The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial pool late last week.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings was hired to repair leaking joints between the pool’s concrete slabs, waterproof the pool’s bottom and paint it a shade called “American flag blue.”Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times
President Trump said that his handpicked contractor would charge only $1.8 million to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint it blue.
The actual cost is now more than seven times that, after the Interior Department nearly doubled the size of the contract late last week, federal records show.
On Friday, the Interior Department added $6.2 million to the contract’s previous cost, saying it now planned to pay $13.1 million to a Virginia firm called Atlantic Industrial Coatings. President Trump said he chose that company to repair the landmark because the firm had worked on the swimming pools at his golf club in Sterling, Va.
The government awarded that firm a no-bid contract last month, bypassing the requirement to seek competing offers by saying that the situation was so urgent that any delay would cause “serious injury” to the government. The government has not publicly said what that injury would have been.
Instead, it has cited Mr. Trump’s desire to get the work done before the country’s 250th birthday on July 4.
Public contracting records do not say why the contract’s cost increased so sharply on Friday. Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, said that the higher price “reflects the effort necessary to expedite the timeline of completing the leak prevention coating project — more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th.”
Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to questions about the increase.
But government documents obtained by The New York Times show that the contract’s current value matches, down to the dollar, an offer submitted to the government by Atlantic Industrial Coatings in the middle of last month. That offer included a 20 percent profit margin, the documents show.
Competitive bidding laws aim to ensure that the government is getting a fair price from its vendors.
Image
“Every day that the resurfacing continues, the historic character of the Reflecting Pool is being further and fundamentally altered,” a lawsuit filed Monday said.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times
The contractor was hired to repair leaking joints between the pool’s concrete slabs, waterproof the pool’s bottom, and paint it a shade called “American flag blue.”
The pool has also been troubled for decades by leaks and algae blooms that turn its water green.
On Monday, a nonprofit dedicated to landscape architecture filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington seeking to halt the paint job. The Cultural Landscape Foundation said that the Trump administration had ignored a law requiring advance scrutiny of projects that alter historic landmarks.
The foundation, based in Washington, said in its lawsuit that “every day that the resurfacing continues, the historic character of the Reflecting Pool is being further and fundamentally altered.”
David A. Fahrenthold is a Times investigative reporter writing about nonprofit organizations. He has been a reporter for two decades.
“This person is already thinking bigger, writing, ‘If this succeeds the people can band together to buy even more companies that get intentionally bankrupt by private equity and we can start bringing back consumer friendly practices or seizing the means of production maybe.’”
“Get in losers, we’re going to buy an airline” is the short bio next to the smiling face of Hunter Peterson, an aviation enthusiast making waves as he tries to disrupt the air travel industry. On Saturday, May 2, at 3 a.m., Spirit Airlines abruptly shuttered, leaving thousands of employees out of work and thousands of travelers holding unusable tickets.
There was no notice or warning. One day, people were booking tickets, and the next, the budget airline went dark. The airline made air travel affordable to a subset of people who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
The FAA and other airlines scrambled to offer solutions for those booked with the budget airline. While Spirit is offering refunds, the loss of a budget airline giant will be felt. Peterson decided to go further by doing something unheard of in the airline industry–crowdsource to buy an airline.
The idea behind crowdsourcing funds is to make the airline people-owned. This means there would be no corporation backing the airline. No overpaid CEO, and no large shareholder who gets to decide the fate of the company. Peterson calls it Spirit 2.0, and much to his surprise, an astonishingly large number of people were interested.
What started as a zany idea quickly turned into an unexpected movement. Peterson set up a website where interested people could pledge money starting at $45–the average price of a Spirit ticket. The potential CEO wanted to keep the price point within reach. None of the money has left anyone’s accounts. Their pledge acts as a placeholder for future funds, but the clock is ticking.
It may sound like an elaborate joke or scheme to go viral, but Peterson is doing the work. Not only has he met with the Spirit Flight Attendants’ Union, but he’s also spoken with attorneys. In videos shared on Instagram, he explains the importance of doing the legal footwork before money leaves people’s accounts.
“I just got off two calls,” Peterson says. “One, with one of the largest law firms in the world that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, aviation distress assets, and debt, and they basically said, this is doable. We can do this. I also got off a call with someone that represents high-net-worth individuals who may be interested in basically giving us some money to just burn to figure out the legalities of this.”
Peterson explains that in less than a week, they’ll be auctioning the operation certificate for Spirit. This means that if this lofty goal is going to be reached, potential small-donor investors need to reach the astronomical $1.75 billion total. Yes, billion.
Before giving the brief update, Peterson’s site letsbuyspiritair.com had already raised over $24 million. The total continues to climb rapidly, with people pledging amounts anywhere from $45 to $850. Since the website popped up, the total pledged has reached $437 million, and it’s restoring hope in people trying to make this proposed people-owned airline a reality.
“ITS ACTUALLY HAPPENING WE CAN DO THIS,” one person screams.
“Is this feeling I have…. hope? It’s been so long since I’ve felt it lol,” another says.
This person is already thinking bigger, writing, “If this succeeds the people can band together to buy even more companies that get intentionally bankrupt by private equity and we can start bringing back consumer friendly practices or seizing the means of production maybe.”
Someone else shares, “This Spirit Airlines 2.0 project is giving me hope for America. I know there are more important fish to fry when it comes to issues in America. But if we are successful with this, imagine all the other issues we can address (e.g. healthcare, reparations, homelessness, etc.) using this framework. Like truly power to the people.”
The Trump administration has made an aggressive push to add the president’s name to buildings, battleships, money and government websites.
President Donald Trump is physically leaving his mark on Washington and beyond, more so than any other president in modern U.S. history.Andrew Harnik / Getty Images file
The federal government is undergoing an unprecedented presidential branding makeover, with Donald Trump’s name being added to everything from buildings and battleships to a drug website and a park pass.
While Trump has had roads and even an airport named after him since winning a second term in office, his administration has initiated a series of actions to imprint his name and likeness on the federal government well beyond internal documents and communications.
The branding is in stark contrast to prior presidencies, including Trump’s first term, when the largest branding controversy involved having his name added to Covid relief checks during an election year.
Here’s a look at all the places and items where the administration has added Trump’s name during his second term.
Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace
The U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in Washington last year.Alex Kent / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
The first federal building to be named after a sitting U.S. president was the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in downtown Washington in December 2025. The agency was named by Congress when it was established through legislation in 1984.
The renaming was carried out by the State Department.
“President Trump will be remembered by history as the President of Peace. It’s time our State Department display that,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media on Dec. 3, 2025.
The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts
The Kennedy Center in Washington last year.Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
About two weeks after the Institute of Peace renaming, the president’s handpicked board at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts voted to add his name to the storied performance venue as well.
“The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,” a spokesperson for the center said at the time.
Democrats and some Kennedy family members say the name change is illegal, since the center was established as a living memorial to Kennedy. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who’s an ex officio member of the board, filed a suit challenging the change. The case is still in litigation.
Trump-class battleships
“Trump-class” battleships were announced at Mar-a-Lago last year.Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images file
Also in December, then-Navy Secretary John Phelan unveiled “Trump-class” warships during an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The “Trump-class battleships,” including a vessel dubbed the USS Defiant, will be “the largest, deadliest and most versatile and best-looking warship anywhere on the world’s oceans,” Phelan said.
“Hopefully we never have to use them, but there will never be anything built like these,” Trump said at the event.
The Trump gold card
President Donald Trump displayed a “Trump gold card” visa aboard Air Force One last year.Mandel Ngan / AFP – Getty Images file
The president unveiled his “Trump gold card” visa in December. Foreign nationals can pay $1 million to obtain the card, which enables them to legally live and work in the U.S. once they’re approved.
It’s “the green card on steroids,” Trump said as he displayed the card at the White House. He said companies can buy the gold cards for students so they can stay in the country instead of being “shipped out” after graduation.
As of late April, only one person has been approved for the card, The Associated Press reported.
Trump coins
Designs for Semiquincentennial gold coins featuring President Trump.Treasury United States Mint
In March, a federal commission consisting solely of Trump-appointed members approved a 24-carat commemorative gold coin depicting the president in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary.
The design approved by the Commission of Fine Arts features an image of Trump in the Oval Office on one side and a bald eagle on the other. The coin needs to be approved by the Treasury Department, which has already announced plans to release a separate $1 coin featuring the president as part of the anniversary celebration.
Trump dollar bills
The President boarding Air Force One with a $50 bill sticking out of his pocket last year.Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images file
The Treasury Department announced in March it would be adding Trump’s signature to “future paper currency” as another part of the country’s 250th anniversary.
“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in his announcement.
Paper currency typically only bears the signature of the treasury secretary and treasurer, and has never featured that of a sitting president.
Trump passports
The State Department will be releasing a limited series of U.S. passports featuring an image of President Trump.U.S. State Dept.
The State Department announced in April that it would be issuing a limited number of U.S. passports with a large image of Trump on the inside cover as part of the 250th celebration as well.
Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the “new patriotic passport design provides yet another great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America’s 250th birthday.”
Trump national park pass
The Interior Department revealed in November that it was featuring Trump and George Washington on the front of its annual park pass, citing the 250th anniversary.
That move led to a lawsuit from an environmental group, alleging the department violated a 2004 law requiring the pass to carry a picture by the winner of an annual photo contest. The winner for this year had been image of Glacier National Park in Montana.
Trump banners
The Department of Justice headquarters in Washington earlier this year.Brendan Smialowski / AFP – Getty Images
Large banners of Trump have been hung from the Justice, Agriculture and Labor departments.
“We are proud at this Department of Justice to celebrate 250 years of our great country and our historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction,” a DOJ spokesperson said when the banner was hung in February.
TrumpIRA.gov
Trump issued an executive order in April directing the Treasury Department to launch a new website called TrumpIRA.gov.
A “Trump Accounts” event in Washington in January.Win McNamee / Getty Images file
The Trump administration is launching new savings accounts for children this summer called Trump Accounts.
Created under the “big, beautiful bill,” Trump Accounts are tax-advantaged investment accounts for children under 18. Babies born from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2028, will get $1,000 from the Treasury Department to kick-start their accounts.
“This is something that’s so special,” Trump said at his State of the Union speech in February.
TrumpRx.gov
The launch of “TrumpRx.gov”, which the adminstration said would help to lower prescription drug prices, at the White House in February.Nathan Howard / Getty Images file
In February, the administration launched TrumpRx.gov, a self-pay prescription drug website. It offers coupons that people can take to the pharmacy where they fill their prescriptions.
“You’re going to save a fortune,” Trump said at the news conference launching the site. “And this is also so good for overall healthcare.”
(Click the headline right up there for more info, or scroll down for yet more links and info)
The next National Day of Action is right around the corner, May Day, Friday, May 1st.
The national call is for no business as usual. This will look different in different places. In some locations, it will mean no work, no school, and no shopping. (snip)
This May Day, we’re flexing our economic power as workers, students, and everyday people to send a clear message to the Trump regime: we will not do business as usual while they trample our rights, terrorize our communities, and drag us into a senseless war in Iran.
Note: A core principle behind all May Day events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. No weapons are permitted under any circumstances. (snip)
It’s time for the conditions and standard of living that the working class deserves. We’re beginning a year of action on May 1st with a series of protests, strikes, and other direct action opportunities.
MAY 1 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTIONS:
THRIVING WAGES The working class people have been taken advantage of for far too long! Join us as we mobilize to create worldwide plans of action for THRIVING WAGES. We are demanding at least $20/hr as well as better union laws, the ease of information for organizing co-ops, and better working conditions. But wait, there’s more! We are also demanding mandatory PTO, paternal leave, and good benefits.
Why do we want these demands? Inflation over the last year has risen over 7% and continues to climb. Rents and housing costs have skyrocketed. The costs of consumer goods as greatly increased. Yet corporations and billionaires have doubled their wealth in 2 years as the working class has struggled during a pandemic that has killed over 850,000 Americans and counting. (snip-MORE)
May 1, 1886 May Day was called Emancipation Day in 1886 when 340,000 went on strike (though it was Saturday it was a regular day of work) in Chicago for the 8-hour workday.
May 1, 1890 May Day labor demonstrations spread to thirteen other countries; 30,000 marched in Chicago as the newly prominent American Federation of Labor threw its weight behind the 8-hour day campaign.
May 1, 1933 Dorothy Day The Catholic Worker newspaper was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Dorothy Day said, “God meant things to be much easier than we have made them,” and Peter Maurin wanted to build a society “where it is easier for people to be good.” Peter Maurin
May 1, 1948 Senator Glen Hearst Taylor (D-Idaho) was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked for “Negroes” rather than using the “whites only” door, and convicted of disorderly conduct. Taylor was the Progressive Party candidate for Vice President, running mate of Henry Wallace. He was in Birmingham to address the Southern Negro Youth Congress.
May 1, 1965 Second Factory for Peace opened in Onllwyn, Dulais Valley, in south Wales, employing disabled miners. Tom McAlpine, active in the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament, and a supporter of cooperatives and industrial democracy, established Rowen Engineering in both Wales and Glasgow, Scotland.
May 1, 1967 Soviet youths openly defied police and danced the twist in Moscow’s Red Square during May Day celebrations. In the early ‘60s the Twist had been banned in Buffalo, New York, and Tampa, Florida. The religious right claimed the Twist was actually a pagan fertility dance. Are you old enough to remember Chubby Checker? — May 1, 1971 Five days of anti-war May Day protests began in Washington, D.C., resulting in over 14,000 arrests—the largest mass civil disobedience in U.S. history. — May 1, 1986
One million South Africans demonstrated their opposition to apartheid in a strike organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
So, some of us don’t get around much anymore. Some of us may be somehow constrained to go to work. Some of us have waited all week to buy a few needed groceries. Maybe we wanted to participate, but just forgot and now it’s tomorrow, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to do it. How can we participate? Well, click onto any or all of these links to find out. There is no fault or fail in not being able to do the primary actions, but there are other ways to participate, and even if we don’t find a way, we can certainly work toward being able to observe a personal May Day now and then on our own. We can simplify, and always work to keep our spending where it will be most useful to community. And maybe we can watch someone else’s kids or pets while they go and do.Benefitting our communities while not feeding the already-wealthy with our commerce, labor, and dollars will benefit people, and is the objective. Above this graf are resources. May Day is tomorrow. Let’s do all we can!
This is a thing for me: I’m one of those who says, “Watch the primary candidates. Pay attention, and make a decision based on who resonates with what I want. Do this without tearing apart the other primary candidates (in my party.)” Without tearing apart candidates who could end up winning the primary, because face it: in my state, and even here on Scottie’s Playtime, most people are not as liberal as I am. So, in the primary, I vote for who I want. In the general, so far, it’s always gonna be a Dem, and Dems have a hard enough time running against always well-funded Republicans, and who, in my state, are also the majority, passing laws to make it more difficult to elect anyone who isn’t a rightwingnutjob Republican. This is the thing I dislike about some “media” who count themselves as liberal: they make a choice based on a single issue (and, frankly, the gender of the candidates often figures in, like it or not; many like a “bro”) then proceed to eviscerate the primary oppo. This suppresses the actual vote because people take the message that everyone’s basically the same, so no point voting in the primary, or at all.
Here in Kansas, we’ve got an experienced woman running for Governor. She’s been in the legislature for a while, knows who she’d be working with, and is familiar with government law and procedure. So far, there really isn’t anything to undercut her, from what I know. She’s not as liberal as I am, but is left-moderate enough to allow me to communicate with her what I believe she should do in her work, and to actually consider it on some level. Then, we’ve got a young man running. Nothing wrong with him that I can see, either, except he’s not got as much experience in state governance. This will put him at a disadvantage working with our legislature, which might/maybe/could turn less red but likely will remain Republican majority. I haven’t decided who I prefer as yet. I know of her, not so much yet of him. I like what they each say, as far as we know from this report.
So, she did point out that he has accepted donations from CoreCivic and from their lawyers. He’s also said more than once that he will continue to oppose CoreCivic moving back into KS and opening an I.C.E. detention center. Personally, I believe a person can take some campaign contributions without becoming the donators’s best friend in government. It happens more frequently than people realize. In this system we have with no public campaign finance, the campaigns need money, and will have to take legal donations. Brava/o to anyone who truly has never done that; I know it can be done, but it’s a special district who will get out and support their candidate, with the price of running a campaign these days.
So I am not holding campaign contributions against anyone as yet. Actions speak louder than words. So far, there is nothing in either candidate’s actions that make me distrust either one. I also am not unhappy with the way this forum went as far aswe know; where while the candidates pointed out differences between them, there was not out-&-out “crushing” or “destroying” or “ripping” of each other. Here’s (below) a news story about KS’s Dem. Gubernatorial campaign. What I’m most disappointed about is the number of lines given to reviewing the campaign contributions, rather than each of their answers to the other questions listed in the story below. There could have been plenty of space for that if they’d merely reported the campaign contribution issue along with the rest, rather than dwelling on it. But, even the KS Reflector is not a friend of Democrats; it’s the same sort of coverage we always getthough better than known mainstream.
In the midst of the coarse political rhetoric that seems worse every passing year (and does not originate with actual Democrats!), I hope we can remember: in the primary, choose the one most close to your perfection, which means supporting them: discussing things in their favor, giving positive reasons for your support, and not eviscerating the other candidates. This works in all U.S. primary elections everywhere.After that, support the one who wins. Otherwise, we get a fkin’ Republican.
SHAWNEE — Kansas Sen. Cindy Holscher positioned herself at a Sunday night Democratic forum as the anti-establishment candidate for governor with a history of winning in legislative districts formerly held by Republicans.
Her top opponent in seeking the party’s nomination, Kansas Sen. Ethan Corson, argued he is the only one who could win in the November general election.
The candidates staked out nearly identical policy positions during the 50-minute forum at the Aztec Shawnee Theater. The questions were submitted in advance by Kansas Young Democrats.
Both support raising the state’s minimum wage, making it easier to vote, and access to reproductive health care.
And they both identified the Republican supermajorities in the state House and Senate as their real opponent.
Holscher, from Overland Park, said Republicans were unable to lower property taxes during this year’s legislative session, despite their ability to pass anything they want.
“So they keep going back to the culture war issues,” she said. “And this past session, instead of solving actual issues of affordability and putting more money in your pockets, what did we get? We got this bathroom bill. We got two Charlie Kirk bills. None of those are going to put money in your pockets.”
Corson, from Fairway, touted his endorsements from Gov. Laura Kelly, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.
“Leading candidates in the Republican Party want to take Kansas backwards on reproductive freedom, public education and so many other issues,” Corson said. “We cannot let that happen. That is why this campaign has earned the support of trusted leaders who understand both the stakes and what it takes to win a statewide election in Kansas.”
Holscher’s response: “I’m running on my record, not the coattails of the establishment.”
About 150 people showed up to hear the two Johnson County Democrats make their case for the August primary vote. A dozen or more people wore bright blue Holscher T-shirts, and at least a couple donned black Corson T-Shirts. An engaged crowd, and available alcohol, ensured a spirited reaction to comments.
They applauded Corson when he said the city of Leavenworth was wrong to approve a conditional use permit for CoreCivic to reopen its private prison as an immigration detention center.
“I believe that private prisons have no place in our carceral system,” Corson said. “I will never support a private prison being built in Kansas. I will never support an ICE detention facility being built in Kansas.”
But the loudest applause came when Holscher attacked Corson for having taken the maximum campaign donation from CoreCivic during his 2024 Senate campaign, and $5,000 from the law firm representing CoreCivic for his gubernatorial campaign.
“You can’t say you’re against private prisons or ICE detention facilities when your campaigns and personal life are intertwined with that very business,” Holscher said. “I have consistently stood with the community opposing ICE overreach. I have never taken CoreCivic money and never will.”
A spokesman for Holscher later clarified that Corson received donations of $4,000 from Anna Kimbrell on Nov. 19, 2025, and $1,000 from Ed Wilson on Oct. 27, 2025. The two are partners for Kansas City, Missouri, law firm Husch Blackwell, which represented CoreCivic in the company’s lawsuit against Leavenworth.
The start of the forum was delayed 45 minutes because the two candidates discovered the party had given them different sets of rules. Party chair Jeanna Repass declined to say what the discrepancy was, but she insisted it was “minor.”
Before the candidates took the stage amid the rumble of storms outside, there was a moment of silence for the attempted violence Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“Just remember,” Repass said, “we don’t solve our differences with violence. We do it by voting.”
Questions touched on affordability, water crisis, young voters and Medicaid expansion.
Corson said the state should invest in building 100,000 houses per year, including 5,000 in rural areas, and work to make higher education accessible to any young person who wants it.
“I’m going to be in my mid-40s, and my wife and I, every single month, are still paying our student loans,” Corson said. “So I understand what it means for higher education to be unaffordable, to feel inaccessible, and to feel like it’s crowding out all these other things that you want to do in your life, whether it’s buying your first home, starting a family.”
Holscher said she wants to hold landlords accountable for high rent and to put a cap on fees. She warned about the threat that water-thirsty data centers pose to farmers. And she pointed out that, as a member of the House in 2017, she helped pass a Medicaid expansion bill — although it was vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback. She also said she worked with the bipartisan caucus that eventually overturned the Brownback tax experiment.
It was her birthday, and her supporters served cake in the lobby.
“If you want someone fighting for the people, you want someone building a broad coalition of nurses, of teachers, people in your neighborhood, farmers, veterans, union members — that’s who I have on my side, not the establishment,” Holscher said.
