Texas child who was not vaccinated has died of measles

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, officials there said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious respiratory disease since 2015. The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night, state officials said, amid the widespread outbreak, Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties. The Texas Department of State Health Services and Lubbock health officials confirmed the death to The Associated Press. The Lubbock hospital where the child had been treated didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Judge criticizes Justice Department’s broad reading of Trump’s Capitol riot pardons

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday criticized the Justice Department’s evolving position that a presidential pardon for a Kentucky man who stormed the Capitol also covers his conviction for illegally possessing guns at his home. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich pressed a prosecutor to explain why the department abandoned its initial conclusion that Daniel Edwin Wilson must report back to prison because it didn’t believe that his pardon for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot extended to his firearms convictions. “The meaning of the pardon can’t be shifting from day to day,” the judge said

Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs in a new memo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agencies must develop plans to eliminate employee positions, according to a memo distributed Wednesday by President Donald Trump ‘s administration that sets in motion what could become a sweeping realignment of American government. The memo expands the Republican president’s effort to downsize the federal workforce, which he has described as an impediment to his agenda. Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and now his administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection.“We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to,” Trump said during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. “We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job.”

NYC Mayor Eric Adams skips forum as he awaits decision on legal fate

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he pulled out of a mayoral candidate forum after his lawyer told him to wait until a federal judge decides how to handle the corruption case. Adams told reporters Wednesday he would skip the forum, held by District Council 37, the largest municipal union in the city, because his attorney told him to forgo such events until a decision is reached in his criminal case. Earlier on Wednesday, Adams filed asked the judge to toss the case, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, even as the Justice Department seeks dismissal of the charges on Adams’ behalf.