Trump administration pulls $60M in Harvard grants in third round of cuts
The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University, the latest escalation in the Trump administration's efforts to force change at some of the nation's most prominent universities.
The Trump administration again cited antisemitism for its decision to pull funding, with HHS posting Monday on X that its decision to terminate multiple multiyear grants stems from the school's 'continued failure to address anti-Semitic harassment and race discrimination.'
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What Trump Revoking Emergency Abortion Guidance Means for Care
Abortion-rights activists rally for reproductive rights and emergency abortion care outside the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears arguments in a case that deals with whether Idaho's near-total abortion ban conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 2024. Credit - Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images The Trump Administration has added to the confusion surrounding the U.S.'s shifting patchwork of abortion laws by rescinding Biden-era guidance that directed hospitals to provide abortions in emergency situations, even in states where abortion is restricted. The decision, announced on Tuesday, does not change the federal law that was at the heart of the Biden Administration's guidance: the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding—which is most of them—to provide stabilizing treatment to patients experiencing medical emergencies or transfer them to a hospital that can. The Trump Administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a press release that it 'will continue to enforce EMTALA, which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or treatment, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.' But the agency also said that it 'will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration's actions.' Doctors and abortion-rights advocates, however, said they feared that the Administration's move will amplify confusion over whether doctors can provide critical care, thereby putting lives at risk. Dr. Jamila Perritt—an ob-gyn in Washington, D.C., and the president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health—said in a press release that rescinding the Biden-era guidance would force "providers like me to choose between caring for someone in their time of need and turning my back on them to comply with cruel and dangerous laws.' 'This action sends a clear message: the lives and health of pregnant people are not worth protecting,' Perritt said. The Biden Administration issued the guidance after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, reminding hospitals of their 'obligations' under EMTALA, as state laws restricting or banning abortion began going into effect. 'Any state actions against a physician who provides an abortion in order to stabilize an emergency medical condition in a pregnant individual presenting to the hospital would be preempted by the federal EMTALA statute due to the direct conflict with the 'stabilized' provision of the statute,' the guidance stressed. 'Moreover, EMTALA contains a whistleblower provision that prevents retaliation by the hospital against any hospital employee or physician who refuses to transfer a patient with an emergency medical condition that has not been stabilized by the initial hospital, such as a patient with an emergent ectopic pregnancy, or a patient with an incomplete medical abortion.' The guidance also said that physicians' fear of violating state laws prohibiting abortion could not be used as the basis for transferring a patient. 'When a direct conflict occurs between EMTALA and a state law, EMTALA must be followed,' the guidance stated. EMTALA remains in place despite the change in the guidance. The Trump Administration did not explicitly advise hospitals that they could deny patients abortions in emergency situations. CMS did specify in the memo announcing the revocation that the Department of Health and Human Services may not enforce the interpretation in the Biden Administration's guidance that EMTALA preempts Texas' near-total abortion ban, pointing to court rulings that have temporarily blocked the guidance in the state. But abortion-rights advocates sharply criticized the Trump Administration's move, saying it endangers the lives of pregnant people. 'The Trump Administration would rather women die in emergency rooms than receive life-saving abortions,' Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a press release. 'In pulling back guidance, this administration is feeding the fear and confusion that already exists at hospitals in every state where abortion is banned. Hospitals need more guidance right now, not less.' 'We're making our health care professionals have to operate in a gray area when their work really needs to be clear,' says Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, a reproductive justice collective. 'They're in the business of providing life-saving care to people on a daily basis, and they don't need to be put in a position where their decision making is compromised.' When that confusion happens, she says, 'people die.' Simpson says that, for states that have banned or restricted abortion, like her home state of Georgia, rescinding the Biden-era guidance is 'just going to make things worse.' 'It's making it incredibly scary for the American people and pregnant folks who would need access to emergency services,' Simpson says. 'People's lives are at stake.' Anti-abortion groups, meanwhile, celebrated the move. 'The Trump administration has delivered another win for life and truth – stopping Biden's attack on emergency care for both pregnant moms and their unborn children,' Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a press release. She accused Democrats of creating confusion about people's access to care in medical emergencies, including miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. 'In situations where every minute counts, their lies lead to delayed care and put women in needless, unacceptable danger,' she said. More than a dozen states have banned abortion in almost all cases or after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they're pregnant. There have been many reports of pregnant people experiencing complications being turned away from hospitals in states that have banned abortion. Previously, the Biden Administration had sued Idaho over its near-total abortion ban, saying that the state's restrictions conflicted with EMTALA. In March, the Trump Administration dropped the lawsuit. Contact us at letters@
CBS News
12 minutes ago
- CBS News
8 charged after game wardens take down poaching ring in Cambria County
Eight people pleaded guilty to dozens of charges after the Pennsylvania Game Commission said wardens took down a poaching group in Cambria County. The Game Commission said a lengthy investigation into the taking of 11 white-tailed deer and a gray fox in Cambria County between 2023 and 2024 resulted in 35 charges and more than 70 years' worth of license revocations. Authorities said the investigation began when a game warden checked the license of one of the suspects while they were fishing in Indiana County. When the warden asked about the guns and ammunition found in the vehicle, the Game Commission said the suspect admitted to shooting deer at night using a spotlight. After serving three separate search warrants, investigators determined eight people were poaching deer at night while using spotlights. They also failed to tag deer, took bucks that didn't meet antler restrictions, used tags from other states and exceeded the legal limits, the Game Commission said. Jason Wise, Sandra Wise, Daniel Wise, Issac Keith, Dan Sodomont, Marina Morgan, Dennis Corson and Levi Corson all pleaded guilty to summary counts. They were ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution and they lost their hunting and trapping privileges for a combined 70 years. "Great work by all wardens involved in ensuring these senseless crimes didn't go unpunished, helping to uphold the law and protect our wildlife for current and future generations," the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Southwest Region wrote on Facebook. People are encouraged to report wildlife crimes by calling Operation Game Thief at 1-888-PGC-8001 or by going online.
Fox News
13 minutes ago
- Fox News
NEWT GINGRICH: Pay less, know more — Trump is slashing red tape and lowering your healthcare costs
One of the boldest and most consistent themes in President Donald J. Trump's healthcare agenda is his determination to reduce the role and power of middlemen. From insurance companies to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) – and even hospitals –these intermediaries profit from the inefficiencies of our bloated health system. The result is higher costs for American families. As I explain in my new book, "Trump's Triumph: America's Greatest Comeback," the U.S. healthcare system isn't expensive just because care is costly. It's expensive because the system is complex – by design. The third-party payment structure, whether public or private, adds layers of bureaucracy. This opens the door for middlemen to offer supposed solutions that serve their own bottom lines – not patients. It's a vicious cycle: more rules lead to more middlemen, which lead to even more rules, red tape, and rising costs. President Trump understood this – and he took action. In his first term, he issued a groundbreaking executive order on price transparency. For the first time, hospitals were required to disclose the real cost of procedures, enabling patients to compare prices before receiving care. While the Biden administration weakened enforcement, Trump doubled down in his second term with an even stronger push for what he called "radical transparency." Radical transparency is the antidote to healthcare's worst inefficiencies. When patients and employers can see wide price differences for the same procedures – even within the same hospital system – the games played behind the scenes get exposed. These inflated prices often have little to do with quality and everything to do with how well insurers negotiate – or how many middlemen take a cut. The same is true for prescription drugs. PBMs – giant corporations that control which drugs are covered and at what cost – use their market power to inflate prices. Three PBMs control 80 percent of the market. They're often subsidiaries of major insurers, forming vertically integrated monopolies. New data from the Pacific Research Institute shows that most PBMs skim more money off high-cost prescriptions than European countries charge. It's no wonder Americans are paying more. Hospitals play a role as well. Many exploit a well-intentioned federal program known as 340B, which allows them to purchase drugs at steep discounts. Instead of passing the savings to patients, they bill insurers full price and pocket the difference. The program was meant to expand care for low-income patients, but there's little oversight to ensure this happens. President Trump's recent executive order on drug pricing targets this broken system. By creating a pathway for manufacturers to sell directly to patients, health plans, pharmacies, and clinics – without the markup – he's offering a way to bypass the middlemen. This isn't theory – it's already working. When insulin makers launched direct-to-consumer programs, they sold the same drug at one-fourth the price patients were paying through insurance – while still making a profit. That's the power of real market competition – without a single government price control. This stands in sharp contrast to the Left's top-down vision. Whether it's price controls, centralized purchasing, or government-run insurance, the left's answer is always more bureaucracy. But more bureaucracy means more complexity – and more room for middlemen to thrive. Perhaps the most visionary part of President Trump's health care agenda is his call to Make America Healthy Again. For decades, we've operated a "sick care" system focused on treating illness after it strikes. Trump's approach is different. It emphasizes prevention, lifestyle, and personal responsibility – turning Americans from passive recipients into active participants in their own health. In this model, the government's role isn't to run the system but to create an environment in which patients and doctors can lead – with access to better tools, more transparency, and useful information. That means clearer labeling for ultra-processed foods, ensuring gold standard scientific data free of conflicts of interest, and addressing environmental factors that contribute to chronic disease. These kinds of structural reforms empower people to make informed choices and live healthier lives – without mandates or micromanagement. It's a model that eliminates the ultimate middleman: the system itself. President Trump's leadership has laid the groundwork for a transparent, patient-centered, free-market healthcare system. But the job isn't done. Congress should join him in continuing this fight – not just to lower costs, but to restore power to the American people. America deserves a healthcare system that benefits Americans – not industry middlemen.
