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Former NBA Star John Stockton Makes a Last Appeal to the Supreme Court
The attorney for former Utah Jazz point guard and 10-time All-Star John Stockton and his co-plaintiffs filed a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday as a last ditch effort to get the court to address a case involving the former NBA player. The case centers on a COVID-19 dispute and whether the government can discipline doctors for what they say publicly.
In 2024, Stockton filed a lawsuit alongside two medical doctors and the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense against the Washington Medical Commission and the Washington state attorney general over its COVID-19 information policies.
The two doctors were disciplined by the commission for “unprofessional conduct” after publishing their opinions online and in newspapers that “vaccines are unsafe and COVID tests are inaccurate, as well as lauding alternative treatments that are scientifically proven to be ineffective and even potentially dangerous,” per the Washington Attorney’s General office.
CDC Delays Publishing Report Showing Covid Vaccine Benefits
The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a CDC report showing the covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half, according to two scientists familiar with the decision. The scientists spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The move has raised concerns among current and former officials that information about the vaccine’s benefits are being downplayed because they conflict with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been an outspoken critic of the shots.
The delay, which has not been previously reported, offers a window into how vaccine policy is being shaped behind the scenes, even as the Trump administration has sought to soften its public posture on controversial actions ahead of the midterm elections.
The report had been scheduled for publication March 19 in the CDC’s flagship scientific journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the scientists said.
Judge Allows States’ Lawsuit Over HHS Restructuring to Move Forward
The states, including New York, California, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Hawaii, first brought the suit nearly a year ago in the wake of the HHS’ move to reorganize the department and lay off 10,000 workers. The reduction in force was chaotic, plagued by mistakes and poor communication, workers told Healthcare Dive last spring.
Now, the department operates with about 15,000 fewer staffers than it did at the end of the Biden administration, as employees say they contend with increased workloads and fewer job flexibilities that have motivated some to look for other roles. In their complaint, the states argued the restructuring and layoffs deprived them of resources needed to combat infectious disease, reduce smoking-related deaths and ensure families have access to crucial government programs, like child care program Head Start.
For example, the reorganization resulted in the Food and Drug Administration missing a vaccine application deadline and suspending a testing program for the virus that causes bird flu, the states said in their complaint.
EPA Takes Early Step in Methane Rule Rollback
The Trump administration undertook an early step Monday in what is expected to be a significant rollback of a Biden-era rule restricting methane emissions from oil and gas production. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would revisit the methane rule, arguing that it was “throttling the oil and gas industry.”
On Monday, the EPA published a rule that takes aim at a portion of the Biden administration one. The agency said it was also developing another proposal to further amend the rule, which required drillers to take steps to cut emissions of planet-heating methane.
Monday’s step gives oil and gas producers more time to participate in emergency flaring — the practice of burning off natural gas that co-occurs with oil during oil production.
The Biden-era rule sought to phase out flaring at new oil wells, but it gave energy companies 24 hours to flare in certain circumstances. The Trump rule extended the window to 72 hours.
Trump’s Personnel Agency Is Asking for Federal Workers’ Medical Records
The Trump administration is quietly seeking unprecedented access to medical records for millions of federal workers and retirees, and their families. A brief notice from the Office of Personnel Management could dramatically change which personally identifiable medical information the agency obtains, giving it the power to see prescriptions employees had filled or what treatment they sought from doctors.
The regulation would require 65 insurance companies that cover more than 8 million Americans — including federal workers, retired members of Congress, mail carriers, and their immediate family members — to provide monthly reports to OPM with identifiable health data on their members. The proposal is prompting unease from insurers as well as health policy and legal experts, who are concerned about the legality of OPM acquiring such a sweeping database of sensitive health information, and the agency’s ability to safeguard it.
OPM could use the data to analyze costs and improve the system, said Sharona Hoffman, a health law ethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.
“But,” she said, “they are going to get very, very detailed and granular data about everything that happens. The concern here is the more information they have, they could use it to discipline or target people who are not cooperating politically.”
