NSF releases funding due to federal court intervention

Via Bluesky, this update on the NSF's website on Sunday: 

1. When will the Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) be restored to allow disbursements on active awards? 

Access to ACM$ has been restored and the system is available to accept payment requests as of 12:00 PM ET on February 2, 2025.

2. On Friday, January 31, 2025, a Federal Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) directing Federal grant-making agencies, including the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), to "...not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate... awards and obligations." What is NSF doing to comply with this TRO? 

NSF has restored access to the ACM$ system as of 12:00 PM ET on February 2, 2025 and is in compliance with the TRO...

5. Will Fellows (GRFP, et al) receive their February stipend?

Fellows must log into ACM$ and verify their payment request has been accepted. Most Fellows will have to resubmit a request.

What a mess. I'm glad this situation has been resolved (for now.) 

Dow cutting 1500 jobs

Via the AP, this bad news: 

Dow Inc.'s fourth-quarter profits came in well below Wall Street expectations and the material sciences company said Thursday that it is slashing 1,500 jobs globally in an effort to cut costs as sales stagnate.

The layoffs amount to about 4% of Dow’s workforce, according to data firm FactSet. Dow said the staff reductions are part of a broader plan to cut $1 billion in costs, citing “persistently weak macroeconomic conditions.”

Shares of Midland, Michigan-based Dow tumbled nearly 8% in morning trading.

Dow posted a loss of $35 million in the fourth quarter. Adjusted for one-time expenses, per-share profits in the period were zero. That’s down from last year’s earnings of 43 cents per share and well short of the 24 cents-per-share profit that analysts were expecting. For the full year, Dow recorded profits of $1.71 per share, down from 2023’s $2.24...

Here's hoping things turn around for the folks at Dow. Best wishes to them, and to all of us.