State Dept. claims it's sparing life-saving efforts from USAID cuts, but some groups say it's "not true"
CBSN
The State Department confirmed Thursday it plans to end more than 90% of USAID contracts around the world, while keeping in place contracts for the most crucial food and health programs.
The department claims its cuts would allow the agency to tighten its belt by $58.2 billion in unspent funds on multi-year awards. but it provided no documentation to support its claim. It's also not clear that the department is funding the initiatives it claims it's supporting.
USAID disbursed nearly $9 billion around the world in 2024 on public health initiatives. A State Department spokesperson said Thursday the agency spared critical USAID awards, including for food assistance, and life-saving medical treatments for diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.

We share our planet with maybe 10 million species of plants, animals, birds, fish, fungi and bugs. And to help identify them, millions of people are using a free phone app. "Currently we have about six million people using the platform every month," said Scott Loarie, the executive director of iNaturalist, a nonprofit.

At ski resorts across the West this winter, viral images showed chairlifts idling over brown terrain in places normally renowned for their frosty appeal. Iconic mountain towns like Aspen, Colorado, and Park City, Utah, were seen with shockingly bare slopes, as the region endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead. In:











