The Education Department is breaking off several of its main offices and giving their responsibilities to other federal agencies, an early look at how President Donald Trump could fulfill his campaign pledge to close the department entirely. Offices that serve the nation’s schools and colleges would go to departments ranging from Labor to Interior. Education officials say the moves won’t affect the money Congress gives states, schools and colleges. They didn’t say whether current department staff would keep their jobs. Since he took office, Trump has called for the dismantling of the Education Department, saying it has been overrun by liberal thinking.

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FILE - Christy Williams greets people at the voting check-in table where International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union members picked up their ballot in Maryland Heights, Mo., Sept. 12, 2025, to vote on a negotiated tentative labor agreement that would end their strike against Boeing Defense St. Louis regional operations. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)

Local workers at some American military bases in Europe are feeling the impact of the U.S. government shutdown. Unions representing foreign nationals working at the bases say many have not received their salaries since the shutdown in Washington began last month. Labor unions in Italy and Portugal say hundreds of workers have gone unpaid as the shutdown stretches approaches its sixth week. In Italy, about 2,000 workers at U.S. bases weren't paid in October. In Portugal, a similar situation is occurring at the Lajes Field base, where roughly 360 Portuguese workers had not been paid. Meanwhile, Germany is covering the salaries of nearly 11,000 civilian employees at U.S. bases there.