By Gabe Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — FEMA has reinstated a group of whistleblowers who signed an open letter to Congress last August warning that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal agency was setting the stage for a disaster-response breakdown on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, according to five FEMA officials with knowledge of the matter.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which it oversees, also brought back multiple senior officials who were polygraphed and placed on paid administrative leave more than a year ago, three of the officials told CNN.

The reversals are part of a broader reset unfolding just weeks into Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s tenure at DHS, partly in an effort to stabilize the agency ahead of hurricane season. He has been rolling back some of the most contentious changes made under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired by President Donald Trump last month.

Trump floated eliminating FEMA early in his term, and Noem embraced the idea — vowing to dismantle the agency and shift more responsibility for disaster response to the states.

Noem’s heavy-handed overhaul – which gutted the senior leadership, drove out more than 20% of the workforce, and sent morale into a sleep slide – left many inside FEMA warning the agency was increasingly unprepared for a major, multi-state disaster. Her rhetoric softened in the months before her ouster when it became clear many Republicans — including GOP lawmakers — did not support abolishing FEMA.

But in a striking pivot, Mullin, as Trump’s new pick to run the department, has begun unwinding staffing cuts and easing strict spending approval processes that slowed disaster operations. During a trip to North Carolina this month, Mullin praised FEMA and said he would get aid out more quickly and cut red tape that can bog down recovery.

In another remarkable twist, Trump is expected to nominate Cameron Hamilton to serve as FEMA administrator less than a year after he was abruptly fired from that role — which he held in an acting capacity — after breaking from the administration’s script and telling Congress he did not support eliminating the agency.

“As we approach the 2026 hurricane season and the FIFA World Cup, FEMA is taking targeted steps to stabilize our workforce and strengthen readiness,” a FEMA spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “Under new leadership, FEMA is addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters.”

Whistleblower staffers reinstated

More than 180 current and former FEMA staffers signed the open letter to Congress last August, warning of the growing turmoil inside the agency, though most did so anonymously. Fourteen current FEMA staffers put their names on the document, and Noem’s team promptly placed them on administrative leave and opened an investigation into their conduct.

In December, CNN learned FEMA had cleared the workers to return — but after CNN asked about it, DHS reversed course and put them back on leave.

“Once alerted, the unauthorized reinstatement was swiftly corrected by senior leadership,” a DHS spokes

By Rachel Tashjian, CNN

(CNN) — The late fashion editor Diana Vreeland — who pioneered a spirit of probing whimsy that inflects everything from the Met Gala to “The Devil Wears Prada” to TikTok — was once asked what advice she’d give to young designers.

“I think having a great sense of pleasure, and living a big life — as big as you can take, without interfering in any way with your work,” she said in her plummy transatlantic accent (can an influencer please make their whole personality bringing those back?). You can’t design in isolation, she said, “because there’s no heart in it. There’s no sort of razzle dazzle and excitement in it.”

That answer is the kind of thing that, these days, would become diluted into a bestselling self-help book that you grab at the airport and see every third woman reading at the beach, highlighting half-heartedly.

But in its its purest form, it’s the attitude behind a new newsletter – CNN’s weekly dispatch, Big Style, a portal into the world where clothing meets culture.

Fashion and more importantly style come from a life lived big. Style is in the books we read and on the people we pass on the street, and in places and on people you don’t expect to find fashion, like museum shows, movies, or the billionaires who seem increasingly interested in wearing outrageously expensive clothes. (We won’t strictly talk about good style, you see.)

Topics will emerge from conversation and curiosity, skepticism and at times pure confusion. (Why did Chanel make shoes that are just tied-on heels? Why???)

Every Saturday, you’ll get a missive that expands your sense of what style is, enlivens your mind and hopefully, first and foremost, delights you.

Into it? Sign up for Big Style here.

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GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) - Local women leaders are being recognized for their impact across the Santa Barbara region.

The 12th annual BRAVO Awards luncheon celebrates leadership, innovation, and growth.

The National Association of Women Business Owners Santa Barbara chapter honored nine women across business, education, non-profit leadership, and technology.

Organizers describe the event theme, “Business in Bloom,” as a reflection of resilience and growth among women leaders in the region.

The luncheon highlights both established leaders and rising voices shaping the community’s future.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - A Santa Barbara Housing Authority event is bringing critical services directly to local senior citizens.

For many seniors here, access can be the difference between stability and struggle.

Inside Presidio Springs, dozens of residents move table to table, meeting with organizations offering help with health care, housing support, and daily needs.

About 150 Housing Authority senior residents take part in a closed resource fair focused on connecting them directly with essential services.

Organizers work to bring services directly to residents, helping close gaps many seniors face when navigating support on their own.

For residents here, it’s not just about services — it’s about staying supported in the place they call home.

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

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By Alexandra Skores, Chris Isidore, CNN

Washington (CNN) — It was the late 1980s, and Eastern Airlines was on the brink of bankruptcy after years of financial problems, labor issues and struggling to adapt to deregulation.

Businessman Donald Trump saw an opportunity and seized it. He purchased the airline’s most profitable asset, the Eastern Shuttle, which flew between New York, Washington and Boston, for $365 million. The deal – which some experts considered overpriced – included landing rights, 21 older Boeing 727 planes, and terminals, all of which Trump promised to make luxurious.

“What I want to do is run it as a diamond: an absolute diamond,” Trump said in a press conference at The Plaza hotel announcing the deal in 1988.

“I don’t know how profitable it is going to be. I think I would enjoy running it,” he told CNN when he was fending off a competing offer from America West Airlines.

But Trump’s airline was never profitable, and it lasted just a few years before he lost control to his creditors who sold it to USAir, later known as US Airways.

“An economic recession that caused big corporations to cut back on air travel and Middle East tension as Iraq invaded Kuwait (causing jet fuel to double), placed enormous pressure on the Trump Shuttle,” according to US Airways.

The story of the Trump Shuttle mirrors some of the challenges airlines are facing this year as they come to the former airline owner turned two-term president for help.

Budget carrier Spirit Airlines is reportedly seeking a $500 million financial bailout to keep itself from having to halt operations altogether. That’s separate from another $2.5 billion other discount carriers, like Frontier, Allegiant and Breeze, are asking for to endure the current spike in jet fuel prices caused by the war in Iran.

The Trump Shuttle

On the first day of flying, June 8, 1989, Trump cut ribbons inaugurating service at his terminals with a string quartet, champagne and a lavish buffet.

“We are going to give the best service. We are going to have the most beautiful planes. We have the best terminals,” Trump told CNN at the launch party at LaGuardia Airport.

He launched million-dollar-a-plane upgrades that included gold-plated fixtures, maple veneer, and leather seats.

Henry Harteveldt is president of Atmosphere Research Group and a travel industry analyst. He also was the first marketing director of the Trump Shuttle.

“Mr. Trump saw the air shuttle as a platform to not just enter commercial aviation, but as something that would be the foundation of what would eventually become a larger carrier,” Harteveldt said.

Trump Shuttle operated flights every hour on the hour. Like Eastern, the airline promised passengers that if a flight was full, the shuttle would roll out a second plane – even for just one passenger.

The 727s were white and painted with just one word on them, “TRUMP,” in hopes the airline would rapidly grow beyond northeastern shuttle service and the paint job would not have to change, Harteveldt said.

“I hope my name does a lot for the shuttle itself, but I hope the shuttle does a lot for my name,” Trump said after the deal was approved.

But all of the parties and optimism came at the wrong time.

Just a few months after the first flights, the United States entered a recession, which curtailed some busines