News

California Interagency Incident Management Team 7 assumed command of the Spokane Area Fires on August 2, 2026, as the three-fire complex burned 8,026 acres with no containment reported. Press estimates put structure losses above 700 and evacuations near 65,000, though official incident records have not confirmed those figures. FEMA authorized firefighting cost assistance for the fires on August 2 and 3, and Washington Governor Ferguson declared a statewide wildfire emergency with a burn ban running through September 30.

Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis announced they will vote to advance Todd Blanche's Attorney General nomination after the DOJ formally rescinded its $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund on August 2 and issued a binding order limiting a related IRS audit settlement to the named parties in the original lawsuit. The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on Blanche's nomination the morning of August 4, with a full Senate floor vote needing to occur before August 10 to beat the chamber's scheduled recess. No committee vote outcome or floor vote date had been publicly confirmed as of early August 4.

The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice opened enforcement proceedings on July 27–29, 2026, against Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland and Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan, alleging both districts violated FERPA by withholding student gender identity information from parents. The agencies argue that classifying such records as confidential medical information does not exempt them from parental inspection rights under federal law, though a FERPA expert cited in reporting noted the statute requires access to written records on request but does not clearly mandate proactive disclosure. As of August 4, 2026, no lawsuit has been filed, no federal funding has been cut, and the next procedural steps are the districts' formal responses to agency demands.