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Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, President Trump said HHS, overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would handle “special needs and all of the nutrition programs and everything else.” The Education Department’s office of special education programs for nearly half a century has overseen the distribution of billions of dollars in annual grants for states and schools to support students with disabilities as well as states’ compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But school meal programs are managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the Education Department. (Lieberman, Schultz and Blad, 3/21)

For years, the Education Department has dispersed federal dollars to states to spend on students with disabilities, conducted national research by analyzing state-to-state data and collected and investigated special education-related civil rights complaints. The uncertainty has ignited confusion and worry among education leaders who say states need all the funding they can get for students with disabilities. (Jimenez, 3/22)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, would remain on the books even if the Education Department ceased to exist. But advocates said enforcement of the law is bound up in the infrastructure of the Education Department, as the two evolved together. Multiple laws say the Education Department is responsible for overseeing and funding the education of children with disabilities. (Belsha and Meltzer, 321)

Officials at agencies throughout the Department of Health and Human Services say they are bracing for steep layoffs, as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his aides are nearing their final decisions on a sweeping restructuring of the department. Decisions by Kennedy and his team on the changes to the department's makeup and organization are expected within a week or two, multiple senior health officials have been told. One official said aides have begun drafting a reorganization announcement. (Tin, 3/21)

Seven senior investigators working in different parts of the National Institutes of Health described rules put in place on orders from the Department of Government Efficiency that risk hampering and undermining American medical science. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared for their jobs for speaking publicly. One said that DOGE had begun a reign of “chaos and confusion.” The scientists warned that it had the potential to seriously weaken the N.I.H. (Kolata, 3/24)

The Trump administration is considering killing some panels of outside experts that advise the CDC on key health threats like HIV and avian flu, according to an email seen by POLITICO. The email, sent to CDC leaders Friday, said the Department of Health and Human Services is “recommending termination” of the panels that are not mandated by law. The email said CDC leaders would need to justify keeping the committees by 10 tonight, but a second, follow-up email said that “no response is required at this time.” (Gardner, 3/21)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Current, Former CDC Staff Warn Against Slashing Support To Local Public Health Departments

On a sunny weekday in Atlanta, a small crowd of people gathered for a rally outside of a labor union headquarters building. The event, put together by Atlanta-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, was attended mostly by union members and recently fired federal workers, including Ryan Sloane. “I was fired by an anonymous email at 9 p.m. in the middle of a holiday weekend,” he said. (Mador, 3/24)

The Trump administration must continue to comply with a Maryland judge’s order to temporarily reinstate almost 25,000 fired employees at 18 US agencies for at least another week, a federal appeals court held. The Friday order by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals represents the latest setback for the administration in its push to remove federal workers with what’s known as probationary status who started serving in their current roles within the last one or two years, depending on the type of position. (Tillman, 3/21)

Late in February, as the Trump administration ramped up its quest to transform the federal government, a psychiatrist who treats veterans was directed to her new workstation — and was incredulous. She was required, under a new return-to-office policy, to conduct virtual psychotherapy with her patients from one of 13 cubicles in a large open office space, the kind of setup used for call centers. Other staff might overhear the sessions, or appear on the patient’s screen as they passed on their way to the bathroom and break room. (Barry, Nehamas and Caryn Rabin, 3/22)

America’s most celebrated global health program is on life support, former U.S. government officials and global health advocates say. President Donald Trump’s decision to suddenly halt and then terminate most U.S. foreign aid, and GOP concerns that organizations receiving government grants to combat HIV and AIDS were performing abortions, have key congressional Republicans broaching what was once unthinkable: ending PEPFAR, the program President George W. Bush created to combat HIV and AIDS in the developing world. Bush has long championed it and the 25 million lives it’s saved as the best example of his “compassionate conservatism.” (Paun, 3/23)

Finland, Denmark and Germany urged cautionary planning for trans and nonbinary travelers seeking to enter the U.S. following an executive order requiring the federal government to recognize only two sexes: male and female. The advisory changes come as citizens from several European countries and beyond have been detained by U.S. immigration authorities over issues with travel visas. (Lotz, 3/23)

Two California researchers said Friday that a U.S. government health publication instructed them to remove data on sexual orientation from a scientific manuscript that had been accepted for publication. The researchers also said they were told to remove the words “gender,” “cisgender” and “equitable” from their paper, which looked at smoking among rural young adults. (Johnson, 3/21)

President Donald Trump is demanding a “full throated apology” from Maine Gov. Janet Mills in his spat with the state over transgender athletes, implying his administration will continue to target the state unless he gets one. The Democratic governor got into an argument with the president during a governors’ meeting at the White House in February, telling the president “we’ll see you in court” when he threatened to pull federal funding from the state if it failed to comply with his order to ban trans athletes from playing in women’s and girls sports. (Ruhiyyih Ewing, 3/22)

The Trump administration is seeking to bring back juvenile detention centers for unaccompanied immigrant children, just as a critical contract providing legal services to these minors who enter the US without their parents is in jeopardy. A request for information published this week said that the federal government is looking to solicit bids for beds in so-called “secure” facilities to detain teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17. (Akinnibi and Adams-Heard, 3/21)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, on Saturday instructed leaders of the nonprofit he founded to take down a web page that mimicked the design of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s site but laid out a case that vaccines cause autism. The page had been published on a site apparently registered to the nonprofit, the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense. Mr. Kennedy’s action came after The New York Times inquired about the page and after news of it ricocheted across social media. (Gay Stolberg, Rosenbluth and Mandavilli, 3/22)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took aim at a new target this week as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda: cellphones in schools. In an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, Kennedy praised cellphone restrictions in schools and listed health hazards that he said were linked to phone use among children and teens — some backed by scientific research, others less so. (Bendix, 3/22)

The America First Policy Institute — the think tank founded and staffed by Trump officials to advance his vision for the country — has written a new paper making the case against what it calls pharmaceutical "global freeloading" and outlining various policy measures to address it. (Owens, 3/21)

The Trump administration is importing millions of eggs from Turkey and South Korea, with other countries likely to be contributing in the coming weeks, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday. “Right now, we’ve got Turkey and South Korea importing eggs. Just yesterday, I talked to a couple of other countries that will soon begin importing. We haven’t signed that deal yet, so I don’t want to say who it is,” Rollins told reporters at the White House. (Samuels, 3/21)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: �������ýҕ�l Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Demystify Bird Flu, Medicaid Work Requirements, And Reproductive Health Research

�������ýҕ�l Health News editor-at-large for public health Céline Gounder discussed bird flu on CBS’ “CBS Mornings Plus” on March 20. Gounder discussed funding cuts at Johns Hopkins University and other research institutions on CBS News’ “CBS Morning News” on March 17. She also discussed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s airplane wastewater testing to prevent another pandemic on CBS News’ “CBS Evening News Plus” on March 13. (3/22)

US measles cases grew by 25% in a week to reach 378 this year, adding to an outbreak that has already outpaced last year’s total. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 77 new confirmed cases on Friday. The outbreak has now spread to 17 states. Last year’s total cases were 285. (Nix, 3/21)

US flu activity declined last week for the fifth week in a row, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today it is still seeing substantial activity, with 17 more pediatric flu deaths reported. In its respiratory virus snapshot, the CDC said it expects flu activity to last several more weeks. (Schnirring, 3/21)

Tuberculosis continued to rise again in the U.S. last year, reaching its highest levels in more than a dozen years. More than 10,300 cases were reported last year, an 8% increase from 2023 and the highest since 2011, according to preliminary data posted this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both the number of cases and the rate of infections rose. Rates were up among all age groups, and 34 states reported an increase. (Stobbe, 3/21)

The winner of the April 1 election could hold the power to determine the fate of any future litigation over abortion because the outcome of the race for a vacancy on the state’s highest court will decide whether liberals or conservatives hold a majority. (Fernando, 3/22)

New Jersey’s strong abortion laws aren’t enough for the top Democrats running for governor. Now, they want to change the state Constitution to explicitly include abortion rights. For Rep. Mikie Sherrill, considered the front-runner in the Democratic primary, amending the Constitution is among her most specific and consistent campaign promises. Rep. Josh Gottheimer added it to his campaign platform. And former Senate President Steve Sweeney claims to be the “first” candidate in the race to call for such a measure. (Han, 3/23)

Texas lawmakers are hoping new bills will clear up the confusion over medical exceptions to the state's near abortion ban. The legislation comes after critics blamed uncertainty over the law for putting women's health in jeopardy and in some cases, leading to death. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have filed legislation in the Texas Senate and House. Under Texas law, the only exception to the state's near abortion ban is to save the life of the mother. (Fink, 3/23)

Abortion has been outlawed in Texas for almost three years now, but still, Texans are finding ways to terminate their pregnancies. There’s been a steady flow of pills being mailed into the state, and abortion seekers traveling out of the state, resulting in a net positive number of abortions nationally since the procedure was banned. This flouting of the laws is a real bugaboo of anti-abortion groups and Republican elected officials. (Klibanoff, 3/21)

Teton County’s district court has denied hearing a lawsuit seeking to block two new abortion laws recently passed by the state legislature. Judge Melissa Owens said she wouldn’t consider the case since patients have been turned away from care at Wellspring Health Access in Natrona County — even though at least three of them were residents of Teton County. (Merzbach, 3/21)

When the Missouri House signed off on a $1.3 billion tax cut package last week, it included a provision creating a 100% tax credit for donations to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes and diaper banks. The credits — allowing up to $50,000 in donations to be accepted in place of taxes owed — are seen by supporters as a way to increase aid to pregnant women in need following Missourians’ decision to legalize abortion last November. (Spoerre, 3/21)

The 2025 Match cycle reached another all-time high with an increase of 4.1% applicants over last year's record, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reported Friday. Of 52,498 applicants who were registered, 47,208 submitted a certified rank order list to compete for 43,237 positions, which were likewise up 4.2% from 2024. Of the active applicants, 37,667 matched to a postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) position, representing an increase of 4.7% from last year. (Henderson, 3/21)

Winning admission into the University of California’s most competitive majors — including computer science, engineering and business — is about as likely as hitting a home run your first time at bat. Yet even those subjects are not the hardest to get into. That honor belongs to nursing, for which you might have to hit two home runs. In a row. Just 1% of the nearly 6,000 yearly applicants to UC’s undergraduate nursing programs, at UCLA and UC Irvine, are permitted to walk through the door. (Asimov, 3/22)

Nurses in Butler County will be picketing today, adding their voices to a growing call for change when it comes to violence against healthcare workers. Workers will be doing informational picketing on Monday as they call for Independence Health System to increase safety measures, including having metal detectors at all of the entrances to Butler Memorial. (Shinn, 3/24)

Doctors have a message for patients: Trust is a two-way street. A recent Turning Points column discussed patients’ eroding trust in doctors, who for better or worse, are the front face of the healthcare system. Readers shared stories of rushed appointments, disjointed care and communication breakdowns. (Ansberry, 3/22)

Madison Evans was 16 when she first felt the sharp pain in her lower pelvis, pain that radiated through her back and grew so severe that some days she could not get out of bed. Pain relievers “couldn’t touch it,” she said. “Sports, social events, whatever was on the calendar had to be cleared.” The pediatricians Evans visited during her adolescence in Severna Park, Maryland, never asked her to rate the pain. Instead they told her, “The cramps are bad when you’re young,” and “You’ll grow out of it,” then prescribed the ineffective pills. (Johnson, 3/23)

More health systems are suing the federal government to recoup alleged underpayments for treating Medicare patients. Dozens of hospitals and health systems allege the Health and Human Services Department collectively owes them billions of dollars in Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments, which are meant to bolster providers that treat many low-income patients. (Kacik, 3/21)

Johnson & Johnson announced on Friday that it will invest $55 billion in U.S. manufacturing, research and development, and technology over the next four years. The planned spending represents a 25% increase compared with the company’s investments in the previous four years. (Dubinsky, 3/21)

Newly installed safety nets along San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge reduced suicides there by 73 percent, a new analysis suggests. The study looks at recent suicide deaths along the iconic bridge. Officials say there have been an average of 30 confirmed suicide deaths per year for the past 20 years. In 2024, officials finished erecting a continuous stainless-steel barrier on both sides of the bridge after years of pushback from those who opposed modifying the bridge’s art deco style. (Blakemore, 3/22)

Employees from at least one Texas prison falsified temperature logs that help the agency decide when the conditions inside are dangerous to inmates and staff, according to an internal investigation triggered by a federal lawsuit. (McGaughy, 3/21)

Pacific Palisades was burning to ash. “As far as the eye could see, homes were on fire, everywhere,” said firefighter Joseph Field, 50, who’s been with the Los Angeles Fire Department for more than 25 years. “Nothing I’ve ever seen was like it was that night.” Field, manning a 10-inch hose line, dropped a curtain of water on a house that hadn’t caught fire – yet. (Bonifield, 3/23)

A mother can proceed with her lawsuit against a public school board and medical provider after her son was given a covid-19 vaccination without consent, North Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled. The court’s opinion, issued Friday, came after Emily Happel sued Guilford County Board of Education and Old North State Medical Society in August 2022, alleging battery and violation of state and federal constitutional rights after her son, Tanner Smith, received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine against his wishes and without her consent. (Craw, 3/22)

At Vibe Cultivators, an indoor cannabis farm in Sacramento, the first thing to hit you is the smell. Earthy, skunky, whatever you want to call it, that is some pungent weed. There are aisles of plants, growing on two levels under artificial lights. They have names like Gelato 33 and Alien Runtz. (Lupkin, 3/24)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: The Colorado Psychedelic Mushroom Experiment Has Arrived

Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state’s first “healing centers,” where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer. The dawn of state-regulated psychedelic mushrooms has arrived in Colorado, nearly two years since Oregon began offering them. The mushrooms are a Schedule I drug and illegal under federal law except for clinical research. (Ruder, 3/24)

A common test for ovarian cancer may be less effective on Black and Native American patients, new research has found. One of the two most common ways to test for ovarian cancer is to check for elevated levels of a protein called CA-125 in the patient’s blood, according to the American Cancer Society. But Black and Native American women are 23 percent less likely to have an elevated CA-125 level when diagnosed with ovarian cancer, according to the study. (Vinall, 3/22)

Higher use of chatbots like ChatGPT may correspond with increased loneliness and less time spent socializing with other people, according to new research from OpenAI in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Those who spent more time typing or speaking with ChatGPT each day tended to report higher levels of emotional dependence on, and problematic use of, the chatbot, as well as heightened levels of loneliness, according to research released Friday. (Metz, 3/21)

Eli Lilly is hoping to spark a change in how common diseases are represented in movies and TV. (Park, 3/20)

The last six months I've been tracking something really cool and mysterious happening on American streets. For the first time in thirty years, drug deaths are plunging at a rate that addiction experts say is hopeful — but also baffling. In the past, even the most ambitious, well-funded efforts to slow drug deaths only helped a little bit. Reducing fatal overdoses by eight or nine percent was seen as a huge win. (Mann, 3/24)

As more Americans suspect they have ADHD — attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — social media platforms have become go-to spots for sharing symptoms and getting advice. That's especially true on TikTok. (Stone, 3/24)

Spring is here — and with it comes allergy season. Each year, more than 100 million people in the U.S. experience allergies, including seasonal pollen allergies. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has released its annual report for 2025, ranking the most challenging U.S. cities for those dealing with seasonal allergies. The report ranks the top 100 U.S. cities based on pollen levels, over-the-counter allergy medication use and access to allergists. (Johnston, 3/21)

The world may feel cold, scary and cruel, but if you are open to seeing it, there is a lot of kindness, according to a new report. The World Happiness Report, released each year on the International Day of Happiness, is a global analysis on happiness and well-being in partnership with Gallup, the University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. This year’s report paid special attention to acts of benevolence and people’s expectations of their communities. (Holcombe, 3/20)

The world’s woes got you down? Feeling burnout at work? Need a little something extra to fight illness or prep for surgery? The Swiss town of Neuchâtel is offering its residents a novel medical option: Expose yourself to art and get a doctor’s note to do it for free. Under a new two-year pilot project, local and regional authorities are covering the costs of “museum prescriptions” issued by doctors who believe their patients could benefit from visits to any of the town’s four museums as part of their treatment. (Keaten, 3/24)

The California Dental Association is applauding Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors star, not just for his game-changing 3-pointers, but for becoming an unexpected champion of oral health. ... Though mouthguards are typically associated with protecting teeth from injury, Curry’s unique and visible use of his mouthguard has made it a notable part of basketball culture. [UCSF oral epidemiology professor Benjamin W.] Chaffee suggests that Curry’s behavior may have shifted public perception of mouthguards, making them seem more mainstream. (Vaziri, 3/17)

Pediatric emergency departments could turn to dogs to reduce anxious kids and parents alike, potentially offering an alternative to medications, new data suggest. The randomized clinical trial of 80 children, published in JAMA Network Open, found that roughly 10 minutes with a therapy dog and its handler—alongside standard mitigation from a certified child-life specialist—was followed by “modest but significantly greater” reductions in child-reported anxiety and parent-reported perceptions of child anxiety, as compared to child-life therapy alone. (Muoio, 3/20)

Three years of working to protect exotic and endangered animals in captivity has been no small feat for experts at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park and SeaWorld San Diego. And things have gone well. So far, none of the birds or animals in the collections of the zoo, Safari Park or SeaWorld have tested positive for the strain of the virus now causing outbreaks, called H5N1. Officials credit close surveillance of wild migratory birds, a slew of biosecurity measures — and a little luck. (Kucker, 3/23)

Kanzi was the subject of many studies aimed at illuminating ape cognition and the origins of human language and tool use. (Wong, 3/20)

Community is a concept that the MAGA movement is working overtime to undo, but human beings are a social species. We depend on one another for safety and survival. When we vaccinate our children, we are keeping them safe, but we are also keeping those who cannot be vaccinated safe. It’s part of the social contract. (Margaret Renkl, 3/24)

Abortion is more criminalized and difficult to access than it has been in the United States in 50 years. But owing to medications and technology that didn’t exist in the pre-Roe era, early terminations are now overwhelmingly safe, even when illicitly obtained. (Jennifer Block, 3/23)

In this post-Dobbs era, those dedicated to reproductive freedom face mounting threats to their safety, livelihood, and ability to provide care. Thanks to an ever-shifting legal landscape and an anti-abortion federal administration, providers across the country are not only left to navigate legal chaos, but they are also becoming direct targets of political and personal attacks. (Liz Gustafson and Cassie Lehr, 3/24)

The majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle agree that the federal government should continue to increase fuel economy standards. Increased standards protect public health and spur job creation, economic growth, and consumer savings. (Vickash Mohanka, 3/24)

Ultra-processed foods, or UPFs for short, are suddenly the hot health concept — the new antihero in global diets. The topic is exploding both in scientific literature and on social media. There’s even an AI system to help consumers select less-processed foods while shopping. But once you get past the important and obvious idea that junk food is harmful, the concept of ultra-processed becomes hazy and confusing. (F.D. Flam, 3/22)

Small, early-stage biotech startups are the heart of drug innovation in the U.S. Growing anti-competitive challenges threaten their work, but philanthropy may offer an avenue forward. (Brian Stanley and Michael Nguyen-Mason, 3/24)

Five years ago, the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the world, resulting in massive disruptions, including to biomedical researchers. As National Institutes of Health-funded physician-scientists, we collectively experienced the pitfalls of lab closures, pauses in clinical trial recruitment due to staffing issues and social distancing policies affecting in-person accrual, and redeployment away from research work to the frontlines to support clinical care. While all scientists faced these barriers, one group was at particular risk. (Anna Volerman and Valerie Press, 3/24)