The Hound | Feb. 4

Hi there,

It’s Wednesday. The Trump administration announced they’re pulling 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal agents out of Minneapolis immediately. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is working to ensure local police departments in her state no longer cooperate with ICE, saying it’s “a rogue agency.” And The Washington Post’s long-rumored cuts to staff were announced today, the storied legacy paper that uncovered Watergate is shedding a third of it’s entire staff under the leadership of former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The Washington Post’s latest round of staff cuts under Jeff Bezos’s ownership represents a dangerous weakening of one of the most important newsrooms in American democracy. Slashing reporters, editors, and beats is not a neutral business decision—it directly reduces the Post’s ability to cover elections, corruption, foreign affairs, and abuses of power at a moment when rigorous journalism is urgently needed. Treating newsroom staff as expendable undermines the Post’s public mission and accelerates the broader collapse of trust in the media.

🖊️ Add your name to call on Jeff Bezos to halt further cuts and reinvest in the Washington Post’s newsroom. A free press cannot function without the people who produce it, and democracy cannot afford a diminished Post. Journalism is a public good, not a line item to be sacrificed for short-term financial goals.

Read about this, and more, with today’s stories:

Washington Post says one-third of its staff across all departments is being laid off (AP News)

‘Sickening’: Ex-WaPo Leader Nukes Jeff Bezos From Orbit Over Sweeping Layoffs (Mediaite)

'They're a rogue agency': N.Y. Gov. Hochul seeks to ban local police from working with ICE (NPR)

White House border czar says 700 federal agents will leave Minnesota (The Guardian)

The Real Story Behind the Midnight Immigration Raid on a Chicago Apartment Building (ProPublica)

Judge Denies Trump Bid to End Protected Status for Haitians as ICE Fears Loom (The Marshall Project)

House narrowly passes bill to end shutdown, but divisive DHS funding fight remains (PBS News)

Individual States Join World Health Organization After Trump Drops It (The New Republic)

The Scourge of Online Sports Betting (The American Prospect)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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