Latest news with #HannahAnderson
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
RFK Jr.'s Top Ranks Rocked by Personality Clashes
WASHINGTON—Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. top aides have become embroiled in personality clashes, culminating this week in a White House-backed shake-up to calm infighting at the department. Kennedy's chief of staff, Heather Flick Melanson, and his deputy chief of staff for policy, Hannah Anderson, are no longer working for the secretary, according to people familiar with the matter. The departures came Tuesday after months of personality clashes between the two women and Kennedy's longtime aide Stefanie Spear, who was press secretary for his presidential campaign and now serves as deputy chief of staff and a senior counselor.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
Kennedy Fires Two Top Aides in Health Department Shake-Up
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired two of his top aides this week, shaking up his leadership team at the Department of Health and Human Services amid an aggressive effort to reshape public health policy. The firings included Heather Flick Melanson, his chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, his deputy chief of staff for policy, according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the personnel changes. The reason for the ousters, which were first reported by CNN, was not immediately clear. In recent weeks, Mr. Kennedy has pushed ahead with a plan to fire about 20,000 staff members from the health department and pare down 28 divisions to 15 — all amid court challenges. His pressure campaign to rid the nation's food supply of synthetic dyes has produced some results. Under Mr. Kennedy, the department has also taken a series of actions around vaccines that have chipped away at public confidence in the efficacy and safety of the shots. He fired all 17 members of a federal vaccine policy board that makes influential decisions on the availability of the shots. At least three of the people Mr. Kennedy selected to replace the experts he ousted have taken part in lawsuits casting doubt on the safety or efficacy of vaccines. In its first meeting, the new panel voted to rescind recommendations for flu vaccines that contain the ingredient thimerosal, which Mr. Kennedy has long linked to harms. Mr. Kennedy also continued an about-face he has made since his confirmation hearings, when he sought to assure lawmakers he was not 'anti-vaccine' despite a long history of questioning immunizations. In a recent appearance on Tucker Carlson's podcast, Mr. Kennedy repeated the claim that vaccines introduced since 1986 'were ushered in without safety studies.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
6 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
RFK Jr. ousts two Trump loyalists from HHS top ranks
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two loyalists of President Trump who were serving in top-ranking posts at his department, multiple people familiar with the situation tell CBS News. Multiple federal health officials expressed surprise at news of the firings, which ousted chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and top policy adviser Hannah Anderson. Anderson and Flick had led Kennedy's immediate office alongside two other aides, senior counselor Stefanie Spear and executive secretary Cortney McCormick. Spear is a longtime aide to Kennedy, dating back to his longshot presidential bid. Two federal health officials said Anderson and Flick were seen as outsiders to Kennedy's base, installed by the White House to keep tabs on Kennedy and make sure the president's agenda was being prioritized. "The White House pretty much parachuted Heather in there to tether RFK and Stefanie a bit," one official told CBS News. A Trump ally familiar with the situation praised Anderson, saying she was "a person of impeccable integrity" who "loved working for President Trump." A spokesperson for the department said that Kennedy has named Matt Buckham, currently the HHS liaison to the White House, as his acting chief of staff. Bukcham currently oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees, the spokesperson said. "Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again," the spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson did not comment on why they were dismissed. CNN previously reported news that they had been ousted. Their firings come after other Trump loyalists have left the department in recent weeks. Scott Rowell, who had served as the deputy chief of staff for operations, also left the department. Rowell previously worked as a top-ranking HHS official during the first Trump administration.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Panama City Beach ordinance limits digging holes at the beach
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) – It's against the law in Panama City Beach to dig holes deeper than 2 feet without refilling them. One hole can easily trap a sea turtle that has come ashore to build a nest. 'We have a lot of sea turtles and marine life that come up onto our shores and cause them to get trapped or have a hard time to get back to their home,' Panama City Beach Beach Safety Supervisor Hannah Anderson said. The sand holes can be extremely deceptive. 'People could like fall into the sand and they could get buried very deep if it was like a very deep hole and it would be very hard to get out,' beachgoer Carlos Nolser said. In 2016, an Oklahoma teenager dug a hole in the side of a dune at St. Andrews State Park. The soft sand collapsed, burying Travor Brown in the hole. First responders eventually pulled him out, but he suffered brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. Brown died after his family agreed to remove him from life support. Holes in the sand can also delay emergency vehicles' response time. 'If we get a call and we're going kind of fast on the sand, sometimes we can hit those holes that people have dug and it will stop us right in our tracks. Maybe we have to be out of service for that call if we have to work on getting us out of that hole,' Anderson said. Beach Safety Patrol Officers patrol up and down the beach, keeping a lookout for deep holes. First, they provide a warning to the person responsible. If the hole is not filled, code enforcement can write them a ticket, which costs more with every new offense. Many beachgoers are unaware of the ordinance. 'That's something I never would have thought about. But I had no idea the safety concerns that might come about from digging holes, you know, big-sized holes holding the sand,' Beachgoer Phillip Prater said. No metal shovels are allowed on the beach and the city also has a 'Leave no Trace' ordinance, requiring people to remove all personal items from the ordinances also impact sea turtles, especially now that nesting season is underway. Panama City Beach Turtle Watch volunteers have found six turtle nests so far. Once those eggs hatch, the hatchlings need a clean, dark, flat surface to make it to the Gulf. No holes in the beach can increase their chances of survival. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ABC News
14-05-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Scientists surprised to find possums in WA's Pilbara region
When zoologist Hannah Anderson travelled to Western Australia's Pilbara region to research threatened species she was not expecting to see the common brushtail possum. Despite being one of the most abundant, widespread and frequently encountered Australian marsupials, little is known about their distribution in the north-west of the country. Only 13 records of the species were publicly available in the Pilbara region until Ms Anderson, a senior zoologist at Biologic Environmental, uncovered many more. "They're not a species people talk about in the Pilbara," she said. Ms Anderson's team established 47 additional independent records for the region, which mostly came from riverine and rocky environments near Pannawonica in the south-west and the Yarrie mine site in the north. "It's still low numbers, but a lot more than what was recorded on the online data repository map," she said. Ms Anderson said the records provided a better understanding into the distribution of the Pilbara species, but further surveys and monitoring programs were needed to chart their population trends. Edith Cowan University PhD student Shelby Middleton has also been researching the species in WA, and says little is known about possum populations in the Pilbara. But her recent paper reveals a clue that could help conserve the species in similar environments. The study was the first to discover the Pilbara and Mid West populations of common brushtail possums were genetically closer to the subspecies found on the east coast, South Australia and Central Australia than those in WA's South West. "That means they are actually a completely different subspecies to what we previously thought," Ms Middleton said. She said the brushtail possum was presumed extinct in Central Australia and that the genetics of the possums found in the Pilbara and Mid West were very closely related to what would have once inhabited the area. Eventually the species may be able to help grow populations there, she said. "This [research] could definitely have implications on what animals should be translocated in the future," Ms Middleton said. "When they translocate these animals, they need to look at what are the best populations to source them from. "It's really important to try and bring back these ecosystems that used to exist … before humans and cats came in and destroyed their environment." Australian Wildlife Conservancy senior ecologist Jennifer Pierson said the research was "really exciting" and could help re-establish and supplement populations in arid zones. She said possum populations from Dubbo and Kangaroo Island had been reintroduced into the Newhaven Sanctuary, north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, but their source habitats were vastly different. "So having another group of possums that might have different adaptations to arid conditions is really encouraging for us," Dr Pierson said. "It opens up more exciting opportunities about learning where we might be able to do it and access to more diversity for us to create really robust populations."
