Federal shutdown, WPAFB and more: Federal actions impacting southwest Ohio this week

Roughly 75% of civilian employees working at the headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are eligible for a furlough during the lapse in federal government appropriations. Military members remain on duty during a shutdown, although without pay. Many civilian employees of the Department of Defense have also been sent home.

But other federal services continue during government shutdowns: you’ll still receive mail, still have existing Social Security checks and Medicare coverage and more. Student financial aid will also keep flowing, and student loan payments will certainly still be due.

• AmeriCorps: As national service organization AmeriCorps continues to experience cuts to its budget and staff, Five Rivers MetroParks has lost its eight AmeriCorps volunteers tasked with assisting with education and outreach programs. Since 2023, Five Rivers MetroParks estimates that its eight AmeriCorps volunteers contributed 6,400 hours of service, and their work had a $200,000 financial impact on the organization.

• DoD or DoW?: Are civilians and members of the military based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and other facilities in Ohio working for the Department of Defense or the Department of War? After President Donald Trump said in August that he wanted the Pentagon to change its official name back to the Department of War, Republicans in Congress had the opportunity to follow through on Trump’s plan. Working on a major defense policy bill in September, lawmakers could have moved quickly to make that “War Department” name change official. But the House and Senate have taken no action on the subject.

• Local teachers and Charlie Kirk: The Xenia school board decided to vote at its next meeting whether to fire several educators who posted about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media. Two teachers were the subject of a social media firestorm over the last two weeks after they posted comments on their personal Facebook pages about the death of Kirk. Both have been educators in Xenia schools for over 20 years. The Dayton Daily News reached out to more than 30 local school districts and found several where teachers are facing calls for discipline over comments made in the wake of Kirk’s death.

• Hegseth: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an address Tuesday to the military’s top leaders said there would be new directives to ensure that the requirement for every position in combat “returns to the highest male standard.” He said that “if that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” while stressing that the military will continue to welcome women into its ranks.

• America’s cities: Armed federal agents have been patrolling Chicago’s downtown streets, and Trump called up 200 National Guard troops for deployment in Portland, Oregon. Trump said earlier this month, too, that he was creating a task force of federal law enforcement agencies to combat crime in Memphis.

• DOGE: Before news of the federal shutdown, hundreds of employees who lost their jobs in the Department of Government Efficiency’s budget blitz are being asked to return to work. The General Services Administration has given the employees the option to accept or decline reinstatement. Last month, the IRS said it would allow some employees who took a resignation offer to remain on the job, and the Labor Department has also brought back some employees who took buyouts. The National Park Service, too, reinstated a number of purged employees.