A Massachusetts man has been found guilty of murdering his wife, who has never been found after she disappeared nearly three years ago. Brian Walshe was convicted of first-degree murder Monday after pleading guilty last month to lesser charges of misleading police and illegally disposing of her body. Investigators relied on online searches Walshe made about dismemberment and disposing of a body. Surveillance also showed a man resembling him throwing heavy trash bags into a dumpster. Prosecutors showed photos of many items recovered that were connected to Ana Walshe, including her vaccination card.
Florida officials are plowing ahead with a proposal to roll back certain vaccine mandates for the state’s schoolchildren. That is after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the state to become the first in the nation to eliminate all school vaccination requirements. The Florida Department of Health held a public hearing on the policy change in Panama City Beach on Friday. Activists and parents opposed to the mandates heralded the importance of individual freedom. Doctors recalled the children who died of infectious diseases before the advent of vaccines. For generations, the shots have been a cornerstone of public health policy.
A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted Friday to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.
A federal judge has ordered the release of Florida grand jury transcripts from the federal sex trafficking cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, citing the transparency law President Donald Trump recently signed. Meanwhile, a federal vaccine advisory committee voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born, even though the shots have prevented thousands of liver illnesses. Democrats are pushing for the release of video of the first U.S. military strikes on a boat in the Caribbean that they say shows a war crime or murder. And Trump took center stage at Friday’s 2026 World Cup draw.
US vaccine advisers recommend ending longstanding advice that all babies get a hepatitis B shot at birth.
A Navy admiral has told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela. Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley “was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all.” But Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the boat strike was deeply concerning.
A federal vaccine advisory committee voted to delay a vote on whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But the committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation's top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.
A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer. Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that. Changing the recommendation would contradict previous public health advice, and some medical and public health experts are alarmed. It’s not clear what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose.
Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro is preparing to serve a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup. Many families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 say the conviction offers a measure of vindication even though it is unrelated to his handling of the pandemic. There have been more than 700,000 coronavirus-related deaths in Brazil. Researchers estimate most deaths could have been avoided if Bolsonaro had supported containment measures and accelerated vaccine purchases. Bolsonaro’s conviction provides some emotional relief for those mourning the victims. But there is a sense among some that justice hasn't been done for the pandemic’s toll.
President Donald Trump and his Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say they want the government to follow “gold standard” science. Scientists say the problem is that those two are often doing just the opposite by relying on preliminary studies, fringe science or just hunches to make claims, cast doubt on proven treatments or even set policy. Experts say gold standard science is objective, transparent and evolves with new knowledge. Scientists say the process of getting medicines and vaccines to market and recommended in the United States has, until now, typically relied on gold standard science.