22 states sue the Trump administration to halt cuts in medical research funding

BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys general from 22 states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for slashing funding for medical and public health research at universities nationwide. The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Boston challenges the Trump administration, Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health over efforts to reduce indirect costs to these institutions, including lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility costs. Last week, the NIH announced it was cutting payments toward overhead costs for research institutions that receive its grants, a policy that could leave universities with major budget gaps.

Trump says he has directed US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin. Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site: “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” He added: “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” The move by Trump is the latest in what has been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation.

NYC police apologize for falsely accusing 15-year-old of fatal parade shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police apologized for mistakenly accusing a teenager of a fatal shooting at a Brooklyn parade. In a statement, the department said it should have immediately corrected the false posts, which blamed a 15-year-old for a Labor Day shooting that remains unsolved. The apology followed reporting by The Associated Press on the NYPD’s monthslong refusal to publicly retract the allegation, even as they quietly deleted the allegations online and privately admitted Lee was not a suspect in the killing. In their statement, police said Lee was a person of interest since he was “on the scene before, during, and after the incident.”

USAID watchdog warns of lack of oversight of $8.2B in unspent aid after Trump moves

WASHINGTON (AP) — USAID has lost almost all ability to track $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid over the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze and idling of staff, a government watchdog warned Monday. The new administration’s rapid dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development has left oversight of the humanitarian aid “largely nonoperational,” the inspector general’s office for USAID said in a flash alert. That includes the agency’s greatly reduced ability to ensure no aid falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones, the watchdog said.