Opinion

By Francisco R. Velázquez and Mary R. Wood

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been without a permanent director since the removal of Susan Monarez in August. Its recently installed acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, is also running the National Institutes of Health, located hundreds of miles from the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. The CDC has also lost scores of senior staff and shuttered key programs, including those focusing on tobacco control and injury prevention.

Emergency assistance to immigrants

Federal officials sent out email alerts last week about how to avoid Medicare scams.

By Alex Amonette and Poonam Medberry

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Kristi Noem is out as head of the Department of Homeland Security and will be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, effective March 31. Mullin, like Noem, will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

So it turns out Americans don’t love widespread cruelty.

Washington’s new tax on smoking alternatives and nicotine products is making its way through the state’s Legislature, known as Senate Bill 6129. The nearly 10,000 licensed tobacco retailers and over 500,000 smokers looking for healthier alternatives in the Evergreen State are on pins and needles, as they may soon be forced to close their doors, make purchases out of state or commit a larger share of an already strained budget to the products they need.

Sign-in fraud

Killing the tyrant doesn’t assure the tyranny will end.

On Tuesday, Texas Democratic voters selected state Rep. James Talarico to be their party’s U.S. Senate nominee come November. He defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who conceded Wednesday, and in doing so sealed the party’s doom to a mediocre existence.

Elections are already secure