Business

Mass Federal Firings May Imperil Pets, Cattle and Crops

Published

1 year ago

February 26, 2025

Mass Federal Firings May Imperil Pets, Cattle and Crops

Shortly after taking office for the second time, President Trump began making deep cuts to agencies and programs that play critical roles in human health, slashing funding for medical research, halting global health aid and firing scores of workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the campaign to downsize government, which has been led by Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, has also hollowed out agencies and programs devoted to protecting plant and animal health. The recent wave of mass firings hit federal workers responding to the nation’s growing bird flu outbreak, protecting crops from damaging pests and ensuring the safety of pet food and medicine, among other critical duties.

Although the government has since rescinded some of these firings, the terminations — combined with a federal hiring freeze and buyout offers — are depleting the ranks of federal programs that are already short on employees and resources, experts said.

The damage could be long-lasting. Workers whose jobs were spared said that the upheaval had left them eyeing the exits, and graduate students said they were reconsidering careers in the federal government. The shrinking work force could also have far-reaching consequences for trade and food security and leave the nation unequipped to tackle future threats to plant and animal health, experts said.

“These really were indiscriminate firings,” said John Ternest, who lost his job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he was preparing to conduct studies on honeybee health and crop pollination. “We don’t know what we’ve lost until it’s potentially too late.”

Plant and animal inspectors

The most recent wave of firings focused on the roughly 200,000 “probationary” employees across the federal government, who had fewer job protections because they were relatively new to their positions. (For some roles, the probationary period can be as long as three years, and it can also reset when longtime employees are promoted.)

The exact size and scope of the job losses remain unclear, and the U.S.D.A. did not answer questions about the number of workers who had been terminated or reinstated at several of its agencies.

But in an emailed statement, a U.S.D.A. spokesman said that Brooke Rollins, the new secretary of agriculture, “fully supports President Trump’s directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies and strengthen U.S.D.A.’s ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers and the agriculture community.”

Reports suggest that the department has lost thousands of employees.

That includes roughly 400 people who worked in its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, according to one U.S.D.A. official who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. The plant protection and quarantine program within APHIS was especially hard hit, losing more than 200 employees, including agricultural inspectors, entomologists, taxonomists and even tree climbers who surveyed for pests, the official said.

Some of the fired workers were responsible for combating invasive, plant-killing insects, such as the Asian long-horned beetle, within the nation’s borders. Others worked to ensure that agricultural products entering and exiting the country were free of pests and pathogens. Exotic fruit flies pose a particular risk to American agriculture, including the citrus and berry industries.

The terminations are already causing import delays at the nation’s ports, according to the U.S.D.A. official. Over the longer term, if agricultural pests and pathogens found their way into the country, they could infest the nation’s homegrown crops, threatening food security and reducing demand for American agricultural products abroad.

“If the United States gets a reputation for having dirty products, does that mean other countries will also, you know, step in and say, ‘Hey, we don’t want to buy your goods’?” the official said.

The firings also hit the agency’s veterinary services program, which inspects imported livestock for disease and plays a key role in the nation’s bird flu response, said Dr. Joseph Annelli, the executive vice president of the National Association of Federal Veterinarians.

The U.S.D.A. has quickly rehired some of the employees who were involved in the bird flu response, suggesting that their firings had been a mistake. But even before the recent terminations, the government was short on veterinarians, Dr. Annelli said. “There has not been adequate staffing for at least 10 years,” he said. “We need more veterinarians, not less.”

The agency was in the midst of hiring additional people to assist with the bird flu response, Dr. Annelli said, but the federal hiring freeze put that process on hold.

The workers who remain are nervous about the long-term stability of their jobs. “I’m not very optimistic,” said one current veterinary services employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation and has already applied for another position outside the U.S. government.

Agricultural scientists

Roughly 800 people, including the leaders of laboratories, were also fired across the Agricultural Research Service, the in-house scientific agency at the U.S.D.A, according to a department official who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The firings brought a wide range of research projects to an abrupt halt and left the technicians and the students who worked in these labs in limbo.

One New York lab was in the middle of investigating a potential outbreak of late blight, a potato disease, when the lead scientist was fired, said Isako Di Tomassi, a graduate student at Cornell University who worked in the lab. Potato samples from a large, commercial farm are now locked up in the shuttered lab, “untouched and untested,” Ms. Di Tomassi said.

Scientists and statisticians working in the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska, which studies livestock genetics and breeding, were also terminated, including those working on research projects in food safety and salmonella testing. The firings have led to objections from Nebraskas’s Republican congressional delegation and industry groups.

“We understand and respect the federal government’s desire to cut wasteful spending, but the truth of the matter is, U.S. MARC does not fall in that category,” the Nebraska Cattlemen Association said in a statement. The work being done at the center, the statement continued, “has potential to reduce costs for the beef industry long term and improve food safety for consumers.”

Some — but not all — of the agency’s scientists were reinstated this week. Still, the mass firings could do lasting reputational damage to the agency, they said.

“I think that people that want to earnestly do science are going to be viewing and remembering these decisions and how scientists are being treated,” said one agricultural researcher who was fired and then rehired and requested anonymity to protect the job.

In interviews, several graduate students in agricultural science said that they were no longer sure whether they could build research careers in the federal government.

“My future as a scientist seems very uncertain right now,” Ms. Di Tomassi said.

“Getting a federal scientist position is a big deal,” she added. “It’s not easy to do, and all of that investment is now being let go.”

Animal health regulators

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention primarily concerns itself with human health, the agency also aims to prevent zoonotic diseases, including by regulating the entry of animals — particularly those than can carry pathogens — into the United States.

For example, the agency does not permit dogs that have recently been in countries with a high prevalence of rabies to enter the United States unless they have been vaccinated against the disease. C.D.C. officers also examine animals at port stations, and isolate or quarantine those exposed to dangerous pathogens.

But the Trump administration recently dismissed about half of the C.D.C. employees at the agency’s 20 port health stations, leaving some stations entirely unattended.

Calls to the port station in San Juan, P.R., last week were rerouted to the station in Miami, where a C.D.C. employee who declined to be identified said that no one would be at the San Juan post “for a very long time.”

Workers were also fired from the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. Among those affected were employees reviewing data on novel animal medicines and working to ensure that pet food and animal feed were free of contaminants.

Those teams were already short-staffed, said two fired employees, who asked not to be identified because they are appealing their terminations. They worried that the losses could slow down the approval of new animal drugs and even cause dangerous products to fall through the cracks.

“It’s a gap in the safety structure,” one of the employees said. “They’re big challenges and there’s no one else to take it on. That’s the job of government.”

Linda Qiu contributed reporting.

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Business

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to leave the company, marking the end of an era

Published

11 hours ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to leave the company, marking the end of an era

Reed Hastings, who helped launched Netflix from a fledgling DVD mail-order business into a global streaming juggernaut, plans to exit the company after nearly three decades.

Hastings will leave the company he co-founded to focus on philanthropy and other efforts, the streaming company announced said Thursday.

Hastings, who serves as chairman of the Los Gatos company’s board, told Netflix he will not stand for reelection when his term expires in June, Netflix said in a letter to shareholders timed to its fiscal first-quarter earnings.

He said the commitment of Netflix Co-Chief Executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters was “so strong that I can now focus on new things.”

Peters described Hastings, 65, as the company’s “biggest champion,” and that he “is a part of our DNA.”

Sarandos called Hastings a “true history maker,” saying in a statement that Hastings’ “selfless, disciplined leadership style” will continue to shape Netflix’s path ahead.

Hastings’ exit was not unexpected as his role in the company diminished after he stepped aside as co-chief executive of Netflix in 2023.

During his tenure, Hastings oversaw the substantial growth of the streaming colossus. Today, Netflix has a market cap of about $455 billion, more than double that of the Walt Disney Co.

“My real contribution at Netflix wasn’t a single decision; it was a focus on member joy, building a culture that others could inherit and improve, and building a company that could be both beloved by members and wildly successful for generations to come,” Hastings said in a statement.

For the first quarter of 2026, Netflix reported nearly $12.3 billion of revenue, up 16% compared to the same time period a year ago. Operating income grew 18% to $3.9 billion for the three-month period ending March 31.

Both figures were ahead of the company’s guidance, a feat the streamer attributed to slightly higher than expected subscription revenue.

The company reported net income of $5.3 billion, up more than 80% compared to the $2.9 billion it recorded during the same period last year. Earnings per share was $1.23, up from 66 cents last year.

Netflix said it continues to expect 2026 revenue ranging from $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion, with an operating margin of 31.5%.

The earnings release and the Hastings announcement came after markets closed.

Netflix shares closed at $107.79, virtually unchanged. After hours, the shares dropped more than 8% to $98.26. They have climbed about 18% this year.

The Los Gatos-based company had previously secured an $82.7-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. studios and streaming services in December but it withdrew from the bidding war in late February after Paramount Skydance offered $31 a share. As part of the switch, Netflix was paid a $2.8-billion termination fee.

“Warner Bros. would have been a nice accelerant for our strategy, but only at the right price,” Netflix said in its investor letter. “We have multiple ways to achieve our goals (including producing, licensing, and partnering) and we’re constantly seeking to allocate our resources to the most attractive opportunities to maximize the value we are delivering to our members.”

Before Reed Hastings revolutionized the global entertainment business, he sold Rainbow vacuum cleaners door-to-door during his gap year between high school and Bowdoin College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

During his sales pitch, Reed would first clean a homeowner’s carpet with their vacuum and then demonstrate how to clean using a Rainbow. The job helped hone his ability to understand customers, a core foundation of Netflix’s user-driven, candor-obsessed culture.

After Bowdoin and before he earned his master’s degree in computer science at Stanford, Hastings served in the Peace Corps (he also did a stint in the Marines) teaching high school math in Swaziland (now Eswatini).

“Once you have hitchhiked across Africa with ten bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn’t seem too intimidating,” he told Time magazine.

While those experiences helped shape Hasting’s business sense, it was a late fee for a video that became the catalyst for launching Netflix, upending the way viewers consumed content and disrupting how Hollywood does business.

As the story goes, Hastings had misplaced a VHS tape of “Apollo 13” racking up a hefty $40 charge.

It was 1997 and his company Pure Software had just been acquired. It dawned on him that a gym membership offered a better business model, than the average video store — where you paid a set fee for the month and you could work out as much or as little as you liked. He thought, why not apply that to the movie rental business?

Netflix, began in Scotts Valley, Calif., as a mail-order business. Customers paid a tiered monthly fee to rent DVDs online which were delivered by mail.

The business exploded racking up millions of customers as it jettisoned the post office to an internet-based business. As the business accelerated across the world it also expanded, creating original content such as award-winning blockbusters such as “Stranger Things” and “House of Cards.”

The company’s innovation extended internally too. Hastings became known for implementing a unique and controversial culture of radical transparency, where employee evaluations are brutally candid and average performances can be grounds for termination.

The concept was a central theme of his 2020 book “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention,” written with business professor Erin Meyer.

Times staff writers Meg James and Wendy Lee contributed to this report.

Business

This Long Beach startup says it has a patch for California’s power problems

Published

24 hours ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

This Long Beach startup says it has a patch for California’s power problems

Many companies in California struggle to get enough electricity to power their growing businesses. One Long Beach startup just raised $26 million for what it says is a quick fix for that problem.

There are limits on how much power each company can draw from the public power grid so fast-growing industries can’t just crank up their consumption whenever they want. For uninterrupted supply, they sometimes have to wait for local utilities to build capacity, which can take years.

Critical Loop — an energy tech company based in an office overlooking the Long Beach airport — has already landed major clients and investors with its power management controller. It helps companies get more power when they need it and save money by seamlessly switching between the public grid, batteries and their on-site solar panels and generators.

The company is thriving in California because there is so much unmet need for power, Critical Loop Chief Executive Bala Ramamurthy told The Times.

“The amount of power-hungry industries here in L.A., especially across ports, logistics and manufacturing, is significant,” he said. “California is at the center of many of the grid challenges we’re solving.”

The company announced Tuesday that it has raised $26 million, bringing its total funding to $49 million. The funding was led by Conifer Infrastructure Partners and Hanover.

The startup did not disclose its valuation. It plans to use the money to power sites beyond California, expanding into sites such as data centers and advanced robotics warehouses.

It says it can bring more power to companies much sooner than others, in days or weeks, rather than waiting years for utilities to upgrade local substation and expand capacity.

Founded in 2023, the startups team has grown from eight to 35 people in the past year, with hires from SpaceX, Palantir and Tesla.

The team works out of Donald Douglas Drive in Long Beach, inside a former hangar. In the sprawling space, employees work on assembling and testing hardware, including container-sized batteries and their autonomous controllers.

The firm won a bid to manage peak-load reduction at the San Diego International Airport. During peak operating hours, when all conveyor belts and baggage sorting equipment are running, the airport relies on Critical Loop’s controller to predict and manage on-site battery needs.

CLB 500: Critical Loop’s container-sized battery units can be transported on the back of a truck delivering on-site power for industrial facilities. Their setup enables facilities to store power from the electric grid whenever necessary, and use on-site batteries to cover peak-constrained hours.

(Critical Loop)

It took four months to set up that system, Ramamurthy said.

The startup, effectively helps industries cut their electricity bills. Utilities charge large facilities based on their highest moment of power use in a given month — not their average. For instance, one peak summer afternoon, with every conveyor belt, boarding gate and baggage sorter running at full blast, can set the airport’s electricity rate for the entire month.

Critical Loop’s system switches to on-site batteries and solar during those peak hours, then back to the grid when demand drops, saving the airport millions over years.

The company recently deployed an electric-vehicle charging fleet for the company TerraWatt in just a few months. While the local utility’s upgrade timeline was five years, Critical Loop’s setup enabled the facility to draw power from the grid for most of the year and use on-site batteries to cover peak-constrained hours.

“What’s really compelling about battery-plus-inverter based systems is this ability to deliver power quicker by boosting the available power in concert with the grid,” said Ramamurthy.

It is in a sweet spot right now as the massive buildout of the data centers that power artificial intelligence has created an insatiable demand for quick power solutions, said Taylor McNair, deputy director of Gridlab, a technical think tank.

“In general, there is increased interest in on-site generation and off-grid deployments, particularly for new data centers,” he said.

While some California billionaires and businesses have been leaving the state, Critical Loop’s presence in Southern California has grown. It has a number of projects in Los Angeles County that need extra power but can’t rely solely on the grid.

It chose to set up in Long Beach to be close to high-quality hires as well. Southern California’s engineering talent, especially from companies such as SpaceX, Tesla and other advanced manufacturing and energy players, is difficult to find elsewhere.

“For a company building and deploying real infrastructure, proximity to the problem set, partners and talent needed to solve it matters more” than any drawbacks of working in California, Ramamurthy said. “L.A. delivers on all fronts.”

Business

Jury finds Ticketmaster and Live Nation operated illegal monopoly

Published

1 day ago

April 15, 2026

Press Room

Jury finds Ticketmaster and Live Nation operated illegal monopoly

NEW YORK — Beverly Hills-based Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary faced a bruising courtroom loss Wednesday after a federal jury found that the company operated a monopoly over concert venues.

The verdict by a Manhattan, N.Y., jury came after a five-week trial and caps a closely watched case that could have far reaching effects across the music industry, potentially leading to the breakup of the companies.

Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket seller for live events, while Live Nation is a dominant force in the concert business.

The civil case began when the federal government alleged that Live Nation used its clout to engage in a variety of anticompetitive practices, including preventing venues from using multiple ticket sellers.

“It is time to hold them accountable,” Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the states, said in a closing argument. He called Live Nation a “monopolistic bully” that drove up prices for ticket buyers.

Jurors agreed. They found that Ticketmaster had overcharged consumers by $1.72 for each ticket. The judge will assess damages later.

Live Nation, which owns and operates hundreds of venues, countered that it did not violate U.S. antitrust laws, arguing that artists, sports teams and venues decide prices and ticketing practices.

“Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States,” Live Nation attorney David Marriott said in his summation.

Live Nation said in a statement that the “jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter,” noting the court had yet to rule on a motion it had filed to challenge its liability in the case.

The trial revealed some embarrassing internal communications, including emails from a Live Nation executive who called customers “so stupid” and said the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” The executive, Benjamin Baker, testified that the messages were “very immature and unacceptable.”

The original lawsuit, led by a cadre of interested parties including the federal government, 39 states and the District of Columbia, dates to 2024. It alleged that Live Nation and Ticketmaster monopolized various aspects of the live music industry, such as concert promotion, venue operations, artist management and ticketing services.

Live Nation manages more than 400 artists and controls more than 265 venues in North America, while Ticketmaster simultaneously controls around 80% of the primary ticket marketplace and also is increasing its involvement in the resale market, according to the lawsuit.

Last month, Live Nation secured an unexpected tentative settlement with the Department of Justice in which the company agreed to several structural changes to its business, including adjustments to ticketing deals with venues, capping service fees and paying a $280-million fine.

However, more than 30 states, including California, decided to proceed with the trial. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta praised these state-led efforts to protect consumers, even amid dwindling antitrust enforcement from the Trump administration, he said in a statement.

“This is a historic and resounding victory for artists, fans, and the venues that support them,” Bonta said. “We are incredibly proud of today’s outcome … this verdict shows just how far states can go to protect our residents from big corporations that are using their power to illegally raise prices and rip-off Americans.”

Though a verdict has been reached, remedies for how Live Nation will be held accountable for its actions are still being decided by the judge.

One possibility is that the companies could be split up, an outcome favored by critics.

National Independent Venue Assn. Executive Director Stephen Parker said Ticketmaster and Live Nation need to be separate for the industry to see change.

“Live Nation and Ticketmaster must be broken up now. Ticketmaster should not be permitted to participate in the ticket resale market. Live Nation should not be able to promote more than 50% of artists’ tours,” Parker said in a statement. “And the damages paid to the states should be remitted to the independent venues, promoters, festivals, and fans that have suffered under Live Nation’s monopolistic reign over the last 15 years.”

Serona Elton, attorney and interim vice dean at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, said that the separation of Live Nation and Ticket master seems to be “on the table,” but she said it’s too early to assess the verdict’s fallout on the music industry.

Elton said fans might notice small changes in pricing, but there are factors other than Live Nation that are contributing to high ticket prices, such as the secondary ticket market as well as supply and demand challenges.

The verdict, Elton said, “sends a message of support to music companies and professionals working in the live space who have felt like they have suffered financial consequences because of Live Nation’s behavior.”

The ruling is a small but necessary step toward achieving a balanced and competitive ticketing industry, said Hal Singer, a managing director of economic consulting firm Econ One, who specializes in antitrust and consumer protection issues.

Forcing a Ticketmaster sale probably is the only remedy that will bring real change, Singer said.

“We’re not out of the woods quite yet,” Singer said. “We’ve kind of tilted the probability.… It could change the competitive balance. But that requires that a meaningful remedy follows the liability. You need both.”

Fans and some artists have long groused about Ticketmaster, which was founded in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010.

Dustin Brighton, director of government relations for the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, agreed that although the verdict is a landmark moment for fans, “it’s not the end of the road.”

“As the court considers remedies, the focus must be on restoring competition, increasing transparency, and ensuring fans have real choice,” Brighton said in a statement.

Times staff writer August Brown and the Associated Press contributed to this report.