Leland Dudek, formerly the agency’s acting chief, helped DOGE at first and then tried to resist when he saw what it was doing, Dudek said in 15 hours of candid interviews.
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The Big Story

September 08, 2025 · View in browser

In today’s newsletter: Inside DOGE’s takeover of the Social Security Administration; the federal farm policy trap; a free screening of a powerful ProPublica documentary; and more from our newsroom.

The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security

DOGE has ignored urgently needed reforms and upgrades at the Social Security Administration, according to dozens of insiders and 15 hours of candid interviews with the former acting chief of the agency, who admits he sometimes made things worse.

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Fall Member Drive: Join Us

ProPublica exists because readers like you choose to fund it. Your donation ensures that the truth gets out, no matter who it challenges. Help keep investigative journalism strong, independent and accountable only to the truth.

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The Big Picture 

 
Two barges in a field photographed aerially in Nov. 2024. They've been there since a historic flood in 2019 broke through the Len Small Levee that protected Dogtooth Bend, sending six barges floating onto the land.

In some of the most flood- and drought-prone parts of the country, subsidies are keeping farmers on land that is no longer productive, report Molly Parker, Julia Rendleman and Lylee Gibbs in a story for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois. Rendleman captured the photo above in 2024 of two barges that remain in a field in Alexander County, Illinois, after a historic flood in 2019 broke through a levee sending six barges floating onto the land. As the climate changes and as aging levees fail, it is clear some land will no longer yield what it used to.

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🎟️ You’re invited

 
Before A Breath promo image shows three main characters of the documentary with hands around them like a pregnant mother holding her belly.

In observance of National Stillbirth Prevention Day, join The Century Foundation on Sept. 17 for an independently organized screening and panel discussion on ProPublica’s documentary “Before a Breath.” This powerful film illuminates the profound impact of stillbirth, highlighting the stories of three women with lived experience of infant loss.

A panel discussion will follow the screening, providing audience members an opportunity to hear from national advocates at the forefront of efforts to end preventable stillbirths. 

RSVP
Watch the film
 

More from the newsroom

 

New Uvalde Records Reveal How the School District Changed Course on Supporting Police Chief

The Floods Kept Coming. He Needed to Grow a Crop That Would Thrive in Water — or to Quit.

Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them.

The Federal Farm Policy Trap: Why Some Farmers Are Stuck Raising Crops That No Longer Thrive

Trump Says America’s Oil Industry Is Cleaner Than Other Countries’. New Data Shows Massive Emissions From Texas Wells.

 
 
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