
Ruling striking down CDC mask mandate sparks mixed emotions and new worries for Biden administration
CNN
Biden administration officials found themselves straddling an uncomfortable line in their quest to end the Covid-19 pandemic Monday -- celebrating a return to near-normalcy as they hosted scores of unmasked children for the White House Easter Egg Roll and then watching one of their final lines of defense against the virus fall hours later when a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mask mandate for airlines, trains and mass transit.
It was only last week that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had extended the travel mask mandate through May 3 so administration officials could sort out their next move among conflicting signs about the trajectory of the virus. But several hours after US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the mandate was unlawful, an administration official told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that the CDC's mask mandate was no longer being enforced, which the Transportation Security Administration confirmed late Monday.

One year ago this week, Joe Biden was president. I was in Doha, Qatar, negotiating with Israel and Hamas to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The incoming Trump team worked closely with us, a rare display of nonpartisanship to free hostages and end a war. It feels like a decade ago. A lot can happen in a year, as 2025 has shown.

Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate
A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities

The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.









