Agency declines to reveal in which state latest measles death occurred as it delays reporting other measles deaths
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added a third measles death to its dashboard on Wednesday, but the agency would not reveal whether the death occurred in Pennsylvania or another state – which is “notable” as the agency delays reporting other measles deaths, experts say.
The CDC cited privacy laws in not sharing the name of the state, but experts say there are no privacy concerns in doing so – and this information is important for the public to have as the outbreak continues accelerating, growing by 8% in one week to 4,410 confirmed cases so far this year, nearly double last year’s count.
Top Trump administration officials are starting to point fingers squarely at SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the decision to slow down his company’s Starlink satellite internet services and its military counterpart Starshield for Ukraine, which has been muddled in uncertainty over the culprit. Looking to deflect the controversial move — which was swiftly admonished by…
Republicans are banking on last minute injections of cash to boost the party’s most vulnerable candidates less than two weeks out from Election Day. President Trump announced on Tuesday that his political operation will spend over $400 million to support GOP candidates, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed it is transferring $50 million…
Top Trump administration officials are starting to point fingers squarely at SpaceX founder Elon Musk for the decision to slow down his company’s Starlink satellite internet services and its military counterpart Starshield for Ukraine, which has been muddled in uncertainty over the culprit. Looking to deflect the controversial move — which was swiftly admonished by…
Republicans are banking on last minute injections of cash to boost the party’s most vulnerable candidates less than two weeks out from Election Day. President Trump announced on Tuesday that his political operation will spend over $400 million to support GOP candidates, while the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed it is transferring $50 million…
One month after Washington, D.C., celebrated America's 250th anniversary, it marked a more ignominious milestone: a full year since President Donald Trump deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers to the capital.
The approximately 4,600 National Guard members have been an unavoidable presence in D.C., wandering the National Mall and downtown streets in groups of three or four, or standing idly in Metro stations chatting. Occasionally, they're tasked with picking up trash at parks. Tourists take selfies with them by the now-fenced-off Lafayette Square in front of the White House.
They're not going anywhere. The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to acquire up to 2,000 housing units to support long-term National Guard deployments. The Department of Defense has estimated that extending the mission from October 2026 through to the end of the Trump administration in January 2029 will cost about $1.4 billion.
According to the Trump administration, all of this has been necessary to transform D.C. "from a crime-ridden city into a safe and beautiful haven for residents and visitors alike."
Crime in D.C. is down 20 percent from 2025, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, but an August Reuters investigation found National Guard soldiers were involved in only a tiny fraction of arrests in the safer parts of the city, mostly for minor offenses such as shoplifting and turnstile jumping. Crime has been dropping nationwide, a trend that started before Trump took office and includes cities that aren't occupied by federal law enforcement and soldiers.
Even if the Guard presence has contributed to a drop in crime, it's a civil liberties nightmare. It puts untrained military in the role of policing civilians. It usurps local police departments that are ostensibly answerable to the communities they police, and it normalizes the deployment of military forces domestically—a red line for a free society.
"There's a deep irony that here we are in the capital of the free world, and our president is treating it like a police state," Scott Michelman, legal director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia, told PBS in August. "D.C. residents have lived with our National Guard troops in our neighborhoods for about a year, despite the absence of any genuine emergency and really any reason for them to be here."
Last November, a federal court preliminarily ruled that the deployment was illegal. However, an appeals court allowed the Trump administration to keep troops deployed in D.C. while it considers the administration's appeal of that ruling.
The appeals court decision is absurd. The appellate panel is fully aware that every day the case drags on is another day that D.C. residents are being subjected to a potentially illegal military occupation, and another day that taxpayers will foot the bill for a wasteful fit of presidential hubris.
The damages are compounding. The first anniversary of Trump's deployment of National Guard soldiers to D.C. should be the last.
White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jacqui Heinrich on Wednesday condemned the White House’s decision to restrict a journalist’s access to cover President Trump after the president lashed out at him in the Oval Office earlier this week. Andrew Feinberg, a correspondent for The Independent, was scheduled to serve as the print pool reporter on…
White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Jacqui Heinrich on Wednesday condemned the White House’s decision to restrict a journalist’s access to cover President Trump after the president lashed out at him in the Oval Office earlier this week. Andrew Feinberg, a correspondent for The Independent, was scheduled to serve as the print pool reporter on…
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a court order that stopped border wall construction across the Big Bend region of Texas.
Reports emerge of similar withdrawals in UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain amid concerns about a return to conflict with Iran after US midterm elections
The US state department has ordered some diplomats and the families of US government employees to leave Saudi Arabia, as the gulf kingdom faces a barrage of near-daily attacks, with at least three people killed at an airport and oilfield on Wednesday evening.
Attacks on “civilian airports and other critical infrastructure” by the Iranian-supported Houthis in Yemen were highlighted as the reason for the drawdown. State department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said: “The safety and security of department personnel and their families remain our highest priority.”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (D-Ga.) lashed out at President Trump’s military operations against Iran on Wednesday, warning a further escalation could cost Republicans in the November elections. “If Trump is dumb enough to attack Iran again before the midterms, @AbdulElSayed will win the senate seat in Michigan,” Greene wrote on social media Wednesday. “It’s…
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (D-Ga.) lashed out at President Trump’s military operations against Iran on Wednesday, warning a further escalation could cost Republicans in the November elections. “If Trump is dumb enough to attack Iran again before the midterms, @AbdulElSayed will win the senate seat in Michigan,” Greene wrote on social media Wednesday. “It’s…
Fewer Americans than last year think the federal government is effective at making a positive impact on people’s lives, according to a new poll released Wednesday. In the Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey, about 43 percent of respondents said the federal government has been effective in making a positive impact on people’s lives. This is…
Fewer Americans than last year think the federal government is effective at making a positive impact on people’s lives, according to a new poll released Wednesday. In the Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey, about 43 percent of respondents said the federal government has been effective in making a positive impact on people’s lives. This is…
The State Department ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the Iranian-backed Houthis have continued to attack the country. “As the Department has repeatedly emphasized, the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly, including beyond that immediate area,” a State Department spokesperson told The…
The State Department ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the Iranian-backed Houthis have continued to attack the country. “As the Department has repeatedly emphasized, the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly, including beyond that immediate area,” a State Department spokesperson told The…
Lawyers who represented Olympic canoeist David Hearn in a now-defunct criminal case alleging he vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are urging the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) internal watchdog to reconsider a probe into how the indictment and prosecution were handled. A letter sent Wednesday from Hearn’s legal team to Inspector General Don Berthiaume said…
Lawyers who represented Olympic canoeist David Hearn in a now-defunct criminal case alleging he vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are urging the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) internal watchdog to reconsider a probe into how the indictment and prosecution were handled. A letter sent Wednesday from Hearn’s legal team to Inspector General Don Berthiaume said…
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