• Trump administration halts Minnesota Medicaid funds over fraud allegations

    Trump administration halts Minnesota Medicaid funds over fraud allegations

    Feb 26, 2026 11:45 PM EDT

    Geoff Bennett: So who's affected by these cuts, Matt? Matt Sepic: Primarily people who rely on 14 programs that had been flagged previously as being susceptible to fraud. These include autism services for children, a housing stabilization program that Governor Walz in fact shut down last year because there ...

  • Surgeon general nominee faces scrutiny over qualifications and views on vaccines

    Surgeon general nominee faces scrutiny over qualifications and views on vaccines

    Feb 25, 2026 11:45 PM EDT

    ... pressed by some from the president's own party. Right off the bat, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who's also a doctor, grilled Means on her past statements incorrectly linking vaccines to autism. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): Do you believe that vaccines, whether individually or collectively, contribute to autism?

  • WATCH: Dr. Casey Means testifies at Senate confirmation hearing for surgeon general

    WATCH: Dr. Casey Means testifies at Senate confirmation hearing for surgeon general

    Feb 25, 2026 02:34 PM EDT

    “I do accept that evidence,” she said, referring to the research. “I also think that science is never settled.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh1esZPxFlc Means said she looked forward to seeing the results of a federal effort to study environmental contributors to autism. The National Institutes of ...

  • NIH's Bhattacharya will also run the CDC while Trump administration looks for a permanent director

    NIH's Bhattacharya will also run the CDC while Trump administration looks for a permanent director

    Feb 18, 2026 10:08 PM EDT

    ... was “the best way to address the measles epidemic in this country,” and testified that he'd seen no evidence linking any single vaccine to autism. Trump administration officials have said they planned to find a permanent CDC director, a job that requires confirmation by the Senate.The Associated Press ...

  • Texas Republican Ken Paxton is stepping up his Senate bid against Cornyn

    Texas Republican Ken Paxton is stepping up his Senate bid against Cornyn

    Feb 16, 2026 09:35 PM EDT

    ... pain reliever, accusing them of deceptively marketing it specifically to expecting women, asserting unproven claims that early exposure to its active ingredient increased risks of autism. Most notably, Paxton led numerous legal challenges against the previous Joe Biden administration over immigration and border policies, often succeeding and burnishing his credentials ...

  • A timeline of Trump's immigration crackdown in Minnesota

    A timeline of Trump's immigration crackdown in Minnesota

    Feb 13, 2026 08:28 PM EDT

    ... capitalized on the fraud cases to target the Somalia diaspora in Minnesota. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants in the child nutrition, housing services and autism program schemes are Somali Americans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota. Dec. 30: More federal immigration officers surge to Minnesota ...

  • How the ICE operation in Minnesota is affecting medical care and mental health

    How the ICE operation in Minnesota is affecting medical care and mental health

    Feb 09, 2026 11:45 PM EDT

    ... that came in late as well so that, by the time you get there, the kid is really struggling to breathe, 15-year-old with autism who came in with abdominal pain. And it turned out that his mother had been detained about a week earlier. So he had about ...

  • Dr. Mehmet Oz urges public to take the measles vaccine as U.S. cases rise

    Dr. Mehmet Oz urges public to take the measles vaccine as U.S. cases rise

    Feb 08, 2026 09:05 PM EDT

    ... too far from established science. During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said no single vaccine causes autism, but he did not rule out the possibility that research may find some combination of vaccines could have negative health side effects. But Kennedy ...

  • A parent’s guide to preventing measles infection and what to look for

    A parent’s guide to preventing measles infection and what to look for

    Feb 01, 2026 07:59 PM EDT

    ... can produce a very mild version of the illness," said Schaffner. The MMR vaccine has long been a target of claims linking the vaccine to autism. Decades of epidemiological research have not demonstrated a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. The claim traces back to a 1998 paper by ...

  • How people with disabilities could bear the burden of Medicaid funding cuts

    How people with disabilities could bear the burden of Medicaid funding cuts

    Jan 30, 2026 11:25 PM EDT

    ... Mother of Nicholas Sills: Quite frankly, Nicholas, he's a wonderful kid.He really is. But he needs some support in just about everything he does. Judy Woodruff: As a young boy, Nicholas was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and then autism. He's been coming to Bright Center since 2019.