New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrives for a press conference on federal cuts to healthcare at Lincoln Hospital on August 18, 2025 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday that she will sign an executive order allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer COVID-19 vaccines, saying it will allow New Yorkers to make “their own healthcare decisions.”
The announcement comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a grilling before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
“In the wake of relentless uncertainty and political attacks on science coming out of Washington, Governor Hochul is taking action to protect New Yorkers. She will sign an Executive Order allowing pharmacists to prescribe and administer COVID-19 vaccines, so families who want protection can get it quickly, safely, and close to home,” a statement from a spokesperson of Governor Hochul said. “This temporary order will ensure seamless access while the Governor works with the Legislature on a long-term solution to safeguard access to preventive care and vaccines.”
On Thursday during his hearing, Kennedy claimed that anyone can get COVID-19 vaccines at their pharmacy for free, however, pharmacies are being selective due to the limbo of federal regulations.
The FDA has approved the updated shots for only older and high-risk Americans, and the CDC vaccine panel is set to meet to discuss potential recommendations in a few weeks.
Amid the regulatory uncertainty, some pharmacies have said that access to the shots may vary state-by-state and may require a prescription.
“By signing this EO, Governor Hochul is making it clear that when Washington Republicans play politics with public health, New Yorkers will still be able make their own health care decisions and get the care they need from trusted providers in their community,” Governor Hochul’s spokesperson said.
Kennedy’s hearing, which lasted nearly three hours, was often contentious as he was grilled on everything from vaccine availability to his staffing shakeups at the CDC. Several Republicans on the panel expressed concern on vaccines, while Democrats accused Kennedy of breaking pledges he made during his confirmation hearing back in January.
(LONDON) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry again warned that Moscow will not accept the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine as part of a future peace deal, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met a group of top European leaders in Paris on Thursday.
“Russia does not intend to discuss unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form whatsoever,” spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in comments published by the Foreign Ministry on Thursday. “Western war instigators view Ukraine as a testing ground for their military developments,” she said.
Moscow has repeatedly rebuffed proposals for Western forces to be deployed to Ukraine in any capacity as part of a deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which began in February 2022.
Nonetheless, the prospect is still under discussion by NATO leaders and the Ukrainian government as an element of the security guarantees Kyiv says are needed to facilitate any U.S.-brokered peace deal.
Zakharova said Thursday that the protections under discussion “are not security guarantees for Ukraine, they are guarantees of threat to the European continent.”
The remarks came before Zelenskyy gathered with European leaders — the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” — for further talks in Paris on Thursday. The group also spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump, who called into the meeting, the White House said.
“President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war — as Russia received €1.1 billion in fuel sales from the EU in one year,” a White House official said following the call. “The president also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts.”
European and Canadian leaders finalized a plan outlining potential security guarantees for Ukraine, with 26 countries expressing readiness to take direct action, French President Emmanuel Macron announced following the meeting. Macron said several countries are prepared to contribute “on land, in the sea or in the air” to “reassure the people of Ukraine and maintain the ceasefire once it’s implemented, and maintain and guarantee peace.” “The plan will now be taken to the U.S. with the intention of formalizing it in the coming days,” Macron said.
Other European leaders who attended Thursday’s talks in Paris included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Several other European leaders joined the meeting virtually.
Trump also spoke with Zelenskyy on Thursday following the coalition meeting, with the Ukrainian president calling it a “long and very detailed conversation.”
Zelenskyy said they discussed various ways to “push the situation toward real peace,” with the “most important thing” being strong economic measures.
“The key to peace is depriving the Russian war machine of money and resources,” Zelenskyy said. “We also talked about maximum protection of Ukrainian skies. Until there is peace, Ukrainians must not be dependent on constant Russian attacks; Russian missiles and drones must not take lives. Ukraine proposed that the U.S. consider a special format for protecting Ukrainian skies.”
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Trump pushed back on one reporter’s suggestion of his “lack of action” on Russia in response to its continued offensive operations and long-range attacks in Ukraine, despite his repeated threats of further sanctions and tariffs on Moscow.
“How do you know there’s no action? Would you say that, putting secondary sanctions on India, the largest purchaser outside of China, they’re almost equal, would you say there was no action that costs hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia? You call that no action?” Trump said.
The president was referring to the recent imposition of 25% tariffs on all imported Indian goods in response to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy goods and military equipment.
“And I haven’t done phase two yet,” Trump continued. “Or phase three. But when you say there’s no action, I think you ought to get yourself a new job. Because if you remember, two weeks ago, I did — I said, if India buys, India’s got big problems. And that’s what happened. So don’t tell me about that.”
Trump and Putin met in Alaska nearly three weeks ago. After that event, Trump suggested that a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy should be the next step in the negotiations process.
The Kremlin has given no indication of its willingness to support such a meeting, though Putin suggested this week that a meeting could take place in Moscow.
Kyiv quickly dismissed that proposal. Foreign Minister Andri Sybiha said in a post to X, “Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday he had “no message” for Putin. “He knows where I stand, and he’ll make a decision one way or the other whatever his decision is will either be happy about it or unhappy and if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”
“We’ve taken very strong action, as you know, and in other ways we’ve taken very strong action,” Trump continued. “But I’ll be speaking to him over the next few days and we’re going to see with him. I’m going to know exactly what’s happened.”
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Hannah Demissie, Will Gretsky, Yulia Drozd, Somayeh Malekian and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Stock photo of a person taking LSD. Diy13/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Once a symbol of 1960s counterculture, the drug lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, is emerging from research labs as a possible treatment for anxiety.
Preliminary trial results published in the medical journal JAMA suggest that a single dose of MM120, an oral pharmaceutical formulation of LSD, can significantly reduce symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), offering a potential alternative to daily medications.
However, experts caution that these are early results, and many treatments that show promise in preliminary trials don’t always succeed in later studies.
Dr. Maurizio Fava, chair of the department of psychiatry at Mass General Brigham and Slater Family professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, was a senior author on the study. He contrasted MM120 with existing medications.
“All the treatments we currently have for generalized anxiety require daily medication, which means daily side effects,” Fava told ABC News. “Here, we see a single administration with side effects largely limited to the day of dosing, followed by benefits that last for weeks.”
Fava serves as an adviser to MindMed, the company that sponsored the trial, but said he receives no direct funding from the company.
Harriet De Wit, PhD, professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, praised the rigor of the research.
“It’s a very impressive study. It has four dose conditions, plus placebo, in a large number of subjects with well-balanced groups. The investigators are experts at clinical trial design, and I was very struck by the results,” she said.
The study enrolled 198 adults with moderate to severe anxiety at 22 sites across the U.S. Participants received either one dose of MM120 at different strengths or a placebo, and their symptoms were tracked for 12 weeks with a standard anxiety scale.
The strongest improvements came at the 100 and 200 microgram doses, with patients improving by about five to six points more than placebo. Benefits lasted up to three months after just one treatment.
Fava pointed out that the study was designed in a way that made it harder to show a benefit, because participants knew there was a good chance they would get LSD, which likely increased the placebo effect.
“Despite a significant placebo response, there was still a clear, robust difference at the higher LSD doses,” he said.
Unlike most psychedelic studies, this trial deliberately excluded therapy alongside the medication.
“What’s most remarkable about this study is that it did not involve any significant psychotherapy. That suggests the drug itself has long-lasting anti-anxiety effects,” De Wit said.
At the higher doses, most people had brief hallucinations or visual distortions, along with some nausea and headaches. Serious side effects were rare.
“All 40 people assigned to the 200-microgram dose reported perceptual changes. That may be part of the therapeutic effect — we don’t know. But it wasn’t necessarily an adverse effect,” De Wit said.
Still, LSD’s long duration — often eight to twelve hours — poses challenges for clinical use.
“For safety reasons, I feel very strongly that drugs with psychedelic properties should be administered in a healthcare clinic, not at home,” Fava cautioned.
For decades, LSD was regarded primarily as a risky hallucinogen, but attitudes are shifting as evidence builds for its potential medical uses, De Wit noted.
“It’s very impressive that a single administration had effects lasting eight or even 12 weeks. But these participants were carefully screened. We need to know how safe it is in broader populations,” she said.
Fava stressed the need for larger trials to confirm the study’s results and noted that phase 3 trials are already underway.
Meanwhile, De Wit praised the current research as a step in the right direction.
” … there should be more studies like this,” she said.
Christian S. Monsalve, M.D is a Psychiatrist and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Dr. Lisa Gwynn says Florida’s vaccine decision will create ‘perfect storm’ for diseases. ABC News.
(FLORIDA) — A top Florida pediatrician warned Thursday that the state’s plan to eliminate all vaccine mandates could lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases and put vulnerable populations at risk.
Dr. Lisa Gwynn, a former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter, told ABC News that removing vaccine requirements for public school children could endanger not just students, but also “newborn infants, elderly populations, and people with compromised immune systems, including those undergoing chemotherapy.”
The warning came a day after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the state would become the first in the nation to remove all vaccine mandates, including those for common childhood diseases like polio, measles, chickenpox, and tetanus. Currently, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., require certain vaccinations for school attendance.
“It’s not just about parental choice,” Gwynn explained to ABC News. “When children are in close contact in classrooms, that’s a perfect storm for these types of diseases to spread.”
Gwynn argued that existing exemption policies already provide options for parents who oppose vaccination.
“There are other ways parents can achieve choice for their children,” she said. “As pediatricians, we work together with parents so they can make informed decisions.”
She also raised concerns about health equity, noting that removing mandates could create a “case of the haves and have-nots.” Children from under-resourced communities who lack access to regular medical care might enter school unvaccinated not by choice, but due to healthcare barriers, she explained.
School entry vaccination mandates are determined by each state. All states allow medical vaccine exemptions, and most states already have exemption policies in place for people with strong religious objections, in an effort to balance the need for public health with the ideal of individual freedom of choice. Some states allow exemption based on personal belief alone.
Florida’s decision to end vaccine mandates comes amid broader changes in national health policy. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday to discuss the administration’s healthcare agenda, following recent shake-ups at both the FDA and CDC.
“These changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard public health agency with the central mission of protecting Americans from infectious disease,” Kennedy said.
Ladapo defended the decision to end mandates on Wednesday, calling them “an immoral intrusion on people’s rights” during his announcement at Grace Christian School in Valrico, Florida.
Gwynn countered this view, pointing to decades of research supporting vaccination programs.
“Public health measures have saved millions of lives,” she told ABC News. “School vaccination requirements have been the best public health achievement of this century.”
A spokesperson for the Florida Surgeon General’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(LONDON) — Another earthquake has hit eastern Afghanistan as the death toll from Sunday’s powerful earthquake climbed to 2,205, with another 3,640 people injured, a Taliban government spokesman said Thursday.
The Thursday earthquake was a moderate 5.6 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. It was still unclear whether the new quake caused further damage.
Search and rescue efforts from the initial quake are ongoing in the affected areas, according to Taliban spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat, who provided the updated casualty numbers via social media.
“Tents have been installed for displaced families in multiple locations,” he said, “and the organized distribution of primary and urgent humanitarian assistance is currently underway.”
The 6.0 magnitude quake struck just before midnight on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A series of aftershocks struck amid rescue efforts, including a 5.2 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday about 20 miles northeast of Jalalabad, according to the USGS.
Members of the National Guard are seen standing near the Washington Monument, on September 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Army is extending orders for the Washington, D.C., National Guard to remain on active duty in the nation’s capital through Nov. 30, two U.S. officials told ABC News Thursday.
President Donald Trump could still cut the mission shorter than Nov. 30 if desired — or extend the deployment past that date, the officials noted. That essentially leaves the deployment open-ended for now.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll signed off on the plan on Wednesday, enabling Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, to update the initial orders.
The Nov. 30 plan for the estimated 950 members of the D.C. Guard, which has not been previously reported, does not apply to the other 1,300 troops deployed to D.C. from other states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Those troops remain under the control of their governors with many of them already under orders to remain through the end of December, one of the officials said.
Blanchard alluded to the plan in a video message on X released Thursday.
“Our mission is not complete,” he said. “I’ve made the decision to extend the encampment as we continue to work to ensure everyone that walks these city streets is safe.”
Trump mobilized the D.C. National Guard last month to address what he insisted was “out of control” crime.
Since then, troops have been seen hanging out around the National Mall and other low-crime areas, often posing with tourists or spreading mulch as part of Trump’s “beautification” project.
According to the latest update provided by the Guard, troops have cleaned roadways, collected more than 677 bags of trash and disposed of five truckloads of plant waste in coordination with the U.S. National Park Service.
The decision to extend the Guard through Nov. 30 was a practical one, sources told ABC News. Instead of reupping orders every 14 to 29 days as is typical, the troops can plan on the extended stay.
National Guard troops typically leave other full-time civilian jobs during the deployment, and this would allow their employers to make other arrangements, officials say.
The plan also ensures there would be no gap in pay or benefits, which can happen when tours of duty need to be reapproved several times.
A spokesperson for Joint Task Force-DC told ABC News that all Guards members who are deployed to D.C. have already been extended beyond initial orders — some which would have lapsed on Sept.10 — in order to secure their eligibility for benefits including pay and health care.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice is suing Southern California Edison over the Eaton Fire, seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages for alleged negligence it claims led to the deadly fire.
The January fire, one of the most destructive in California history, killed 19 people and burned over 14,000 acres, including nearly 8,000 acres of land in the Angeles National Forest, officials said.
A cause remains under investigation, according to Cal Fire. However, the DOJ alleges that the fire was ignited “from faulty power infrastructure owned, maintained, and operated” by Southern California Edison.
The Justice Department is also suing the utility company for damages caused by the 2022 Fairview Fire, which killed two people and burned over 28,000 acres, including nearly 14,000 acres within the San Bernardino National Forest, officials said.
State fire officials determined the fire started after a SoCal Edison power line came into contact with a Frontier communications messenger cable, creating an arc and causing sparks to fall and ignite the vegetation below.
“The lawsuits filed today allege a troubling pattern of negligence resulting in death, destruction, and tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars spent to clean up one utility company’s mistakes,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “We hope that today’s filings are the first step in causing the beginnings of a culture change at Southern California Edison, one that will make it a responsible, conscientious company that helps — not harms — our community. Hardworking Californians should not pick up the tab for Edison’s negligence.”
The DOJ said it is seeking over $40 million in damages from the Eaton Fire for costs incurred by the U.S. Forest Service, including fire suppression and rehabilitation. It is seeking to recover some $37 million for damages from the Fairview Fire, it said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — People who use their smartphones while sitting on the toilet face are at higher risk for painful, itchy hemorrhoids, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One.
Researchers investigated the bathroom habits of 125 adults undergoing screening colonoscopies at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. About two-thirds of participants reported scrolling through their smartphones while sitting on the toilet.
Those who were glued to their phone while using the bathroom were 46% more likely to have hemorrhoids compared to those who left their device in another room.
“The likely explanation is that prolonged sitting increases pressure in the veins around the rectum, which can contribute to hemorrhoids,” Dr. Ernesto Gonzaga, a gastroenterologist from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and who did not contribute to the study, told ABC News.
Scrollers spent a longer time on the toilet, the researchers found — about five times as many smartphone users logged over five minutes of toilet time per visit. When researchers asked what they were doing on their phones while doing their business, people confessed to catching up on the news, cruising through their social media feeds, or sending emails and texts.
Gonzaga pointed out that phone users also reported getting less exercise than non-users, suggesting that their broader lifestyle patterns could also contribute to their risk of hemorrhoids.
Hemorrhoids are swollen blood vessels around the anus and rectum, according to the National Institutes of Health. They can cause itching, pain and discomfort, and in many cases, they can also lead to rectal bleeding. Studies show that they are common in both men and women and affect about 1 in 20 Americans and about half of adults over 50 years old have hemorrhoids.
They are mainly treated with more fiber and fluids, soothing creams or sitz baths, and in tougher cases, they may require surgery.
“In clinical practice, we still recognize the more classical risk factors for hemorrhoids, including constipation, straining, low fiber intake, prolonged toilet sitting, pregnancy, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle. Constipation and abnormal bowel habits are particularly strong risk factors, while high fiber intake is protective,” Gonzaga said.
Gonzaga noted that the study does have some limitations. It looked at a small number of subjects and relied on self-reporting, so it doesn’t necessarily prove that phone use on the toilet is a direct cause of hemorrhoids, he said. He called for more research to get to the bottom of it.
“Given that hemorrhoids already account for millions of outpatient visits and substantial healthcare costs, these findings raise a broader public health concern about a growing burden of disease, potentially extending into younger populations as smartphone use,” he added.
Noor Shaik, MD, PhD, is a neurology resident physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — New York Attorney General Letitia James sent formal notice Thursday that her office will appeal a decision last month that threw out the half billion-dollar civil fraud penalty imposed on President Donald Trump in his civil fraud case.
The attorney general’s office filed a notice of appeal, signaling it will ask the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to reinstate the penalty and the finding that Trump, his eldest sons and his business were liable for a decade’s worth of business fraud.
The single-page notice contained no argument and did not say on what grounds the state would base its appeal of the decision by the intermediate appellate court.
Last month’s decision was expected to end up before the Court of Appeals since the five judges of the Appellate Division’s First Department were split over whether Trump was properly found liable, whether James had the authority to bring the case, and whether it should be retried.
After a three-month civil trial last year, New York Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for committing a decade of business fraud by inflating his net worth to secure better business deals.
In his written decision, Engoron said that Trump and his co-defendants engaged in frauds that “leap off the page and shock the conscience” including wrongly claiming that Trump’s penthouse was three times its actual size and valuing his Mar-a-Lago estate as a personal residence, rather than a social club.
(LOWELL, Mass.) — An individual seen wielding what appeared to be a firearm near a Massachusetts university dormitory, prompting a shelter-in-place order and large law enforcement response, has been identified as a juvenile holding an airsoft replica firearm, police said Thursday.
The Lowell Police Department said it received a report of a person possibly armed with a gun on the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s campus just before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, which marked the first day of classes for undergraduate students.
A video widely circulated online showed an individual walking with what appeared to be a firearm near a UMass Lowell dormitory on Wednesday.
The university issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order and canceled classes and events for the rest of the day.
Multiple agencies responded, including local and state police, with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also providing assistance. Officers searched the grounds and a drone, K9s and a police air unit were deployed.
The shelter-in-place was ultimately lifted shortly after 5:15 p.m. Wednesday when authorities “determined the suspect was no longer in the vicinity,” UMass Lowell said in a statement.
There were no shots fired or any injuries, Lowell Police Chief Ron Dickerson said Wednesday.
Lowell police said Thursday they recovered the weapon, which was confirmed to be an airsoft replica firearm. The individual was identified as a juvenile male, police said.
“While the reported firearm in this case was ultimately determined to be an airsoft gun, our community can be certain that, as in this case, the Lowell Police Department will always utilize all available resources until the safety of all involved is assured,” Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon said in a statement.
Police did not release any more details on the juvenile, including his age, how they identified him, what he was doing on campus or if any charges are possible. ABC News has reached out for more information.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
