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Mayor of sanctuary city advances to November election amid ICE crackdown resistance

Mayor of sanctuary city advances to November election amid ICE crackdown resistance

Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston on Tuesday easily came out on top in a preliminary municipal contest to advance to November’s mayoral election, amid a new crackdown in Massachusetts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  Voters in New England’s most populous city cast ballots to narrow the mayoral field to two in Democrat-dominated Boston. Wu, the first woman and person of color elected Boston mayor, faced off against three challengers. Philanthropist Josh Kraft, a fellow Democrat and the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, was expected to also advance to November’s mayoral election. TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS The voting came as Wu, who’s seeking re-election to a second four-year term, is pushing back against federal immigration enforcement in the city. The Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday that “ICE launched ‘Patriot 2.0’ to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts, following the success of Operation Patriot in May.” And taking aim at Wu, the statement argued, “Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens. ICE is arresting sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers, and gang members released by local authorities.” Wu, on Monday, pushed back “They are wrong on the law, and they are wrong on safety,” Wu charged. “This is why Boston has been the target. Boston is going to continue to uphold the Boston Trust Act, our state law, and the clear separation where our local officials and our city government does not cooperate in the mass deportation efforts that this federal administration is trying to push.” And the mayor claimed, “For months, ICE has refused to provide any information about their activities in Boston and refuses to issue warrants, while we hear reports of ICE agents taking parents as they are dropping their kids off at school. That does not make our community safer.” Boston’s Trust Act prevents police in the city from handing people over to ICE without a criminal warrant. The latest confrontation comes as the Justice Department sues Boston city officials, including the mayor, for allegedly interfering with the immigration crackdown.

Whole milk makes a comeback in new MAHA children’s health strategy

Whole milk makes a comeback in new MAHA children’s health strategy

The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission indicated that, after more than a decade of restrictions on whole milk in schools, the federal government is planning to drop them.  The decision to drop the restrictions on whole milk sales in schools was announced as part of the MAHA commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a sweeping plan with over 120 initiatives released Tuesday. The initiatives cover a wide range of topics, from toxic food dyes, to nutrient requirements, to misleading health advertisements. Updated recommendations regarding fluoride and PFAS chemicals in water and a new definition for “ultra-processed food” were among the planned initiatives as well. “The Trump administration is mobilizing every part of government to confront the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday. “This strategy represents the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history — realigning our food and health systems, driving education, and unleashing science to protect America’s children and families. We are ending the corporate capture of public health, restoring transparency, and putting gold-standard science — not special interests — at the center of every decision.” JILLIAN MICHAELS HAMMERS NY TIMES FOR ‘BLATANT HIT PIECE’ PORTRAYING HER AS DANGEROUS CONSPIRACY THEORIST The move to bring back whole milk to schools is something Kennedy has been considering since day one, according to Nina Teicholz, a nutrition expert who was privy to discussions among Kennedy’s staff before he was confirmed by the Senate to lead the nation’s public health response. While removing the restrictions is a significant move, there are still additional steps that will need to be taken before whole milk becomes widely accepted again, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). One of those additional steps is rewriting the national dietary guidelines, which directly influence school meal nutrition standards. The new MAHA children’s health strategy indicates that the Trump administration will update the 2025–2030 guidelines, while also reforming the manner in which future dietary guidelines can be updated. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would also initiate changes to school nutrition standards through its rulemaking process to permit whole milk in schools.  Meanwhile, legislation is another avenue that could be used to streamline the process for bringing back whole milk in schools, the CRS notes, which would then compel the USDA to revise its regulations governing the National School Lunch Program. In the current Congress, a bill to bring back both whole milk and 2% milk has been approved in the House and is awaiting full approval in the Senate before it can be sent to the president’s desk. ‘CHERNOBYL-LEVEL FAILURE’: MAHA ADVISOR GIVES CDC FAILING GRADE ON COVID, CHRONIC DISEASES Another notable part of the new MAHA children’s health strategy entails an initiative to ramp up enforcement of prescription drug advertising laws. The strategy said this includes the dissemination of “risk information and quality of life through misleading and deceptive advertising on social media and digital platforms.” The report notes that the new enforcement will target direct-to-consumer telehealth companies and social media influencers, among others. In April, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. The MAHA strategy indicated this effort will remain ongoing as the FDA continues to pass policies that will either limit, or altogether prohibit, the use of petroleum-based food dyes in all food products approved in the United States. Other initiatives include providing a government-wide definition for “ultra-processed foods” to support future policy activity, efforts to require better transparency in food labeling, new recommendations regarding fluoride and PFAS chemicals in water, updates to the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) standards, changes to nutrition requirements for infant formula, and efforts to increase breastfeeding rates to ensure a safe supply of donor milk. “For too long, health care has used a reactive approach to chronic diseases,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. “I am pleased to support the findings of the MAHA commission and to promote a more proactive approach, tackling root causes undermining the health and happiness of American children.” Tuesday’s children’s health strategy from the MAHA Commission follows an earlier assessment on children’s health released in May. After that report was released, farmers expressed concern over what the reforms could mean for their livelihoods. However, following Tuesday’s latest strategy report, at least one of those groups is applauding the Trump administration for taking steps to protect farmers.  “It’s clear that farmers’ voices were finally heard, but our work to defend their access to safe and proven crop protection tools is far from over,” said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Executive Director of the Modern Ag Alliance. “The Commission avoided some of the most damaging potential outcomes for American agriculture, but it still advanced some misconceptions about these essential farming inputs and the gold-standard science and regulatory processes that stand behind them.”

Democrat Walkinshaw wins special congressional election where Trump loomed large

Democrat Walkinshaw wins special congressional election where Trump loomed large

Democrats will hold onto a vacant congressional seat in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in a special election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump and his sweeping and controversial agenda. Democratic Party nominee James Walkinshaw defeated Republican nominee Stewart Whitson in Virginia’s left-leaning 11th Congressional District, according to The Associated Press. Walkinshaw will succeed late longtime Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died in May after a battle with cancer. Heading into Tuesday’s special election, Republicans controlled the House 219-212, with three seats controlled by Democrats vacant, as well as one held by the GOP. Walkinshaw’s victory in the left-leaning district that Republicans haven’t won in nearly two decades further narrows the GOP’s fragile House majority. TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS With the vast majority of votes counted on Tuesday evening, Walkinshaw appeared headed for a roughly 50-point victory margin over Whitson. Connolly won re-election by nearly 34 points last December, and by 33 points in the 2022 midterms. “Rep-elect Walkinshaw’s victory continues the dominant trend we’re seeing so far this year – Democrats are massively overperforming in nearly every race,” Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement. The district is home to tens of thousands of government workers and contractors, and the federal jobs cuts by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and crime and immigration, transgender policies and even the push to release the Justice Department’s files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were all in the spotlight on the campaign trail. FOUR KEY SENATE SEATS THE GOP AIMS TO FLIP IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM ELECTIONS “Folks in Northern Virginia and Fairfax are feeling the impact of the Trump policies. And I like to say we’re kind of on the leading edge of the Trump economy here. Everybody in Fairfax knows someone, probably someone on their street, maybe the parent of their kid’s soccer team, who has lost their job because of DOGE or the Trump policies,” Walkinshaw told Fox News Digital on Election Day eve. Walkinshaw, a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member who previously served as Connolly’s chief of staff, argued that “if the Trump policies continue, tariffs, the so-called big, beautiful bill, that’s going to be the case all around the country. So, I think we’re on the leading edge of that. And I think voters tomorrow are going to send a statement about that.” Whitson also said Trump was in the campaign spotlight because of a “lot of the great policies that he’s been championing.” Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI special agent who oversees federal affairs for a conservative think tank, told Fox News Digital “the people in our district who have lost their job or who are worried about losing their job, they don’t need empathy. They need solutions.” He said Walkinshaw claimed “he’s going to fight President Trump and fight the administration. And my pitch to voters in our district is: is that going to help? Is that going to help improve the situation? The answer is no. “We need someone to represent the people in our district who can work with any administration, whether it’s Republican or Democrat,” Whitson emphasized. While Trump isn’t very popular in the district — the president won just 31% of the vote in his White House re-election last year — Whitson said Trump’s polices “center on … common sense.” Fox News’ Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

Missouri House approves redistricting plan as part of nationwide GOP push to defend House majority

Missouri House approves redistricting plan as part of nationwide GOP push to defend House majority

The Missouri House of Representatives passed a new congressional map on Tuesday that is expected to hand Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.  The Missouri Senate is now tasked with passing the new map before it can land on Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk.  A special session of Missouri’s legislature to redraw the solidly red state’s congressional districts began last week. The Midwest state is the latest battleground in the high-stakes partisan fight over congressional redistricting ahead of the midterms.  “Missouri’s conservative, commonsense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said as he announced the special session and unveiled the proposed map.  TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING PUSH TURNS MIDWESTERN STATE INTO NEXT POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND Missouri Democrats staged a sit-in over the weekend, refusing to leave the chamber in protest of the Republican-backed map. Missouri state House Minority Leader Ashley Aune has accused Republicans of pushing to “rig our maps and eliminate our representation in Congress.” ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin celebrated the Missouri Democrats’ protest in a statement released Monday.  “The DNC applauds their efforts leading and using every tool at their disposal to raise awareness for the craven scheme by Missouri Republicans. In every corner of this country, Democrats are fighting back. Missouri Democrats can count on the DNC’s support as we protect Missouri voters and save our country from Trump’s billionaire-first agenda,” Martin said.  President Donald Trump argued in a social media post that Missouri voters would have “the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.” Kehoe’s move came hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state. The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting. State lawmakers in heavily blue California have approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature. The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender. In Missouri, the new map proposed by Kehoe targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters.  If passed by the GOP-controlled legislature, the new map would likely flip Cleaver’s seat and give Republicans a seven-to-one advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation. Cleaver, whose seat is threatened, has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor. With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year’s midterms to win back the House majority, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms. Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats. In Illinois and Maryland, where Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats. And Democrats could pick up a seat in right-leaning Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering. 

Trump administration targets big pharma for deceptive drug advertising

Trump administration targets big pharma for deceptive drug advertising

The Trump administration is targeting “misleading drug advertisements” by initiating rule making to close a 1997 loophole that enables drug advertisers to conceal safety risks in broadcast and digital ads. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) sent thousands of warning letters across the pharmaceutical industry on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the letter told Fox that companies who practice widespread advertising like Hims/Hers are among those receiving the notice.  Fox News Digital also obtained a copy of a letter sent to a pharmaceutical company, which outlines concerns that “patients are not seeing a fair balance of the information regarding a drug product” and directing the company to “remove any noncompliant advertising and bring all promotional communications into compliance.” TRUMP SENDS LETTERS TO 17 PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ON REDUCING DRUG PRICES “For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H told Fox News Digital in a statement.  “Drug companies spend up to 25% of their budget on advertising.” “Those billions of dollars would be better spent on lowering drug prices for everyday Americans,” Makary added. The letters to various companies are being sent out over the course of Tuesday afternoon, and it is unclear whether any companies have had the opportunity to respond. Fox News Digital reached out to Hims/Hers but did not receive a response.  I WISH RFK JR.’S HEARING WAS ‘MORE PRODUCTIVE,’ FDA CHIEF SAYS The notice sent by the two health-related agencies also cites a 2024 review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research which showed that while every pharmaceutical social media post highlights drug benefits, only 33% of these companies mention potential harms. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), a law dating back to 1938 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, empowers the FDA to enact appropriate regulations for pharmaceutical advertising.  Social media advertisements also apply to the FDCA and regulations set forth by the FDCA. PSYCHEDELIC DRUG POPULAR IN 1960S COULD EASE ANXIETY AS DOCTORS SHARE WARNINGS “Patients deserve the truth about the medicines they’re prescribed,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “For nearly three decades, drug companies have gamed the system to mislead families while pocketing billions.  “Those days are over,” Kennedy continued. “We are restoring honesty and accountability in drug advertising to protect patients and rebuild public trust.” Per FDA regulations, a written warning letter, like the ones sent by the agency on Tuesday, is the first step in reprimanding drug companies and is one of the FDA’s most commonly used methods of enforcement.