Trump says he will name new Fed chair 'a little bit earlier'
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The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Kristi Noem says border wall to be painted black on Trump's request to make the metal hotter and deter migrants
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced the U.S.-Mexico border wall will be painted black at President Donald Trump 's request to make the metal hotter and deter migrants. Trump boasted about the historically low border crossings in July on Truth Social account late Tuesday afternoon. 'CONGRATULATIONS TEXAS! The July Border Statistics are in and, once again, they are the LOWEST RECORDED NUMBERS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY. The U.S. Border Patrol reported ZERO releases of Illegal Aliens into the Country,' he wrote. There were fewer than 25,000 reported nationwide Customs and Border Protection encounters in July, down almost 90 percent from the monthly average under the Biden administration, the Homeland Security Department announced earlier this month. Despite the record-low number of border crossings, the Trump administration has continued its immigration crackdown, which has included Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country, and an ad campaign with Noem warning the world, 'If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down.' During a Tuesday press conference at the southern border in New Mexico, Noem announced the latest tactic the Trump administration is using to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. She touted the height of the wall as well as the depth as ways to deter people seeking to go over or under the walls. And then Noem said Homeland Security was going to be trying black paint to make the metal hotter. 'That is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here when something is painted black it gets even warmer and it will make it even harder for people to climb,' Noem said. 'So we are going to be painting the entire southern border wall black to make sure that we encourage individuals to not come into our country illegally,' she continued. Noem even picked up a roller brush to help out with the painting during her press conference. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, who attended the event with Noem, said the paint would also help deter rust. The secretary also said more will be added to the wall, 'as far as technology, cameras, sensors.' A Homeland Security Department spokesperson would not confirm how much the paint job would cost, telling The Independent: 'With the OBBB [One Big Beautiful Bill] we will be able to finish the border wall system started under President Trump's first term. 'Due to an active procurement process to finish the wall it would be irresponsible to the American taxpayer to release the numbers as it may impact future bids.' The Independent has also reached out to the White House for comment. During Trump's first term, building the wall was a central focus of his hardline immigration policy. In his second term, his mass deportation agenda with arrests in the interior of the country has been the main focus, but Homeland Security will be getting about $46 billion to complete the wall as part of the 'Big, Beautiful bill' Trump signed in July. Noem said the administration has been building about a half mile of barrier every day. 'The border wall will look very different based on the topography and the geography of where it is built,' she said. The secretary said in addition to barriers like the one she visited Tuesday the department is also working on 'water-borne infrastructure.' Long sections of the roughly 2,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico sit along the Rio Grande River in Texas. 'A nation without borders is no nation at all. We're so thankful we have a president that understands that and understands that a secure border is important to our country's future,' Noem said. Early Tuesday, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has sparred with Trump over his immigration crackdown, mocked the president on X, writing: 'Forget the southern border, the strongest wall Trump's ever built is his bronzer line.'
The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ranger fired for hanging transgender flag in Yosemite and park visitors may face prosecution
A Yosemite National Park ranger was fired after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan while some visitors face potential prosecution for alleged violations of protest restrictions that have been tightened under President Donald Trump. Shannon 'SJ' Joslin, a ranger and biologist who studies bats, said they hung a 66-foot wide transgender pride flag on the famous climbing wall that looms over the California park's main thoroughfare for about two hours on May 20 before taking it down voluntarily. A termination letter they received last week accused Joslin of 'failing to demonstrate acceptable conduct" in their capacity as a biologist and cited the May demonstration. 'I was really hurting because there were a lot of policies coming from the current administration that target trans people, and I'm nonbinary,' Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press, adding that hanging the flag was a way to 'tell myself ... that we're all safe in national parks.' Joslin said their firing sends the opposite message: "If you're a federal worker and you have any kind of identity that doesn't agree with this current administration, then you must be silent, or you will be eliminated.' Park officials on Tuesday said they were working with the U.S. Justice Department to pursue visitors and workers who violated restrictions on demonstrations at the park that had more than 4 million visitors last year. The agencies "are pursuing administrative action against several Yosemite National Park employees and possible criminal charges against several park visitors who are alleged to have violated federal laws and regulations related to demonstrations," National Park Service spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said. Joslin said a group of seven climbers including two other park rangers hung the flag. The other rangers are on administrative leave pending an investigation, Joslin said. Flags have long been displayed from El Capitan without consequences, said Joanna Citron Day, a former federal attorney who is now with the advocacy group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. She said the group is representing Joslin, but there is no pending legal case. On May 21, a day after the flag display, Acting Superintendent Ray McPadden signed a rule prohibiting people from hanging banners, flags or signs larger than 15 square feet in park areas designated as 'wilderness' or 'potential wilderness.' That covers 94% of the park, according to Yosemite's website. Parks officials defend restriction on protests Parks officials said the new restriction on demonstrations was needed to preserve Yosemite's wilderness and protect climbers. 'We take the protection of the park's resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences,' Pawlitz said. It followed a widely publicized instance in February of demonstrators hanging an upside down American flag on El Capitan in the wake of the firing of National Park Service employees by the Trump administration. Among the small group of climbers who helped hang the flag was Pattie Gonia, an environmentalist and drag queen who uses the performance art to raise awareness of conservation issues. For the past five years, Gonia has helped throw a Pride event in Yosemite for park employees and their allies. She said they hung the transgender flag on the granite monolith to drive home the point that being transgender is natural. Trump has limited access to gender-affirming medical treatments, banned trans women from competing in women's sports, removed trans people from the military and changed the federal definition of sex to exclude the concept of gender identity. Gonia called the firing unjust. Joslin said they hung the flag in their free time, as a private citizen. 'SJ is a respected pillar within the Yosemite community, a tireless volunteer who consistently goes above and beyond," Gonia said. Jayson O'Neill with the advocacy group Save Our Parks said Joslin's firing appears aimed at intimidating park employees about expressing their views as the Trump administration pursues broad cuts to the federal workforce. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost approximately 2,500 employees from a workforce that had about 10,000 people, Wade said. The Republican president is proposing a $900 million cut to the agency's budget next year. Parks have First Amendment areas Pawlitz said numerous visitors complained about unauthorized demonstrations on El Capitan earlier in the year. Many parks have designated 'First Amendment areas' where groups 25 or fewer people can protest without a permit. Yosemite has several First Amendment areas, including one in Yosemite Valley, where El Capitan is located. Park service rules on demonstrations have been around for decades and withstood several court challenges, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers. He was not aware of any changes in how those rules are enforced under Trump. ___ Associated Press journalist Brittany Peterson contributed reporting from Denver.
Reuters
4 minutes ago
- Reuters
EliseAI raises $250 million in a16z-led round to expand in healthcare
Aug 20 (Reuters) - Enterprise software maker EliseAI has raised $250 million in a Series E funding round to expand its automation tools for the healthcare and housing industries, the company told Reuters. The latest funding values the company at over $2.2 billion, doubling its valuation from about a year ago. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investors such as Sapphire Ventures. The New York-based company, which builds AI to automate customer service and operations, said it surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) earlier this year. The fresh capital will be used to fuel product innovation and double its roughly 300-person team over the next year, its CEO Minna Song told Reuters in an interview, with hiring plans across offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. The funding highlights investor appetite for so-called vertical AI companies that build deeply integrated, industry-specific solutions rather than general-purpose models. For EliseAI, the capital provides the firepower to deepen its hold on the real estate market and scale its newer healthcare division, tackling costly administrative tasks in two of the economy's largest and most complex sectors. "We've seen a fundamental shift in the market, from talking about AI to using it to solve really costly problems," Song said in an interview. "The demand from our customers was really strong, and so we decided that now is the time to invest in scaling." EliseAI's platform is able to automate the entire resolution process by focusing on specific industries, said Alex Immerman, partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "A vertical AI like ours will go really, really deep and will take that customer request and then handle every step that's required to resolve it," he said, including coordinating with vendors, scheduling, and ensuring compliance. The company started by targeting the housing industry in 2017, and expanded its applications to healthcare since 2022, an industry it said is burdened by similar communication friction and manual processes. With generative AI technology bursting onto the scene, its software can handle more complicated customer inquiries and workflows by integrating with models like the ones from OpenAI. It serves Zillow Group and other rental managers, and touts its technology is currently used in one in eight apartments in the U.S. In healthcare, the company has been focusing on outpatient specialties, including dermatology and women's health, integrating with electronic health record systems to automate administrative work.
