the friday brief

3 things that matter

h-1b selection process shifts to wage-weighted lottery

the department of homeland security's new h-1b visa selection rule takes effect february 27, replacing the random lottery with a wage-weighted system for the fy 2027 cap season. registrations offering level iv wages receive four entries, level iii receives three, level ii receives two, and level i receives one. employers must submit occupation codes, wage levels, and employment areas during registration. the annual cap remains 85,000 visas. dhs frames this as prioritizing "higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens," though critics note it doesn't account for geographic wage variations. cap-exempt institutions remain unaffected.

fbi director fires employees from mar-a-lago investigation

fbi director kash patel dismissed at least 10 employees who participated in the 2022 investigation into classified documents at trump's mar-a-lago estate. the firings followed patel's claim that the fbi subpoenaed his phone records and those of white house chief of staff susie wiles during the probe. patel called the subpoenas "outrageous" and alleged they were "buried in prohibited case files." the fbi has not provided public evidence supporting this. the fbi agents association condemned the dismissals as violating due process and "destabilizing the workforce".

vance announces medicaid funding pause for minnesota

vice president jd vance announced february 25 that the administration will temporarily halt $259.5 million in federal medicaid reimbursements to minnesota, citing fraud concerns in fourteen programs including autism care and non-medical transport. the pause follows trump's directive for vance to lead a "war on fraud." cms administrator mehmet oz said payments will resume once minnesota submits a corrective action plan within 60 days. governor tim walz responded that the state has conducted intensive anti-fraud work and introduced new legislative oversight proposals february 26.

1 thing tO KNOW

trump's 108-minute state of the union

president trump's february 24 state of the union ran 108 minutes—the longest in american history. the previous record was bill clinton's 2000 address at 88 minutes. the median sotu since 1964 runs 45 minutes. trump awarded six medals during the speech, including the first medal of honor ever presented during a state of the union address. trump and clinton now hold the top seven spots for longest modern state of the union addresses.

article ii of the constitution requires the president "give to congress information of the state of the union"—a mandate that has historically expanded in scope and format. a cnn post-speech poll found viewers' top concern was cost of living, but respondents were unconvinced trump's proposals would lower costs. virginia tech political scientists analyzing the address noted it featured "over-the-top use of reagan approach involving heroes" and assessed it was "doubtful the address changed any minds or will have much policy impact." npr reported trump "largely ignored economic hardships" and "turned the address into a show."

1 THING TO TRY

single-task sprint

try one 25-minute sprint this week: one document, one task, one window open. close email, silence slack, hide your phone.

stanford research on media multitasking shows even the presence of notifications—not checking them, just seeing them—reduces cognitive performance by 20%. you're not building focus; you're removing interference. set a timer.

the first sprint feels claustrophobic. by the third, you'll realize how much of your "focused work" was actually continuous partial attention.