Protect LIGO's science and local impact from Trump's budget cuts
The Trump administration wants to slash funding for America's two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGOs) as part of broader cuts to the National Science Foundation.
That would be a devastating blow to the nation's global leadership in scientific research. When Congress writes its fiscal 2026 budget, it should ignore the president's anti-science request.
One of the LIGO sites is on the Hanford nuclear site. The other is in Louisiana. The White House proposes cutting 40% of their funding – $48 million to $29 million. And it also dictates how that cut should be made. It wants one of the two sites shut down.
Given that Washington is a blue state that is participating in multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration and Louisiana is a red state that voted for the president, the odds of LIGO Hanford surviving seem low.
Either way, scientists' ability to explore the universe by detecting gravitational waves would suffer significantly.
Shutting one site down would compromise scientists' ability to verify detections of cosmic events and weed out false readings originating from local disturbances.
It also would prevent the two sites from triangulating where an event occurred in the sky, allowing telescopes that rely on light for observations to also find and research them. The two LIGOs work in tandem.
In 2015, the Hanford observatory and its sibling in Louisiana detected gravitational waves for the first time when they measured the ripple in space-time caused by two black holes merging 1.4 billion light-years away.
The findings provided fresh confirmation of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and earned researchers a Nobel Prize in physics. Since then, LIGO has detected hundreds of events, including black holes merging and neutron stars colliding.
The Hanford site continues to refine its tools and push science forward. An upgrade a couple of years ago installed quantum squeezing technology that allows scientists to detect 60% more events and probe a larger volume of space.
If funded, the observatories will continue to help humanity answer profound questions about the universe.
Projects like LIGO are expensive. The National Science Foundation has spent more than $1 billion on detecting gravitational waves over four decades.
At the start, skeptics deemed it risky, but it has provided tremendous return on investment. It epitomizes the sort of Big Science research that few institutions other than governments can afford. Think Europe's Large Hadron Collider, the Manhattan Project and the international Human Genome Project.
Undercutting LIGO as it reaches its full potential and produces its most impressive results just to save a few million dollars would be a colossal mistake.
As one commenter on the Tri-City Herald's website put it, 'It would be like inventing the microscope, seeing a cell for the first time, and then discarding it.' The best is yet to come.
Even if a future administration were to restore funding, rehiring skilled researchers would be a monumental hurdle. A temporary shutdown will delay scientific progress and result in America losing ground to international researchers.
LIGO has a local impact, too, and not just that it is visible from outer space. Its presence helps the Tri-Cities and the Hanford nuclear site evolve their scientific narrative from Cold War-era nuclear development to 21st-century astrophysics.
It is a symbol of progress, diversification and positive global contribution that is invaluable for regional identity and attracting future talent and investment.
LIGO staff go the extra mile by working with local STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students. They speak in classrooms about science careers and explain the complex workings of the observatory in a way that young people can understand.
An $8 million LIGO Exploration Center, which opened in 2022 and was funded by Washington state, further enhances that public-facing mission. Such direct engagement cultivates future STEM talent and inspires the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The proposed cuts to LIGO would lead to an irreversible loss of U.S. leadership in gravitational wave astronomy and an immense loss to the Tri-Cities.
The Trump administration must reconsider. If it does not, Washington's congressional delegation must convince their colleagues to preserve this cornerstone of American scientific preeminence.
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USA Today
20 minutes ago
- USA Today
Two days of terror: How the Minnesota shooter evaded police and got caught
NEW HOPE, Minnesota, June 21 (Reuters) - Vance Boelter's disguise wasn't perfect. The silicone mask was somewhat loose-fitting and his SUV's license plate simply read "POLICE" in black letters. But it was good enough on a poorly lit suburban street in the dead of night. At 2:36 a.m. on Saturday, 30 minutes after authorities say Boelter shot and seriously injured Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, he paused behind the wheel of the SUV near the home of another senator, Ann Rest, in the city of New Hope. The SUV was stocked with weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, as well as fliers advertising a local anti-Trump rally scheduled for later Saturday and a written list of names of people he appeared to be targeting. Senator Rest, prosecutors would later say, was among those Boelter set out to kill on June 14. As Boelter sat in the SUV down the street from Rest's home, another police car - this one an actual police car - approached. A female officer from the New Hope police department, after hearing about the Hoffman shootings, had come out to check on Rest. Seeing the SUV, complete with flashing lights and police-style decals, she believed the man inside was a fellow officer. But when she attempted to speak to him - one officer greeting another - she got no response. Instead, the man inside the SUV with police markings simply stared ahead. The New Hope officer drove on, deciding to go ahead and check on Rest. Rest would later say the New Hope officer's initiative probably saved her life, an opinion shared by New Hope Police Chief Timothy Hoyt. "With limited information, she went up there on her own to check on the welfare of our senator," Hoyt told Reuters. "She did the right thing." The brief interaction in New Hope underscored the carefully planned nature of Boelter's pre-dawn rampage and how his impersonation of a police officer, including body armor, a badge and a tactical vest, confounded the initial attempts to stop him. After the encounter with the New Hope officer, Boelter, 57, drove away from the scene, moving on to his next target. Police would pursue him for another 43 hours. In the process, they would draw in a phalanx of state and federal agencies, in what ranks as the largest manhunt in Minnesota history and added to the sense of disorientation in a nation already grappling with protests over immigration, the forcible removal of a U.S. Senator from a press conference and a rare military parade in Washington. Federal prosecutors say they may seek the death penalty for Boelter, who has been charged with murdering two people and trying to kill two others, in what Governor Tim Walz has called a "politically motivated" attack. Prosecutors said they are still investigating the motive and whether any others were involved. Boelter has yet to enter a plea. Manny Atwal, a public defender representing Boelter, said he was reviewing the case and declined to comment. This reconstruction of the manhunt is based on court documents, statements by law enforcement officials, and interviews with a Boelter friend, local police officers, lawmakers, and residents of the impacted neighborhoods. While the events unfolded like something out of a TV crime drama, there were parallels with past shooting sprees, criminal justice experts said. James Fitzgerald, a former FBI criminal profiler, said he would not be surprised if Boelter studied a mass shooting in Canada in 2020, when a gunman posing as a police officer killed 22 people in the province of Nova Scotia. "These guys always do research beforehand. They want to see how other killers were successful, how they got caught," said Fitzgerald, who helped the FBI capture the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in 1996. "And, of course, a way you're going to buy yourself some time is to pose as a police officer." Hoffman Shooting The violence began at the Hoffman's brick split-level home in Champlin, a leafy, middle-class suburb of Minneapolis. With his emergency lights flashing, Boelter pulled into the driveway just after 2:00 a.m. and knocked on the door. "This is the police. Open the door," Boelter shouted repeatedly, according to an FBI affidavit. Senator Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, soon determined Boelter was not a real police officer. Boelter shot Senator Hoffman nine times, and then fired on Yvette, who shielded her daughter from being hit. As Boelter fled the scene, the daughter called 911. The Hoffmans were on a target list of more than 45 federal and state elected officials in Minnesota, all Democrats, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson told a briefing on Monday. Boelter voted for President Donald Trump, was a Christian and did not like abortion, according to his part-time roommate, David Carlson. Carlson said Boelter did not seem angry about politics. Thompson said Boelter "stalked his victims like prey" but that the writings he left behind did not point to a coherent motive. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," he said. "His crimes are the stuff of nightmares," Thompson said. After the Hoffman's, the next address plugged into Boelter's GPS system was a lawmaker about 9 miles away in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove. Surveillance cameras from the home of State Representative Kristin Bahner show a masked Boelter ringing the doorbell at 2:24 a.m. and shouting "Open the door. This is the police. We have a warrant," the FBI affidavit says. Bahner and her family were not at home. From there, Boelter moved on to New Hope and the close encounter with the officer who had dispatched to Rest's home. After that, he wasn't seen by police again until he arrived at the residence of Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the state House, in Brooklyn Park. Sensing that Hortman might be a target, Brooklyn Park police officers had decided to check on her. When they arrived at 3:30 a.m. they saw a black Ford Explorer outside her house, its police-style lights flashing. Boelter was near the front door. When Boelter saw the officers exit their squad car, he fired at them. He then ran through the front door on the house, where he killed Melissa and Mark Hortman, her husband. When Boelter left the Hortman's home, he abandoned his fake-police SUV. Inside the car, police found a 9mm handgun, three AK-47 assault rifles, fliers advertising a local anti-Trump "No Kings" rally and a notebook with names of people who appear to have been targets, according to court documents. From that point, Boelter was on the run. Little has been revealed about his movements during the period, although police say he visited his part-time residence in north Minneapolis. He also sent texts. In one, to his family's group chat, Boelter writes, "Dad went to war last night". In another, to a close friend, Boelter says he may be dead soon. Police also know that by early morning on Saturday Boelter had met a man at a Minneapolis bus stop who agreed to sell him an e-bike and a Buick sedan for $900. The two drove to a bank where Boelter withdrew $2,200 from his account. A security camera shows Boelter wearing a cowboy hat. But it took until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday for authorities to close in. Police searching the area near Boelter's family home in the rural community of Green Isle, discovered the abandoned Buick, along with a cowboy hat and handwritten letter to the FBI in which Boelter admitted to the shootings, prosecutors said. Law enforcement scrambled to set up a perimeter surrounding the area, SWAT teams and search dogs were deployed, and drones were put in the air. It was the trail camera of a resident, however, that provided the final clue, capturing an image of Boelter around 7:00 p.m., allowing officers to narrow their search. Two hours later, the pursuit ended with Boelter crawling to police. He was armed but surrendered without a fight. (reporting by Nathan Layne and Tom Polansek in Minneapolis and Joseph Ax in New York; editing by Paul Thomasch and Nick Zieminski)
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Late Night TV Hosts on Trump's 'Big Stupid Birthday Parade': 'Almost Makes Me Feel Bad for Him'
If we're being charitable, Donald Trump's military parade on Saturday was extremely underwhelming. So it was easy pickings for late night comedians, who took great delight in finding yet another thing to clown the president about. Amid grim news at home and abroad — including ICE raids, soldiers on the streets of Los Angeles, the Israel-Iran conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza — Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart took the chance for a small bit of joy at Trump's misery attending his poorly attended parade and compared the event to the millions who marched at Saturday's 'No Kings' protests that were held across the U.S. More from The Hollywood Reporter Trump Family Announces Launch of New Mobile Phone Service 'Daily Show' Staffer on Triumph at Pedro Pascal Lookalike Contest: "It's Been Insane" (Exclusive) Sandra Oh Urges Dartmouth Graduates to Dance in "Destabilizing Times" as She Talks DEI and 'Grey's' Changes She Fought For On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, host Kimmel dove straight into the parade at the top of his monologue. The parade, which was ostensibly to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army but also happened to land on Trump's birthday, was a layup for Kimmel, who described the event as a 'G.I. Joe-themed birthday party. 'After all the hype and money, and somewhere around $50 million, it was boring,' said Kimmel. 'It was basically a $50 million version of when a 5-year-old shows you every car in his Hot Wheels collection.' Kimmel added, 'We paid for most of it. But he brought in some corporate sponsors, including the UFC, a crypto company and Scott's Miracle Grow — which is the product Trump uses on his head. There were flyovers. There were combovers.' After showing a clip of Trump falling asleep during the parade, Kimmel said, 'There's Sleepy Don taking it all in. And in fairness, that's as close as he gets to be able to sleep with his wife, so he took the opportunity.' Lining up another clip of Trump and first lady Melania Trump's cold body language at the parade that saw them awkwardly try to hold hands, Kimmel added, 'This almost makes me feel bad for him, almost. So it's his birthday, and well, there's no good reason for us to be paying to celebrate it, you'd think his wife might celebrate it, right? They're married and well, watch this, look at his hand as he makes a little move to lock pinkies and … uh, nope! That's known as the 'Slovenian snub.'' A jubilant Colbert also gleefully dunked on the president on The Late Show. 'I am in agreat mood tonight because this weekend was Father's Day and Daddy got just what he wanted — no one came to Trump's big stupid birthday parade.' Colbert cited White House claims that 250,000 people turned up in Washington, D.C., for the parade, and countered with plenty of photos and video evidence that showed the opposite: 'Apparently, a quarter of a million people looks like this. They must be really good at hide and seek. MAGA stands for 'Make America Grass Again,' I guess.' Colbert, like Kimmel, zeroed in on Trump's body language during the parade. 'It looked like nobody was having a good time at this thing, not even Donald Trump,' Colbert said, describing the glum-looking president as 'one sad sack of potatoes.' He added, 'It was such a long day that the birthday boy seemed to fall asleep during the fireworks.' Along with Trump's latest grift with Trump Mobile, Meyers talked at length about the president's parade during his 'Closer Look' segment on Late Night. 'I'll tell you why this cheered me up,' Meyers said as he focused on a picture of Trump looking miserable. 'Because this image right here, this is the essence of America. You can be the president of the United States. You can have an entire political party and a global media apparatus at your disposal. You can cow the media and the wealthy into obedience. You can command an army and deploy troops and have unlimited wealth and power. But you still can't force people to come to your fucking birthday party. And what is more American than that?' The usually apolitical Fallon also didn't miss the opportunity to dunk on the president on The Tonight Show. 'Seriously, it looked like even Trump was bored by his own parade. You know it's bad when the person who looks most happy to be there is Melania.' Fallon joked, 'The White House is now claiming that over 250,000 people attended the parade. Yeah, it was an estimate, give or take 250,000.' On The Daily Show, Stewart only devoted a few minutes to Trump's parade, revealing that they originally had more jokes but other terrible events, including the worsening situation in the Middle East, the shocking assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and sickening behavior of 'edgelord' Utah Sen. Mike Lee changed things. 'We were going to come out here [and talk about little Kim Jong Trump and his big military parade/quinceañera and how it meant that we all live in North Korea now,' said Stewart. 'And all the hyperbole of this massive display of American military power really butted up against what the parade actually was, which was this,' said Stewart as a clip of the now infamous squeaky tank played onscreen. 'Was that tank squeaking?' asked an incredulous Stewart. 'We have a trillion-dollar budget for the military. Nobody's got WD-40? Nobody?' Added Stewart, 'This was less a show of overwhelming force and more like a military museum getting in its steps.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Time Magazine
25 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Iran Issues New Grave Warning to Trump, U.S.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Saturday that if the U.S. were to get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, the result would be 'very, very dangerous' for everybody. 'The tweets, interviews by the U.S. President, [it's] quite clear that he's talking about the U.S. leadership on these questions [of a potential U.S. involvement],' Araghchi told reporters. 'Unfortunately, we have heard that the U.S. may join in this aggression. That would be very unfortunate and I think that would be very, very dangerous for everybody.' Araghchi also claimed that Iran has 'many indications' that the U.S. has been involved in Israel's bombardments of Iran since 'day one.' These remarks come amid uncertainty and debate as to the potential U.S. involvement in the conflict and what that might look like moving forward. Trump, who has said that the U.S. has not been involved in the Israeli strikes thus far, has given himself two weeks to make the decision as to whether the U.S. will strike on Iran. 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' said Trump, in a statement delivered by the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday. Leavitt went on to add that 'if there's a chance for diplomacy, the President's always going to grab it, but he's not afraid to use strength as well.' The U.S. and Iran had long been engaged in talks, in the hope of reaching a nuclear deal. Read More: How Netanyahu Pushed Trump Toward War Officials from both countries were set to meet in Oman's capital of Muscat last weekend for the next round of nuclear discussions. But Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced that, in light of the Israel-Iran active conflict, those talks would no longer be going ahead. This came after state television reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called nuclear talks with the U.S. 'meaningless.' While Trump has called for Iran to return to the table, Iranian officials appear to be reluctant. 'In order for us to come back to diplomacy, the aggression should be stopped,' Araghchi said on Saturday. 'I cannot go to negotiation with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States.' Trump has stated multiple times in the first months of his second term that a deal with Iran would have to include a ban on the nation enriching uranium—something that would allow them to produce nuclear weapons. He has also called for something more permanent than a cease-fire. 'We're looking for better than a cease-fire,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One on June 17 as he left the G7 summit. 'A real end, not a cease-fire. An end… giving up, entirely.' Trump later doubled down on his view of what Iran should do via a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, writing: 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!' Read More: Here Are the Top Iranian Generals and Scientists Targeted and Killed by Israeli Strikes However, Trump has delivered cryptic responses when asked exactly if and how the U.S. might get involved in the Middle Eastern conflict. On Wednesday, when asked if the U.S. is 'moving closer' to striking Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said: 'I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I'm going to do… I can tell you this. Iran's got a lot of trouble. They want to negotiate. I said, 'Why didn't you negotiate with me before? All this death and destruction.'' He later said in the Oval Office: "I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, because things change, especially with war.' Meanwhile, Araghchi's new warning is the latest in a long line of stern words and threats from Iranian officials in regards to a potential U.S. involvement in the current combat. Read More: Iran's Supreme Leader Calls Out Trump, Threatens 'Irreparable Damage' If U.S. Joins Israeli Conflict On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened 'irreparable damage' if the U.S. joins the Israeli conflict. 'The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,' Khamenei said in a televised address. 'The U.S. entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment. The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter.' The Israel-Iran conflict has entered its ninth day and shows no signs of slowing down. Israel's initial strikes on Iran, conducted in the early hours of June 13, targeted multiple nuclear and military sites, amid rising concerns of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes, part of Operation Rising Lion, 'would continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.' Iran followed through on its promise to retaliate, and the rivals have been trading deadly missiles and threats since, with the reported death tolls in both countries rising as a result.
