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WASHINGTON (AP) — Shortly before he was forced to resign, the nation’s top vaccine regulator says he refused to grant Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team unrestricted access to a tightly held vaccine safety database, fearing that the information might be manipulated or even deleted.

In an interview with The Associated Press, former Food and Drug Administration vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks discussed his efforts to “make nice” with Kennedy and address his longstanding concerns about vaccine safety, including by developing a “vaccine transparency action plan.”

Marks agreed to give Kennedy’s associates the ability to read thousands of reports of potential vaccine-related issues sent to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. But he would not allow them to directly edit the data.

“Why wouldn’t we? Because frankly we don’t trust (them),” he said, using a profanity. “They’d write over it or erase the whole database.”

Marks spoke to the AP on Sunday, after officials in Texas confirmed the nation’s second measles-related death in an unvaccinated child this year. Marks attributed the death to the tepid response from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which again encouraged the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine on Sunday but has also promoted claims about vitamin A supplements.

During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy told lawmakers he is not “antivaccine.” But since taking office, he’s promised to “investigate” children’s shots, and agencies under his watch have terminated vaccine-related research, canceled meetings of vaccine advisers and are poised to reinvestigate ties between vaccines and autism — a link debunked long ago.

Since being sworn in, “Mr. Kennedy has increased the pace by which he intends to minimize the use of vaccines in this country,” Marks said.

An HHS spokesperson said Kennedy has advocated for vaccination multiple times since becoming health secretary and pointed to a social media post Sunday in which he called the vaccine “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.” But hours later, Kennedy also praised “extraordinary healers” in the Mennonite community who he said were using a drug combination to treat measles. Neither of the drugs has been shown to directly treat the disease, which is a viral infection.

Marks is highly regarded by former FDA leaders and biotech industry executives, but his time at the agency was not without controversy. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was alternately criticized for being too slow — under Trump— and too fast — under Biden— to authorize new vaccines and boosters.

Marks says he “tried everything” to work with Kennedy. At the center of that effort was a plan to increase publicly available information about vaccine ingredients, safety and side effects.

Marks and his team had hoped to kick off the initiative with a two-day public “listening session,” followed by an expert report written by an independent organization, such as the National Academies of Sciences.
Overhauling the VAERS system

The centerpiece of the effort would be a vast overhaul of the VAERS system, maintained by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FDA and CDC scientists monitor the database for “possible signals” of emerging problems with vaccines. But analyzing the data requires both medical and statistical expertise, because anyone can submit unverified reports of side effects, injuries and death. The public-facing website warns that the data is unverified and may be incomplete or inaccurate. Misinterpretations of VAERS have long been central to anti-vaccine groups and messaging.

Marks notes that government scientists spend hours adjudicating each report of serious injury or death, often by tracking down death certificates and interviewing health providers. It’s not unusual for investigators to find reports of deaths that were caused by something totally unrelated to a vaccine, like a car crash, or that a death occurred months after vaccination in someone with a serious illness.

Much of that detail is redacted for legal reasons. But Marks said his office was committed to making much more information available.

“This is a legitimate thing that I actually was willing to compromise on,” Marks said “We need to make VAERS more transparent so that people can understand that we actually do the work on the backend.”

Details of Marks’ plan were confirmed by a second person with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly about internal agency matters.

The proposal was sent to FDA’s acting commissioner, Trump appointee Dr. Sara Brenner, in mid-February, but Marks and his team did not hear back.

By mid-March, Marks’ office was fielding multiple requests from Trump administration staffers seeking full access to the VAERS database. In responding to the requests, Marks and his staff emphasized the sensitive nature of the data, which includes confidential personal, medical and corporate information.

The HHS spokesperson said that it would make “perfect sense” for staffers working for Kennedy to seek access to the VAERS database to do their own analysis.
Marks says Kennedy is ‘walled off’ from FDA

Marks said he never spoke directly with Kennedy, whom he described as “walled off” from FDA officials.

On the day he was forced out of his post, Marks said he was summoned to a meeting at HHS headquarters.

Two senior HHS officials greeted him and recalled Marks’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic; he had coined the name and developed the concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” which rapidly accelerated the development of vaccines and therapies to treat the virus.

After an awkward silence, Marks said, one of the officials told him: “Look, he wants you gone.” According to Marks, it was an obvious reference to Kennedy.

“It was pretty clear that either I was going to resign, or they were going to fire me,” Marks said.

He submitted his resignation later that day, citing Kennedy’s support for “misinformation and lies” about vaccines.

The HHS spokesperson said Kennedy is “installing scientists committed to reversing the chronic disease crisis,” and that Marks was a “rubber stamp” for the drug industry.

This week, Kennedy is making stops across the southwestern U.S. as part of a “Make America Healthy Again” tour focused on fluoridation, food dyes and other issues.

Marks said Kennedy should be working to get more children vaccinated to stop the outbreak.

“I consider these needless and senseless deaths,” Marks said. “These kids should get vaccinated. That’s how you prevent people from dying of measles.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that a special election to fill the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s seat won’t be held until November and defended the timing by renewing criticism of past Houston-area elections.

Abbott’s announcement that the special election will be on Nov. 4 came as Democrats have accused the governor of delaying the election after Turner’s March 5 death to help Republicans maintain their razor-thin margin in the U.S. House. Abbott has the sole authority to call for a special election.

The governor said the wait “will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.”

Harris County, where Houston is located, has faced scrutiny in recent years because of problems that have included long lines, poll worker and ballot shortages and ballots that were not counted the day of the election.

“Safe and secure elections are critical to the foundation of our state,” Abbott said in a news release. “Forcing Harris County to rush this special election on weeks’ notice would harm the interests of voters.”

With 5 million residents, most of whom are Latino or Black, the county is the most populous in Texas and the third-most populous in the U.S.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, one of the candidates vying for Turner’s old seat, criticized the wait. Menefee had called for an election in June.

“It is unconscionable to leave nearly 800,000 people in this district without representation in Congress for most of the year,” Menefee said in a statement. “We’ll go through hurricane season, budget battles, and attacks on Social Security and Medicaid with no one at the table fighting for us.”

Menefee, along with Democratic U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, had threatened to sue Abbott over the delay.

Last week, Teneshia Hudspeth, the chief elections officer in Harris County, said the county was “fully prepared” to hold the election.

In 2023, Abbott signed a bill that removed Harris County’s elections administrator and transferred the responsibility to other local officials, including Hudspeth. Hudspeth noted that since then, “my office has successfully conducted eight elections.”

Turner, a former Houston mayor, died just weeks into his first term in Congress.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at juanlozano70

AUSTIN (AP) – Authorities released a woman and her three children from custody on Monday after immigration agents detained them late last month while investigators were making an arrest at an upstate New York farm as part of an unrelated criminal case.

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told Carthage-based TV station WWNY last week that the family detained on March 27 is in the country illegally. Advocates for the family said they have been in the process of seeking legal status in immigration court.

Authorities haven’t said why the family was released after spending more than a week at a federal lockup in Texas, but their detention sparked protests in recent days outside of Homan’s upstate New York home, while a social media post by the children’s school principal describing the community’s “shared shock” circulated widely online.

“The Sackets Harbor community’s steadfast concern, care and love for their neighbors is what brought this family home,” said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition.

New York Assemblyman Scott Gray said the mother and children, who have not publicly been identified, were released following a health review and interviews with authorities.

“ICE has made an independent decision to release the family,” said Gray, a Republican from Watertown.

The outpouring of support for the family included a demonstration on Saturday that drew hundreds of people to Sackets Harbor, a small town on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario where Homan has a home and where the children — who are in third, 10th and 11th grade — attend school. Principal Jaime Cook, who pleaded for the family’s release in a Facebook post, was among the demonstrators.

“The fact that our students were handcuffed and put into the same van as the alleged criminal from down the street is unconscionable,” Cook wrote in her post. “When I think of my third grader’s experience, my stomach twists and it is hard to breathe.”

The mother and children were detained after federal agents arrived at North Harbor Dairy Farm in search of a 43-year-old South African man wanted on a charge of distributing images of child sexual abuse. That man was arrested, as were seven people suspected of being in the country illegally, including the woman and her three kids.

In interviews, Homan said the family’s home was within the area covered by the search warrant and that agents had done “everything by the book.”

“Sometimes when you serve a warrant in a criminal investigation, there’s other people in the vicinity that have to be detained for questioning and safety reasons. But it’s part of the job,” he told WWNY.

He said investigators had to do “due diligence” before a decision could be made on whether to release the family.

”There’s a process during these investigations where — could these children, could that family be a material witness in this horrendous crime? Can they provide information and evidence in this crime? Were they victimized within this crime?” he said.

The Trump administration has made it a priority to deport anyone in the country illegally, even those officers encounter while targeting someone else. That is a departure from President Joe Biden, whose administration limited deportation priorities to people deemed national security or public safety risks and those stopped at the border.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to questions about the family’s legal and immigration status and whether they would be allowed to remain in the country.

Cook said the students “were doing everything right.”

“They had declared themselves to immigration judges, attended court on their assigned dates, and were following the legal process,” she said.

Jennifer Gaffney, superintendent of the 400-student Sackets Harbor Central School District, said the district would provide “the care, understanding and sensitivity necessary for our students and staff to begin the healing process from this traumatic experience.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she learned from Homan on Monday that the family was returning to upstate New York.

“New York has been consistent: we are open to working with federal immigration enforcement to crack down on gang members or violent criminals,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “But I will never support cruel actions that rip kids out of school or tear families apart.”

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Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.

AUSTIN – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the future of the Texas hemp industry is on the line as state lawmakers consider sweeping bills that would tightly regulate or outright ban THC products. Senate Bill 3 would wipe out all hemp-derived products — from gummies, vapes and flower buds to THC-infused beverages — that currently grace the shelves of more than 8,000 Texas stores. Under current law, hemp products with less than 0.3% THC are legal; however, SB 3 would erase that important distinction. The Senate passed the bill with a 24-7 vote on March 19, and it now moves to the House, where a more moderate proposal — House Bill 28 — calls for tighter regulations instead of an outright ban.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the ban is his top priority during this legislative session. Patrick has taken a hard line on the issue, contending that THC products pose a significant risk to public health, particularly for children. “This is a poison in our public, and we as the Legislature, our number one responsibility is life and death issues,” Patrick declared at a recent press conference. He contends that misleading packaging and dangerously high THC levels — claims of some products containing “several times more THC content than marijuana purchased from a drug dealer off the street” — endanger Texans. Patrick’s resolve extends to THC-infused beverages, which he insists should not be exempt from the ban. State Sen. Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock, introduced Senate Bill 3. “I named SB 3 a major legislative initiative of mine because I will not allow retailers to circumvent the law and put Texans’, and especially children’s, lives in danger,” he said in a press release. He has also warned hemp retailers, advising them to consider closing their doors voluntarily as investigations and potential lawsuits loom. “You might want to voluntarily close your doors because the investigations are going to continue, and I’m sure the lawsuits are about to come. You know what you’re doing.” Patrick sai

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that Coppell ISD officials want Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against the district thrown out saying it is “political fodder” against public schools based on a manipulated hidden-video recording, according to court filings. Officials allege in their counterclaim filed Tuesday that efforts to discredit Coppell and other public schools’ educators are being made to influence debates over school choice. “Why? To provide the Attorney General with political fodder against public school districts such as CISD during the current debate and upcoming votes in the Texas Legislature about private school vouchers and public school funding,” the filing read. “This is an improper purpose.” Coppell ISD officials said they could not comment on pending litigation when reached Friday.

In a recent message to parents and staff, Superintendent Brad Hunt addressed the suit and wrote the district is “committed to providing a high-quality education that follows the state curriculum.” The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In March, Paxton accused Coppell school officials of breaking state law by teaching students critical race theory and pushing “woke ideology.” The attorney general’s office referred to a hidden camera recording filmed by a group called Accuracy in Media that appeared to show a Coppell ISD administrator evading the state’s “prohibitions on the use of CRT in state policies and curricula,” according to a statement from his office announcing the suit. Critical race theory is a framework that explores how policies and laws uphold systemic racism. It was largely debated in academia. In recent years, many conservatives conflated it with work aimed at making schools more equitable for students. In 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law to eliminate critical race theory from schools.

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports In front of a modest crowd last week at Dallas’ Temple Shalom, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins and former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred urged Democratic voters to stay in the fight. Along with lamenting the policies of President Donald Trump, some in the audience wondered whether the duo would help lead the fight by being candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. It was the first question Allred received at the event, billed as a town hall meeting for congressional District 24, which is represented by Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Irving. The meeting was sponsored by the Park Cities Area Democrats and Indivisible Dallas. Allred acknowledged he was considering another run for Senate, but tried to get the crowd to stay in the political moment.

“For some of us, we have the time and space and the capability to be able to say more and do more,” Allred said during the town hall meeting last Wednesday. “I’m asking everyone to do everything you can, not for the election in a year and a half … we have to start speaking up right now.” The mood of the audience represented not only exasperation over the Trump presidency, but also over a leadership void in the Democratic party. With the 2026 elections looming, few big name Democrats have stepped up to run for statewide or federal office. The March primaries are less than a year away, and Democrats hope the political environment could offer opportunities for them. But they need quality candidates to take advantage. Allred, who last year lost a Senate race to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, told The Dallas Morning News last month he’s “seriously considering” running for the seat held by longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn. Although some Democrats wonder whether Allred’s loss to Cruz is a deal breaker for 2026, he doesn’t think so.

TEXAS – The nation’s average price of gasoline has risen for the third straight week, increasing 10.6 cents compared to a week ago and stands at $3.21 per gallon, according to GasBuddy® data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is up 13.2 cents from a month ago and is 35.6 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has increased 3.6 cents in the last week and stands at $3.594 per gallon.

“While the national average price of gasoline saw its largest weekly gain of the year, it likely won’t last long, as oil prices have plummeted amid growing concerns about the global economy following the U.S. announcement of some of the most significant tariffs in over a century, along with OPEC+ restoring oil production faster than anticipated,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “In addition to falling oil prices, the stock market has dropped sharply, and the risk of a recession has increased — raising the likelihood of reduced global energy and oil demand, which is sending prices lower. As a result, motorists can expect gas prices to begin falling nearly coast-to-coast, with oil now at its lowest level since the early days of the pandemic in 2021. If tariffs aren’t scaled back soon, the national average could fall below $3 per gallon in the weeks ahead, with no clear indication of how long it might stay there as market volatility persists.”