Trump suspends all large offshore wind farms under construction, threatening thousands of jobs and cheaper energy

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By Ella Nilsen, CNN

(CNN) — In the latest blow to the US offshore wind industry, the Trump administration announced Monday it is suspending the federal leases for all large offshore wind projects currently under construction, citing unspecified national security risks.

It marks a major escalation in President Donald Trump’s attacks against offshore wind, a form of energy he has long railed against. The suspension could impact billions of dollars of investment and stall nearly six gigawatts of new electricity set to come online in the next few years.

The new sweeping order impacts five projects being built in the Atlantic Ocean, including a massive Virginia offshore wind farm that could eventually be the largest such project in the nation. Set to be completed by the end of 2026, it would supply electricity to Virginia, the state with the world’s largest cluster of power-hungry data centers — and skyrocketing energy costs partially tied to that growing demand. Other wind farms impacted are off the coast of New England.

The exact national security risks of concern are unclear. In a news release, the Interior Department cited “national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports,” but didn’t say specifically what those risks were. The release also noted the potential for wind turbine movement and light reflectivity to interfere with radar.

In a Monday Fox Business interview, Interior Sec. Doug Burgum said the Department of Defense has “conclusively” determined that large offshore wind farms “have created radar interference that creates a genuine risk for the US,” especially “our east coast population centers.”

CNN has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment on its new report.

Last year, Sweden blocked the construction of new wind farms over concerns they could interfere with military radar, amid heightened tensions between the European Union and Russia. But experts have noted the design of wind farms can be adjusted to account for the issue, and it’s something US government officials have been aware of for decades.

In his Fox Business interview, Burgum said radar interference can “create real issues for trying to determine what’s friend or what’s foe in our airspace for our country” and suggested they could also create issues for commercial aircraft “given the proximity to all the large airports” on the East Coast.

The Trump administration’s move drew critiques from clean energy and fossil fuel groups alike.

“Companies with roots in the oil and gas sector have committed substantial capital to participate in the build-out of our offshore wind sector,” Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association — a group that represents offshore oil, gas and wind companies. “We urge the administration end this pause and to resist taking further action that may harm jobs and investment.”

Oceantic Network, a trade group representing offshore wind companies, said its member companies have worked with the Department of Defense for over a decade to address national security concerns.

The Department of Defense has “signed off on every offshore wind lease ahead of construction,” said Liz Burdock, the group’s president and CEO.

Burdock called Interior’s suspension “another veiled attempt to hide the fact that the President doesn’t like offshore wind,” and said the move would kill American jobs by the thousands and raise electricity prices.

“The US needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy,

Víctimas de Epstein critican la “censura extrema sin explicación” en los archivos del Departamento de Justicia

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Por MJ Lee, CNN

Las víctimas y sobrevivientes de Jeffrey Epstein criticaron duramente la publicación parcial de los archivos de Epstein por parte del Departamento de Justicia, iniciada el viernes pasado. Argumentan que, contrariamente a lo que exige la ley, las divulgaciones del departamento hasta la fecha han sido incompletas y censuradas incorrectamente, lo que les dificulta la búsqueda de información sobre sus propios casos.

Más de una docena de sobrevivientes, junto con familiares de la difunta víctima Virginia Giuffre, plantearon una serie de preocupaciones en un nuevo comunicado emitido este lunes, entre ellas, “censuras anormales y extremas sin explicación”, la falta de información sobre la identidad de algunas víctimas, que “causó un daño real e inmediato”, y la ausencia de documentos financieros. Los sobrevivientes afirmaron que les ha resultado “dificultoso o imposible” buscar materiales relevantes para sus propias experiencias.

CNN informó el viernes, inmediatamente después de la publicación por parte del Departamento de Justicia, que los sobrevivientes estaban teniendo dificultades para navegar por la “Biblioteca Epstein” en línea de la agencia y no tuvieron mucha suerte para encontrar información sobre sus propios casos.

“No ha habido comunicación con los sobrevivientes ni con nuestros representantes sobre qué se ocultó, ni por qué cientos de miles de documentos no se han divulgado antes del plazo legal, ni cómo el Departamento de Justicia garantizará que no se divulguen erróneamente los nombres de más víctimas”, afirma el comunicado. “Si bien una comunicación más clara no cambiaría el hecho de que se infringió una ley, su ausencia sugiere una intención constante de mantener a los sobrevivientes y al público en la ignorancia tanto como sea posible y durante el mayor tiempo posible”.

Jess Michaels, sobreviviente de Epstein y redactora principal del comunicado del grupo, declaró a CNN en una entrevista en la mañana de este lunes que la gestión del Departamento de Justicia de la publicación de los archivos representa “lo opuesto a la transparencia”.

“Nadie se acercó a nosotros y nos dijo: ‘Queremos hacer lo correcto por los sobrevivientes. Hablemos de esto’”, afirmó. “Es así de simple. El Departamento de Justicia violó una ley firmada por el presidente, y punto”.

El Departamento de Justicia ha declarado que la agencia continúa trabajando en las omisiones necesarias y que cientos de miles de documentos más serán publicados en las próximas semanas.

“Estamos llevando a cabo un proceso muy metódico con cientos de abogados que revisan cada documento y se aseguran de que los nombres de las víctimas y cualquier información de las víctimas esté protegida y censurada, que es exactamente lo que exige la Ley de Transparencia (de los Archivos Epstein)”, declaró el fiscal general adjunto Todd Blanche en el programa “Meet the Press” de la NBC el domingo.

Michaels, quien mantiene un estrecho contacto con otros sobrevivientes de Epstein, afirmó no tener conocimiento de ningún ejemplo de un sobreviviente que haya encontrado nueva información en los archivos del Departamento de Justicia sobre sus propias experiencias, con la única excepción de Maria Farmer, cuya denuncia de 1996 sobre Epstein se incluyó en la divulgación del viernes.

Al preguntársele qué medidas, si las hubiera, podrían tomar las sobrevivientes a continuación, respondió: “Solo queremos hacer una pausa y evaluar”.

El representante demócrata Ro Khanna, coautor de la Ley de Transparencia de los Expedientes Epstein junto con el representante republicano Thomas Massie, declaró el lunes por la mañana que “el Departamento de Justicia debe dejar de proteger a hombres ricos y poderosos que no fueron acusados o a quienes sabotearon la acusación”.

Khanna instó al Departamento de Justicia a publicar, entre otras cosas, las entrevistas a testigos del FBI que nombran a ot

Governor Gavin Newsom Announces $52 Million in Grant Funding to Address Homelessness in California

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Governor Gavin Newsom announced on December 19, 2025, more than $52 million in grant funding through 90 new projects to  address homelessness and revitalize communities.  The Community Development Block Grants […]

The post Governor Gavin Newsom Announces $52 Million in Grant Funding to Address Homelessness in California appeared first on edhat.

Epstein survivors slam ‘extreme redactions with no explanation’ in DOJ’s release of files

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Jess Michaels holds up her picture as she speaks during a press conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.

By MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — Jeffrey Epstein survivors are slamming the Justice Department’s partial release of the Epstein files that began last Friday, contending that contrary to what is mandated by law, the department’s disclosures so far have been incomplete and improperly redacted — and challenging for the survivors to navigate as they search for information about their own cases.

More than a dozen survivors — along with family members of the late victim Virginia Giuffre — raised a myriad of concerns in a new statement issued Monday, including over “abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation,” some victims’ identities that were left unredacted “causing real and immediate harm,” as well as the absence of any financial documents. The survivors said they have found it “difficult or impossible” to search for materials relevant to their own experiences, they said.

CNN reported on Friday in the immediate aftermath of the DOJ’s release that survivors were struggling to navigate the agency’s online “Epstein Library,” and not having much luck finding information about their own cases.

“There has been no communication with survivors or our representatives as to what was withheld from release, or why hundreds of thousand of documents have not been disclosed by the legal deadline, or how DOJ will ensure that no more victim names are wrongly disclosed,” the statement says. “While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible.”

Jess Michaels, an Epstein survivor and a lead writer of the group statement, told CNN in an interview Monday morning that the DOJ’s handling of the release of the files represents “the opposite of transparency.”

“There was no one that approached us and said, ‘Hey, we want to do the right thing by survivors. Let’s have a conversation about this,” she said. “It’s that black and white. It’s: the Department of Justice broke a law signed by the president, period.”

The DOJ has said that the agency is continuing to work through necessary redactions, and that hundreds of thousands more documents would be released in the coming weeks.

“We’re going through a very methodical process with hundreds of lawyers looking at every single document and making sure that victims’ names and any of the information from victims is protected and redacted, which is exactly what the (Epstein Files) Transparency Act expects,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.

Michaels, who is in close touch with a number of other Epstein survivors, said she was not aware of any example of a fellow survivor finding new information from the DOJ’s files about their own experiences that they were looking for – with the single exception of Maria Farmer, whose 1996 complaint about Epstein was included in Friday’s disclosure.

Asked what actions, if any, the survivors might take next, she s

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