Featured

Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris is free after 6 months in an Oklahoma jail for child sex abuse | CNN

Robert Morris’ release after just six months in jail highlights how plea deals and old-case legal limits can produce punishments that feel wildly out of proportion to the underlying abuse.

Mar 31, 2026

Featured

Democrats Say FEMA Official Who Has Claimed to Be Teleported Is ‘Unfit’ for Role

A FEMA disaster-response leader skipped a key shutdown hearing as Democrats highlighted his conspiracy talk and violent rhetoric—raising basic questions about competence and accountability during a strained disaster season.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

Trump Throws Stephen Miller Under the Bus in Surprise Show of Panic

A report suggests Trump wants to hide the optics of “mass deportations,” but the policy machinery and legal end-runs Stephen Miller champions appear to be moving ahead anyway.

Mar 24, 2026

Featured

Supermicro’s co-founder was just accused of smuggling $2.5 billion in GPUs to China | Fortune

Federal prosecutors say a Supermicro co-founder helped run an elaborate transshipment-and-fake-document scheme to divert U.S.-assembled AI servers into China, highlighting how export controls can fail inside complex supply chains.

Mar 24, 2026

RFK Jr. has destroyed over a quarter of health dept’s expert panels

A watchdog report says HHS under RFK Jr. has dismantled dozens of expert advisory panels—especially at NIH—raising questions about how major health and research decisions are being made and reviewed.

Executive

Mar 19, 2026

Sources

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-s-war-on-scientific-expertise-destroyed-27-of-agencys-advisor-panels

Summary

A Public Citizen report says HHS has terminated 75 scientific advisory committees (about 27% of its total), with the biggest cuts hitting NIH grant-review-related panels. Ars frames this as an intentional war on scientific expertise centered on RFK Jr.’s ACIP shakeup, while leaving key administrative and legal nuances (what “terminated” means, what replaced the panels, and what due-process rules apply) less developed. The story matters because advisory committees shape vaccine guidance, research funding decisions, and public trust in health policy—and weakening them can change outcomes even without new laws.

Reality Check

The most checkable core claim—**HHS terminated 75 advisory committees (~27% of 273)**—comes directly from Public Citizen’s published report materials, not just Ars’s characterization. ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/news/trumps-shutdown-of-more-than-one-quarter-of-federal-health-advisory-committees-is-literally-sickening/)) The ACIP legal development is also more specific than “a judge blocked the changes”: reported accounts say the court stayed Kennedy’s ACIP appointments and stayed votes and a revised schedule, framing the dispute heavily around compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (process and governance), not only the science debate. ([idsociety.org](https://www.idsociety.org/news--publications-new/articles/2026/federal-judge-blocks-immunization-schedule-changes-stays-acip-member-appointments/))

Detail

Ars reports that HHS has terminated 75 federal advisory committees since the beginning of 2025, citing a March 17, 2026 Public Citizen report; Public Citizen describes this as 27% of 273 committees. ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/news/trumps-shutdown-of-more-than-one-quarter-of-federal-health-advisory-committees-is-literally-sickening/)) Public Citizen and Ars attribute most terminations to NIH: 49 committees (reported as largely tied to scientific review and funding prioritization). ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-2-0s-health-policy-playbook-terminate-or-overhaul-scientific-advisory-committees/)) Ars says CDC had nine advisory committees terminated and FDA had four terminated, with ACIP separately described as “undermined/remade.” ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/article/trump-2-0s-health-policy-playbook-terminate-or-overhaul-scientific-advisory-committees/)) Ars recounts the ACIP episode: Kennedy removed all 17 members (June 2025) and replaced them with new appointees; vaccine guidance influences insurance coverage and school requirements. ([pbs.org](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/rfk-jr-ousts-entire-17-person-cdc-vaccine-advisory-committee)) Multiple outlets report a federal court action in Massachusetts temporarily staying Kennedy’s ACIP appointments and staying ACIP votes and a revised vaccine schedule, citing likely Federal Advisory Committee Act issues (procedural legality rather than scientific merits alone). ([idsociety.org](https://www.idsociety.org/news--publications-new/articles/2026/federal-judge-blocks-immunization-schedule-changes-stays-acip-member-appointments/)) Ars cites a STAT report of a Johns Hopkins analysis (NIH RePORTER-based) finding NIH issued 74% fewer competitive/new awards as of March 3, 2026 compared with the same period in FY2021–FY2024. ([statnews.com](https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/17/nih-grant-funding-slowdown-new-awards-training-grants/)) Public Citizen describes the broader pattern as termination and/or overhaul of committees (not solely outright dissolution), implying heterogeneous actions across agencies and panels. ([citizen.org](https://www.citizen.org/news/trumps-shutdown-of-more-than-one-quarter-of-federal-health-advisory-committees-is-literally-sickening/)) Ars highlights the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee appointments and claims at least eight new members endorse a debunked vaccine-autism link; the article says researchers formed a nongovernmental alternative panel in response (not independently verified here beyond Ars’s account). ([arstechnica.com](https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-s-war-on-scientific-expertise-destroyed-27-of-agencys-advisor-panels/))

Judge blocks US government from slimming down vaccine recommendations

A federal judge temporarily halted HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attempt to narrow routine childhood vaccine recommendations, finding his remake of the CDC’s vaccine advisory process likely broke basic federal procedures.

Judiciary

Mar 16, 2026

Sources

https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-acip-vaccines-cdc-fc758951019f41d2f5e81e4e2faa22d3

Summary

A Boston-based federal judge issued a temporary block on federal health officials’ planned cuts to routine childhood vaccine recommendations and paused an imminent advisory committee meeting. The initial coverage centers the policy fight but can underplay that the ruling is largely about process: whether HHS/CDC bypassed legally required advisory procedures and whether the remade committee was properly constituted. This matters because vaccine guidance shapes clinical practice and insurance coverage, and procedural shortcuts can destabilize public trust and the reliability of U.S. immunization policy.

Reality Check

The key thing the ruling does—at least for now—is restore the status quo by pausing a major policy shift and a newly constituted advisory process while the court assesses whether HHS/CDC followed required legal steps. That means the order should not be read as a court “deciding” which vaccines are best; it is a procedural stop that tests whether the government can lawfully change nationally consequential vaccine guidance without using the normal expert advisory pathway and legally compliant committee structure. ([cnbc.com](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/judge-blocks-rfk-jrs-efforts-to-reshape-childhood-vaccine-policy.html))

Detail

On March 16, 2026, a federal judge temporarily blocked the federal government from implementing a pared-back set of routine childhood vaccine recommendations. ([abcnews.com](https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/judge-blocks-us-government-slimming-vaccine-recommendations-131129647)) The order halted Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s January 2026 move to end broad “recommended for all children” guidance for vaccines including flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis, and RSV. ([abcnews.com](https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/judge-blocks-us-government-slimming-vaccine-recommendations-131129647)) The judge also stopped (or forced postponement of) a CDC vaccine-advisory meeting in Atlanta scheduled to begin that week, tied to questions about the committee’s legality after Kennedy’s appointments. ([abcnews.com](https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/judge-blocks-us-government-slimming-vaccine-recommendations-131129647)) The case was brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups and is in preliminary-injunction posture; the order is temporary pending trial or summary judgment. ([abcnews.com](https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/judge-blocks-us-government-slimming-vaccine-recommendations-131129647)) HHS said it planned to appeal; an HHS spokesperson framed the ruling as another attempt to block the Trump administration from governing. ([abcnews.com](https://abcnews.com/Health/wireStory/judge-blocks-us-government-slimming-vaccine-recommendations-131129647)) Multiple reports indicate the judge’s reasoning focused on alleged violations of federal procedural requirements for advisory committees and schedule changes (e.g., FACA/administrative process concerns), not a scientific re-evaluation of vaccine safety and efficacy on the merits. ([thehill.com](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5786565-judge-blocks-kennedy-vaccine-changes/))