News briefs

Tribune News Service on Jun 24, 2025

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Trump orders Congress to stay in Washington to pass Big Beautiful Bill

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered Republican lawmakers to stay in Washington, D.C. for as long as it takes to bridge their differences and pass his sprawling budget bill.

With a self-imposed July 4 deadline looming, Trump warned the GOP-led Congress that there will be no fireworks in their home districts and holiday cookouts until they pass his Big Beautiful Bill including trillions of dollars in tax and spending cuts.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and get the deal done this week,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, immediately. No one goes on vacation until it’s done,” he added.

Speaker Mike Johnson instructed House Republicans in a closed-door meeting Tuesday “not to leave town” for a planned holiday break. “I think we can get this job done,” Johnson said.

—New York Daily News

Can Florida handle hurricane recovery without federal support?

The federal government gave Florida more than $4 billion last year to recover from one of the most destructive hurricane seasons it had seen in a century.

If President Donald Trump eliminates the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after this year’s hurricane season, states could become responsible for the entire cost of hurricane recovery. In Florida, where Hurricanes Helene and Milton cost the state more than $23 billion, this change could be devastating, experts say.

“We would be spending money for response and recovery that most municipalities, and maybe even the state, do not have,” said University of South Florida professor Ratna Dougherty. “We’ll see a lot of budgets that have some glaring red spots.”

FEMA is a critical resource for Floridians after a hurricane hits. Florida has one of the highest participation rates in the agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, and it received more money from FEMA last year than any other state, according to the Disaster Dollar Database, which tracks federal funding for disaster recovery.

—Tampa Bay Times

Visitors watch as bison falls into Yellowstone hot spring and dies

Some Yellowstone visitors were left reeling from witnessing a bison’s last moments after the animal fell into one of the park’s hot springs. The incident happened Saturday just before 7 a.m., according to Yellowstone National Park visitors who witnessed the bison’s demise.

“Unfortunately, I witnessed the bison drowning in the Grand Prismatic Springs early yesterday morning,” someone wrote in a June 22 post in the “Yellowstone Through The Lens” Facebook group, where park and wildlife enthusiasts share photos and information about the park.

“It took a few steps into a shallow area to the right of the pool, it turned around and stepped out very quickly. It stood for a moment, then turned back towards the spring and stepped into a deeper section then couldn’t get out despite trying its best.”

Photos show the bison struggling in the spring, thrashing and jumping into the air to try to get away from the boiling hot water. “These images are haunting,” someone said in the comments.

—The Charlotte Observer

Where is Iran’s uranium? Truce highlights mystery over stockpile

U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran may curb the exchange of missile fire, but the biggest mystery of the war remains unsolved: the location of Tehran’s near-bomb-grade uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged just five days into the conflict its inspectors had lost track of Iran’s 409 kilograms (902 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium — enough for 10 nuclear warheads should Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opt to pursue weaponization.

The stockpile can be stored in 16 cylinders measuring 36-inches (91.4 centimeters) in height, according to estimates published by U.S. regulators, or about the size of a large scuba-diving tank. Each one would weigh about 25 kilos — light enough to be carried to a secret location on foot or in the back of a small vehicle.

Even if Israel and the U.S. have effectively destroyed Iran’s enrichment infrastructure for the foreseeable future — and the evidence to date is far from clear — the risk is the uranium already at near-weapons grade could be hidden away indefinitely.

—Bloomberg News