James' World 2

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Where Things Stand

• Government reopens: With the end of the longest shutdown in U.S. history, federal workers were back in their offices, national parks were fully reopening, and the government was returning to normal operations. Some workers were getting $10,000 bonuses for their work during the shutdown. But the size of the federal bureaucracy meant it would take time to get back up to speed, and some workers were said to be unable to log back into their computer systems. Several states restarted food stamp payments, but millions of Americans were still awaiting the November deposits that the Trump administration resisted paying out in full.

• Boat strike: The U.S. military killed another four people accused by the Trump administration of trafficking narcotics by sea, Pentagon officials said. The known death toll in the administration’s lethal campaign on boats to 80 since early September. Read more ›

• Retribution campaign: A federal judge has begun reviewing whether the U.S. attorney handpicked by President Trump to prosecute two of his most prominent political opponents — James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general — was lawfully appointed to her job, which could have serious consequences for the cases.

The Justice Department joins a suit challenging California’s new congressional maps.

The U.S. Justice Department has joined a Republican lawsuit challenging new congressional maps that California voters approved last week to favor Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.

The case asserts that the maps, which were championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, are unconstitutional because they improperly use voters’ race as a factor in determining district boundaries. It was filed last week by the California Republican Party, and on Thursday, the Justice Department announced it had filed to intervene in the suit, asking the courts to block the maps.

The Trump administration prepares tariff exemptions in a bid to lower food prices.

The Trump administration is preparing broad exemptions to certain tariffs in an effort to ease elevated food prices that have provoked anxiety for American consumers, according to three people briefed on the actions.

The change would apply to certain reciprocal tariffs the president announced in April, including on products coming from countries that have not struck trade deals with the administration, the people said, discussing a pending announcement on the condition of anonymity.

Noem begins handing out $10,000 checks to T.S.A. workers who ‘went above and beyond’ during the shutdown.

Air traffic controllers with perfect attendance through the shutdown are not the only government employees getting bonuses for working unpaid during the longest federal spending freeze in U.S. history.

The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, announced on Thursday that an unspecified number of Transportation Security Administration officers would also be awarded checks of $10,000 for going “above and beyond” during the shutdown, acting days after President Trump recommended $10,000 bonuses for air traffic controllers who never missed a shift during the shutdown, while seeming to prod those who were absent to quit.

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A tour guide at the United States Capitol in Washington on Thursday, as the federal government reopened following the longest shutdown in its history.Credit…Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

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