Energy Department orders Michigan coal plant kept open.
Today's events
Coal plant order.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright ordered the Midwest grid operator and Consumers Energy to keep the 1,420-megawatt J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Michigan available through November 14 — the latest in a chain of emergency orders since May 2025.1Aug 14 · DOEIran blockade.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, closed a ten-day trip through Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and visited the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which is enforcing the naval blockade of Iran.2Aug 15 · CENTCOMForeign health ministries.
The Centers for Disease Control filed roughly $75 million in 2026 sole-source awards for HIV and tuberculosis work — $30 million each to Ethiopia's health ministry and Zambia's national teaching hospital, $15 million to Ukraine's public-health center.3Aug 14 · CDCKorean transformers.
Commerce found large power transformers from South Korea sold below normal value in the year ending July 2024 and will direct customs to assess antidumping duties on the affected imports.4Aug 14 · CommerceMultinational currency tax.
The tax agency proposed letting a controlled foreign corporation elect not to recognize foreign-currency gain or loss when its overseas business units send cash home; comments close November 12.5Aug 14 · TreasuryTimber trade talks.
The Justice Department's environment division led the U.S. delegation to an Asia-Pacific forestry ministerial in China, negotiating a joint statement and citing recent guilty pleas from a yacht builder and a paper manufacturer over illegal forest products.6Aug 14 · DOJMedicare laundering plea.
An Ohio man pleaded guilty to laundering $3.4 million for a Russia-based organization that billed Medicare and private insurers $1.42 billion in false claims — the 16th conviction in Operation Gold Rush.7Aug 14 · DOJRegulatory agenda.
Commerce, Justice, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the communications and trade commissions each published their 2026 regulatory and deregulatory agendas, the government's rulemaking plan for the coming twelve months.8Aug 14 · Fed. Reg.Civil-rights regulations.
The General Services Administration rescinded the parts of its anti-discrimination rules that reached unintentional disparate impact, keeping only intentional discrimination and matching a parallel Justice Department change; effective September 14.9Aug 14 · Fed. Reg.
This week
Drone tariffs.
Trump's August 13 proclamation sets a 100 percent tariff on heavy and thermal-imaging drones and 25 percent on smaller ones, effective 21 days after signing; the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan pay 15 percent, Britain 10. Commerce eased export controls on American drones the next day, raising the endurance threshold for national-security controls from 30 minutes to three hours. Carried in the August 14 and 15 briefs.1Aug 13 · WHNavy shipbuilding.
A presidential memorandum signed August 13 orders a fifth naval shipyard, the first in more than 80 years, and allows foreign shipbuilders that invest in U.S. yards to deliver two ships from their home yards. It also returns the next aircraft carrier to steam catapults. The memorandum cites cost growth, delays and cancellations traced to complex designs and repeated design changes. From the August 14 brief.2Aug 13 · WHOwnership registry.
Treasury's financial-crimes bureau finalized a rule on August 14 exempting companies formed in the United States, and all U.S. owners, from the beneficial-ownership registry Congress created in the Corporate Transparency Act. Only foreign-registered firms still file. The registry was built to identify the people behind anonymous shell companies. The same day, the Justice Department and 17 states sued three egg producers over the benchmark that sets wholesale egg prices nationwide. From the August 15 brief.3Aug 14 · TreasuryCorporate cyber operations.
A presidential memorandum signed August 13 authorizes vetted American companies to conduct cyber surveillance and disruption operations against foreign criminal organizations, with Justice and Homeland Security directors approving each operation. It came the day after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met 19 partner nations in Panama for a counter-cartel coalition whose joint campaign plan is due from Southern Command by November. Carried in the August 13 brief.4Aug 13 · WHChildhood vaccines.
An executive order signed August 10 recognizes 11 diseases for universal childhood immunization, down from the 18 the Centers for Disease Control recommended in 2024, and advises states to revisit school mandates. It states a policy of maximal parental choice. The Health Department also proposed requiring manufacturers to notify regulators when they deem a food additive safe, and sent the government's first definition of ultra-processed foods for final review. From the August 11 brief.7Aug 10 · WH
Allied Governments
East China Sea structure.
Japan's foreign ministry protested a new Chinese installation west of the Japan–China equidistance line and pressed Beijing to resume talks on their 2008 agreement to jointly develop the seabed's resources.aAug 14 · Japan MoFAEnglish drought.
Downing Street put £65 million behind farmers after the driest July on record in England and Wales, following an emergency cabinet committee meeting on heat, wildfires and water.bAug 14 · UK No.10Military ban payouts.
Britain's defence ministry has paid £56.4 million to veterans dismissed or harmed under the 1967–2000 ban on gay service members, deciding 2,008 cases from 1,635 applicants.cAug 14 · UK MoD
Voices
“Americans deserve access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”
Energy Sec. Chris Wright · Aug 141
“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander, U.S. Central Command · Aug 152
“[P]rojected resource additions do not keep pace with escalating demand forecasts and announced generator retirements.”
North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Long-Term Reliability Assessment · Aug 141
“[The Public Health Center] of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine is the only entity that can carry out this work, as it is the lead national public health institution.”
CDC Notice of Award · Aug 143
“We negotiated a joint ministerial statement that reflected the U.S. priorities in balance with the priorities of the other APEC members.”
PDAAG Adam Gustafson, DOJ Environment and Natural Resources · Aug 146
“This rule accordingly rescinds those portions of the regulations, which are in considerable tension with both the statute and the Constitution and do not sufficiently serve the public interest.”
GSA Property Management Regulation, final rule · Aug 149
Sources
- U.S. Dept. of Energy, “Energy Secretary Keeps Coal-Fired Generation Operational in the Midwest,” August 14, 2026. energy.gov/articles/…/coal-generation-midwest
- U.S. Central Command, “CENTCOM Commander Completes 10-Day Trip to the Middle East,” August 15, 2026. centcom.mil/media/public-releases/…/commander-middle-east-trip
- Federal Register, “Notice of Award of a Sole Source Cooperative Agreement To Fund Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” (CDC), filed August 14, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/cdc-ukraine-public-health-center
- Federal Register, “Large Power Transformers From the Republic of Korea: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024” (Commerce), August 14, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/korea-large-power-transformers
- Federal Register, “Foreign Currency Gain or Loss of Controlled Foreign Corporations” (IRS, Treasury), August 14, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/cfc-foreign-currency-gain-or-loss
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “ENRD Statement After Return from APEC Forestry Ministerial in China,” August 14, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/apec-forestry-ministerial-china
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Laundering Health Care Fraud Proceeds for Transnational Criminal Organization,” August 14, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/operation-gold-rush-laundering-plea
- Federal Register, “2026 Unified Agenda of Regulations” (Commerce; companion agendas filed the same day by Justice, HHS, EPA, FCC and FTC), August 14, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/2026-unified-agenda-of-regulations
- Federal Register, “General Services Administration Property Management Regulation (GSPMR): Nondiscrimination in Programs Receiving Federal Financial Assistance,” August 14, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/gspmr-nondiscrimination
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “New Movement by China Concerning Unilateral Development of Natural Resources in the East China Sea,” August 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/east-china-sea-structure
- UK Prime Minister's Office, “PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone,” August 14, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/farmers-drought-support
- UK Ministry of Defence, “Veterans of the LGBT Ban: Financial Recognition Scheme,” August 14, 2026. gov.uk/government/publications/…/lgbt-ban-financial-recognition