ADVERTISEMENT

View in Browser

News without an agenda. AP is a not-for-profit organization with no corporate parent, no shareholders and no government influence. Our mission is journalism, not profit margins. Your donation supports independent reporting that serves the public interest, not corporate shareholders. Donate today.

In the news today: A federal judge temporarily blocks federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child; Trump ratchets up the pressure on journalists to cover the Iran war the way he wants; and a decades-old recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean. Also, as St. Patrick’s Day arrives, a look at a business that offers miniature Irish pubs on wheels.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seen following President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Feb. 24. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

POLITICS

Judge blocks US government from slimming down vaccine recommendations

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. Read more.

Why this matters:

• The decision halted an order by Kennedy — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. It also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee, which was set to convene this week in Atlanta.
  
  

• The judge’s order, however, is not the final word. The blocks are temporary, pending either a trial or a decision for summary judgment. Federal health officials indicated they planned to appeal. “HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,” said Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Trump’s homeland security pick Mullin is poised to inherit a department beset by challenges
  
  
• A $50 million push hopes to make child care a top issue in the midterm elections
  
  
• What’s in the voting bill that Republicans are pushing to the Senate floor
  
  
• Last protester in immigration detention after Trump’s campus crackdown has been released
  
  
• El Salvador has arbitrarily detained nationals deported from the US, Human Rights Watch says
  
  
• Kennedy Center votes to shut down operations for 2 years and names a new president

WORLD NEWS

Trump team applying pressure to media: Tell the war’s story the way we see it

Through lectures, scoldings and outright threats, President Donald Trump and his aides are ratcheting up the pressure on journalists to cover the war in the Middle East the way the administration wants. Read more.

Why this matters:

• All presidential administrations tangle with the press; it’s the natural byproduct of journalists’ watchdog roles in a democratic society. But the incidents of the past few days speak to a hostility toward the very idea of being questioned — in a way that, some say, scratches up against the First Amendment itself.
  
  

• The government’s top media regulator has warned that broadcasters risk losing their licenses if they don’t stay away from “fake news.” Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have both questioned the patriotism of news outlets because of their reporting.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Israel says it has killed two top Iranian security officials
  
  
• Trump says a former president had an Iran confession. Aides to his predecessors deny recent contact
  
  
• Lindsey Graham got a war with Iran. What will it cost the country and his party?
  
  
• WATCH: US farmers deal with rising fertilizer prices and other issues because of the Iran war

SCIENCE

Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean

A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known. Read more.

Why this matters:

• The song is that of a humpback whale and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The ocean of the late 1940s was much quieter than the ocean of today, providing a different backdrop than scientists are used to hearing for whale song, researchers explain. The discovery of long-lost whale song from a quieter ocean could be a jumping-off point to better understanding the sounds the animals make today, said Hansen Johnson, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. “It’s pretty special,” said Johnson.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• LISTEN: Rediscovered whale recordings from decades ago
  
  
• The breakthrough whale discovery by the numbers

ADVERTISEMENT

IN OTHER NEWS

READ

Convicted: Woman who wrote children’s book on grief after husband’s death found guilty of murdering him

911 tape: Man who attacked a Michigan synagogue was suicidal, ex-wife told police

Spain: King acknowledges ‘much abuse’ in the conquest of the Americas

Travel nightmare: Some flight cancellations and delays continue after US storms dump snow in the Midwest and head east 

Cheese warning: E. coli linked to cheddar made with raw milk sickens 7 in the US 

Today in History: In 1762, New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade

WATCH

Cuba: Residents struggle as islandwide blackout hits in deepening energy crisis 

Hawaii: Fragrant flower lei face competition from cheaper imports 

Yawn: Brown bears lumber along after hibernation at UK's biggest zoo