An Ignoble Experiment: The 7: What Elon Musk is doing with sensitive data; plane missing in Alaska; Super Bowl Sunday; and more

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By Jamie Ross and Hannah Jewell

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Good morning. It's Friday, Feb. 7, and it turns out neither of us is smarter than an NFL coach. Test your ability to make difficult in-game decisions with this quiz. Now let's catch up.

A judge paused President Donald Trump's federal worker buyout program.

The latest: Workers now have until late Monday, pending a hearing, to decide whether to resign with pay through the end of September. The change further plunged workers into limbo.
What else to know: Health agencies were told to rank some workers as layoff fears grow. And Trump moved to shutter environmental offices across the government.

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The Senate confirmed an architect of Project 2025 to a key role.

Who? Russell Vought, the next director of the White House budget office. He helped craft the right-wing Project 2025 plan that is shaping Trump's orders in these five ways.
In other news: Trump's gutting of USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. businesses. And it's based on wildly inaccurate claims about USAID spending — fact-checked here.
One more thing: Elon Musk is trying to access your data, and you're right to be paranoid.

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The NCAA banned transgender athletes from women's sports.

Why? To comply with Trump's new order. The NCAA's policy limits competition in women's college sports to athletes assigned female at birth. It targets a handful of students.
In related news: Three Texas doctors are fighting charges of providing gender-affirming care to minors. And a judge blocked Trump's order to send trans women to men's prisons.

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A plane with 10 people on board is missing in Alaska, state troopers say.

The details: The Bering Air plane was reported missing yesterday on its way from Unalakleet to Nome, two remote communities in western Alaska.
What we know: The aircraft was 12 miles offshore when its position was lost. Crews are working to determine its last coordinates.

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Job growth probably slowed in January.

This morning: The latest jobs report is expected to show a solid but weaker labor market in January, in part because of disruptions from the L.A. fires and severe winter storms.
Zooming out: The unemployment rate probably held flat. But there could be trouble looming, as some employers are starting to lay off workers as Trump's cuts take effect.

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The Kansas City Chiefs are looking to make history in Super Bowl LIX.

What's at stake: The Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, could become the first NFL team to win three straight Super Bowls. The Eagles and Saquon Barkley stand in their way.
Who's going? Taylor Swift and Trump will be in the crowd. Kendrick Lamar has the halftime show, and there's one big question about his set list.
On Sunday: The game kicks off in New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox and Tubi. Find our betting cheat sheet here.

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The world's largest iceberg is on the move again.

The A-23A iceberg seen drifting toward the island of South Georgia yesterday. (NASA Worldview)

What you're looking at: A-23A, which is about the size of Rhode Island and weighs nearly 1 trillion tons. It has broken free after it was trapped spinning for eight months.
Where's it going? It may be on a collision course with the island of South Georgia, between Antarctica and Argentina. That could cause problems for penguins and seals.

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Before you go … plan an amazing 2025 getaway: Here are our 12 top destination without crowds. Plus: Four big travel lessons from the legendary Rick Steves.

On a budget? Nomadic Matt travels on $75 a day. Here's how he does it.

And finally … end your week by playing On the Record, The Post's quotable quiz. The weekend version is 10 questions, and you can risk all your points on a final bonus question. Ready to play? Click here. Or try our word games, Keyword and the brand-new Wridges.

You're all caught up. See you Monday.