���ϳԹ���

Federal funding for the Women’s Health Initiative, which as one of the largest research projects in women’s health has shaped treatment of menopause, osteoporosis, and nutrition, will be reduced in September, the program said Tuesday in a message to its 40 regional centers. (Cooney, 4/22)

Casey Fiesler, an information science professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, learned late on Friday evening that one of the three grants she had been awarded by the National Science Foundation was being terminated. “It was a total surprise,” Dr. Fiesler said. “This is the one that I thought was totally safe.” The grant supported Dr. Fiesler’s research on building A.I. literacy. She received no official explanation for why the grant was being terminated more than a year ahead of its scheduled end. (Miller and Zimmer, 4/22)

The Justice Department on Tuesday canceled hundreds of grants to community organizations and local governments, including funding for gun-violence prevention programs, crime-victim advocacy and efforts to combat opioid addiction, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post. (Stein, Jackman and Roebuck, 4/22)

President Donald Trump’s CMS is changing how the federal government rewards doctors and hospitals for quality care. The agency is shifting focus from measures to fight racism and inequality care gaps to nutrition and well-being initiatives, POLITICO’s Robert King reports. CMS has signaled it wants to roll back several incentives and requirements for doctors and hospitals to address health disparities. The push marks a stark departure from the Biden administration, which made health equity a goal. (Cirruzzo and Hooper, 4/22)

The clear-cutting across the federal government under President Donald Trump has been dramatic, with mass terminations, the suspension of decades-old programs and the neutering of entire agencies. But this spectacle has obscured a series of moves by the administration that could profoundly harm some of the most vulnerable people in the U.S.: children. Consider: The staff of a program that helps millions of poor families keep the electricity on, in part so that babies don’t die from extreme heat or cold, have all been fired. The federal office that oversees the enforcement of child support payments has been hollowed out. Head Start preschools, which teach toddlers their ABCs and feed them healthy meals, will likely be forced to shut down en masse, some as soon as May 1. And funding for investigating child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children; responding to reports of missing children; and preventing youth violence has been withdrawn indefinitely. (Hager, 4/23)

���ϳԹ��� News: Listen To The Latest '���ϳԹ��� News Minute'

Sam Whitehead reads this week’s news: Families that rely on home health aides could pay the price for the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies, and some local health departments are canceling scheduled services because the federal government is trying to take back health grants. Jackie Fortiér reads this week’s news: The Trump administration is rolling back accommodations for people with disabilities, and a charity is about to wipe out $30 billion of medical debt, but that won’t stop Americans from accruing more. (4/22)

The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration welcomed three new leaders to the agency this week, including a new deputy commissioner, according to an email to staff on Monday. The new arrivals were Lowell Zeta as deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives; Timothy Schell as acting director for the Center for Veterinary Medicine; and Craig Taylor as the acting chief information officer. (Lawrence and Trang, 4/22)

The federal government is likely to be slower to perform basic yet vital functions when the Health and Human Services Department halves the number of regional offices that handle responsibilities such as Medicare claims appeals and safety inspections. HHS announced it would close regional offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle as part of a sweeping departmental overhaul. The remaining offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Philadelphia and Kansas City, Missouri, will be expected to absorb a slew of new oversight and enforcement activities. (Early, 4/22)

The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency has access to sensitive information in 19 HHS databases and systems, according to a court filing obtained by Wired. HHS submitted the filing as part of the discovery process for a lawsuit the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ filed against the federal government, aiming to restrict DOGE’s access to federal systems. Nine such systems had not been previously disclosed as being accessed by DOGE. HHS did not respond to Wired‘s request for comment. (Bean, 4/22)