By The Defender Staff

Kennedy Refuses to Commit to Backing New C.D.C. Director on Vaccines

The New York Times reported:

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday refused to commit to supporting the vaccine recommendations of President Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nominee, Dr. Erica Schwartz, has publicly supported immunizations and drawn applause from mainstream public health leaders.

“If Dr. Schwartz is confirmed, will you commit on the record today to implement whatever vaccine guidance she issues without interference?” Representative Raul Ruiz, Democrat of California, asked Mr. Kennedy during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill, the secretary’s fourth congressional hearing since last Thursday.

“I’m not going to make that kind of commitment,” Mr. Kennedy replied. In response to other questions from Dr. Ruiz, a physician, Mr. Kennedy said that he approved of Dr. Schwartz’s nomination and had spoken to her multiple times, but had not spoken directly to Mr. Trump about her selection.

‘The Absolute Edge of Precedent’: Feds Prepare to Take on Data Centers

Politico reported:

The White House wants federal energy regulators to act on data centers. They’re gearing up to take a big swing. Over the coming weeks, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hammer out the details of a proposal that could be a striking assertion of federal power to manage the nation’s rapidly rising electricity demand.

Under a plan put forward by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, FERC would regulate the way America’s biggest electricity customers are brought onto the power grid.

Much of this is to satisfy the energy consumption of data centers — the warehouse-sized hubs of supercomputers powering the digital economy and tech industry ambitions to dominate artificial intelligence.

The five-member commission has imposed a June deadline on itself to roll out a regulatory proposal aimed at accelerating the build-out of AI infrastructure, and it may even direct who pays for multibillion-dollar grid upgrades. FERC’s chair, Laura Swett, has echoed President Donald Trump’s willingness to test the limits of federal power to shape the U.S. energy economy.

Snohomish Firefighters Ask SCOTUS to Intervene in Religious Accommodation Lawsuit

The Center Square reported:

Eight Snohomish firefighters are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify what an employer is required to prove under federal law before denying a religious accommodation for vaccines. Several attorneys filed a petition last Thursday, asking the court to review a 2024 Ninth Circuit ruling siding with Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue.

The agency denied the firefighters’ vaccine exemptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that granting them would have caused SRFR undue hardship. Cliff Martin, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, told The Center Square this isn’t about securing vaccine accommodations years after the fact; it’s about clarifying a split in the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Supreme Court Lets Andrew Cuomo off the Hook for ‘Wrongful Death’ of Covid Nursing Home Patients

The New York Post reported:

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a wrongful death lawsuit that had been rejected by the lower courts against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his controversial COVID-19 era nursing home policy.

In its Monday order list, the high court denied certiorari, or appeal, of the lower court’s rulings in the lawsuit against Cuomo led by Daniel Arbeeny, of Brooklyn, who alleged that the former governor’s nursing home policy caused his father’s death in 2020.

“The Supreme Court doesn’t erase what was done and the truth of what happened. Nine thousand COVID-positive patients were forced into nursing homes with deadly consequences,” Arbeeny, who said he was “disappointed” with the decision, told The Post. “The [Cuomo ] administration lied about the deaths. The facts don’t change. The death toll is horrific. It didn’t have to happen. At some point, the truth will come out.”

DOJ, EPA File Complaint Over Potomac River Spill

The Hill reported:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday filed a civil complaint against the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) over the sewage spill into the Potomac River, which was named the largest wastewater spill in U.S. history. The collapse of the Potomac Interceptor along the Clara Barton Parkway on Jan. 19 resulted in the release of more than 240 million gallons of sewage.

The sewer line serves Washington, D.C., Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. The complaint accused DC Water of violating the Clean War Act and failing to operate and maintain its sewer system “in a manner that keeps untreated sewage out of the Potomac River and its tributaries, and other areas with risk of human contact,” the DOJ said in a statement.

The department will seek financial penalties, sewer assessment and rehabilitation projects, and pollutant mitigation work to undo the spill’s damage. “DC Water’s failure to maintain the Potomac Interceptor resulted in raw sewage flowing into the Potomac River and the surrounding environment, posing a direct risk to public health,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Natural Resources Division, Adam Gustafson said in the statement.

USDA Opens First-Ever Office of Seafood

OutdoorHub reported:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has officially launched its first-ever Office of Seafood, marking a historic moment for commercial fishermen, aquaculture producers, and seafood processors across the country. The announcement was made April 15 by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins alongside Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and other federal officials.

The new office is designed to make it easier for seafood industry members to access USDA programs that have long been available to traditional farmers but difficult for fishermen to navigate. From grants and low-interest loans to risk management tools and disaster assistance, the Office of Seafood will serve as a dedicated resource to help fishermen tap into support they have historically been unable to fully utilize.

“Fishermen are food producers and they deserve every benefit that farmers have provided to them as well, things like crop insurance, low interest loans,” said Caitlin Yeager, vice president of policy and outreach with the At-Sea Processors Association. “We have an aging fleet, we have aging infrastructure and we need the same assurances that are provided to them.”

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