Underperforming DC schools’ staff has grown 7 times faster than enrollment: audit
An audit of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) found staffing levels in the district have increased at a rate of seven-and-a-half times more than student enrollment, while simultaneously student achievement levels in the district still remain behind pre-pandemic levels for most students. The Office of the District of Columbia Auditor found that over a five-year period, while student enrollment grew by 2.6%, the number of staff increased by 19.5%. This amounts to roughly 1,600 new positions funded by the district since Fiscal Year 2020, and an approximately 43% increase in per-pupil spending. Meanwhile, both in D.C. and nationally, students are still trying to find their way back to pre-pandemic achievement levels. EDUCATORS HOPE ‘ABYSMAL’ NATIONAL LITERACY RATES WILL BE ADDRESSED NOW THAT DEI, GENDER IDEOLOGY OUT THE DOOR “DC Public Schools works every day to help all our scholars reach their full potential. This recent report highlights a staffing strategy that prioritizes teachers and led to increases in enrollment and academic performance that stands out from other urban school districts. DCPS will work with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to identify ways to improve data systems to demonstrate the district’s continued fiscal stewardship,” DCPS press secretary Evan Lambert told Fox News Digital in response to the audit’s findings. “Following the sunset of federal pandemic relief, DCPS has increased local funding to schools by decreasing the overall number of Central Services staff.” The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, known colloquially as the nation’s report card, showed some improvements since the assessment was last released in 2022, but student achievement levels in reading and math nationally remain below 2019 levels for most students. In D.C. specifically, students saw better improvement than most big urban districts, but students in the nation’s capital have still not yet fully returned to pre-pandemic achievement levels, per the nation’s report card. The United States is the third-biggest spender among the 40 other developed nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on per-pupil spending, according to the Education Data Initiative. The pandemic spurred a massive influx of cash into the public school system as well, but many districts were found to be putting all that extra funding toward staff salaries and bonuses, as opposed to things directly related to student achievement. A FAILING NATION’S REPORT CARD PROVES NEED FOR SWEEPING CHANGE In North Carolina, the Wake County Public School System spent 78% of its total pandemic relief funding on salaries and employee benefits. In Chicago’s public schools system 77% of the district’s pandemic money went to staff bonuses, salaries and benefits. “Thanks to an infusion of $190 billion in federal relief funds, schools have been on a hiring spree over the last few years,” stated an analysis by nonprofit education news group The 74. “For example, before the pandemic, Los Angeles Unified was reducing its teacher count pretty much in line with its declining enrollment. But with the infusion of federal (and state) funds, Los Angeles kept staffing levels constant despite further enrollment declines. Gwinnett County in Georgia shows a similar bifurcated trend. Its staffing and enrollment lines were moving in tandem until the federal funds drove a rapid increase in hiring.” The 74, which stands for the 74 million American school children enrolled in K-12 schools across America, examined staffing and enrollment levels in over 9,500 school districts across the country, comprising roughly 92% of all K-12 students nationwide. The nonprofit education newsgroup found that almost 3,000 districts saw staff levels increase despite enrollment declines. Others, according to the analysis, shrunk their staff counts, but not as quickly as they lost students, while another category included districts that gained students but increased their staffing levels even faster. According to The 74, public schools overall added approximately 121,000 employees last year overall, even though they served about 110,000 fewer students. RANDI WEINGARTEN: TRUMP’S DECISION TO GUT THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS NOT ONLY ILLEGAL, IT’S WRONG President Donald Trump and Republicans have taken steps to put greater control over school funding in the hands of individual states, as opposed to the federal government. Last month, he signed an executive order meant to effectively dismantle the U.S. Department of Education through transferring its educational authority to the states. Last week, GOP senators also introduced a bill to close the department. “Despite per-pupil spending having increased by more than 245% [since the 1970s,] there has been virtually no measurable improvement in student achievement,” Trump’s March 20 order stated. “President Donald J. Trump and his administration believe we can, and must, be better.”
Rachel Morin’s mom shares horrific details of daughter’s murder, slams her senator for trip to El Salvador
The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. Patty Morin’s appearance comes as her senator, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident and El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. “To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.” Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. A jury in the Harford County Circuit court found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping. Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. However, following Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction, Van Hollen issued a statement vowing to bolster border security while also “supporting our immigrant communities.” “While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice.” Martinez-Hernandez attacked Rachel Morin, 37, in August 2023 on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a trail Patty Morin said the family had walked for 25 years as Maryland residents. DEMOCRATS PRIORITIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER CITIZENS IS ‘MIND-BOGGLING,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS “When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying. She wasn’t planning on walking to her death,” Patty Morin told reporters. “She was planning on going to the grocery store with her girls afterwards. Victor Martinez, he waited for her. He waited for her to come closer. He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around, he attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head.” Patty Morin shared with the press the horrific details of her daughter’s murder, including how Martinez-Hernandez raped and strangled her daughter after crushing her skull like an “eggshell.” Patty Morin said photos of the brutal attack show that not “one inch” of her daughter’s body remained free from injury. These photos have since been sealed because they are so graphic, she said. “You could see where the blood ran down around her as he was raping her, and then he threw her down, and raped her some more, and then he strangled her because he didn’t want her to be able to live to tell the story,” Patty Morin said. Patty Morin also shared that Martinez-Hernandez did not appear to express any remorse in the courtroom for his actions. “These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country,” Patty Morin said. “These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like this, violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?” Patty Morin also urged the press to not sanitize their news coverage of her daughter’s death. “Please tell the truth,” she said. “Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or anything, it’s about national security.” Meanwhile, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in an attempt to meet with Garcia. The Trump administration’s Justice Department admitted that it deported Garcia in an “administrative error.” BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s order that “requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” While Van Hollen met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay during his trip, he was not permitted to visit Garcia at the prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT). However, Van Hollen told reporters he would continue to try to meet with him in the future. “I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.” Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Mother of woman raped, murdered by illegal immigrant speaks at WH as Dems travel to El Salvador
The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. Patty Morin’s appearance comes as Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. “To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.” Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
Blue state senator flies to El Salvador to visit deported migrant in prison, only to be denied
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, was denied a visit with a Salvadoran migrant and accused MS-13 member who was deported to El Salvador, after flying to the country on Wednesday morning. Van Hollen intended to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, though his attorneys maintain he does not have any gang ties. Van Hollen spoke to reporters from El Salvador on Wednesday afternoon, when he vowed to continue pressing for access to Abrego Garcia. He met with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay because President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was out of the country, though Van Hollen said he was grateful to speak about the case of Abrego Garcia. LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS “I asked the vice president if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia, and he said, ‘well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,’” Van Hollen said. He told Ulloa that he was not interested in taking a tour of CECOT and that he just wanted to meet with Abrego Garcia. “He said he was not able to make that happen,” Van Hollen said of Ulloa. When Van Hollen asked if he could come back next week to see Abrego Garcia, Ulloa told him he could not promise that, either. Ulloa also told the U.S. senator that he could not even arrange for him, or Abrego Garcia’s family to speak with the inmate over the phone. EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ The senator said the situation in El Salvador is “unjust,” and he accused the Trump administration of lying about Abrego Garcia. “I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.” The Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from CECOT where federal officials have sent hundreds of suspected criminals and gang members. The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from coming back to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” TRUMP SPARS WITH ‘LOW-RATED’ CNN ANCHOR OVER DEPORTATION OF EL SALVADOR MIGRANT This has caused no small outrage from Democrats, with Van Hollen being the first to announce plans to travel to El Salvador to help secure Abrego Garcia’s release. “Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador,” Van Hollen on Tuesday. “He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family,” he went on. “I’m flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.” EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ Van Hollen is not the only Democrat discussing visiting Abrego Garcia and other imprisoned migrants. Far left Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, and Robert Garcia, D-California, issued a joint letter on Tuesday in which they said they are “prepared to travel as soon as possible.” In their letter, which was sent to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Kentucky, on Tuesday, Frost and Garcia requested authorization to send a congressional delegation to visit CECOT to “conduct a welfare check” on Garcia and other deported migrants at the prison. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
‘Not a Maryland man’: GOP blasts Democratic senator for fighting to return Salvadoran national
FIRST ON FOX: Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen drew wide rebuke for his sudden trip to El Salvador, during which he hopes to bring back deported Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia is currently imprisoned in the South American country – and President Nayib Bukele indicated it would be “preposterous” to try to send him back to the U.S. Van Hollen made waves Wednesday morning when he posted a selfie-video before flying to San Salvador, and calling the goal of his “mission” to let both countries’ governments know he won’t stop fighting until Garcia returns to Maryland. Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the Old Line State’s delegation, slammed Van Hollen and contrasted the situation with Rachel Morin – who was murdered by an illegal immigrant found guilty Monday in Bel Air. BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’ “The most striking… double standard, is that Rachel Morin, who was a constituent of mine, was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from El Salvador,” Harris said. “And Chris Van Hollen is not spending much time on that issue, but he’s taking time to go to El Salvador to bring back a citizen of El Salvador to the United States who had entered the country illegally and which an immigration court… found evidence that he was an MS-13 gang member.” Van Hollen did release a print statement after Morin’s killer was convicted, saying he was grateful to law enforcement and calling for “meaningful action” to reform “our broken immigration system.” “We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue,” Van Hollen said. DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked Van Hollen “and his bedwetting friends” for showing “more concern and sympathy for an illegal MS-13 gang member than victims of horrific migrant crimes.” Van Hollen previously had a mixed voting record on the illegal immigration issue. He voted against the Laken Riley Act in January and publicly objected to the first Trump administration deporting two Salvadoran men in 2017 who were scholastic soccer stars. “Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners,” he said. Harris said efforts to “repatriate” Garcia to Maryland are also factually misguided. “This gentleman has already been repatriated – back to El Salvador; the country of his citizenship. That is where he belongs.” “Rachel Morin, in fact, was a Maryland woman; This gentleman is not a Maryland man,” he said, in reference to how Garcia has been described in the press. “We should probably worry about our own citizens before we worry about citizens of other countries.” Harris also lamented expending taxpayer funds for the trip, “to bring a citizen of a foreign country who entered America illegally back into the United States.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took criticisms a step further, suggesting Van Hollen may be “flirting with treason” and saying Garcia is already “home, in El Salvador.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also cited Morin’s murder in their rebuke of Van Hollen, claiming he has done more to bring “a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland” than he has to advocate for victims of gang violence. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Van Hollen’s stance did receive one prominent Maryland defender, with Gov. Wes Moore telling Fox News Digital, “We can be pro-public safety and pro-Constitution at the same time.” “We support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s efforts to check on his health and safety and bring peace of mind to Kilmar’s family in Maryland – his wife, their 5-year-old child, and his two stepchildren, all who are U.S. citizens.” “Despite a unanimous Supreme Court decision, Trump is refusing to return Kilmar and is now even threatening to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador.” Fox News Digital reached out to Van Hollen for comment but did not hear back.
Israel says its troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely
Israel’s defence minister says that Israeli troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, as the military tightens its grip on several occupied territories. “Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday. The army “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria”, said the statement. The military said that it had turned 30 percent of Gaza into a “security” buffer zone and struck around 1,200 “terror targets” since resuming its offensive on March 18, following a nearly two-month truce in Gaza with the Palestinian group Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas and return 59 captives being held by armed groups in Gaza, including 24 who Israel believes are alive. Hamas has said it will not agree to release the captives without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire. Advertisement The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group on Wednesday released a video of captive Rom Braslavski. He appeared to be under duress, said he was covered in sores, and pleaded with Netanyahu to stop the war. The main organisation representing captives’ families accused the Israeli government in a statement of “choosing to seize territory before the hostages”. Israel says it must maintain control of what it calls “security zones” to prevent a repeat of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack in which some 1,139 people were killed and 250 others were abducted – includng captives who have already been released by Hamas, and those still being held by the group. Netanyahu also has said that Israel will implement US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of much of Gaza’s population in other countries through what Netanyahu refers to as “voluntary emigration”. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Israel’s continued presence in some areas of southern Lebanon was “hindering” the Lebanese army’s full deployment as required by the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. According to the deal signed in November, which ended more than a year of war, both parties agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon and leave the area to be controlled by the Lebanese army. However, Israel only partially pulled out its troops from the country’s south, leaving soldiers in at least five locations. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said two Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 70 civilians since the ceasefire took effect in November. Advertisement Israel also established several military posts inside Syrian territory, including on the summit of Mount Hermon, after warplanes launched hundreds of strikes in the aftermath of the ousting of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Israeli government immediately revealed its position towards the new Syrian government led by the former opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), calling it “a terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”, and has since refused to withdraw from the territories it seized. ‘No humanitarian aid’ to enter Gaza Katz said in a statement on X that Israel’s policy was “clear”. “No humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza,” the defence minister said on Wednesday. Preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip “is one of the main pressure tools that stops Hamas from using this means against the population,” he added. “In the current reality, no one is going to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and no preparations are being made to allow any aid of this kind.” Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar echoed this position, saying, “the despicable murderers in Gaza deserve no humanitarian assistance from any civilian or military mechanism.” “Only hellfire should be poured on the makers of terrorism until the last hostage returns from Gaza,” Zohar said on X. Israeli authorities have blocked all aid from entering Gaza for more than six weeks, worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. The United Nations on Wednesday rejected a new authorisation mechanism that purported to introduce greater control over aid delivery in Gaza by Israeli forces, stating that aid organisations already had a mechanism in place to ensure that aid is not diverted to Hamas. Advertisement “Aid delivery into Gaza has for too long been obstructed,” the UN said, adding its teams were “ready to deliver assistance to those most in need based on humanitarian principles”. Meanwhile, Israeli air raids continued on Wednesday, with at least 25 people killed in attacks across Gaza. Palestinian journalist Fatima Hassouneh and 10 members of her family were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted their home in Gaza City. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran confirms next round of nuclear talks with US set for Rome on Saturday
The announcement comes as chief of nuclear watchdog IAEA arrives in Tehran for talks that may revolve around accessibility for inspectors. Iran has confirmed that its next round of nuclear talks with the United States this weekend will be held in Rome after earlier confusion over where the negotiations would be conducted. Wednesday’s announcement on Iranian state television came as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice presidents, who had served as Tehran’s key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, also arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks that could include negotiations over what access his International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors can get under any proposed deal. The state TV announcement said Oman will again mediate the talks on Saturday in Rome. Oman’s foreign minister served as an interlocutor between the two sides during negotiations last weekend in Muscat, the Omani capital. On Monday, some officials initially identified Rome as hosting the negotiations, only for Iran to insist early on Tuesday that its team would return to Oman. US officials so far have not said publicly where the talks will be held, though US President Donald Trump did call Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Tuesday while the ruler was on a trip to the Netherlands. Advertisement The negotiations come amid soaring tensions between the US and Iran over the latter’s nuclear development. Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash air strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear programme if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly have warned that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. ‘Like a puzzle’ Grossi arrived in Tehran for meetings with Pezeshkian and others, which will likely be held on Thursday. Shortly before his arrival, Grossi warned that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb. “It’s like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together,” Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Wednesday. “There’s still a way to go before they get there. But they’re not far off, that has to be acknowledged,” he said. Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its programme, and enriches uranium to up to 60 percent purity – near weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials have also increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons, something that Western countries and the IAEA have been worried about for years. Any possible deal between Iran and the US likely would need to rely on the IAEA’s expertise to ensure Tehran’s compliance. And despite tensions between Iran and the agency, its access has not been entirely revoked. Advertisement ‘Non-negotiable’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday warned the US about taking contradictory stances in the talks. His remarks came after comments from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who this week initially suggested a deal could see Iran go back to 3.67 percent uranium enrichment – like in the 2015 deal reached by the administration of former US President Barack Obama. Witkoff then followed up by saying, “A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal.” “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponisation program,” Witkoff wrote on the social platform X. “It is imperative for the world that we create a tough, fair deal that will endure, and that is what President Trump has asked me to do.” In response, Araghchi issued a warning to the US. “Enrichment is a real and accepted issue, and we are ready for trust-building about possible concerns,” Araghchi noted. But losing the right to enrich at all “is non-negotiable”, he said. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Die-in’ held in Paris to protest killing of Palestinian journalists
NewsFeed One hundred journalists staged a ‘die-in’ on the steps of the Opéra Bastille in central Paris to protest the killing of nearly 200 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the war began. They laid on the steps in bloody press vests as the names of some of the journalists killed were read out. Published On 16 Apr 202516 Apr 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
RFK Jr attributes rise in autism to environmental factors, while CDC points to improved diagnostic practices
While autism experts claim that the rise in cases stems from greater awareness and improved diagnostic testing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shut down that idea Wednesday and, instead, attributed the rise in cases to environmental factors. Those who discount that environmental exposure is a factor in rising autism cases are engaging in “epidemic denial,” Kennedy told reporters Wednesday. Kennedy appeared at HHS’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest findings on autism included in a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey released Tuesday. “This is coming from an environmental toxin, and somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food,” Kennedy said. “And it’s to their benefit to say ‘Oh, to normalize it, to say all this is all normal, it’s always been here.’ That’s not good for our country.” RFK JR. CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF FLUORIDE FROM DRINKING WATER, SPARKING DEBATE Even so, the CDC’s own new survey Kennedy addressed found that autism prevalence is on the rise and said the increase “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.” Specifically, the survey found that one in 31 8-year-old children were diagnosed with autism in 2022 – up from one in 36 in 2000. Additionally, the survey determined that autism rates were far more common for boys than girls. While one in 20 boys is diagnosed with autism, those numbers go down to one in 70 for girls. While Kennedy acknowledged Wednesday there may be some genetic vulnerabilities that could contribute to increased odds of an autism diagnosis, he said the autism rates spiked starting in 1989 and that some new environmental toxin must have been introduced around that time. “Why are we not seeing it in older people? Why is this only happening in young people?” Kennedy said. “Have you ever seen anybody our age – I’m 71 years old – with full blown autism? Head-banging, non-verbal, non-toilet-trained.” As a result, Kennedy said HHS’ studies would examine toxins including mold, pesticides, air, water, different medications, as well as the age and obesity rates of parents, among other things. “We’re going to look at all the potential culprits,” Kennedy said. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the apparent discrepancy between Kennedy’s remarks and the CDC survey. UTAH BANS FLUORIDE FROM PUBLIC DRINKING WATER, ALIGNING WITH MAHA MOVEMENT Kennedy signaled Thursday in a Cabinet meeting at the White House that the administration would kick off a massive research initiative to understand the cause of autism by September. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy and legal advocacy on behalf of those with autism, pushed back against Kennedy’s statements in the Cabinet meeting and claimed Kennedy refused to acknowledge studies that point to genes as the underlying cause of autism. “There is no evidence that autism is actually becoming more common (rather, we as a society are getting better at identifying it, and diagnostic standards have appropriately been widened),” the network said in a Thursday statement. “Even if it were, however, autistic and other disabled people belong in our society. To claim otherwise, and to speak as though our existence is some kind of calamity that must be eliminated, is a form of eugenics.”
SCOOP: HUD reveals how many staffers have packed their bags and taken resignation offers
FIRST ON FOX: Roughly 2,300 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees have opted to take deferred resignation offers since January, Fox News Digital learned. “To continue serving the American people at the highest standard, we are taking inventory of all programs and personnel while maintaining a strong workforce that is dedicated to supporting our most vulnerable and promoting pathways to self-sufficiency,” Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “The Deferred Resignation Program carries out President Trump’s commitment to efficiency in the federal government by providing a pathway for employees to wish to seek new opportunities while also affording the agency an opportunity to streamline our operations.” The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered deferred resignations to federal employees earlier in 2025, which closed in February. The deferred resignation initiative offered staffers eight months of pay and benefits if they parted ways with their federal government jobs. HUD announced the launch of a second resignation offer March 31 to employees “who wish they had taken” OPM’s offer. Roughly 2,300 HUD employees have taken the deferred resignation offers, with slight fluctuations possible as they iron out final agreements with staffers, Fox Digital learned. Ahead of the Trump administration, HUD employed nearly 10,000 individuals. HUD OFFICES BECAME AS VACANT AS A ‘SPIRIT HALLOWEEN’ STORE UNDER BIDEN: ADMIN SOURCES “On week 1, President Trump went straight to work on reforming the federal workforce. One option offered to federal employees was a ‘fork in the road’ to separate from the federal workforce,” HUD posted to its official X account March 31. HUD CHIEF PUTS ILLEGAL ALIENS LIVING IN GOVERNMENT-FUNDED HOUSING ON NOTICE: AMERICANS ARE ‘OUR ONLY PRIORITY’ “The option to take the fork in the road closed on February 12, 2025. Since then, we have heard from staff who wish they had taken it. Today, we’re launching a second Deferred Resignation Program or ‘fork in the road’ in coordination with OPM that opens today and closes on Friday, April 11, 2025. Under the Biden administration, HUD reportedly had become desolate as staffers worked from home and rarely visited its massive Washington headquarters. Fox News Digital reported in February that HUD’s headquarters became as empty as an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store under the Biden administration, which had left offices relatively untouched since the first Trump administration. LIBERAL NORTH CAROLINA CITY’S DEI PLAN FOR HURRICANE RELIEF SHUT DOWN BY HUD SECRETARY “For four years, the American people witnessed their government buildings transform overnight into massive, taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween’ stores,” a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital at the time. President Donald Trump signed a memo on his first day back in the Oval Office ordering agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements that had been ongoing since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Turner told Fox Digital in February that upon his confirmation, “the four year vacation” for staffers was “over.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This is a huge disservice to the American people and a massive waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Turner told Fox Digital in February. “Let me be clear – the four-year vacation is over.” “I’ve been on many teams in my career, and I know from experience that in-person teamwork ensures accountability and fosters an environment of collaboration, creativity and communication,” he said. “At HUD, we’re getting back to work for the American people.”