On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agency didn’t have enough funding for the rest of hurricane season. Some on the right, including Trump, seized on the moment to attack their favorite scapegoat: undocumented immigrants.

“They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants who they want to have vote for them,” Trump falsely claimed during a rally in Michigan yesterday.

FEMA’s response: a fact check page, where the agency denied diverting funds.

On Thursday, the culture ministers of France and Madagascar announced a joint effort to begin the process of repatriating human remains seized while the African nation was under French colonial rule.

Officials from both countries revealed the appointment of a joint scientific committee to conduct a review Madagascar’s claim to the legal title of the skull of King Toera, a Sakalava king who was beheaded by French troops in the late 19th century. The decapitation happened during a military campaign to suppress a rebellion in the tribal region of Menabe. France officially colonized Madagascar in 1896, and Madagascar gained independence in 1960.

This agreement between the two countries follows the passing of a French law in December 2023 mandating the state to facilitate the restitution of human remains held in its public collections. It’s a legal move meant to target objects in France’s archeological collections linked to violence in formerly colonized territories.

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati described the announcement as a significant one in an ongoing move to rectify parts of the country’s colonial past. Volamiranty Donna Mara, a representative of Madagascar’s role in the joint plan, said the return of the royal remains is a significant step for the Malagasy people, while Christophe Marion, a member of France’s parliament, described it as “an act of reconciliation.”

The French government will make decision on the repatriation after the reviewing committee handling Madagascar’s request makes an official recommendation about the status of King Toera’s skull and the remains of two Sakalava chiefs being held in the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Long gone are the innocent days when media outlets claimed the independence and nuance of the politics of Elon Musk. Now, amid myriad X posts spreading far-right propaganda on immigrants, trans people, and, well, just about any other topic, it has become obvious where one of the richest men in the world stands.

This week, there was more proof that Musk has put his money where his mouth has been. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into Republican campaigns and conservative groups even before he publicly endorsed Donald Trump in July. Conservatives helped conceal Musk’s contributions through so-called social welfare or “dark money” groups that do not have to disclose their donors and can raise unlimited funds. (Musk did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.)

One piece of reporting stood out. The newspaper found that the tech billionaire donated more than $50 million in 2022 for campaign advertisements by Citizens for Sanity, a group connected to former Trump aide Stephen Miller and his non-profit America First Legal, which bills itself as “the long-awaited answer to the ACLU.” 

Ties to Miller back in 2022 illuminate Musk’s current penchant for posting about immigrants. Musk has increasingly aligned himself with xenophobic anti-migrant plans and trans hysteria championed by Miller within the Trump administration. 

Last week, Phillips held two back-to-to back sales of contemporary art at its New York headquarters, generating $7 million in total sales with fees. These auctions may not be as closely watched as the November evening sales by Phillips and its competitors, but they provide a window onto trends that may be seen next month on the block.

Phillips specialists initially expected the more than 200 lots auction last week to bring in up to $9 million. But almost 50 lots went unsold, and total hammer prices ended up adding up to just over $5 million. This may not bode well for the November sales.

Many recent reports have suggested that sales at the market is slumping, with auction houses’ sales declining by more than 20 percent since 2023, according to one survey. The day sales, which often mirror what is taking place elsewhere in the market, could be further proof of the downturn feared by many.

Yet the Phillips day sales also brought some positive news, showing that lesser-known names could still stand out, even when some collectors have scaled back their buying.

At the top end, work by famous figures like Richard Prince and George Condo still sold well. Prince had two works in the sales, with Untitled (de Kooning) realizing $279,400, while Condo saw three works cross the auction block, with Stepmonk’s Diary selling for $279,400. Each work by Prince and Condo hammered above its low estimate.

Carrie Mae Weems, George Condo, Jenny Holzer, and Hank Willis Thomas are just a few of the artists that have donated work to Artists for Kamala, a benefit in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Works range in price from $250 for prints to as much $300,000 for household names like Jeff Koons and Amy Sherald. There were 164 works donated in total, around 50 of the which will be auctioned online through Artsy, starting on September 30 and closing on October 8. The remaining works come with fixed prices and are available on the Artists for Kamala website.

According to Artsy, the online auction alone is expected to raise over $1 million. Proceeds will go toward the Harris Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that raises money for Harris for President, the Democratic National Committee, and state Democratic parties. 

As congratulations poured in for the recipients of this year’s MacArthur Award, Dr. Ruha Benjamin, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University, should have been celebrating a career-defining achievement. But the full story was a bit more complicated. Around the same time that she had been awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in intellectual circles, Dr. Benjamin was being chastised for pro-Palestine activism by her university.

She explained the context in a thread on X, which gained wide attention:

The thread publicized an ongoing conflict between Benjamin and her employer, which had opened an investigation into her involvement in an April protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian student demonstrators. According to Benjamin, a “tense” phone call with university officials had taken place shortly before learning she had won a MacArthur grant, thus diluting the joy that comes with such an exceedingly rare achievement.

Last week, ARTnews celebrated the 35th edition of its annual Top 200 Collectors list with a cocktail party in New York at Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the world.

The evening’s cohosts were Top 200 Collectors Pamela J. Joyner, who has ranked on the list since 2016, and Allison Berg, who joins the list for the first time this year. ARTnews, Central Park Tower, and HUB International welcomed guests with a 360-degree view of Manhattan from the 121st floor.

Notable attendees included fellow Top 200 Collectors Estrellita Brodsky, Lonti Ebers, Kent Kelley, Suzanne McFayden, Sonya Yu, and Ryan Zurrer, as well as artists Lorna Simpson, Thelonious Stokes, and Dustin Yellin. Mary Schmidt Campbell, whose essay on Abby Aldrich Rockefeller is excepted in the issue, and Joel Wachs, who is profiled in the issue, also attended, as did numerous art dealers and advisers.

Both cohosts spoke about art collecting and topics that are near and dear to their heart. Joyner recognized and welcomed the new diversity in the room—and on the Top 200 list. Berg welcomed the support of everyone when speaking about the A&L Berg Foundation, whose goal is to support the next generation of those in art world professionals.