Judge Rules Federal Rule on Gender Discrimination Violates Catholic Beliefs
The HHS rule requiring members of the Catholic Benefits Association to perform transgender procedures 'violates their sincerely held religious beliefs without satisfying strict scrutiny,' U.S. District Judge Peter Welte
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Epoch Times
5 minutes ago
- Epoch Times
Judge Orders Health Officials to Stop Sharing Some Medicaid Data With Immigration Authorities
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must stop sharing some Medicaid data with immigration officials, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said on Aug. 12 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a component of HHS, failed to 'carry out a reasoned decisionmaking process' before deciding to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr will not target ultra-processed foods or pesticides in latest MAHA efforts, report says
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr will not target ultra-processed foods or pesticides as part of his 'Make America Healthy Again' initiative, according to the draft of a new government report. The document, first seen by The New York Times and dated August 6, is described as 'pre-decisional' and addresses ultra-processed foods only in calling on the departments of HHS and Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to agree on a government-wide definition for the term. It does not outline any plans to restrict their sale, despite low-nutrition junk foods accounting for 62 percent of the calories consumed by American children, according to the Times. The draft reportedly also calls for 'more targeted and precise pesticide applications' and for research programs examining decreasing pesticide volumes but again stops short of restricting their use. That would appear to represent a win for Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins, who said earlier this month: 'There is no chance that our current system of agriculture can survive without those crop protection tools.' Elsewhere, the document reportedly calls for research into areas such as the impact of electromagnetic radiation, children's oral health, the role of the microbiome as well as the effects of exposure to poor air quality and microplastics. The report also recommends government action on increasing breastfeeding rates, infertility, encouraging physical activity, and educating the public on the dangers of vaping. However, the validity of the draft was dismissed by White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai, who said in a statement: 'Unless officially released by the administration, any document purporting to be the MAHA report should be dismissed as speculative literature.' Kennedy's officials previously released a report in May detailing the factors that they believed were having a malign effect on the health of U.S. children, notably attacking chemical food additives that, its authors alleged, are tied to cancer and developmental disorders. Their publication was criticized as 'sloppy' and 'shoddy' by experts, however, who accused them of using AI to compile it after it was found to include citations from non-existent academic sources. Kennedy has long spoken out against processed foods. At his Senate confirmation hearings in January, he declared: 'Something is poisoning the American people, and we know that the primary culprits are changing food supply, a switch to highly chemical-intensive processed foods.' During the same hearings, he stressed the importance of making the public aware of the impact of unhealthy eating, but added, 'I don't want to take food away from anybody. If you like... a McDonald's cheeseburger, Diet Coke, which my boss loves, you should be able to get them. 'If you want to eat Hostess Twinkies, you should be able to do that, but you should know what the impacts are on your family and on your health.' President Donald Trump is indeed well-known for his passion for fast food, famously serving a mountain of burgers to elite athletes at the White House during his first term and pulling a shift at a Pennsylvania branch of the Golden Arches as a campaign stunt late last year. Kennedy previously criticized Trump's diet, telling The Joe Polish Show last November: 'The stuff that he eats is really bad. 'Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is, like, just poison. You have a choice between – you don't have the choice, you're either given KFC or Big Macs. That's when you're lucky and then the rest of the stuff I consider kind of inedible.' Soon afterwards, Kennedy was pictured eating McDonald's on board Trump's plane in the company of the president, Donald Trump Jr, Elon Musk, and House Speaker Mike Johnson. He told Fox News host Sean Hannity in March he believed Trump had lost 30 pounds despite his questionable intake, attributing the miracle to the president's 'genetic system,' which Hannity agreed was 'second to none.'
Chicago Tribune
5 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Who's afraid of a healthy school lunch?
In Japan, most schools serve freshly prepared, nutritionally balanced lunches — often rice, fish or meat, soup and vegetables. French cafeterias typically offer multi-course meals that might include salad, a main dish, bread, cheese and dessert. By contrast, many Americans recall their own school lunches as far less appealing. Some of us remember rectangular pizza with cheese the consistency of plastic, topped with tiny cubes of what was described as 'pepperoni.' Wilted lettuce doused in watery dressing passed off as salads. Mashed potatoes out of a box and mystery meatloaf. It's hard to imagine there was much nutritional value in any of the food we were fed. So why not make it better? Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched an initiative to improve the nutritional quality of school lunches — a move that, despite his controversial reputation on other issues, deserves serious consideration. It's not as if this is a partisan notion, and people of all political persuasions have taken on the cause of championing better nutrition for school kids, which certainly encourages better cognitive function and makes it easier for kids to check in — rather than out — of the classroom during the school day. Over a decade ago, Chicago Public Schools kicked off its Farm to School initiative, incorporating produce and other products from local farms into the district's lunch program. 'The program influences food purchasing to allow students to gain access to healthy, local foods,' according to the district website. Around the same time, New York City piloted a 'Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program' that let doctors give low-income patients vouchers for fresh produce — including pediatric patients — recognizing the role of diet in health and the barriers many families face in affording healthy food. These trends of the 2010s are also absolutely in keeping with the spirit of the current conversation about what kids should be eating in schools. The HHS secretary initially announced his school lunch initiative in the spring, but now with school starting across much of the country, administrators are grappling with what updated guidelines would mean for their meal programs and their bottom lines. His plan calls for removing processed foods and synthetic dyes from school meals, citing evidence that about 70% of the food served in these programs is ultra-processed. Research shows the stakes are high. In 2023, children were 15% to 20% more likely to have a chronic condition than in 2011, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And 1 in 5 young people in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. This isn't about fat or skinny, this is about being healthy. And these numbers are alarming, which makes action worthwhile. Of course, idealism always hits a brick wall when it runs up against the harsh reality of budget constraints and sourcing difficulties. Moving to a school meal model centered on whole, locally sourced foods would likely demand major new investments in food, infrastructure and staffing. Securing that funding could be challenging. Yes, it will cost money, but a chronically unhealthy U.S. population is costly too. Past reforms — from eliminating trans fats to adding more fresh produce — once seemed impossible too. The payoff in healthier kids, sharper minds and fewer long-term health costs is worth the investment.
