Scoop: Trump’s National Parks Shake-Up

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for Sept. 8, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

Scoop: The Trump administration is planning a major shake-up at the National Park Service and will tell officials to “avoid categorical promises” about layoffs, according to internal planning documents obtained by NOTUS.

• The nation’s 430 park units would operate dramatically differently under the proposed plan, with bigger parks given control over small ones.
• The Interior Department hasn’t yet notified Congress of its intention to reorganize, which it is legally obligated to do before implementation.

Smithsonian chief Lonnie Bunch III will retire at the end of this year. He told The New York Times the decision wasn’t due to pressure from the White House, but that the back-and-forth over how American history should be told did take a toll on him.

• “I have to be honest, it has been stressful,” he told the Times. “And at a certain point, I’d like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone.”

THE ADMINISTRATION

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on $20 billion worth of U.S. goods went into effect Tuesday, just hours after President Donald Trump threatened to ban sales from Bombardier, a Canadian aircraft manufacturer, in the United States.

• Bombardier’s U.S. headquarters is in Kansas, and Republicans there are not happy with the idea.

Treasury handed out new sanctions on Iran’s already heavily targeted aviation sector, the latest in a series of measures intended to cripple the country’s economy.

Icelandic officials summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long after Trump posted an image to Truth Social of the arctic nation and several other countries wrapped in the American flag.

• Minister for Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir told Long — who had to apologize for calling Iceland the “52nd state” earlier this year — the post “was entirely unacceptable.”

THE HILL

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), an obstetrician-gynecologist, has sued more than 700 patients for outstanding medical bills, The New York Times reports. Patients in 81 of those cases were arrested.

• The unpaid bills ranged from $101 to several thousand dollars. Marshall’s office routinely charged an 18% annual interest rate. Payton Fuller, a spokesperson for Marshall, said on X that “Judges issue warrants, not doctors” and called the story “an obvious hit piece.”

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is jumping into the midterms spending fight with a new PAC stocked with a whopping $20 million called “Ready For the Fight.”

• The PAC’s first ad buys are against two House candidates: Rep. Max Miller in Ohio and firearms influencer Brandon Herrera in Texas.

THE WORLD

The United Kingdom, France and Canada imposed trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, joining a broader coalition of 12 countries that have imposed sanctions on the communities, which are illegal under international law.

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the move would “without a doubt” spur consequences from Washington.

CONVERSATION STARTER

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Brett Bachman, Kate Nocera and Erik Schutz. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please sign up — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.