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Extending the Iran Ceasefire

The Democrats Might Win This Year

The Democrats Will Use the Economy to Win

Dr. Oz announces 50-state audit of Medicaid program oversight

The Trump administration will require all 50 states to explain their plans to revalidate some of their Medicaid providers in a national escalation of anti-fraud efforts that have so far largely focused on specific states, Dr. Mehmet Oz said Tuesday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator said during a Politico health care summit that his agency plans to ask states to “own” the problem of health care fraud this week with requests for states to share their strategies within 30 days. “It's an example of what we'd like them to do to prove that they're serious about this,” Oz said onstage Tuesday. “And if you don't take it seriously, it indicates to us that we might have to take the audits that we're doing to the different states more aggressively,” he said, without elaborating. Tuesday's announcement is part of a federal campaign to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in federal Medicaid and Medicare programs that so far has mostly targeted Democratic states — and at least once has erred in its accusations. Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that CMS made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York. The acknowledgment deepened doubts in the administration's methods and raised a common criticism that has been made about the second Trump administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later. In addition to New York, CMS has approached at least four other states with investigations into potential health care fraud and halted some $243 million in Medicaid payments to one of them, Minnesota, over fraud concerns. It also is blocking for six months any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or certain other supplies around the country to address the potential for fraud. In addition, federal officials made several arrests earlier this month related to alleged hospice fraud schemes in the Los Angeles area. Last month, Trump signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. It's unclear whether Tuesday's move is part of that effort, though Oz has been working closely with Vance on other investigations related to the task force. Asked for details on the new audit, a spokesperson for CMS said the agency was researching the AP's inquiry. Oz justified Tuesday's move by saying federal health programs in some states have enrolled large numbers of providers who aren't providing real care to patients, but instead profiting from fraud. He said the requests for states to verify the legitimacy of Medicaid providers will be focused on “high risk areas,” but didn’t explain what those entail. Asked during the Politico interview whether there was a risk that Trump administration initiatives could eliminate, slow down or harm essential health care programs, Oz said he expects the opposite. He said Medicaid and Medicare are the “crown jewels” of our nation. “I believe this audit and others like it will save the programs we care most about,” he said.

U.S. Warns It Will Run Out Of Money To Pay Airport Security Workers In Coming Weeks

U.S. airports could face a new wave of long security lines as early as May after the nation's homeland security chief said on Tuesday that he will run out of money to pay for 50,000 workers due to a partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump in late March directed DHS to use emergency funds to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone without paychecks for about six weeks, causing disruptions at U.S. airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday that the money would run out by early May. "That money is dried up if I continue down this path the first week of May, because my payroll at DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks," Mullin said. He said after the next paycheck, "There is no more emergency fund, so the president can't do another executive order for us to use money, because there's no more money there." TSA workers also went unpaid for six weeks last autumn during an earlier partial government shutdown. Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu told Reuters on Tuesday Congress has to move fast to get DHS funded. "You cannot ask these (TSA officers) to go through this a third time," said Sununu, who heads the group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others. In March, the weeks-long standoff in Congress caused security lines at some airports to exceed four hours, the longest in the TSA's nearly 25-year history. More than ?500 TSA ?officers have quit since mid-February. Senate Republicans will move forward this week on ?a budget blueprint that would boost funding for DHS agencies for ?the next three years, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said as Congress aims to end a partial shutdown of DHS. Democrats have pushed for a series ?of new constraints on ICE and Border Patrol, which operate under the direction of DHS, before authorizing additional ?funds. They have argued that ICE and Border Patrol should be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the ?United States, ?including a requirement that agents obtain judicial warrants before they enter private homes.

US warns it will run out of money to pay TSA in coming weeks

Trump says he is extending ceasefire with Iran

President Donald Trump says he is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the U.S. military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports. Tuesday's move comes as the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of truce talks with Iran, which has balked at further discussions. But Trump warned that the U.S. military will continue its blockade of Iranian ports. Since the war began, fighting has killed thousands across Iran, Lebanon, Israel and Gulf states.

U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Deadline Nears

Last-minute ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran look uncertain as a two-week truce is set to expire and both sides say they’re prepared to resume fighting. A White House official says Vice President JD Vance, who is expected to lead the U.S. delegation if talks resume in Pakistan, remained in Washington on Tuesday and had meetings scheduled Wednesday morning. Pakistan’s information minister says Iran has not formally confirmed whether it will participate. The ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday. Both sides remain firm, with President Donald Trump warning of potential conflict and Iran hinting at new strategies. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says there has been “no final decision” on whether to attend ceasefire talks.

2 CIA officers killed in Mexico vehicle crash after counterdrug operation

Two Americans killed in a vehicle crash as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in a rugged region of Mexico over the weekend were working for the CIA, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with matter. Two Mexican investigators also were killed in the crash, which Mexican authorities said occurred while the officials were returning from an operation to destroy drug labs of criminal groups. The CIA's involvement was confirmed Tuesday by a U.S. official and two people with knowledge of the crash who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. The identity of the two Americans as CIA officers was earlier reported by The Washington Post. Confirmation of the CIA’s involvement comes after days of contradictions from Mexican and U.S. authorities about the role U.S. officials played in an operation to bust a narco-laboratory in northern Chihuahua. The lack of clarity by authorities reignited a debate over the extent of U.S. involvement in Mexican security operations at a moment when Mexican President Sheinbaum has come under extreme pressure by the Trump administration to crack down on cartels.

College student from China charged with illegally taking photos of US military planes

A college student from China has been charged with illegally taking photos of U.S. military planes in Nebraska during a multistate road trip that included a stop at an Air Force base in South Dakota. Tianrui Liang, 21, was arrested April 7 at a New York airport while trying to leave the U.S. for Glasgow, Scotland, where he attends school, the FBI said in a court filing. Liang admitted that he got out of a car on a public road in late March and took photos of an RC-135, a reconnaissance aircraft, and an E-4B at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, the FBI said. The E-4B, known as the “Nightwatch”, can serve as an airborne command center for a president and military officials in times of emergency, according to the Air Force. The FBI said it's illegal to photograph or sketch defense installations without approval. Images of both planes are available online. Liang told investigators that it was ”legal to take pictures of the sky, but he knew it was illegal to take pictures of the planes on the ground," the FBI said. He said they were for his personal collection, the FBI said. Liang's attorney, Jeff Thomas, declined to comment Tuesday. Liang has not appeared yet in federal court in Omaha. Liang flew to Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada on March 26 and met a friend who is a college student in New York, the FBI said. They drove across the U.S. border in Washington state before Liang drove alone to see Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, according to the affidavit. The FBI said he was also interested in going to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Other cases involving military sites have been filed against college students from China. Five men were charged with lying and trying to cover their tracks after they were confronted in the dark in 2023 near a Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for drills. They graduated from the University of Michigan and apparently returned to China months before they were charged and have never appeared in court. In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were pursuing master’s degrees at the University of Michigan were sentenced to prison for illegally taking photographs at a naval air station in Key West, Florida.

Trump Predicts “Great Deal” With Iran

Ahead of more peace talks with Iran, President Trump is predicting a “great deal” to end the war. The president believes Iran “has no choice” but to reach an agreement with the United States. He tells CNBC that he doesn’t want to extend the ceasefire which expires Wednesday and he expects a “great deal.” At the same time, the president continues to threaten more fighting and more bombs if negotiators fail to end the war, saying the military is “ready to go.”

Well Site Explosion Triggers Fire And Evacuations In Texas

Authorities say an explosion at a Texas natural gas or oil well site has set off a large fire, leading to some evacuations, but no injuries. The Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Office received calls late Monday about a loud explosion in Etoile, a small rural community in eastern Texas. The sheriff's office said it happened at an oil well site. The city of Nacogdoches described it as a natural gas well. Several residents evacuated as a precaution and others were asked to shelter in place. The fire was still burning early Tuesday, but was not spreading. Drilling company H&P says the cause of the well blowout is not yet known.

U.S. Forces Board Sanctioned Oil Tanker In Indian Ocean

U.S. forces have boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia. The Pentagon said Tuesday on social media that U.S. forces “conducted a right-of-visit maritime interdiction” and boarded the M/T Tifani “without incident.” A U.S. defense official says the tanker was captured in the Bay of Bengal and carrying Iranian oil. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation, says the U.S. military will decide in the next four days what to do with the vessel. It’s the latest move in the U.S. war on Iran to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government.

US military pushes for boost in 2027 spending on drones, air defenses

The Pentagon wants to triple its spending on drone technology. In a clear indication that drones and other unmanned vehicles have emerged as key weapons of war, the Pentagon’s new budget proposal would allocate nearly $54 billion for military drones and related technology. The Defense Department request also includes $21 billion for weapons systems designed to take down enemy drones. A Pentagon official said “drone warfare is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield.”

Hegseth Says Flu Vaccine No Longer Mandated For U.S. Troops

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military will no longer require all American troops to get the flu vaccine, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom. “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance at all times is just overly broad and not rational,” Hegseth said in a video posted on social media. He said American service members are free to get the flu vaccine but will not be forced to “because your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable.” Hegseth’s directive does allow for the military services to request to keep the vaccine requirement in place, according to a memo enacting the policy posted online. It says the services have 15 days to make those requests. Vaccination programs in the U.S. military date back to the American Revolution. But they became a contentious political issue during the coronavirus pandemic, when more than 8,400 troops were forced out of the military for refusing to obey the 2021 mandate for the COVID-19 vaccine. Thousands of others sought religious and medical exemptions. Congress agreed to rescind the mandate, which the Pentagon dropped in January 2023, after roughly 99% of active duty troops in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps had gotten the vaccine, and 98% of those in the Army. The Guard and Reserve rates are lower but generally are more than 90%. The Trump administration then spent months crafting a policy to allow service members who refused to take the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine to reenter service with back pay. While only a tiny fraction have taken the Pentagon up on the new policy, Hegseth’s team has spent the past several months personally highlighting them. The Pentagon stated in March that 153 service members who were separated under the COVID-19 mandate had been reinstated or "re-accessed." The dropping of the flu vaccine mandate follows what health officials said was a particularly severe flu season when U.S. infections surged. Public health experts recommend that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The Trump administration has been working to dial back vaccine recommendations. It stated earlier this year that it will no longer recommend flu shots and some other types of vaccines for all children, saying it’s a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors. A federal judge has temporarily blocked that effort as a lawsuit plays out. The Congressional Research Service listed eight mandatory vaccines for service members in a 2021 report. They included vaccines for the flu, polio and tetanus as well as the measles and hepatitis A and B. Service members could request to opt out of a vaccine requirement for religious reasons, the report stated. But the unit commander was required to seek input from medical and religious representatives, while also counseling the service member on the potential impact on their ability to deploy. A military physician also had to counsel the service member on the benefits and risks of forgoing a required vaccination. The Congressional Research Service noted that the military instituted its first vaccination program in 1777 when Gen. George Washington directed the inoculation of the Continental Army to protect personnel from smallpox.

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