordability requirement that mandates state broadband officials include a low-cost service option for low-income households. But industry groups have pushed back, calling the rule “completely unmoored from the economic realities of deploying and operating networks in the highest cost, hardest-to-reach areas.”

The BEAD program has “moved a little slower than it should have,” said Sachin Gupta, the vice president of business and technologies strategies at Centranet, part of the Central Rural Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma. The group serves households living just outside of Oklahoma City.

“There are people who cannot do remote work, or distance learning, or be part of the digital economy or do telehealth and telemedicine,” he said. “So, there’s real-world consequences.”

In August, the feds approved Oklahoma’s initial BEAD proposal, allowing the state to request access to over $797 million.

The goal is to get households connected to the internet as quickly as possible, but there are going to be some challenges, such as mapping, Gupta said.

“This work has gone on for some time,” Gupta said, “but if you pull this money back, people are just going to be even more distressed than they were before.”

Technology choices

Experts at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a science and technology policy think tank based in Washington, D.C., have argued that the BEAD program favors overly expensive broadband infrastructure.

Fiber-optic internet, which BEAD gives preference to, is considered faster and more reliable than other methods of connection, but other technologies, such as satellites, could be more cost-effective, according to the group. The money saved from using less costly infrastructure could be put toward affordability efforts instead.

“That may be the best kept secret: The reason people aren’t online anymore is not about broadband being unavailable,” said Joe Kane, the director of broadband and spectrum policy at the foundation. “It’s that they can’t afford it.”

In states like Nevada, where officials are planning to spend about $77,000 per business or residential location to deploy fiber, there’s not going to be much money left over for affordability efforts, Kane said. It’s even more crucial now that the Affordable Connectivity Program, a pandemic-era discount program for low-income households, has dissolved.

“I think the most important thing for broadband overall is that we should be trying to take a data-focused approach to what are the real causes of the digital divide, and how is our broadband policy meeting that,” Kane said. “Because right now, we have a complete mismatch.”

But Gupta, who has been involved with Oklahoma’s broadband expansion for years, said other types of broadband internet cannot provide the same internet speed as fiber.

“If we deploy technologies that are not scalable, then all we’re doing is kicking that can down the road another five years.”

Affordability concerns

As consumer prices rise, internet affordability is a significant concern, said Derrick Owens, the senior vice president of government and industry affairs at WTA — Advocates for Rural Broadband. The group represents small, rural telecommunications providers across the country.

Alongside federal broadband programs, some states have worked to expand broadband access by passing new laws. As of Feb. 24, lawmakers in 43 states had filed a total of 300 bills regarding broadband access, infrastructure, affordability and more, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures broadband legislation database.

Three of those states — Connecticut, Minnesota and New York— are hoping to improve the process of mapping which areas need better internet service.

This year, lawmakers in 10 states — Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Virginia — have filed legislation to expand broadband access to rural areas.

“If you don’t have access to broadband today on a permanent, full-time basis, then you’re not able to participate fully in today’s economy,” Owens said. “And it’s not just the local economy, it’s the global economy. And so, the efforts are being made to make sure people have high-speed, quality, reliable broadband, and hopefully that’s what BEAD brings.”

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Where things stand as Congress tries to avoid a partial government shutdown in two weeks

• February 28, 2025

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As House members finished voting for the week and left Washington, the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, voiced frustration that Republicans had yet to respond to her latest offer on a full-year spending bill, even though it had been made five days earlier.

Meanwhile, her Republican counterpart outright dismissed Democratic efforts to include assurances in the legislation that funding approved by Congress would be spent by President Donald Trump’s administration as lawmakers intended.

“A Republican Senate and a Republican House are not going to limit what a president can do, particularly when he has to sign the bill,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

The exchanges demonstrate the divides that remain as the nation approaches a March 14 deadline to avoid a partial federal government shutdown.

Such deadlines have become commonplace in recent years with lawmakers almost always working out their differences in the end, or at least agreeing to a short-term funding extension.

But with Republicans now in charge of the White House and Trump sidestepping Congress on previous funding decisions, a more contentious dynamic has emerged during negotiations, raising questions about whether lawmakers will avoid a shutdown this time.

Here’s a look at where things stand.

First things first: How much to spend?

The stage for the current negotiations was set nearly two years ago when then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then-President Joe Biden worked out a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold non-defense spending flat for 2024, while boosting it slightly for defense. The agreement provided for 1% increases for both in 2025.

Democrats want to adhere to that agreement, which would bring defense spending to about $895.2 billion and non-defense to about $780.4 billion. Republicans are looking to spend less on non-defense programs. Cole has argued Republicans are not bound to an agreement negotiated by two men no longer in office.

It’s unclear how much the two sides disagree on an overall spending amount. But Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said they weren’t far apart.

“We are close on topline spending, but we need to know Republicans are willing to work with us to protect Congress’ power of the purse — and I welcome any and all ideas they may have on how we can work together to do just that,” Murray said.

With Trump and Musk slashing government, Democrats want guarantees

Trump pushed early to pause grants and loans potentially totaling trillions of dollars while his administration conducted an across-the-board review of federal programs. A subsequent memorandum purported to rescind the pause.

Still, a federal judge issued an order earlier this week as a backstop. The preliminary injunction continued to block the pause. The judge said the freeze had “placed critical programs for children, the elderly, and everyone in between in serious jeopardy.”

Meanwhile, Trump has empowered Elon Musk to help engineer the firing of thousands of federal employees and potentially shutter entire agencies created by Congress.

The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to appropriate money and requires the executive to pay it out. A 50-year-old law known as the Impoundment Control Act makes that explicit by prohibiting the president from halting payments on grants or other programs approved by Congress.

Democrats have sought to place in the spending bill some guarantees the administration would follow what Congress intended.

“What we’ve been talking about is the numbers, and we’re talking about the issue of assurances,” DeLauro said. “It’s trying to make it possible to have the money go as intended.”

But Republicans are making clear that’s a non-starter.

“Democrats are placing completely unreasonable conditions on the negotiations. They want us to limit the scope of executive authority. They want us to tie the hands of the president,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Why is Congress so late?

The current fiscal year began in October, so lawmakers are already five month late.

Trump complained Thursday on Truth Social, blaming Biden, saying he “left us a total MESS.”

“The Budget from last YEAR is still not done. We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (“CR”) to the end of September. Let’s get it done!”

But it was congressional Republicans who opted in December to hold over budget negotiations for a few months, largely because Trump would be in the White House. Johnson on Fox News in December urged a short-term extension so “we get to March where we can put our fingerprints on the spending. That’s when the big changes start.”

What happens if they can’t reach an agreement?

The first fallback option is the continuing resolution Trump endorsed, a stopgap measure that would generally fund federal agencies at current levels.

“It looks as though it is becoming inevitable at this point,” Johnson said, blaming Democrats.

That will be tough for defense hawks to accept, as many Republicans already consider the Pentagon to be underfunded. But it will also be tough for Democrats who worry that funding for housing programs, child care, nutrition assistance and other services is failing to keep pace with inflation, fraying the safety net for many Americans.

Murray and DeLauro issued a joint statement Friday morning, saying they hoped Republicans would return to the negotiating table and that “walking away” from bipartisan talks “raised the risk of a shutdown.”

They also said the continuing resolution being pursued by Republicans would “give Trump new flexibility to spend funding as he sees fit.”

“While Elon Musk has been calling for a shutdown, Democrats have been working to pass bills that make sure Congress decides whether our schools or hospitals get funding — not Trump or Musk,” the two Democratic lawmakers said.

The White House has submitted to lawmakers a list of what are referred to as “anomalies” that it wants to see added to a continuing resolution. For example, it wants an additional $1.6 billion to increase pay for junior enlisted service members by an average of 10% effective April 1. Congress has also supported a pay increase in previous legislation.

The White House is also seeking $485 million for more immigrant detention beds and for removal operations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The request also seeks to give Trump more flexibility on how money within certain departments is spent. For example, the White House wants language allowing $30 billion in Department of Defense transfers.

Democrats will want to negotiate some of the changes the White House is seeking, adding to the uncertainty of reaching a final agreement.

Republicans likely need votes from the other side

Getting spending bills over the finish line has required support from both parties. Some Republicans never vote for continuing resolutions. Nearly three dozen House Republicans voted against the last one in December, and they now only have a one-vote cushion to work with in the House if Democrats withhold their support.

If talks break down completely, funding for agencies will end at midnight March 14. Both parties will pin the blame on the other — and some of that is already happening.

Trump is no stranger to shutdowns. He presided over the longest one in the nation’s history, one that lasted 35 days, with Trump relenting only after intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and another missed payday for hundreds of thousands of federal workers brought new urgency to resolving the standoff.

Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Watch: Trump and Vance call Zelenskyy ‘disrespectful’ in Oval Office meeting

• February 28, 2025

President Donald Trump shouted at Ukraine’s leader on Friday during an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office, berating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for “gambling with millions of lives” and suggesting his actions could trigger World War III.

The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute engagement devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy — who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.

It began with Vance telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

Zelensky tried to object, prompting Trump to raise his voice and say, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”

“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump said.

It was an astonishing display of open antagonism in the Oval Office, a setting better known for somber diplomacy. Trump laid bare his efforts to coerce Zelenskyy to agree to giving the U.S. an interest in his country’s valuable minerals and to push him toward a diplomatic resolution to the war on the American leader’s terms.

​ Orange County Register 

Skype to shut down 14 years after Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase

• February 28, 2025

By Matt Day | Bloomberg

Microsoft Corp. is signaling the end of the line for Skype, the iconic internet calling and chat service it bought almost 14 years ago.

Once a byword for digital calls that bypassed long-distance charges, Skype was surpassed in recent years by smartphone-native communication apps and Zoom video calls. When Microsoft tried to stretch the Skype brand into the workplace, it lost out to Slack Technologies Inc.

Microsoft’s response was to start from scratch and build Teams, a chat, voice and video communication service for the workplace, which gained ground as part of its software bundle. The Redmond, Washington-based company will offer Skype users the option of migrating to Teams, which is now its strongest rival to Salesforce Inc.-owned Slack, before it shuts down in May.

“I’ve been at Microsoft for over 30 years, and there’s a lot of software that we’ve done that was incredibly valuable in its era, and then the next era came and it was the foundation,” said Jeff Teper, a Microsoft president who oversees communications and collaboration tools.

Microsoft said there were more than 300 million monthly Skype users in 2016, but its daily user count had dwindled to 36 million in 2023. Teams, by comparison, has risen to 320 million monthly users.

Founded in 2003 by Nordic entrepreneurs, Skype at one time was owned by eBay Inc. and was in the hands of a private equity-led consortium when Steve Ballmer came knocking. The then-Microsoft boss made an uncharacteristically splashy bet on the market leader in online calls, paying $8.5 billion, a 40% premium to Skype’s internal valuation. The May 2011 deal was the largest acquisition by Microsoft at the time, and Skype became a key piece of its strategy for the emerging mobile age.

It didn’t pan out as Ballmer would have hoped. Upstarts like Telegram, Snapchat, WeChat and WhatsApp solved problems that Skype didn’t. Microsoft’s center of gravity in corporate software ultimately ensnared Skype, which found itself in the Office division and under orders to build tools geared toward a workplace audience as well as a consumer one.

By the time Slack arrived on the scene, Skype users were complaining that elements of the core experience had started to break down. They cited missed or phantom calls and failures to sync information on different devices. The company worked to improve the service’s reliability, but some loyal users were put off by frequent redesigns, including a short-lived effort to fashion Skype in the mold of Snapchat.

Microsoft, which also saw its acquisition of Nokia Oyj’s mobile phone business end in failure, is far from alone in encountering rejection by a fickle consumer market. Alphabet Inc.’s Google has cycled through several iterations and brands for its online communications tools, which are today known as Chat and Meet. And this month, Amazon.com Inc. said it would be winding down Chime, the video and voice calling service it tried with little success to sell to corporate clients.

The Windows maker is shuttering Skype to focus on developing new features for Teams, including artificial intelligence tools, Teper said. The company is working to infuse AI into its product suite, while keeping a lid on spending that isn’t part of that effort. It’s reassigning staff that had worked on Skype to other areas of the business and will not lay anyone off, Teper added.

At one point, Skype played host to one of Microsoft’s biggest AI demonstrations: a real-time translator. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella had nudged researchers to bring the product to market as quickly as possible and heralded it as “magical” in a 2014 demonstration early on in his tenure.

Teams is “going well and this is a step to double down on it,” Teper said, adding that Microsoft wanted to keep Skype running until it was confident that the Teams version for individual users was fully ready. “It’s the most successful product in its category by far,” he said.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

​ Orange County Register