Texas measles cases are underreported, response hurt by funding cuts, CDC scientist says
Measles cases in Texas are underreported and the response by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is impacted by recent funding cuts, a scientist said. “We do believe that there’s quite a large amount of cases that are not reported and underreported,” Dr. David Sugerman, CDC Senior Scientist, said during an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Tuesday. “In working very closely with our colleagues in Texas, in talking with families, they may mention prior cases that have recovered and never received testing. Other families that may have cases and never sought treatment,” he said. Sugerman took media questions following his presentation on the U.S. measles outbreak. Since measles was declared eliminated by the World Health Organization in 2000, there have been 11 large outbreaks in the U.S. with more than 50 cases, Sugerman said. TEXAS MEASLES OUTBREAK SWELLS TO 561 CASES, CDC SENDS MORE HELP “Seven of these outbreaks occurred in the last five years and nine were among close-knit communities with low vaccine coverage,” he said. “There are funding limitations in light of COVID-19 funding dissipating,” Sugerman said, referring to $12 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services hit by DOGE cuts last month, The Austin American-Statesman reported. VITAMIN A AS MEASLES TREATMENT? RFK JR.’S COMMENTS SPARK DISCUSSION OF BENEFITS AND RISKS “They are mobilizing the resources they have and moving staff from other domains into measles, moving them from other regions into region one in particular,” Sugerman said. Measles cases have continued to surge in Texas since the outbreak first began in late January. State health officials reported 561 confirmed cases across 23 counties on Tuesday, an increase of 20 from April 11. Gaines County, the center of the outbreak in west Texas, now accounts for nearly 65% of the state’s total cases. Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
Vietnam: 50 Years of Forgetting
The granddaughter of a Vietnamese hero explores the enduring legacy of the Vietnam War on her family and country. The 50-minute documentary 50 Years of Forgetting explores the enduring impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of contemporary Vietnamese. Prompted by a letter from an American veteran, filmmaker Mai Huyen Chi embarks on a personal and national investigation. Chi’s quest begins by unravelling the story of her war hero grandfather who fought for the winning North, a figure shrouded in family silence. As that soon meets its dissatisfying end, she embarks on a journey across Vietnam and meets people whose lives were shaped by some of the most traumatic events of the war: the Battle of Hue in 1968, the Christmas bombing in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. Their experiences, filled with both resilience and loss, force Chi to confront her own family’s buried truths. She discovers the story of her aunt married to a pilot on the losing Southern side who fled, highlighting the war’s fracturing impact on Vietnamese families across generations. The exploration becomes deeply personal. Chi confronts a harsh reality: Her own cousin suffers from the debilitating effects of Agent Orange, a cruel consequence of the war that continues to inflict pain on countless Vietnamese. By weaving these diverse narratives together, 50 Years of Forgetting transcends the Vietnam War to explore universal themes of conflict and its enduring legacies. Will past lessons be forgotten? Can Vietnam build a collective memory that honours the sacrifices of millions of people when those who endured years of brutality during the Vietnam War are trying so hard to forget? Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Israel kills children in attacks on tents including Gaza’s “safe zone”
NewsFeed Israeli air attacks on tents in Gaza have killed at least 35 Palestinians in the past 24 hours. A strike on a camp sheltering forcibly displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ burned several people alive. Published On 17 Apr 202517 Apr 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Easter overshadowed by war for Christians in Palestine
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Palestinian Christians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza find little joy beset by war and conflict.
Good Friday 2025: Check what’s open and closed on April 18 across India
Here’s a detailed look at what will remain open and closed on Good Friday 2025.
See how Texas House members voted on school vouchers
The House approved historic legislation that would implement school vouchers in Texas. Here’s how each representative voted.
Controversial defense program tied to DEI-laden contractor could be in crosshairs of DOGE: ‘Poster child’
FIRST ON FOX: One of the top defense contractors in the United States, which has a history of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), is facing heat over a massive government contract that critics say should be a prime target for Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts. The Air Force’s Sentinel program, a massive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project serving as the successor to the Minuteman III program ensuring the future viability of the land-based leg of America’s nuclear triad, has been mired in controversy and slowdowns as Northrop Grumman was awarded the development contract and the endeavor has gone from a $96 billion program to at least $141 billion in recent years. The Pentagon ordered Northrop Grumman to pause development earlier this year due to “evolving launch facility requirements”, Defense One reported. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported last year that the intercontinental ballistic missile program survived a Pentagon review, but it was found that the cost overrun jumped from 37% to 81%. Northrop Grumman, which had not previously designed an ICBM, was awarded a $13 billion contract in September 2020 for full-scale development of the program to replace the Minuteman III, and the Pentagon has estimated that the total cost of developing its new ICBM program could cost up to $264 billion over the next few decades, Bloomberg reported. BILL MAHER CALLS OUT ELON MUSK, DOGE FOR NOT TAKING ‘CHAINSAW’ TO DEFENSE SPENDING The awarding of the contract was controversial in its own right, after Boeing dropped out of the bidding, claiming that the process was rigged against it, Responsible Statecraft reported. “The massive expansion of costs for Northrop Grumman’s Minuteman III program is the case example for why poorly-scoped, blank check programs are a bad idea,” a senior Republican Congressional official who works on defense policy told Fox News Digital. “This is bad for national security, bad for taxpayers, and Republicans will fix this mess that Biden’s team created,” the official added. Questions have also been raised by some in recent years about whether the Sentinel program is even necessary, including at a Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group press conference last year, when former Democratic Congressman John Tierney said that Sentinel “does not add to our security” and could “actually make us less safe.” DOGE INITIAL FINDINGS ON DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DEI SPENDING COULD SAVE $80M, AGENCY SAYS “When will the blank checks to cover spiraling costs end?” Tierney said. “The Sentinel ICBM program is just the latest in a long list of Pentagon programs that are over budget, behind schedule and of questionable utility.” Tierney added that he believes the “only value” of recent ICBM development is “to the defense contractors who line their fat pockets with large cost overruns at the expense of our taxpayers.” “It has got to stop,” he said. An Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it is taking “deliberate” steps to ensure that the Sentinel program is running as cost-efficiently as possible while enhancing oversight at the same time. “We continue to advance the engineering design and maturity of the program with Northrop Grumman, working closely with the company to drive down costs and improve schedule performance,” the spokesperson added. The Air Force also pointed to a previous comment from Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, during a symposium in March that stressed the importance of the Sentinel program. “We own two-thirds of the triad and three-fourths of the nuclear command and control of communications,” Allvin said. “We own the nuclear deterrence. So more Air Force means more nuclear deterrence…We have to have the most reliable, the most safe, the most effective nuclear deterrent. That means sentinel, yes…I believe we need more nuclear deterrence for our nation. It’s a solemn responsibility. It’s not an option.” Amid the cost overruns and headaches from the ICBM program, Northrop Grumman adopted and promoted an agenda focused on DEI in recent years and was one of several defense contractors that have attempted to scrub their websites of DEI in the wake of the Trump administration’s pledge to rid the government of the ideology. Northrop Grumman’s 2023 annual report mentions DEI as “vital to our culture and our company’s success. Our ability to leverage the power of our diverse workforce enhances employee engagement and enables us to innovate, perform and deliver on quality, which results in value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.” The report also touted its minority hiring practices and stated that 25% of its employees are female, 37% people of color, 18% veterans and 8% people with disabilities. “Diversity Has a Home at Northrop Grumman,” a YouTube video from ClearanceJobs says in a post that features Northrop Grumman employees discussing the diversity of the company. “Northrop’s Sentinel Program is a DOGE poster child,” a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. “Not only did they practice DEI, the program is ineffective, delayed, and wasting billions of taxpayer money. Musk would have a field day.” DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have affected essentially every area of government, including the Defense Department, which recently announced that over $580 million worth of contracts have been canceled as Democrats continue to blast the efforts and make the case that DOGE cuts are detrimental to the country. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes, billions of dollars spent on pricey consulting firms, grants and NGO‘s—the self-serving bureaucrats in Washington DC have found a million different ways to rip-off the American taxpayer,” special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. “I’m working very closely with DOGE at the agency President Trump asked me to oversee. Our DOGE team is not political, they are practical. They know that it’s not practical for the U.S. government to continue spending the way it has been. Our country won’t survive unless we cut back right now, and the hard-working men and women across this country support that.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Northrop Grumman touted recent progress in the program. “We continue to make substantial
Trump hailed for restoring gun rights as GOP fights Biden-era policies
FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican is leading a formal rebuke of the Biden administration’s gun control policies on Thursday. House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, is introducing a resolution slamming the Democrat former president while lauding the current White House “as they work to protect Second Amendment freedoms by reviewing and eliminating any of the Biden administration’s infringements on [Americans’] constitutional freedoms.” The resolution is backed by at least 14 of Williams’ fellow House Republicans. NRA LEGISLATIVE EXPERT SAYS GUN RIGHTS COULD SEE ‘MOST MONUMENTAL’ WIN IN CONGRESS SINCE 2005 “For too long, the Biden administration and radical leftists went to extreme lengths to criminalize law-abiding gun owners, jeopardizing the Second Amendment,” he told Fox News Digital of the legislation. “My resolution reaffirms congressional support for the Second Amendment and commends President Trump’s actions to protect American gun owners by dismantling Biden’s infringements on our constitutional freedoms.” Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in, President Donald Trump ordered her to begin a 30-day review to find any “ongoing infringements” of the Second Amendment by the federal government. Just over a month later, Bondi commissioned a new Second Amendment task force to “combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” she said last week. The DOJ this month also repealed a Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, revoking licenses from firearm dealers who “willfully” violate existing rules. Gun rights groups, however, argued the rule places an undue burden on firearm dealers for making unintended clerical errors. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION The GOP resolution “disapproves of the Biden administration’s gun-control agenda and hostility toward the lawful gun industry,” according to legislative text obtained by Fox News Digital. It also “supports President Trump’s actions to repeal harmful policies imposed by the Biden administration on law-abiding gunowners (sic); and commends President Trump’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and defending the constitutional right to bear arms.” The resolution, which is also backed by the National Rifle Association, is being introduced to coincide with Second Amendment Day on Thursday.
Top health official accuses RFK Jr’s agency of ‘censorship’
A top official at the National Institutes of Health announced his abrupt retirement from the agency after 21 years, complaining about censorship under the leadership of HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. NIH senior investigator Kevin Hall complained that he “experienced censorship” during his investigation of ultra-processed food addiction. “After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology,” Hall wrote in a lengthy post on social media. “Lately, I’ve focused on unraveling the reasons why diets high in ultra-processed food are linked to epidemic proportions of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Our research leads the world on this topic,” he continued. ‘HEALTHY SNACK TIME’ WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS LAUNCHED BY SECRETARIES ROLLINS, RFK JR. Hall said that he was initially encouraged by Kennedy’s public statements about chronic illness and problems with America’s food systems. However, he says he “experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.” “I wrote to my agency’s leadership expressing my concerns and requested time to discuss these issues, but I never received a response,” Hall added. The NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Hall’s claims come days after Kennedy visited FDA employees last week and reportedly told them that “the Deep State is real.” RFK JR. PLANS TO DIRECT CDC TO STOP RECOMMENDING FLUORIDE IN WATER “President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said according to Politico, which reported it obtained an audio recording and transcript of the secretary’s remarks. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.” According to multiple reports, Kennedy pointed the finger at “institutional pressures.” Kennedy also reportedly said the FDA had become a “sock puppet” of the industries it was meant to regulate. NBC News reported that Kennedy said that this was the case with “every agency,” not just the FDA.
Top Pentagon official John Ullyot to resign at end of week: report
Former Trump national security aide and Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot reportedly will resign at the end of the week. His sudden departure comes after Sean Parnell took over the role of the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson in February. “I made clear to Secretary [Pete] Hegseth before the inauguration that I was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs,” Ullyot told Politico, reportedly adding that he had offered to help on an acting basis for two months. “Last month, as that time approached, the secretary and I talked and could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD. So I informed him today that I will be leaving at the end of this week,” Ullyot said. PENTAGON DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF IS SECOND HEGSETH ADVISOR REMOVED DURING LEAK INVESTIGATION The Department of Defense did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. During the first Trump administration, Ullyot served as the spokesperson for the National Security Council and was an assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Marine Corps veteran also served as a senior adviser in President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. TOP HEGSETH ADVISOR DAN CALDWELL PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE Ullyot’s resignation will come as three Pentagon officials have been placed on administrative leave this week as part of a leak investigation. Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was put on leave on Wednesday, according to Politico. The day before, Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell were removed. Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure,” as part of an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents. The probe was announced last month and concerned itself over “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.