DHS funding bill heads to House; Judge says Anthropic not a ‘supply chain risk’

A Department of Homeland Security bill heads to the House after the Senate approved funding to end the partial government shutdown and pay the Transportation Security Administration.

Plus, a judge says Anthropic AI is not a “supply chain risk,” temporarily blocking two Trump administration actions against the company.

And President Donald Trump is breaking with tradition and will soon become the first sitting president to have his signature on paper currency.

These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Friday, March 27, 2026.

Senate approves DHS bill, aimed at funding TSA and ending partial shutdown

The U.S. Senate passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown early Friday morning. After failing to pass a bill for the 7th time on Thursday, senators worked late into the night, finally reaching an agreement after 2 a.m. ET.

The vote ends a 40-day standoff that caused long lines and extended security delays at airports across the country, as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers have been expected to work without pay and face missing their second paycheck in a row this week. During that time, nearly 500 TSA employees have quit, and the number of calls out “sick” has skyrocketed.

The vote also comes after President Donald Trump announced an emergency order to pay TSA agents.

The Senate bill would fund all of DHS except immigration enforcement and removal operations — and parts of Customs and Border Protection, which have been sticking points for Democrats following the deadly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer-involved shootings of two American citizens in January.

However, Democrats did not get the ICE restrictions they were seeking on such things as agents wearing masks and judicial warrants before entering a home.  

Since the White House and Republicans refused Democrats’ demands to restrict President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, they agreed to remove ICE funding from the measure entirely and pursue it in a separate bill.

The House is expected to consider the measure when it meets Friday ahead of a two-week recess.

Trump delays Strait of Hormuz reopening deadline, citing negotiations with Iran that are ‘going fairly well’

President Trump has once again delayed his ultimatum deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The president announced Thursday he will delay action for at least another ten days, giving Iran until April 6 to reopen the crucial global shipping lane or face attacks on the country’s critical oil infrastructure.

Trump said negotiations with Iran are “going fairly well,” and that they allowed several oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as a show of good faith.

Oil prices edged up slightly early Friday morning following Trump’s announcement, with brent crude, the global benchmark, up more than 1% to about $109 a barrel.

The U.S. benchmark is also up more than 1% early this morning, trading around $95 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues its attacks on Iran, saying Friday that it struck ballistic missiles and aerial defense systems production sites across the country overnight, including in the capital of Tehran.

The Israel Defense Force also says it struck Iran’s main missiles and sea mine production facility in the city of Yazd.

Judge pauses US restrictions on Anthropic, blocking move to label it a ‘supply chain risk’

A federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked two Trump administration actions against anthropic: the Pentagon’s move to label the AI company a “supply chain risk” and Trump’s directive telling federal agencies to stop using anthropic’s technology, including its chatbot Claude.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction Thursday, pausing those measures while the case proceeds.

In her order, Lin wrote that the government’s actions appeared “arbitrary and capricious” and said the authority had typically been used against foreign adversaries, not American companies.

The case centers on how the military could use Anthropic’s AI tools.

NPR and AP reported that Anthropic said it would not allow Claude to be used for autonomous weapons or to surveil American citizens, while the Pentagon argued the military should decide how to use tools it buys from contractors.

Lin wrote that if the concern were the chain of command, the Pentagon could simply stop using Claude.

Instead, she wrote, the measures appeared intended to punish anthropic.

Judge rules FBI agent does not have to testify in Georgia ballot-seizing case

There’s a victory for the Trump administration in its raid and seizure of ballots and boxes of election materials in Georgia, pertaining to the 2020 presidential election. 

A federal judge has ruled the FBI agent, who oversaw the operation in Fulton County earlier this year, will not have to testify at a hearing in the case Friday. 

Fulton County officials are seeking the return of the ballots seized in that raid.

They subpoenaed Hugh Raymond Evans to testify, claiming he misstated and omitted key facts in obtaining the search warrant for the election site.

However, a U.S. district judge ruled in favor of the federal government on Thursday and quashed the subpoena.

The FBI took more than 700 boxes of ballots and documentation from the Fulton County elections hub and operations center in late January.

Trump has long claimed there was voter fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere. However, audits and numerous court cases have legally rejected his allegations and efforts to challenge the results.

Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect expected to change plea to guilty

A man accused of preying on women in Long Island, New York, for nearly two decades is reportedly prepared to admit he’s a serial killer. Multiple new outlets have reported that Rex Heuermann will change his plea from not guilty to guilty next month, regarding the killing of seven women. 

Heuermann, a former architect, has been accused of carrying out the so-called Gilgo Beach murders decades ago, some involving prostitutes.

The victims’ families have reportedly been notified.

Prosecutors say they have DNA evidence and cell phone records from Heuermann’s Long Island home linking him to the killings. Investigators exposed the case in 2010 when they found human remains along Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach. Police later discovered other victims near the shore and in remote areas.

It took more than a decade for investigators to pinpoint Heuermann as a suspect and make the arrest in 2023.

Investigators reportedly have cell phone records indicating the alleged killer had been in contact with the victims, and a search of his computer supposedly revealed a checklist described as a blueprint for how to commit the murders and destroy evidence.

Heuermann is expected to plead guilty at his next court appearance on April 8.

Trump’s signature to appears on US money

Trump is deviating from tradition and will soon be the first sitting president to have his signature on paper currency. The U.S. Treasury Department announced it Thursday, saying it’s part of Trump’s larger celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary.

His name will appear alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s on the $100 bill starting in June, with other bills to be printed in the following months.

And the U.S. treasurer’s name — which has been printed on money for over 165 years — will be removed.

This marks the latest move to put Trump on money.

Just last week, a federal arts panel unanimously approved a commemorative gold coin featuring Trump’s image as part of a series of coins that the U.S. Mint will produce for America’s 250th birthday celebrations.

It will be the first time a sitting or living president will be featured on a coin.

Federal law prohibits living people from appearing on coins, but the Trump administration maintains the Treasury Department has the authority to do so in this case.

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More from Straight Arrow News:

Millennials are becoming caregivers for their aging parents. Are they ready for it?

Amanda Ross was enjoying life and focused on her career. She was young — in her 40s — and excited about building her future. But her world flipped when her mother was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia called posterior cortical atrophy.

That was two years ago. Now, Ross told Straight Arrow News, she and her sister have spent the last couple years moving in a new, unexpected direction. 

“We’ve been through day groups, in-home care, to the difficult decision of moving Mom into an assisted living wing of a retirement home,” Ross said. A year after that, they moved her again. 

Ross and her sister join a growing number of other millennials, now in their mid-30s and 40s, who are becoming caregivers for aging parents.

According to the Pew Research Center, 66% of Americans say adult children have a responsibility to care for elderly parents who need help. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 1 in 4 U.S. adults now serve as caregivers. Read the full story now>

Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief