The Kennedy Center鈥檚 board is expected to meet Thursday to consider plans for the performing arts venue鈥檚 future that would allow for substantial renovations. Ahead of the meeting, the Kennedy Center鈥檚 management said it would present the board with three approaches for consideration.
Also, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, , will leave the Trump administration at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family. Leavitt, 28, called it a 鈥渂ittersweet decision鈥� in Wednesday shortly after President Donald Trump announced she would be stepping down.
Here’s the latest:
Trump鈥檚 vaccine plan would require manufacturing overhaul
Under Trump鈥檚 executive order, federal officials are instructed to develop within 90 days plans for breaking up the MMR shot and spacing out other vaccines.
But pharmaceutical scientists and former regulators say those changes would likely take years and require drugmakers to spend tens of millions of dollars on new studies and manufacturing facilities.
Currently, there are no individual vaccines in the U.S. for measles, mumps or rubella. All the vaccines approved for those viruses by are combination shots. That three-in-one approach has been the standard in the U.S. since the early 1970s.
Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former FDA vaccine chief, said companies would have to conduct large studies showing new individual shots produced immune system-boosting reactions in children similar to the current versions.
US ambassador condemns settler siege of Palestinian homes in the West Bank
Israeli settlers have besieged three homes in the for several days, including one owned by a Palestinian American, in what the U.S. ambassador called a 鈥渉orrific act of terror鈥� on Thursday.
Mike Huckabee鈥檚 remarks on X represented an unusually sharp rebuke from the Trump administration of the latest episode in a .
Starting Sunday, settlers gathered around three houses in the village of Qusra, according to local officials, Palestinian American homeowner Loui Ridi, and Ridi鈥檚 brother. At times numbering dozens, the settlers threw stones, attempted to bring down a stone wall nearby, and prevented the occupants from leaving as their food and water dwindled.
Israeli troops have intervened to try to restore order. On Thursday morning, Ridi鈥檚 brother, Qusai Abu Rida, who had holed up in the house with his own teenage son to defend it, said they were moved by Israel鈥檚 military to another home but still cannot leave the area.
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USAID fallout: In Nepal, when the aid workers stopped coming, the women and babies started dying
One baby at a time, the world is marching toward a grim milestone: Because of global cuts to foreign aid, the Gates Foundation has predicted 2025 will be the first year this century where child deaths will increase.
And while global child mortality data for 2025 won鈥檛 be available for several months, health officials are already bracing for a surge in deaths among the world鈥檚 youngest and most vulnerable.
The decision by President Trump鈥檚 administration to dissolve the United States Agency for International Development 鈥� once the world鈥檚 largest humanitarian donor 鈥� gutted maternal and neonatal care, decimated nutrition programs for millions of pregnant women and children and left scores of birthing centers devoid of equipment, medicine and staff.
The U.S. government has repeatedly insisted that no one 鈥� and, particularly, no children 鈥� have died because of its funding cuts. But The Associated Press has documented the deaths of women and children from to .
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Reflecting Pool鈥檚 botched repairs threaten to tarnish the National Park Service鈥檚 reputation
President Donald Trump鈥檚 at have landed the National Park Service in a political predicament.
The beloved federal agency, its iconic park rangers and other employees have been serving the public while managing controversial demands by the Republican president 鈥� from at parks and other sites to the demolition of important structures under its stewardship, such as , to arresting visitors for alleged vandalism at the pool.
Critics say the monthslong Reflecting Pool saga and other demands by Trump risk undermining the integrity of a federal agency that鈥檚 long been held in high esteem by the American public.
鈥淣ever 鈥� not once in decades 鈥� have I witnessed such systematic degradation, disrespect and dismantling of the National Park Service as I see today under the thumb of President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum,鈥� said Bill Wade, a former park ranger and superintendent.
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Rubio and Bessent stayed on decoy flight from Turkey as Trump switched planes, official says
The two most senior members of Trump鈥檚 Cabinet, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, flew out of last month鈥檚 in Turkey on what was effectively a decoy plane following an Iranian threat, while , a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
The official, who was briefed on the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details of presidential travel, said Rubio was aware of the switch and details of the threat behind it but could or would not say why he had stayed on the plane. The official said Bessent was likely aware but did not know for sure.
The official, however, noted that 鈥� especially one who has been the 鈥� are more robust than those for even top members of the Cabinet.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the secretaries of State and Treasury follow the vice president and the highest ranking member of each chamber of Congress in the presidential line of succession.
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鈥� Matthew Lee
Kennedy Center board set to vote on whether to move forward with closure
The Kennedy Center鈥檚 board is expected to meet Thursday to consider plans for the performing arts venue鈥檚 future after a federal judge blocked an earlier move for a two-year closure that would allow for substantial renovations.
Ahead of the meeting, the Kennedy Center鈥檚 management said it would present the board with three approaches for consideration.
The options would include a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow 鈥渟ome continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected鈥� by the work. A third option would 鈥渃onsider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the Center鈥檚 most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming.鈥�
In blocking earlier plans for closure, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper the board鈥檚 March 16 vote backing the move appeared 鈥渋ll-informed and seemingly preordained.鈥� In moving forward, the board, which is largely made up of President allies, may face pressure to prove they鈥檝e thoroughly considered their options.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, , will leave the Trump administration at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family.
Leavitt, 28, called it a 鈥渂ittersweet decision鈥� in a social media post Wednesday shortly after President Donald Trump announced she would be stepping down. She recently returned to the White House podium after the birth of her second child, a daughter named Viviana, in May. She also has a 2-year-old son.
鈥淭he truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary 鈥� and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,鈥� Leavitt wrote.
Trump did not outline plans for who might replace her in the high-profile role.
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