6 Feb 2026

FEMA will resume staff reductions that were paused during winter storm, managers say

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By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA, Associated Press

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will resume staff cuts that were briefly paused during January’s severe winter storm, according to two FEMA managers, stoking concern across the agency over its ability to address disasters with fewer workers.

FEMA at the start of January abruptly stopped renewing employment contracts for a group of staffers known as Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery, or CORE employees, term-limited hires who can hold senior roles and play an important role in emergency response.

But FEMA then paused the cuts in late January as the nation braced for the gigantic winter storm that was set to impact half the country’s population. FEMA did not say whether that decision was linked to the storm.

The two FEMA team managers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the staffing changes with the media, were told this week that dismissals were going to resume soon but were not given a specific date. It was not clear how many people would be impacted.

FEMA staff told The Associated Press that the policy indiscriminately terminates employees without taking into account the importance of their role or their years of experience. The hundreds of CORE dismissals have wiped out entire teams, or left groups without managers, they said.

“It’s a big impact to our ability to implement and carry out the programs entrusted to us to carry out,” one FEMA manager told The Associated Press.

The officials said it was unclear who at the Department of Homeland Security or FEMA was driving the decision. Managers used to make the case to extend a contract months in advance, they said, but now leaders were often finding out about terminations at the same time as their employee.

DHS and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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There are over 10,000 CORE workers, making up nearly half of FEMA’s workforce. While they are employed on two- and four-year contracts, those terms are “routinely renewed,” one manager said, calling CORE the “primary backbone” for FEMA’s response and recovery work. Many CORE are supervisors and it’s not uncommon for them to have worked at the agency for many years, if not decades.

CORE employees are paid out of FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and are not subject to as long a hiring process as permanent full-time federal employees. That allows the agency to be more nimble in its hiring and onboard employees more quickly as needs arise. With DHS funded only temporarily because of a battle in Congress over immigration tactics, CORE employees can work and be paid during a government shutdown, so long as the disaster fund still has money.

The administration’s efforts to reduce the workforce come as the Trump administration has been promising reforms for FEMA that it says will reduce waste and shift emergency management responsibilities over to states.

It also comes as DHS faces increasing criticism over how it manages FEMA, including delays in getting disaster funding to states and workforce reductions.

FEMA lost nearly 10% of its workforce between January and June 2025, according to the Government Accountability Office. Concern has grown in recent months among FEMA staff and disaster experts that larger cuts are coming.

A draft report from the Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council included a recommendation to cut the agency’s workforce in half, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report with media. The council’s final report, due last November, has not been published.

“Based on past disasters, we know that slashing FEMA’s workforce will put Americans at risk, plain and simple,” Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said after introducing a resolution Wednesday condemning FEMA staff cuts.

Last week, a coalition of unions and nonprofits led by the American Federation of Government Employees filed a legal complaint against the Trump Administration over the FEMA reductions.

A CORE employee at FEMA headquarters who asked not to be named for fear of losing their job said that even though FEMA was able to support states during Winter Storm Fern, a year of staff losses could already be felt. There were fewer people available for backup, they said, and staff were burned out from ongoing uncertainty.

6 Feb 2026

Timberwolves, Mike Conley in line for reunion … eventually

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He’s coming home again. Though, actually, he never left.

Mike Conley is set to rejoin the Timberwolves — eventually — after Minnesota traded him to Chicago on Tuesday, a source confirmed.

The move isn’t expected to happen right away, because minimum contracts are pro-rated to how many days are remaining in the season. And, if they wait long enough, the Wolves could theoretically still sign two free agents off the buy-out/waiver market and still remain under the first apron of the luxury tax.

So, while Minnesota wants Conley back in the building, patience is prudent. It’s possible the two sides could even wait until the all-star break before striking an official deal.

Conley flew from Toronto back to his Minnesota home the day after he was dealt to Chicago, and has remained there since. So, he’s ready whenever the time comes.

The opportunity for this type of reunion is rare.

Had Chicago been the team to waive Conley, Minnesota would not be eligible to re-sign the guard. But because the Wolves trade with the Bulls was made official, and the Bulls then made a second trade to send Conley to Charlotte, a return became a legitimate possibility.

The Hornets waived Conley shortly after the passing of Thursday’s trade deadline.

Conley wanted to weigh all possible landing spots. He was, after all, a free agent. But the opportunity for the 38-year-old to remain in Minnesota with his wife and kids for the season’s duration, while chasing a championship with the coaches and teammates he knows and enjoys, was too good to pass up.

What will be interesting to see is the role Conley has upon his official return. Minnesota has traded for 3-and-D guard Ayo Dosunmu, who figures to slot in as the seventh man in the rotation. That was the spot previously occupied by Conley, who was regularly playing 14 to 22 minutes per game prior to the trade.

Will Conley join the competition for eighth- and ninth-man minutes off the bench behind Dosunmu and Naz Reid, or will he take on more of a bench leadership role? That’s a question for Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to answer.

The trade moved Minnesota under a salary-cap apron and provided ownership with hefty savings on its luxury-tax bill. And the Wolves still get their veteran leader in their locker room.

All is well that ends well?

That will be determined in the coming months. But, for now, a happy homecoming — err, home staying? — is on the near horizon.

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6 Feb 2026

Theater review: History Theatre’s ‘Whoosh!’ is an eccentric exploration of local lore

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Have you ever seen a movie that concludes its opening credits with the phrase “Inspired by true events”? That’s an apt description for History Theatre’s production of “Whoosh!”, which began life as a 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival solo show and has been expanded to delve more deeply into those “true events,” but also to take on some legends and perhaps create some new ones.

“Whoosh!” might best be called a historical fantasia, an exceptionally well-spun yarn from the imagination and research capabilities of its writer and chief performer, Andrew Erskine Wheeler. It’s advertised with the subtitle, “The Civil War Mythology of Michael Hickey and His Perilous Precipitation Over St. Anthony Falls,” and tenacious fact-checkers might want to leave their truth-seeking instincts at the door of History Theatre’s Downtown St. Paul venue. For “mythology” is a good description of what Wheeler delivers.

His aims are more complex and heartfelt than offering an engaging bit of regional history. While always intriguing, “Whoosh!” weaves in and out of a few different tales and timelines, using repetition as a creator of music might. And, speaking of music, Wheeler is ably assisted by an acoustic duo known as Northern Shores, underscoring the story with Celtic elements.

That stands to reason, for our protagonist is an Ireland-born immigrant to 19th-century Minnesota, Michael Hickey. He’s invited us to an informal wake for his older brother, a fellow lumberjack (or “shanty man”) who subsequently enlisted in the Union Army and became one of the many soldiers of the First Minnesota regiment killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.

After educating us in often humorous fashion on the cold, cramped and aromatic life of those felling and transporting timber, we’re regaled with Hickey’s own wartime experiences, bouncing in and out of a tutorial about the history of St. Anthony Falls, the Minneapolis torrent that’s since been tamed by the forces of industry and transformed into a dam. As its subtitle suggests, Hickey will relay his experience of plunging over the falls and surviving.

If the first act and its meandering manner of storytelling leaves you wondering where all of this is going, rest assured that Wheeler sharpens his focus considerably in the second act. Although delivered with a light touch and plenty of humor, it becomes clear that the topic at hand is how we are shaped by the experiences of our ancestors and how they coped with the traumas they endured. While Hickey is a colorful raconteur, it’s when Wheeler transforms into a benevolent officer from the First Minnesota that we receive the most powerful of the many messages in “Whoosh!”: That each veteran of the violence of war must find their own path toward healing.

If you go with the flow, so to speak, “Whoosh!” is a very entertaining piece of theater, one aided greatly by the projections of Brant Miller, the sound design of Richard Graham and the well-paced direction of Allison Vincent. Wheeler was a longtime member of Tim Robbins’ Los Angeles-based company, the Actors’ Gang, who has returned to the Minnesota of his ancestors. “Whoosh!” stands as testament that uncovering your family history can lead to a greater understanding of yourself. You may even be “inspired by true events.”

‘Whoosh’

When: Through Feb. 22

Where: History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul

Tickets: $55-$15, available at 651-292-4323 or historytheatre.org

Capsule: A meandering but ultimately rewarding approach to some local history.

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6 Feb 2026

Does Taylor Rehmet’s Victory Foreshadow an Anti-MAGA Wave? 

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After Democrat Taylor Rehmet beat the GOP’s Leigh Wambsganss in the January 31 special runoff election for state Senate District 9 , Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called the loss “a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas.” It’s been a common sentiment in the Republican Party in recent days, especially since a Democrat hasn’t won that seat since 1991. 

Rehmet’s win was a 31-point swing from President Donald Trump’s victory there less than a year and a half ago—and a 37-point swing from the GOP incumbent’s margin in that district in 2022. What’s more, Wambsganss had 10 times as much money as Rehmet, including large checks from heavyweights like Texans for Lawsuit Reform and right-wing megadonor Tim Dunn’s PAC. 

But Brian Mayes, a longtime Republican strategist, saw this coming. 

After last May, when a dozen local candidates endorsed by the Tarrant County GOP lost their elections, Mayes figured the party was heading toward more defeat. “It’s like when a football team loses, you can either go back and figure out why you lost and make hard decisions, or you don’t,” Mayes told the Texas Observer, and “you keep doing the same thing over and over.”

Wambganss has helped lead the school board culture wars that have dominated Tarrant County politics for much of the last five years, and as Mayes sees it, voters were ready for something different. It helped that Rehmet, a Machinists union leader, was a strong candidate whose focus on public education clearly resonated across party lines. 

Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, put it bluntly. “We had a really good candidate, and they had a really bad candidate,” he told the Observer. 

While political observers have stopped short of saying this is the first break of an all-out anti-MAGA wave, voter data indicates that Republicans are more vulnerable than the party may realize—especially in Tarrant County, which is currently the largest red county in the nation and a key battleground in the 2026 elections. (With the Texas Legislature currently out of session, Rehmet is unlikely to cast a vote in the state Senate before he and Wambsganss rematch in the November general election for the seat’s full term.) 

Ross Hunt, a Republican data analyst who has been dissecting the numbers and sharing takeaways on his X feed, said the GOP lost the seat “because of the failure to persuade swing Republicans and right-leaning independents.”

Hunt wrote on X: “Republicans’ handpicked candidate for this working-and middle-class, 51% Fort Worth district was a socially conservative political operative from a wealthy suburb that makes up 4% of the District.”

Meanwhile, Wambsganss’ opponent offered a stark contrast: He was “Mr. Tarrant County,” as Scudder put it. “He’s a union leader, veteran, very disciplined on his messaging and very hyper-focused on the working class and making life better for people,” Scudder said. “Leigh is a zealot who spends all of her time denigrating public school teachers and trying to dismantle public school institutions.”

But candidate quality alone, Scudder argues, can’t explain what he called a “perfect storm.” He credited an unusually coordinated Democratic effort that began months before the runoff. Specifically, the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) helped the Rehmet campaign make 1.5 million phone calls, knock on 20,000 doors and send 300,000 text messages. Nearly $150,000, about half of Rehmet’s campaign funds, came via the Texas Majority PAC, which is running a joint political operation with the TDP. 

“For the first time in a very long time, Democrats were operating as a team, moving in the same direction with the same goal, and that’s to win an election,” Scudder said.

In a statement to the Observer, Rehmet said broadening his tent was a central part of his strategy. “In the final days of the race, I spoke with voters from across the political spectrum, including many Republicans, and I was grateful for their honesty and openness,” Rehmet said. “We didn’t agree on everything but what consistently stood out was a shared respect and a willingness to listen to one another. At the end of the day, those conversations reminded me that most of us want the same things like safe communities, strong schools and a government that is effective.​​”

The Wambsganss campaign did not respond to a request for comment. On social media, Allen Blakemore, Wambsganss’ political consultant, blamed low turnout among Republicans for the surprise result. Just under 95,000 votes were cast, marking a 15 percent turnout rate for the runoff. 

But other operatives have dismissed the notion that low turnout was the sole reason for Rehmet’s upset. He not only succeeded in peeling away GOP and independent voters, but was also able to mobilize Latino voters. Latinos make up slightly more than one in five eligible voters in Senate District 9, and in some largely Hispanic areas of Fort Worth, Rehmet outperformed Kamala Harris by 50 points. 

Jason Villalba, a former Republican legislator who now runs a think tank focused on Latino voters, said at least some of that shift can be attributed to the Trump administration’s approach to immigration. “I think that trend is that Hispanics are not moving towards the GOP like they were in 2024,” Villalba said. “I think they are going back to their historic support for Democrats as they were in 2012 and 2016.”

But Tarrant County is also unique because of the prevalence of far-right Christian nationalists. For several years, a church called Mercy Culture has been amassing political influence on the local and national stage. (State Representative Nate Schatzline, a Mercy Culture pastor, recently joined President Trump’s faith advisory board.) The church effectively runs For Liberty & Justice, an organization that teaches conservative Christians how to run for office. The organization endorsed Wambsganns. 

After the Rehmet win, many Republican heavyweights gathered at an event hosted by For Liberty & Justice. Ken Paxton was there, as was Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare. “This is the time to stand up and fight, and this is the time that God calls us to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, and that wall is Tarrant County,” O’Hare told attendees. 

Meanwhile, Allison Campolo, chair of the local Democratic Party, said Tarrant County Republicans have now cornered themselves by developing such close ties with groups like Mercy Culture. “All of our top Republicans are intimately tied with Mercy Culture,” Campolo said. “They either have to own that shit, which will lose them a lot of votes, or they have to separate themselves from it, which will also lose them a lot of votes.”

In other words, Campolo says the local Republican brand is in crisis: “You don’t get an over 30-point swing in Fort Worth, Texas, if your brand is okay.”

The post Does Taylor Rehmet’s Victory Foreshadow an Anti-MAGA Wave?  appeared first on The Texas Observer.