The names and faces of some of the most well-known Black voices at MSNBC and NBC News are changing almost as fast as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are remaking the federal government.

Joy Reid, one of Trump’s most ardent critics, hosted her final show Monday night on MSNBC, after learning over the weekend that her show was being canceled. Reid and her team found out the news through a media report followed by a hastily called meeting at the network. 

On a call hosted by the organization, ‘Win With Black Women,’ Reid expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of support she had received. ‘Win With Black Women’ is most widely known for raising $1.5 million within hours after Kamala Harris announced her campaign for president.

“I’ve been through every emotion,” Reid said during a Zoom call with the group.

Rachel Maddow, who hosts MSNBC’s most popular show, choked back tears as she leveraged her goodwill and called out the network for its decision.

“I have had so many different kinds of jobs you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Maddow said. “There is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid. I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her. I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door.” 

Maddow pointed out that the two non-white hosts of shows in primetime – the most watched hours of the network’s programming – are losing their shows: Reid and Katie Fang, who anchors a weekend show. Maddow continued to outline the changes at MSNBC, saying dozens of people who work behind the scenes are “being put through the ringer.”

Industry insiders note the timing of Reid’s dismissal. 

Last month, Rashida Jones – MSNBC president and the first Black woman to hold the job – stepped down from her position after four years, which was a major change as the cable network made moves to reverse its falling ratings after Trump’s election. 

MSNBC and NBC are part of a NBCUniversal Group owned by Comcast Corporation. Comcast has been in Trump’s crosshairs. In a recent post on his platform, Truth Social, the 47th president mentioned Comcast president, Brian Roberts, twice by name. 

Trump claimed, “The company is nothing but an illegal arm of the Democrat Party.They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country.”

The high-profile parade of exits from the industry continues with the announcement that Lester Holt will no longer anchor the ‘NBC Nightly News.’

After a decade at the desk, Holt said in a memo to staffers, “It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do.” 

Holt will remain at NBC and work full time on ‘Dateline NBC.’

Holt’s role change comes about a month after NBC’s Hoda Kotb left the ‘TODAY Show.’ She will also remain with NBC, but so far, her new role has not been made public.

The USDA has suspended its 1890 Scholars Program which awarded scholarships to students at 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, which are historically Black colleges and universities that focus on agricultural education. They were created by segregated states after the second Morrill Act made funding for land-grants available only to states that allowed students of all races to access admissions.

“The 1890 Program was one for agriculture and related sciences, and I was in the related sciences – computer science,” explained Larissa Bryant, an 1890 Scholar who graduated from Tennessee State University in 2006. 

According to the USDA website, the program has been “suspended pending further review.” 

When Bryant heard about the decision to suspend the scholarship program, she was “saddened” for her friends who still work for USDA. Bryant left the department in 2014 but credits the opportunity with giving her career a significant boost.

“Being a scholar, you were basically able to start working right out of high school,” Bryant recalled. “Within a month after high school graduation, I was put on a plane and flown to Washington, D.C., where I was able to gain corporate experience right off the bat.”

President Trump’s executive order calling for an end to “DEI policies” including Black History Month celebrations at federal institutions has generated a fierce backlash. Late Friday, a federal judge blocked sweeping executive orders from Trump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Bryant said, “Considering the 1890 program was built to have young and fresh talent brought into the government, and that’s what the government struggled with, I think it’s doing the government an injustice as well as all of the people who’ve had a part in it. It feels like we’re being targeted, and even though we’re the target, it’s going to hurt the whole picture.”

Sports at HBCUs

The Commissioners of four Historically Black Colleges and Universities have contacted the Congressional Black Caucus to register their growing alarm over the Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of legislation created to address longstanding disparities in education, employment and other opportunities. 

According to the letter, the specific concern is focused on the idea that college athletes will become employees of the institutions where they are enrolled, increasing the payroll of HBCUs at a time when federal budget cuts are all but assured. A few weeks ago, Trump signed an executive order freezing federal funds that Congress had already approved. Two federal judges halted Trump’s freeze, but at HBCUs and other academic institutions, there is deep uncertainty, and administrators are looking for ways to prepare for impending cuts.

“To ensure that college sports broadly –and HBCU sports especially – can continue to thrive, it’s essential that Congress allow for consistent and nimble national governance and affirm that student-athletes are not designated as employees of their universities,” the letter said.

A Jan. 6 defendant who was arrested near former President Barack Obama’s home last year is facing new felony charges. Taylor Taranto found the Obamas home after Donald Trump posted a screenshot with the family’s Washington address.

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against Taranto. Online sleuths identified Taranto among the insurrectionists who carried out the assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, but he was not arrested until he was found near Obama’s home.

Guns and ammunition were found in Taranto’s van when he was arrested, and three of the charges stem from that discovery. He faces a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding for his conduct on Jan 6, 2021. He also faces a charge of false information and hoaxes, accused of falsely saying he was going to detonate an explosive at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

After Taranto was identified by “sedition hunters” for his role on Jan. 6, he was sued by the widow of Jeffrey Smith, a Capitol police officer who died by suicide, after Taranto and David Walls-Kaufman allegedly contributed to his death.

Taranto will be held until his trial which is set for July. He was seen near the jail in Washington where some Jan. 6 defendants were held before their pardons.

After Trump posted the screenshot with Obama’s address. Taranto reposted it on his Truth Social account, saying he had been to the residence that day.

He posted, “We got these losers surrounded!” Taranto wrote, according to prosecutors. “See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s.” Taranto was taken into custody after he remained in the woods near the home.