Author: cSMNT98ibj

A federal judge on Wednesday pressed an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency about whether the agency broke the law when it swiftly terminated $20 billion worth of grants awarded to nonprofits for a green bank by allegedly bulldozing past proper rules and raising flimsy accusations of waste and fraud. In a nearly three-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said the government had provided no substantial new evidence of wrongdoing by the nonprofits and considered technical arguments that could decide whether she is even the right person to hear the case. Climate United Fund and other groups had sued the EPA, its Administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the grant money, saying they had illegally denied the groups access to funds awarded last year to help finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects. They want Chutkan to give them access to those funds again, saying the freeze had paralyzed their work and jeopardized their basic operations. “What plaintiffs are saying is if you wanted to stop that money from going out, you should have gone through the procedures under the” law, Chutkan said, adding that instead of doing that, the EPA appears to have demanded the bank simply freeze the funds and then quickly terminated the grants. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a “green bank,” was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. However, its goals run counter to the Trump administration’s opposition to climate-friendly policies and its embrace of fossil fuels. Zeldin quickly made the bank a target, characterizing the grants as a “gold bar” scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud. “Twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution, in a deliberate effort to limit government oversight — doling out your money through just eight pass-through, politically connected, unqualified and in some cases brand-new” nonprofit institutions, Zeldin said in a previously posted video. The nonprofits say Zeldin and the EPA led

In an unexpected upset, the Jason Statham thriller “A Working Man” took No. 1 at the box office, besting the rapidly declining “Snow White,” according to studio estimates Sunday. Even after a lackluster debut, the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action remake was predicted to remain the top film in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend. Instead, “Snow White,” plagued by bad buzz and backlash, nosedived in its second weekend and dropped 66%. At the same time, Amazon MGM Studios’ “A Working Man,” directed by David Ayer, beat expectations with a $15.2 million debut. Co-written by Sylvester Stallone, “A Working Man” reteams Statham and Ayer following last year’s successful “The Beekeeper” ($162 million worldwide). This time around, Statham plays a construction worker with an elite military past. While reviews have been mixed and audiences only gave “A Working Man” a “B” CinemaScore, showing Statham has carved out something rare in the movie industry today: bankability. “A Working Man” opened similarly to “The Beekeeper,” which launched with $16.5 million. The bigger headline, though, might have been the fast erosion of ticket buyers’ appetite for “Snow White.” The film, directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler, had been hoped to lift movie theaters after a painful start to 2025. Produced for more $250 million, the film has turned into a poisoned apple, with a two-week global haul of $143.1 million. Next weekend, Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” is expected to win the weekend and will, like “Snow White,” target family audiences. A trio of newcomers – A24’s “Death of a Unicorn,” Universal and Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard,” and the Fathom’s “Chosen: The Last Supper” – also opened over the weekend, though none made a big impact. “The Chosen: The Last Supper,” fared the best, with $11.5 million in 2,235 theaters. The Christian TV series, now in its fifth season, has regularly driven ticket sales before streaming. More episodes will roll out in theaters through April.

The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations. Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn’t possible. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. Marks was offered the choice of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have permission to discuss the matter publicly. Kennedy has a long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, although during his Senate confirmation hearings he seemed to say he would not undermine vaccines. He promised the chair of the Senate health committee that he would not change existing vaccine recommendations. Since becoming secretary, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the safety of childhood vaccinations, despite decades of evidence they are safe and have saved millions of lives. Marks oversaw the agency’s rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic. Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort under President Tweety McTreason to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy. The initiative cut years off the normal development process. Despite the project’s success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the FDA for not approving

President Tweety McTreason’s FCC commissioner said Friday he’s opening an investigation into the Walt Disney Co. and its ABC television network to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the probe in a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger on Friday. The company said it was reviewing the letter and looking forward to answering the commission’s questions. The new administration has taken an aggressive posture toward the media on several fronts. Just this week, there were court hearings on the shutdown of Voice of America and the president’s dispute with The Associated Press over how the news agency refers to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America. Carr has pushed the Federal Communications Commission into an activist role since Trump appointed him as its leader. For example, the FCC currently has open investigations into ABC, CBS and NBC News. “For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes,” Carr wrote to Iger. “But then something changed. Disney has now become embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.” He said that while he has seen reports that Disney has rolled back some of its practices, “significant concerns remain.” Last month, Axios reported that Disney had made some policy changes, including eliminating a website designed to highlight personalities and stories from underrepresented communities. Disney also softened messages that appeared before showings of movies like “Dumbo” and “Peter Pan,” Axios said. Instead of warnings that the films include “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of peoples or culture,” the messages changed to “this program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions.” Carr’s letter linked to an article by conservative activist Christopher Rufo describing Disney as “the wokest place on Earth.” Some examples Carr cited go back several years, such as a one-time policy at Disney-owned ABC that at least 50 percent of characters in TV pilots

In two congressional districts and vastly different political environments, two Republicans in the U.S. House were met with far different reactions at public meetings they held late last week. Against the suggestion of their leader, House Speaker Mike Johnson, to refrain from holding public meetings with constituents, second-term Reps. Chuck Edwards and Harriet Hageman went ahead with their evening sessions. In Asheville, North Carolina, chants of opposition greeted Edwards on Thursday as opponents hooted at almost every answer he gave and chanted outside. In Evanston, Wyoming, at the southwestern corner of a sparsely populated and heavily Republican state, it was mostly Republicans who asked probing questions of Hageman in a quieter setting. In both cases, voters were curious about the scope and pace of action in Washington since President Tweety McTreason took office, if less boisterously in Wyoming than the event 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the southeast. Evanston, Wyoming Joy Walton, a 76-year-old Republican from Evanston, had come to the meeting confused about tech billionaire Elon Musk’s role in the executive branch. Trump has charged Musk with leading a broad effort to shrink the size and cost of government. Hageman — Liz Cheney ’s successor — worked to clarify Musk’s place in the Trump administration, describing him as “a special government employee” with “a top-secret security clearance.” She praised him for his work targeting foreign aid contracts at the U.S. Agency for International Development, calling the department a “monstrosity and waste of money.” The meeting was tamer than some constituent meetings held by Republicans, who hold majorities in the House and the Senate. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, adjourned such a meeting this month in northwest Kansas early when constituents became vocally angry about government personnel cuts. Still, Hageman’s meeting Friday, with about 250 filling to capacity the meeting room in the restored Union Pacific Railroad roundhouse, was the liveliest event that evening in the train depot town of about 11,800 people. Some

A fire on an American Airlines plane after it diverted mid-flight and landed at Denver International Airport sent fleeing passengers to a wing amid billowing clouds of smoke. Airport officials said 12 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The country has seen a recent spate of aviation disasters and close calls stoking fears about air travel, though flying remains a very safe mode of transport. Recent on-the-ground incidents have included a plane that crashed and flipped over upon landing in Toronto and a Japan Airlines plane that clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport. In this latest incident, Flight 1006 was headed from the Colorado Springs Airport to Dallas Fort Worth on Thursday, but diverted to Denver and landed safely around 5:15 p.m. after the crew reported engine vibrations, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. While taxiing to the gate, an engine on the Boeing 737-800 caught fire, the FAA added. Photos and videos posted by news outlets showed passengers standing on a plane’s wing as smoke surrounded the aircraft. The FAA said passengers exited using the slides. American said in a statement that the flight experienced an engine-related issue after taxiing to the gate. There was no immediate clarification on exactly when the plane caught fire. “It’s unusual to have vibrations, obviously, and particularly in light of what happened once on the ground,” said James E. Hall, former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Still, he said, a slew of problems could have caused vibrations and a fire, making it difficult to speculate on. As for the recent spate of aviation incidents, “given the past history, you can classify it as unusual,” said Hall, but “I don’t know if you have enough information to draw any conclusions.” The 172 passengers and six crew members were taken to the terminal, airline officials said. After hearing midflight that something was wrong with the engine