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Federal workers say they are frustrated, scared and angry after the White House threatened to withhold their back pay once the government shutdown ends.

Why it matters: Many of these folks are living paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to simply not be paid. It's the latest blow to the country's largest workforce.

• 750,000 federal employees are on furlough — that is, they've been told not work during the shutdown and aren't getting paid. Others are working without pay.

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Where it stands: It's "chaos," says Imelda Avila-Thomas, an official with the federal worker union that represents employees at the Department of Labor where she works.

• She tells Axios that that she's been getting blasted with texts from colleagues asking if this is lawful or if they should look for another job.
• "The irony is I work for the Wage and Hour Division. We ensure that people get paid correctly."

The big picture: When employees were furloughed on Oct. 1, they received paperwork guaranteeing that they'd get back pay upon their return, Avila-Thomas notes.

• Now, after Axios reported that the White House was considering not paying furloughed workers, workers don't know what to believe.
• Union officials, former government officials, Democrats and lawyers who are experts in administrative law say that the administration is legally required to provide back pay.
• Even some Republicans agree:  Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters that threatening not to pay back workers is "bad strategy" and "probably not a good message to send right now to people who are not being paid," Axios' Andrew Solender reports.

Catch up quick: In every other previous shutdown, federal workers who were furloughed received back pay.

• A federal law passed after the last shutdown, in President Trump's first term, was believed to enshrine the practice into law — until Tuesday morning, when Axios' Marc Caputo reported that the administration was taking a different view and considering not paying furloughed workers.
• Asked about not paying furloughed workers, Trump told reporters, "it depends on who you're talking about."
• "For the most part, we're going to take care of our people," the president said. "There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way."

Reality check: The OMB's official guidance still says federal workers should receive compensation.

• Nothing is official yet.

Zoom in: Five other federal employees independently told Axios that they were angry over this latest threat — after a year of layoffs and nasty rhetoric from the White House maligning their work.

• Avila-Thomas notes that half of her colleagues have left this year, taking early retirement or pushed out by the White House.
• The federal workforce overall is already down by more than 200,000 employees this year. Another 100,000 are expected to leave by December, an administration official said recently.

What they're saying: "I think the mood has moved past anxious and well into pissed-off territory," says one federal worker. "I also think it's a bluff."

• "It's telling that this administration's approach to negotiation is to threaten to blatantly break the law," says one employee, currently on furlough from the Bureau of Land Management. "They're just doing this to see what Congress will let them get away with."

What to watch: The unions that represent federal workers have already filed complaints over the administration's threats to fire workers in the shutdown.

• The argument that workers aren't guaranteed back pay violates the law, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement Tuesday.

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Looking for the benefits of red light on a budget? Solawave's wand is the best option I've tried, and now it's on sale for even cheaper.

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Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) hyped the Senate's progress on confirming Trump nominees during a closed-door lunch on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Thanks to new rules through the "nuclear option," the Senate confirmed another big batch of nominees Tuesday evening — putting them ahead of tallies at the same point under the Biden and first Trump administrations.

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By the numbers: Barrasso compared the nominee confirmation numbers of the past few administrations, in a presentation slide obtained by Axios.

• The total number of Trump 2.0 confirmations is now at 298 after Tuesday's votes.
• That's more than the 201 nominees confirmed at this point under former President Biden, and the 183 confirmations at this point in Trump's first term.
• Barrasso's slide included images of Trump representing his administrations, and an image of an autopen signing Biden's name.

What to watch: The new bloc of confirmations leaves just 26 people waiting to be confirmed — 16 in the executive branch and 10 judicial branch nominees.

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The "forgotten generation" is about to retire, and the future doesn't look so bright.

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When the Los Angeles Lakers kicked off training camp last week, one player who was notably absent from the practice court was Marcus Smart. The newly-acquired guard projects to be a big piece of this team, but he was dealing with some Achilles tendinopathy and the organization wanted to be careful to ensure it didn’t […]

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The hot-handed bitcoin miner turned high-performance computing play could raise as much as $1 billion in the note sale.

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Veteran kicker Michael Badgley signed with the Colts on Tuesday to replace Spencer Shrader, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Sunday's win against the Raiders.

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The NCAA has officially adopted Jan. 2-16 as its new, singular transfer portal window for all FBS, FCS players beginning in 2026.

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While the government shutdown is slowing the SEC's work, Atkins said he still intends to initiate formal rulemaking by the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.

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Sennheiser hasn’t debuted a premium set of wireless headphones since the Momentum 4 arrived in 2022. Sure, there were two sets of Accentum cans, but those offer more mid-range performance in the $180-$250 range. Instead of a Momentum 5 for its latest release, the company has revealed the HDB 630: a $500 set of wireless noise-canceling headphones that offer lossless listening via wired connection.

If you’re thinking the HDB 630 looks an awful lot like the Momentum 4, you’re correct. Sennheiser says this new model “inherited” the chassis from those 2022 headphones, but there’s a new acoustic system inside for “focused listening.” That setup includes 42mm dynamic drivers what were “designed for purity, not hype.” As such, the company promises you’ll hear “the vibe that left the mastering studio” thanks to careful attention to the midrange, vocals and overall dynamics.

Those drivers are supported by a high-resolution digital audio engine that works for both wired and wireless listening. Via either the USB-C or 3.5mm ports, you can expect to hear tunes in up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. The HDB 630 also comes with a USB-C transmitter dongle for phones, tablets and other devices so that you can harness higher-quality listening with aptX Adaptive — even if your gadgets don’t support it natively. “With only an estimated 16 percent of smartphone hardware supporting native wireless high-res sound, the included dongle brings this capability to 80 percent of smartphone models in an instant through their USB Type-C port,” Sennheiser explained in a press release.

There are several audio features available on the HDB 630 for an “audiophile” experience. First, Sennheiser employs the Crossfade feature from its HE 1 headphones that blends the left and right channels to make it seem like you’re listening to speakers. There’s also a new Parametric Equalizer for more granular EQ control, complete with bandwidth, filter and A/B settings. The company says any settings tweaks are then applied to the HDB 630’s “advanced processing system” so listeners determine the tuning rather than the content or app providing it. Lastly, users will soon have the ability to share presets via QR code.

Another item Sennheiser retained from the Momentum 4 is long battery life. Like that model, the HDB 630 will last up to 60 hours with ANC enabled, so you won’t be reaching for a charging cable often. What’s more, a 10-minuted top up will give you seven hours of use. And when it’s time to travel, there’s an airline adapter included in the box.

The HDB 630 is available for pre-order starting today for $499.95. Shipping is scheduled to begin October 21 from Sennhesier and other retailers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/sennheisers-hdb-630-headphones-combine-wireless-convenience-with-wired-lossless-audio-220000711.html?src=rss

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Researchers report an increase in the use of hidden content in spam and malicious email to confuse filters and other security mechanisms.

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A woman's routine elbow surgery ballooned from a $50,560 estimate to nearly $97,000. Learn about a little-known federal law that might help patients fight back against inflated medical charges.