Washington

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos stays silent as employees brace for cuts

Published

5 months ago

February 3, 2026

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos stays silent as employees brace for cuts

While Washington Post employees remain in the dark about an impending round of cuts that could dramatically reshape the publication, the man that many hoped could soften or stop the blow, owner Jeff Bezos, has remained silent.

So far, three staff-organized letters sent by Post employees to Bezos imploring him to protect the Post’s robust coverage have gone unanswered.

The first plea went to Bezos on 25 January, when about 60 people signed a letter asking him to protect the company’s foreign news operation, which is rumored to be a major target of cost-cutting.

Two days later, employees sent Bezos a letter asking him to preserve the newspaper’s local coverage, which is also said to be at risk for heavy cuts.

“Should you allow Post management to lay off the local staff, which has been cut in half in the last five years, the effect on this region and the people in it will be immeasurable,” the staffers wrote. “We care deeply about the DC area, and we know you do, too.”

At the end of last week, the publication’s White House reporters sent a letter to Bezos urging him to avoid cutting coverage areas central to its readership. Post staffers have also filmed and posted videos on social media urging Bezos to “#savethepost”.

While Post chief executive Will Lewis has been included on at least one of the emails, the letters have been addressed to Bezos, who some staffers hope might be more persuadable. (Matt Murray, the Post’s top editor, has had private discussions with several Post journalists in recent weeks, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.)

“As the Post’s [owner], Bezos is ultimately making the call on these cuts,” said a Post staffer who signed one of the letters but was not authorized to comment. “He also has enough money to do whatever he chooses here. Reporters across the newsroom want to be sure he understands the magnitude of the devastating cuts that we all expect are coming.”

Emails sent by the Guardian to Bezos and a representative at the company he founded, Amazon, have not been returned. A Post spokesperson declined to comment on the rumored cuts.

The Post staffer described the mood at the paper as “funereal”, with many expecting the cuts to come in the next few days – though the publication still has not acknowledged or confirmed that anything is happening. A rally to protest the cuts has been scheduled for outside the Post’s headquarters on Thursday.

On Monday, the union representing most Post employees called out Bezos in a series of posts on Twitter/X. “If @JeffBezos follows through with his reported plan to decimate the Post’s newsroom, it will be a huge indictment of his supposed business prowess,” the account wrote. “How else to explain his failure to monetize some of the world’s most award-winning, agenda-setting journalism?”

Some Post staffers also noted that Bezos has not yet commented on the 14 January raid of a Post reporter’s home, even though many groups that advocate for journalists decried the government’s tactics as unprecedented and dangerous. Cameron Barr, a former managing editor of the Post, called out Bezos for his silence in a post on LinkedIn, writing: “It’s not just the chest-thumping overreach of the Trump administration that will crush American freedoms – it’s the silence of its enablers.”

Amazon and Bezos have also faced criticism for spending approximately $75m to acquire and promote a documentary about Melania Trump – particularly after Bezos faced accusations of cozying up to Trump by killing the Post’s planned endorsement last fall of Kamala Harris for president.

Glenn Kessler, who ended a 27-year-long career at the Post last year, expressed cautious optimism about the campaign to reach Bezos. “That kind of pushback might have an impact,” he said. “We don’t really know until we see what the actual result is.”

Kessler said he and a few other reporters had lunch with Bezos, who purchased the paper in 2013, after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election. “He wanted to hear war stories and that sort of thing,” he recalled. “He was quite interested in what people did. He had this great laugh, and he seemed quite engaged.”

But Kessler was heavily critical of Bezos’s handling of the Harris endorsement and his decision to refocus the section’s opinion page to prioritize writing “in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets”, decisions that led to the resignation of a top editor and quickly cost the Post hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

“Even before these cuts, you can question the quality of Bezos’s stewardship,” Kessler said. “The sense I get is that he’s not nearly as engaged with the Post as he once was. If you’re not really that engaged or invested in the thing that you own, the easiest thing to do is to cut back the money you’re losing on it.”

“I think it’s hard to overestimate how excited the journalists and editors were when Bezos bought the company,” recalled political journalist Chris Cillizza, who worked at the Post from 2006 to 2017. “The richest man in the world buys the company and he says all the right things. I think people were slower to see that something had changed because they wanted to believe so badly that the original sense we had of Bezos was it.”

Cillizza remembered being skeptical when Bezos said he intended the Post to be profitable. “I remember thinking to myself even then, in 2013: ‘Man, that’s going to be tough.’”

While Bezos has stayed silent about potential cuts to the Post, and ignored an effort by the union last year to get him to visit the newspaper, he was more visibly engaged with one of his other companies on Monday, the spaceflight startup Blue Origin.

Bezos was on hand to meet secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, who last November called the Post’s reporting “fake news”, during a visit to the company’s facility in Florida. “Great to see you,” Bezos told Hegseth. “Welcome – it’s an honor to have you.”

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Washington

Where Texas became Texas: Washington-on-the-Brazos plans July 4 celebrations

Published

6 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Press Room

Where Texas became Texas: Washington-on-the-Brazos plans July 4 celebrations

NAVASOTA, Texas (KBTX) – For many Texans, the Fourth of July is about fireworks and family cookouts. At Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, it’s also about standing where Texas’ own independence story began, and marking a milestone in how the Lone Star State became part of the nation it celebrates.

The Texas historic site, set on 293 acres of parkland along the Brazos River, is known as “Where Texas Became Texas.” It is the place where 59 delegates met and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, launching what would become the Republic of Texas.

From 1836 to 1846, Texas existed as a separate nation, before the question of annexation came to the forefront. Site staff say Washington-on-the-Brazos offers a “bookended” look at the Republic’s decade-long history because discussions about joining the United States also took place there and were ultimately voted on in the property.

This year’s July 4 programming is designed to connect those chapters of Texas history with the national holiday, including a commemoration tied directly to the Lone Star being added to the American flag.

“This is also the 180th anniversary of when Texas was added to the American flag,” said Chandler Wahrmund, assistant site manager for the Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site, which is part of the broader Republic of Texas Complex.

A historic site with multiple stops

Washington-on-the-Brazos includes several major attractions:

Visitor Center: The recommended starting point for guests. It features interactive exhibits presenting a timeline of the Texas Revolution and includes the Museum Store, with snacks and Texas-themed items. The Visitor Center is free and is where visitors can gather information and purchase entry tickets for the site’s paid attractions.
Independence Hall: A replica building that sits on the spot where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed, allowing visitors to visualize where that pivotal moment unfolded.
Star of the Republic Museum: A central museum on the grounds focused on the Republic era.
Barrington Living History Farm: A living-history area that interprets life in the Republic of Texas period through demonstrations and activities.

The historic site is also the core of the Republic of Texas Complex, which includes Fanthorp Inn, a preserved 19th-century stagecoach inn in nearby Anderson.

July 4 events across the grounds

Staff say this year’s July 4 celebration will include activities happening throughout the site, with scheduled programs at key times.

According to site staff, the day includes:

Flag raising ceremony at 11 a.m.
Readings of the American Declaration of Independence at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Star of the Republic Museum cockade-making, creating patriotic lapel decorations
Barrington Living History Farm games, including trap ball, a precursor to baseball
Townsite activities at Hatfield’s Exchange, a recreated high-class bar from the period, with lemonade and other period-inspired nonalcoholic drinks for visitors

Wahrmund said the day is a chance to revisit the country’s founding words, and understand why they still matter.

“I love to read the words of Thomas Jefferson on the day, July 4th, to really understand why we exist as a nation,” he said.

Hours and admission

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site will be open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 4, and admission is free all day.

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Washington

Where can you watch fireworks in Washington DC on the Fourth of July?

Published

16 hours ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

Where can you watch fireworks in Washington DC on the Fourth of July?

With 150,000 people expected to attend Saturday’s Fourth of July festivities on the National Mall in Washington DC, locals and tourists alike may be looking for alternative options to view fireworks on America’s 250th birthday.

Washington DC will offer a secondary firework show on the 4th, and there will be plenty of areas in the city and surrounding neighborhoods to catch the big firework display at the National Mall.

Here’s a look at some of the best places to watch the July 4 fireworks in Washington DC.

Where can you watch fireworks in Washington DC on July 4th?

The National Mall will be the most popular area to watch fireworks, with President Donald Trump promising “the largest fireworks show in history.” Officials say 850,000 firework shells will be launched, potentially breaking a Guinness World Record.

But you don’t need to be at the crowded mall and its strict security measures in order to watch the display.

The organizers of the firework show, Freedom 250, say there will also be viewing spots at Hains Point, Columbia Marina, Gravelly Point, RFK Stadium, Meridian Hill Park, Union Station, Lower Senate Park and Upper Senate Park.

Other popular areas to watch the fireworks include the Cardozo Education Campus in Columbia Heights, the Washington National Cathedral in northwest DC, Lady Bird Johnson Park off the Potomac River and the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill.

Washington DC officials have also released an interactive map that allows you to see your view of the fireworks from any place in the city.

Are there any other fireworks shows in Washington DC on July 4th?

Anacostia Park will serve as the viewing area for a separate fireworks display that will be concurrent with the National Mall fireworks, which are expected to begin at 11 p.m.

DC officials say you can enter the park through Marion Barry Ave. SE, Nicholson St. SE or the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail near the Skate Pavilion.

The event is free to the public, as is the National Mall’s show.

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Washington

Colorado Democrats punish Washington ties in primaries

Published

1 day ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

Colorado Democrats punish Washington ties in primaries

After DSA candidates roiled traditional Democrats with wins in New York City last week, Tuesday’s primary in a Denver-centered district tested whether the left wing’s appeal could prevail elsewhere.

It turns out the democratic socialists’ reach extends well beyond New York — and it may well grow before the year is out.

Melat Kiros, backed by the national Democratic Socialists of America and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, upset Rep. Diana DeGette, who has held her reliably blue seat for almost 30 years.

“What we’re seeing right now is the response to voters feeling like the party has not actually been fighting for working people,” Kiros told MS NOW last week.

The result is that Kiros, a critic of the Israeli government and high-ranking Democratic leaders, will likely be a member of Congress come next year. That happened even as DeGette cast the race as a warning, with President Donald Trump’s second term continuing to upend governance from the nation’s capital.

“Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” DeGette said during a recent candidate forum. “We need a strong, bold, hardened leader who will hold Trump accountable.”

The result was one of several Colorado results Tuesday to test incumbents or prominent statewide officials navigating a turbulent moment in Democratic politics — one in which voters have shown an appetite for untested fighters over familiar faces who’ve served in Washington’s halls of power.

The night’s theme wasn’t clear-cut; the three marquee races diverged on everything from ideology to questions of approach and clout. But each pitted an incumbent whose Congressional ties became fodder for a challenger.

In 2020, Democrats’ ability to woo former Gov. John Hickenlooper into the Senate race was seen as a boon for a party trying to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, one of the last Republicans left representing a blue state in the Senate. That move came after Hickenlooper’s 2020 presidential primary campaign fizzled. Even so, he faced a somewhat-competitive primary that year, taking 58.7% to his challenger’s 41.3%. Hickenlooper went on to win the seat that November by a little over nine points.