A passenger at Boston Logan was stung by a scorpion while retrieving her luggage in the baggage claim area of customs, according to police. (Massport)
(BOSTON) — A passenger at Boston Logan was stung by a scorpion while retrieving her luggage in the baggage claim area of customs, according to police.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Sunday evening while she was at Logan Airport Terminal E picking up her bags after flying back from Mexico when she was suddenly stung on her finger by a scorpion, according to statements from the Massachusetts State Police and Boston EMS.
She was taken to a nearby hospital for immediate treatment, according to the police and Boston EMS.
Authorities did not immediately disclose her condition following the sting and it is unclear how the scorpion ended up on her bag at the airport.
“While most scorpion stings are not serious, medical attention may be needed for pain management and wound care, including preventive tetanus vaccine,” according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. “Young children may be more likely to develop neurologic symptoms and need urgent treatment.”
Scorpions are not typically found in the Boston area but over 2,000 species of the predatory arachnids exist worldwide, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“Scorpions can be found on every continent except Antarctica but are most commonly seen in subtropical and tropical areas of the world,” the CDC says. “Scorpion stings often cause intense pain and redness, but venom from some species can cause severe illness, affecting the heart, nervous system, and other organs. Manifestations include agitation, arrhythmias, bleeding and other coagulation disorders, pancreatitis, uncontrollable muscle spasms, shock, and even death.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter filed a defamation suit Monday against an Alabama woman who claimed he raped her when she was 13 in a since-withdrawn civil lawsuit.
Carter’s lawsuit said the woman, identified as Jane Doe, timed her claim “to inflict maximum pain and suffering on Mr. Carter” to extort payments from him.
The lawsuit also named the woman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney, whom Jay-Z alleged “were soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency.”
The woman initially claimed that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs took turns sexually assaulting her when she was 13 at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Both men denied the allegation.
Jane Doe withdrew her lawsuit last month after Carter raised questions about the veracity of her account and his attorney sought sanctions against Buzbee.
“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story. She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday,” Carter’s defamation lawsuit said.
“But the extortion and abuse of Mr. Carter by Doe and her lawyers must stop,” it continued.
In response, Buzbee released a statement saying, “Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She hasn’t, and won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears that the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe.”
He added, “This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
ABC News’ Jennifer Leong contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The website of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency provided its third weekly update of federal government cost-cutting Sunday night, claiming total government savings of $105 billion, up from the $65 billion it claimed in last week’s update — but the figure remains unverifiable as the site still says it’s posted only a fraction of the receipts supporting this total.
In its latest update to its “Savings” page, DOGE continued to update — and in some cases delete — contracts that it had previously listed as having saved up to billions of dollars in federal funds, after media outlets, experts and others publicly questioned details of the contracts.
In all, DOGE listed a total of 2,334 canceled contracts on its latest “Wall of Receipts,” with the savings from those contracts amounting to $8.8 billion.
The amount is actually lower than the $9.6 billion in claimed savings from 2,299 contracts posted on its “Wall of Receipts” last week, reflecting the difficulty in pinpointing exactly what DOGE is cutting and by how much.
Similar to last week, DOGE claims in this week’s update that the $105 billion figure is based on a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”
The site, however, only provides receipts for a fraction of that number. In addition to the $8.8 billion alleged savings in canceled contracts, the new data on the site lists $660 million worth of real estate leases under the GSA that were canceled, and, for the first time, it lists federal government grants that have been terminated, totaling $10.3 billion.
Among the contracts that have been deleted from DOGE’s latest “Wall of Receipts” is the biggest contract it had listed as having canceled last week: a seven-year blanket purchase agreement from the IRS with $1.9 billion cap for “IT strategy and modernization.”
The website removed this contract from its “Wall of Receipts” after the vendor, financial management and IT company Centennial Technologies, told the New York Times last month that the contract was actually canceled last fall, under the Biden administration.
The previous week, DOGE had to revise down its largest claimed savings contract from $8 billion to $8 million after the contract’s vendor explained that the $8 billion listed on it procurement record was likely a clerical error.
Another contract that was removed from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” in the latest updated was a five-year $150 million USAID contract under the Asia Futures Activity initiative, aimed at serving the USAID’s Asia Bureau to solve “interconnected challenges of economic growth, democratic governance, and resilience in the face of increasing health, climate, and food security threats.”
Representatives for the Cadmus Group, which had received that contract, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
DOGE also deleted from its latest “Wall of Receipts” what appeared to be a $149 million National Institute of Health contract awarded to software company Advanced Automation Technologies.
Last week, the DOGE website listing that contract linked to a different NIH contract for leasing and maintaining refrigerated gas tanks. An NIH contract with Advanced Automation Technologies that shares the same contract ID is capped at just $1.4 million — not the $149 million figure that had been listed by DOGE.
Other terminated contracts listed in this week’s data include a USAID contract for the Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative with a $256 million ceiling, from which DOGE claims to have saved $170 million that has yet to be obligated to the contractor.
Another newly listed canceled contract is the USAID’s Global Health Training, Advisory, and Support Contract program, a multi-year program that started in 2021 and was capped at $682 million through 2029. DOGE claims to have saved $284 million by terminating this program.
The single biggest contract listed this week is a seven-year IT services contract from the USAID to the vendor Salient CRGT Inc., with a $597 million ceiling.
Similar to last week’s data, DOGE now lists more than 940 contracts where contract obligations have already been fully delivered — meaning that 40% of the contracts they claim to have terminated will not actually result in saving any money.
Asked about contracts that list $0 in savings last week, a White House official told ABC News that they’re using a conservative methodology of calculating savings because they subtract the contracts’ obligated dollars from the ceiling amounts. However, for many contracts the ceiling dollars are much higher than what is actually expected to be spent.
For the $10.3 billion in federal grants the sites says it’s terminated, DOGE lists each of the 3,389 grants with the name of the awarding agency and the amount of each grant, but does not lists the grant’s name or purpose.
So far, much of the claimed savings from these grants have come from the USAID — totaling $8.7 billion — followed by $1.1 billion from the State Department, $472 million from the Education Department and $61 million from the EPA.
DOGE has also updated its list of real estate leases that have been terminated, totaling $660 million. But much of the data is now missing information regarding which agency the leases were under, whereas the site previously listed leases from across more than 40 agencies.
The current data shows $143 million worth of real estate leases under the GSA that were terminated, and the rest of the terminated leases– totaling $516 million — do not list their agencies.
DOGE said last week that it would begin updating its website twice a week, but the current update, like the first two, came after a week.
Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — WWE co-founder Linda McMahon was confirmed as the U.S. secretary of education Monday night by a party line vote of 51-45.
Four senators — Republicans Cynthia Lummis and Shelley Moore Capito and Democrats Elissa Slotkin and Peter Welch — missed the vote.
Moments after being confirmed, McMahon was sworn in at the Department of Education.
In a post on X, McMahon said she intended to “make good” on President Donald Trump’s promises to make U.S. education the best in the world, return education to the states and free students from bureaucracy through school choice.
McMahon, who previously served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, will be tasked with shutting down the federal agency she was confirmed to lead.
At a White House event last month, Trump said, “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. I want her to put herself out of a job, Education Department.”
“I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump added.
Sources told ABC News the president is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week calling for McMahon to diminish the education department and work with Congress to pass legislation that would eliminate it. The move would fulfill Trump’s campaign promise of returning education back to the states.
However, Trump’s directive will not stand without congressional approval, according to experts who’ve spoken to ABC News. Any proposed legislation would likely fail without 60 votes in the Senate.
The Trump loyalist and donor acknowledged she needed Congress to carry out the president’s vision.
“We’d like to do this right,” McMahon said during her February confirmation hearing, adding, “that certainly does require congressional action.”
McMahon, 76, earned her teaching certification from East Carolina University. She is a champion of apprenticeship and workforce training programs, school choice, and parental rights.
McMahon also had two stints serving on the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University, where she is currently the Treasurer. She served on the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009.
She also co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment with her husband Vince McMahon.
McMahon allies believe the secretary will be an agent of change, a disrupter, and the dismantler that the Department of Education needs. Department skeptics also stress that the federal agency spends too much on education without adequate academic results.
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg, who said he met with McMahon last week for roughly 30 minutes, celebrated her victory.
“Secretary McMahon has demonstrated she is a fierce advocate for our youth,” Walberg said in a statement to ABC News. “Her leadership and experience both in education and business will help ensure we are setting our students up for successful futures.”
Across Capitol Hill, there was sobering reaction from opponents to the business executive and wrestling legend’s confirmation.
“I’m highly concerned that her interest in destroying the Department of Education will mean children with special needs will not be able to access individualized education plans, that our lower-income students will be able to afford college and higher education, and that our school districts will lose out on critical funding to meet the needs and well being of their students,” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said after the vote.
Public education advocate Bernie Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate’s education committee, told ABC News that McMahon’s confirmation could be potentially devastating for Americans.
“If you are a working-class person, if you are a low income person, the help that your community is now getting will likely be killed,” Sanders said.
And critics labeled McMahon as a disastrous choice for the students and educators across the U.S. who rely on the statutorily authorized education programs, like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Title I funding for low-income families. Dozens of civil rights groups opposed McMahon’s confirmation, including the NAACP.
“This is an agency we cannot afford to dismantle,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson wrote in a statement to ABC News.
“Her confirmation brings us one step closer to losing our Department of Education — the agency that not only funds public schools, but advocates for our teachers and enforces essential civil rights laws.”
Meanwhile, in her quest to diminish the agency Secretary McMahon assured lawmakers that she is not cutting the public school funding for 50 million American students. McMahon said she is looking into moving the department’s essential functions, like civil rights protections and its non-discrimination laws for students with disabilities, to other agencies.
“Why do you think that it is better to stick the functions dealing with children with disabilities in a huge department that will not have the same priorities,” Sen. Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester asked during McMahon’s confirmation hearing.
“The bottom line is, because it’s not working,” McMahon said.
“The Department of Education was set up in 1980 and since that time, we have spent almost a trillion dollars. We have watched our performance scores continue to go down. I do believe that it is a responsibility to make sure that our children have equal access to excellent education. I think that is best handled at the state level,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democratic leaders stood in support of Social Security benefits on Monday in the wake of the Social Security Administration’s announcement it’s planning to cut 7,000 jobs as part of “significant workforce reductions.”
“Now we know that something we Senate Democrats have feared for a long time is coming true. Social Security is under attack and at risk,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a Capitol Hill news conference.
Schumer, Senate Finance Committee’s Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also at the news conference, said that the Social Security workforce cuts are just a pitstop Republicans are making on the road to privatizing the critical benefits system.
“DOGE’s attack on Social Security, in my view, is a first step on the path to privatizing Social Security,” Wyden said, referring to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
The leaders also blasted Musk’s recent characterization of Social Security as a ‘Ponzi scheme.’
“Elon Musk says it’s a Ponzi scheme. The richest man in the world is telling Americans that earned benefits that they depend on and they paid into are a scam. They are not a scam. And if Americans know it,” Schumer said.
Asked about the Biden-appointed former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley’s recent prediction that a system collapse and an interruption of benefits could come within the next 30-90 days, Murray responded that the recent cuts to workforce and offices would be a “disaster.”
“Yeah, I mean, when you’re firing this many people, closing that many offices — don’t have people to write the checks, you are looking for disaster,” Murray said.
A government-funding connection?
Asked if Democrats would insist on preventing the cuts as part of a deal to bring a temporary funding (‘CR’ or continuing resolution) bill up for a vote, to keep the government open, Murray said “We are looking at a number of different” things pertaining to a funding deal.
“I’ll just say this. The only one who wants a shutdown right now is Elon Musk … nobody else wants a shutdown. We are all working to get this done,” Murray said.
Murray said that the best way to fund the government and avoid a shutdown would be through a CR.
“In my opinion, the best way to do this is to do a short-term CR. Our committees are capable of getting this done with this short term CR, and ready to go to work.”
She also said the White House sending an “anomalies” list to Congress was “completely inadequate” and then reaffirmed that Democrats were “at the table” and “ready” to pass a short-term CR.
Working with House Democrats to block Social Security cuts
Schumer referenced former President George W. Bush’s proposed cuts to Social Security programs in 2005, likening his current plans to work with House members in order to block any rollbacks to the work he did with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid 20 years ago.
“We got together. We said we’re going to fight it, and we won. I will tell the American people, we’re getting together, House and Senate Democrats, we’re going to fight it, and guess what? We’re going to prevent the cuts,” Schumer said.
“But we need your help,” he said. “We need every person who’s a recipient or would-be recipient who would like to get this benefit to call their congressmen– their Republican congressman and senators — and give one simple sentence. ‘Hands off my Social Security.'”
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have insisted that Republicans won’t try to cut Social Security benefits or benefits from other entitlement programs.
(MIAMI) — A couple was arrested after allegedly attempting to board an American Airlines flight without authorization, leading to a physical altercation in which one individual allegedly threw coffee on an airline staff member, police said.
The incident occurred on Sunday at Miami International Airport as passengers were preparing to board American Airlines flight 2494 traveling from Miami to Cancún.
Rafael Seirafe-Novaes and Beatriz Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia “ignored the signs and verbal commands from the ticket agent” and allegedly pushed past the agent and others to enter the jet bridge, according to a police report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
According to the report, the couple “were denied boarding and became irate at which time they pushed the two victims,” and Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia allegedly “threw coffee on them.”
American Airlines said in a statement to ABC News: “Acts of violence are not tolerated by American Airlines and we are committed to working closely with law enforcement in their investigation.”
Rapoport-De-Campos-Maia and Seirafe-Novaes have each been charged with two counts of battery and one count each of trespassing on property after warning, police said. Seirafe-Novaes has also been charged with one count of resisting an officer without violence to his person, as he pulled his arms away from the arresting officer, per the police report.
The couple was taken into custody and transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, according to the police report.
It was unclear if either has an attorney who can speak on their behalf.
After a rash of wildfires broke out over the weekend, scorching thousands of acres in South and North Carolina, firefighters on Monday reported making significant progress in extinguishing the blazes that prompted mass evacuations and threatened numerous homes, officials said.
At one point on Saturday and into Sunday, 175 wildfires erupted in South and North Carolina, fueled by high winds and extremely dry conditions, officials said. The fires prompted South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a state of emergency on Sunday and issue a statewide burning ban.
On Monday, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said firefighters had either extinguished or contained most of the fires.
The largest fire to break out over the weekend was in the Carolina Forest in Horry County. As of Monday, the fire had burned 1,600 acres and threatened the communities of Walkers Woods and Avalon, while spreading to the edge of Myrtle Beach, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
(CAROLINA) — The Carolina Forest fire, which erupted Saturday amid wind gusts of 40 mph, was 30% contained on Monday, the commission said.
More than 400 firefighters — aided by firefighting aircraft, including two South Carolina National Guard helicopter crews making water drops — prevented the fire from spreading to homes in the area, officials said. While some homes were damaged, none have been destroyed, officials said.
No injuries were reported from any of the blazes.
Barbara and Vince Giunta of Myrtle Beach, whose home abuts the Carolina Forest, said the fire spread to near their property line on Saturday.
“Everything was on fire. It was bad. Very, very bad,” Barbara Giunta told ABC News.
Vince Giunta said at one point on Saturday he looked out his kitchen window “and you could see the flames as high as the trees.”
The cause of the Carolina Forest fire remained under investigation.
The second biggest South Carolina wildfire ignited Saturday in Georgetown County, about 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach, burned roughly 800 acres and caused evacuations in the town of Prince George. The South Carolina Forestry Commission said Monday that the fire had been contained.
In North Carolina, fire crews continued to battle a blaze near the town of Tryon, close to the South Carolina border, according to the Saluda Fire and Rescue Department. On Monday, the fire was 30% contained after burning 481 acres, officials said.
Gusty winds are expected to the Carolinas on Tuesday with gusts ranging from 15 to 25 mph. A storm system is heading to the East Coast and is expected to bring much-needed rain to the Carolinas on Wednesday, but could also produce damaging winds and tornadoes.
The National Weather Service said Monday that elevated fire danger conditions persist in the Carolinas and much of the South with extremely dry conditions and with minimum relative humidity of 15% to 25% on Monday afternoon.
“While winds are expected to be light and temperatures still on the cool side of normal, dry vegetation due to lack of recent rainfall combined with the dry air will once again result in increased wildfire danger in northeast Georgia, Upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina,” the NWS said.
Most of South Carolina is abnormally dry or under moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. About 1.2 million residents of the state live in areas experiencing drought, according to the Drought Monitor.
South Carolina only received about 1.87 inches of rain in January, which is below normal, officials said.
According to the Drought Monitor, about 46% of North Carolina is experiencing abnormally dry conditions and 39% of the state is under moderate drought conditions. North Carolina received about 1.62 inches of rain in January, the seventh-driest January on record, according to the Drought Monitor.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Monday that U.S. Forest Service firefighters helped battle the Carolina fires over the weekend.
“The brave men and women of the U.S. Forest Service began responding immediately to the fires in the Carolinas,” said Rollins, whose agency includes the U.S. Forest Service. “We will ensure they have the resources, personnel and support they need to swiftly put out the fires.”
U.S. Forest Service officials said in a statement that the dry conditions and downed timber from past storms have “elevated wildfire risk” in the Carolinas.
(WASHINGTON) — Conservative legislators are increasingly speaking out against the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage equality.
Idaho legislators began the trend in January when the state House and Senate passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision — which the court cannot do unless presented with a case on the issue. Some Republican lawmakers in at least four other states like Michigan, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota have followed suit with calls to the Supreme Court.
In North Dakota, the resolution passed the state House with a vote of 52-40 and is headed to the Senate. In South Dakota, the state’s House Judiciary Committee sent the proposal on the 41st Legislative Day –deferring the bill to the final day of a legislative session, when it will no longer be considered, and effectively killing the bill.
In Montana and Michigan, the bills have yet to face legislative scrutiny.
Resolutions have no legal authority and are not binding law, but instead allow legislative bodies to express their collective opinions.
The resolutions in four other states echo similar sentiments about the merits of the Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which established the right to same-sex marriage under the equal protection clause and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Some legislators behind the resolutions argue that the legality of gay marriage should be left to states to decide, while others argue that marriage should be reserved for one man and one woman.
LGBTQ advocates and allies have criticized the efforts, arguing that the majority of Americans approve of same-sex marriage and say the efforts undermine “personal freedoms.”
A 2024 Gallup poll found that 69% of Americans continue to believe that marriage between same-sex couples should be legal, and 64% say gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable.
In Michigan, state Rep. Josh Schriver unveiled his own anti-gay marriage resolution on Feb. 25, arguing that restrictions on gay marriage are important to “preserve and grow our human race,” he said at a press conference announcing the resolution.
“Michigan Christians follow Christ’s definition of marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman, an institution established to glorify God and produce children,” said Schriver.
In a press release, he added: “The new resolution urges the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and constitutional protections that ensure freedom of conscience for all Michigan residents.”
Local Democratic leaders denounced the resolution, arguing that it discriminates against the rights of LGBTQ Americans and distracts from more pressing issues facing Michigan residents.
“At a time when Michiganders are looking to their leaders to address pressing issues like lowering costs and protecting our economy, House Republicans are choosing to focus on undermining the personal freedoms of Michigan residents,” state Rep. Mike McFall said.
“This resolution is not only a blatant attempt to roll back the clock on civil rights, but it is also out of step with the values and priorities of our state.”
The Michigan resolution has been referred to the Committee on Government Operations and has not yet been put to a vote.
The handful of resolutions come after Associate Justice Clarence Thomas expressed interest in revisiting the Obergefell decision in his concurring opinion on the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that overturned the federal right to abortion.
He wrote: “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents,” such as Obergefell. “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” Thomas said.
Thomas had issued a dissenting opinion in 2015 against same-sex marriage equality.
More than two dozen states have some kind of restriction on same-sex marriage that could be triggered if the Supreme Court one day overturns its 2015 decision, according to legislative tracking group Movement Advancement Project. This is because marriage equality has not yet been codified and enshrined into law nationwide.
However, the Respect for Marriage Law signed by former President Joe Biden in 2022 guarantees the federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages in the event of an overturned Supreme Court decision.
It requires all states to recognize legally certified marriages, even if they were done in a state where it is later banned or done in another state entirely.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is closely monitoring an unknown disease that has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency said in a statement on Monday.
“CDC is monitoring the situation closely and engaging with DRC officials on what support the agency can offer,” the agency’s spokesperson said.
At least 1,096 people have been sickened and 60 people have died from the disease, the World Health Organization said Thursday in its most recent update.
This is the third time in the past few months officials have identified increases in illness and deaths in a different area of Congo, triggering “follow-up investigations to confirm the cause and provide needed support,” the WHO said in a statement on Thursday.
For example, there was a separate report of an unknown disease in December of last year in the central African country that was later attributed to illnesses from malaria and respiratory illnesses.
The symptoms for this latest cluster of disease include fever, headache, chills, sweating, stiff neck, muscle aches, multiple joint pain and body aches, a runny or bleeding from the nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea, the WHO said.
Initial lab tests have been negative for Ebola and Marburg virus disease, the WHO said.
Around half of samples tested have been positive for malaria, which is common in the area, according to the WHO. Tests continue to be carried out for meningitis, and officials said they are also looking into food and water contamination.
The WHO said it has delivered emergency medical supplies, including testing kits and “developed detailed protocols to enhance disease investigation.”
“The WHO is supporting the local health authorities reinforce investigation and response measures, with more than 80 community health workers trained to detect and report cases and death,” the organization said.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge wants to hear directly from one of the top officials at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to learn if the Trump administration is unlawfully gutting the agency or just trying to streamline it.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who expressed concern the CFPB might be “choked out of its very existence” — said she plans to hold a hearing next Monday to get testimony from CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez and others about the state of the agency tasked with protecting American consumers.
During a lengthy hearing Monday, Jackson grew frustrated with a lack of clear answers from either side about the current state of the CFPB. Lawyers with the Department of Justice argued the relief requested by the federal unions who brought the lawsuit amounted to putting the CFPB into receivership, while the plaintiffs argued the Trump administration was causing irreparable harm by slowly starving the agency.
“According to the plaintiff, the sky is falling. According to the defendant, if I issue the order, the sky will be falling,” Jackson remarked.
Jackson is considering issuing a preliminary injunction to block the dismantling of the CFPB but added she might consider additional relief if the plaintiffs can demonstrate that the government’s actions are causing irreparable harm.
“I think what we’re talking about is interim oversight to make sure that it hasn’t been choked out of its very existence before I get to rule on the merits,” she said.
In a sworn court filing last week, Martinez argued the changes at the CFPB — which has operated under a stop work order for the last month — are simply a “common practice at the beginning of a new administration.” Jackson raised skepticism to the idea that what’s happening at the CFPB is business as usual.
“One of the big defenses of all this is that this is normal, that this is what happens when the new team comes to town, and I’m just not sure that’s true at all, at least not since I’ve been here,” she remarked. “Are you telling me that … when President Reagan took over from President Carter — on top of freezing regulations and enforcement and litigation — fired all provisional employees, shut the building, stopped all work and said the funding should stop?”
Lawyers with the Department of Justice insisted the Trump administration is trying to improve the CFPB, not destroy it.
“You can’t blow it up, but why should you be able to starve it to death?” Jackson asked.
“Acting Director [Russell] Vought wants to have a more streamlined and efficient bureau, not to blow it up,” responded a DOJ attorney.
Elon Musk, however, wrote “RIP CFPB” in a post on X on Feb. 7, the same day workers received termination notices.
The CFPB is an independent agency established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis under the landmark Dodd-Frank Act. It’s a consumer watchdog aimed at protecting American households from unfair and deceptive practices across the financial services industry.
Its oversight applies to everything from mortgages to credit cards to bank fees to student loans to data collection. By law, the CFPB has the rare ability to issue new rules and to impose fines against companies who break them.
Since its establishment in 2011 through last June, the CFPB said it has clawed back $20.7 billion for American consumers.
ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report.
