Saturday, August 22nd

Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday issued an administrative stay allowing President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project to continue while the Supreme Court reviews the administration’s emergency appeal. The order temporarily blocks a lower-court injunction that would have halted above-ground construction, after lower courts found the project lacked required congressional approval. The planned 90,000-square-foot addition would replace the White House East Wing. Trump’s lawyers told the court the ballroom work is tied to renovation of an underground military bunker and argued a construction halt would affect national security.

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Trump said the U.S. will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground-beef product to enter over the next 90 days without out-of-quota tariffs, with a commitment to sell it 25% below current market prices. The waiver is meant to lower beef prices as the U.S. cattle herd sits at its smallest modern size. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association opposed the plan, saying imports would undercut ranchers. Republican Sens. Tim Sheehy and Deb Fischer also criticized the move, while Trump defended it as what voters want.

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The Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, issuing separation notices on Friday to the U.S. military news outlet’s senior ranks. Slavin said his notice cited insubordination after he said in an interview that hypothetical censorship of the paper would be a “red line”; Korte said she was fired after saying she works for Stars and Stripes, not the Pentagon. Lederer and Slavin were given five days to appeal. Stars and Stripes is partly Defense Department-funded but operates with editorial independence.

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