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I'm a reporter at The Washington Post investigating the long-term consequences of today's RIFs at HHS — and other recent cuts across the government — and what it all means for average Americans. If you've been directly affected, or if there's something you think that I should know, my email is dan.diamond@washpost.com, and my signal is dan_diamond.01.

A 30-year-old Harvard researcher from Russia has been held for more than a month at a private detention center in Louisiana where federal immigration officers are sending a growing number of international students with lives here suddenly in jeopardy. Unlike others, Kseniia Petrova is not accused of publicly opposing Israel’s war in Gaza or U.S. support for Israel. She was pulled aside as she returned from Paris on Feb. 16 after failing to tell customs agents at Boston’s Logan International Airport that she was bringing back frog embryos for scientific work her mentor is pursuing. Should she lose her fight to retain her visa and stay in this country, her university supervisor, friends and lawyer worry that she would be deported to Russia. Given her past involvement in protests against that country’s invasion of Ukraine, they fear she could be imprisoned for years. https://lnkd.in/gwjKMhTr

Column by Andrew Van Dam: How much time — and gasoline — do we waste in drive-through lanes at fast-food chains? “The number of cars in line during the peak periods seems staggering,” reader Robert Campbell writes from Cumming, Georgia, midway between Atlanta and Appalachia. Which chain is most likely to get your order wrong? Where is the drive-through capital of America? Plus news about an iconic IT profession. Before the pandemic, two-thirds of fast-food sales came through the drive-through window. That figure soared to 83 percent as lockdowns hit, and recently has settled back down to 63 percent.  https://lnkd.in/gEEGSZDw

People on Reddit forums have complained for years about being fooled by IRS look-alike websites. But Google keeps enabling this trickery. In recent Google searches related to obtaining a business taxpayer identification number — which the IRS requires of many organizations — the “sponsored” results (a.k.a., ads) at the top sometimes showed sites with “IRS” or “Gov” in their web addresses. But they were not the IRS. https://lnkd.in/gBBWxPQH

Aiming to end what President Donald Trump calls “illegal DEI,” the federal government is moving to expunge diversity programs from all corners of society while refocusing civil rights enforcement to banish practices that offer advantages based on race and sex. https://lnkd.in/gxKKsKJh

Car costs, which have already spiked 20 percent since the pandemic, are expected to get another jolt in coming weeks, with the Trump administration’s newest proposed tariffs likely to add thousands of dollars to manufacturers’ sticker prices. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts beginning April 3, a move meant to “protect America’s automobile industry” by encouraging more domestic production. About half of the cars sold in the United States last year were imported, and virtually all contained at least some foreign-made parts. https://lnkd.in/g3RQ2txt

Kai Höss grew up knowing little about his family’s past. When he was in fifth grade, though, he stumbled upon a name in his history book that haunted him: Rudolf Höss, the infamous commandant of Auschwitz. “I heard the surname, and I was like, ‘Is this my family?’” said Höss, now 63. Höss’s mother confirmed his fear: Rudolf Höss, the man who ran the most notorious Nazi death camp, was his grandfather. “It’s going to be edifying for both of us,” said Kai Höss. https://lnkd.in/grEDbpq4

Last week, I posted a question on LinkedIn: how has the Trump administration affected science and innovation? I heard from researchers who all shared the same answer: U.S. scientists are dealing with unprecedented cuts and chaos. Among the takeaways: - researchers are canceling studies into cancer, HIV, mental health and other priorities, because funding has abruptly dried up under Trump - many organizations are being forced to lay off staff and turn away students who had been offered jobs, shrinking the pipeline of future scientists - the situation for scientists this year is much worse than the disruption from the 2008 recession or the 2020 pandemic. Everyone I spoke to agreed on that. The Washington Post also found that NIH grant funding has dropped about $3 billion — a roughly 60 percent decline — since Inauguration Day, compared to the same period last year. That slowdown has had huge consequences. I spoke with several researchers who are still waiting on funding decisions they expected in January, and have been forced to furlough staff and end experiments. I also asked the White House to explain their new approach. “This is not a researcher entitlement program,” said an official, defending their process and saying that Trump officials needed to review grants issued under Biden. There's much more in our story today. Thanks to all the folks on LinkedIn who helped out. https://lnkd.in/eTZAwwn2

A miniature dachshund, just 1 year old and weighing around eight pounds, appears to have pulled off a feat neither her owners nor rescuers thought possible: surviving for 16 months on a rugged island off Australia’s southern coast. Now, locals on Kangaroo Island are hopeful they will be able to reunite the dog, Valerie, with her owners after several recent sightings, including with the pink collar she was wearing when she went missing. Volunteers have narrowed down the search area and are now relying on video surveillance and — yes — roast chicken to entice her. “We’re pretty surprised, that’s for sure,” said Georgia Gardner, 24, of Valerie, whom she owns with boyfriend Joshua Fishlock. “She wasn’t even just like a dog; she was an absolute princess as well. She had a car seat, and she slept in our bed,” she said, adding that Valerie would get upset over being outside for too long. https://lnkd.in/gESK59t5