5 things to know for March 19: Trump-Putin, Hottest decade, Extreme weather, Transgender troops, Social Security

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Billionaire Elon Musk’s effort to remake the US government took a hit Tuesday when a federal judge blocked his Department of Government Efficiency from shutting down USAID, saying the actions likely violated the Constitution. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. After a two-hour call between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the White House announced that the Russian leader had agreed to pause attacks on Ukraine’s energy and infrastructure sites. Ukraine’s energy grid has been among Putin’s biggest targets since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Kremlin, however, described the deal differently, saying that Putin had “responded positively” to a proposal for “the parties to the conflict to mutually refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days.” Either way, the negotiations stopped short of a broader ceasefire. Hours after the call, Russia attacked Ukraine with roughly 150 drones and missiles, hitting a hospital and an electricity system powering the railways, officials said. Ukraine also launched more than 50 drones overnight in the Kursk border region, Russia’s defense ministry said. The latest “State of the Global Climate” report has been released and the news is pretty dire: our world has just experienced its hottest decade. According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 was the hottest since record-keeping began and was likely the first time global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the baseline set in 1850-1900. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide were at the highest levels in the last 800,000 years. Such record levels of greenhouse gases — along with the El Niño weather pattern — were mostly to blame for the higher temperatures. Just days after a cross-country storm left a vast trail of destruction and dozens dead in seven states, another potent storm is forecast to affect millions today. CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert said this latest event may spawn severe thunderstorms with powerful winds from Texas to Minnesota. Gusty winds may increase the risk of wildfires in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, where the dry vegetation is primed to ignite. Up north, the Plains could also see the return of heavy snow and blizzard conditions. A federal judge indefinitely blocked President Trump’s ban on transgender service members Tuesday, dealing a major defeat to a controversial policy Trump resurrected from his first term. The ban, which was set to begin later this month, could have affected an estimated 14,000 transgender troops. US District Judge Ana Reyes said the administration cannot enforce the ban because it “is soaked in animus and dripping with pretext. Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact.”