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Daily Briefing: Made it out of the group chat

Nicole Fallert   Paste BN

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. Now is a good time to spring clean your inbox✉

Take a glance at Tuesday's news:

No one realized a journalist was added to a secret war plans chat

Some Congress members are demanding answers after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared secret plans for a U.S. strike on Iran-backed militants in Yemen with top Trump administration officials via a Signal group chat that accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief.

Wrong person: Trump administration officials have acknowledged that the contents of the chat reported by The Atlantic are authentic.

  • "I didn’t think it could be real": Goldberg realized the chat was legitimate when the strikes hit Yemen at the time Hegseth indicated they would in the chat.
  • Top national security Democrats want accountability: Their letter to Hegseth expressed concerned senior officials relied on Signal, which is not approved for secure communication.
  • What this means: Experts told Paste BN that if the chat included actual classified information, then all of those officials likely broke at least several federal laws including the National Security Act.

Federal jobs were seen as a gateway to the middle class for Black America — then came DOGE

"What (Trump) needs to know is most Black people were promoted on merit. So the way I see it, this is a way to defund Black people as a whole because I will tell you upward middle-class living was provided through the opportunities that we received through promotions in the federal government."

~ Janice Lee, 65, who recently retired from the U.S. Department of Transportation after 18 years. Government jobs have long been viewed as an entry point for Black Americans into the middle class and job security when opportunities were scarce elsewhere.

More news to know now

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

State of emergency declared as wildfires rage in Carolinas

Parts of western North Carolina, still reeling from devastating floods driven by Hurricane Helene in September, are now under siege from wildfires. Firefighters converged on rural Polk County to battle at least three blazes that have scorched over 5,700 acres, destroyed at least three homes and multiple other buildings, and forced mandatory evacuations. The fire response effort has been hindered by regional impacts from Helene, as debris remains in forests and some roads. The two largest blazes were 0% contained late Monday.

Why there's ire at the Postal Service

Thousands of postal workers and their supporters rallied across the nation protesting proposals to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service over the long term and a USPS agreement to work with Elon Musk's team to trim 10,000 jobs in the next few weeks. Postal worker demonstrations came after President Donald Trump said he was considering a plan to merge the independent agency with the Commerce Department − and Musk suggested the agency be privatized. Here's what the workers told Paste BN.

Today's talkers

JuJu Watkins is out for the season

 JuJu Watkins' season is done. The USC star suffered a season-ending knee injury during Monday night's women's March Madness game against Mississippi State, the team announced. Early in the first quarter, Watkins was on a fast break with just under five minutes to go when she became entangled with a Mississippi State player. She immediately went down, grabbed her right knee and was visibly in pain. With Watkins out, the Trojans will turn to Talia von Oelhoffen to handle point guard duties.

Photo of the day: America's snowy visit in focus

All eyes are on a snowy corner of the world: Greenland's government flatly denied a claim made by President Donald Trump that officials from the island invited a U.S. delegation led by Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, to visit the Arctic territory this week.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.

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