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WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal health officials said Tuesday they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

The statement said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to recover the money beginning 30 days after termination notices, which began being sent out on Monday.

Officials said the money was largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and global projects as well as community health workers responding to COVID and a program established in 2021 to address COVID health disparities among high-risk and underserved patients, including those in minority populations. The move was first reported by NBC News.

Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, said much of the funding was set to end soon anyway. “It’s ending in the next six months,” she said. “There’s no reason — why rescind it now? It’s just cruel and unusual behavior.”

In a related move, more than two dozen COVID-related research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health have been canceled. Earlier this month, the Trump administration shut down ordering from covidtest.gov, the site where Americans could have COVID-19 tests delivered to their mailboxes for no charge.

Although the COVID federal public health emergency has ended, the virus is still killing Americans: 458 people per week on average have died from COVID over the past four weeks, according to CDC data.

HHS wouldn’t provide many details about how the federal government expects to recover the money from what it called “impacted recipients.” But HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email: “The $11.4 billion is undisbursed funds remaining.”

Freeman said her understanding is that state health departments already had the COVID money.

“The funding was authorized by Congress, was appropriated by Congress, and it was out the door, basically, into the hands of the grantees” — states, she said, which decide how to distribute it locally.

Some of the COVID money is used to address other public health issues, Freeman added. For example, wastewater surveillance that began during COVID became important for detecting other diseases, too.

“It was being used in significant ways to track flu and patterns of new disease and emerging diseases — and even more recently with the measles outbreak,” Freeman said.

Under both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, billions of dollars was allocated for COVID response through legislation, including a COVID relief bill and the American Rescue Plan Act.

At this point, it’s unclear exactly how health departments will be affected by the pullback of funds. But some were starting to look at what it might mean for them. In Washington state, for example, health officials were notified that more than $125 million in COVID-related funding has been immediately terminated. They are “assessing the impact” of the actions, they said.

In Los Angeles County, health officials said they could lose more than $80 million in core funding for vaccinations and other services. “Much of this funding supports disease surveillance, public health lab services, outbreak investigations, infection control activities at healthcare facilities and data transparency,” a department official wrote in an email.

WEST TEXAS (AP) – The measles outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico have surpassed a combined 370 cases, and two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.

Already, the U.S. has more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week. Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.

How many measles cases are there in Texas and New Mexico?

Texas state health officials said Tuesday there were 18 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 327 across 15 counties — most in West Texas. Forty people have been hospitalized since the outbreak began. Lamb County was new to the list, with one case.

New Mexico health officials announced one new case Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 43. Most of the cases are in Lea County, where two people have been hospitalized, and two are in in Eddy County.

Oklahoma’s state health department has nine total cases as of Tuesday, including seven confirmed cases and two probable cases. The first two probable cases were “associated” with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks.

A school-age child died of measles in Texas last month, and New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult last week.

Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?

Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.

An outbreak in Kansas has grown to 10 cases across three counties — Grant, Morton and Stevens counties. A state health department spokesperson did not respond to emails about whether the outbreak is linked to the situation in Texas or New Mexico.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases. The agency counts three clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025 as of Tuesday.

In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are generally traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.

Do you need an MMR booster?

The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.

Adults with “presumptive evidence of immunity” generally don’t need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.

A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but health experts don’t always recommend this route and insurance coverage can vary.

Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.

People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don’t know which type they got.

What are the symptoms of measles?

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.

The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.

Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

How can you treat measles?

There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.

Why do vaccination rates matter?

In communities with high vaccination rates — above 95% — diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called “herd immunity.”

But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots.

The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

DALLAS (AP) – Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett mocked her state’s governor during a weekend appearance, referring to Greg Abbott — who uses a wheelchair — as “Gov. Hot Wheels” while speaking at a banquet in Los Angeles.

“You all know we got Gov. Hot Wheels down there. Come on, now,” Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, said about Abbott, a Republican, while addressing the Human Rights Campaign event. “And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot-ass mess, honey.”

Abbott was paralyzed in 1984 after a tree fell on him while he was running. The accident severely damaged Abbott’s spinal cord. Abbott, now 67, was elected in 2014.

Crockett, elected to the House in 2022, was roundly criticized by Republicans for the comments, an aside she made during her speech to the civil rights group event after she thanked Morgan Cox, a group board member and fellow Dallas resident, according to video of the event posted to Human Rights Campaign’s YouTube channel.

“Crockett’s comments are disgraceful,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn posted on the social media platform X. “Shameful.”

Crockett suggested Tuesday that she was not referring to Abbott’s condition. Instead, she posted on X that she was referring to Abbott’s policy of sending thousands of immigrants who were in Texas illegally to cities where local policy limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities, such as New York and Philadelphia.

“I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable,” the post stated.

Abbott’s office did not immediately replied to requests for comment.

Crockett has faced criticism from Republicans for suggesting last week that tech billionaire Elon Musk, heading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, “be taken down.”

EL PASO (AP) – The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history has been offered a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, a Texas prosecutor said Tuesday.

The announcement by El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya is a significant turn in the criminal case of Patrick Crusius, 26, who was already sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty in 2023 to federal hate crime charges.

Under the Biden administration, federal prosecutors also took the death penalty off the table but did not explain why.

In addition to the federal case, Crusius was also charged in state court with capital murder.

Montoya said he supports the death penalty and believes Crusius deserves it. But he said he met with the families of the victims and there was an overriding desire to conclude the process, though some relatives were willing to wait as long as it took for a death sentence.

“The vast majority of them want this case over and done with as quickly as possible,” he said.

Montoya also said pursuing the death penalty would mean a long and drawn-out legal battle with many hearings and appeals.

“I could see a worst-case scenario where this would not go to trial until 2028 if we continued to seek the death penalty,” he said.

Montoya, a Democrat, took office in January after defeating a Republican incumbent who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Montoya’s predecessors supported sending Crusius to death row.

“I’ve heard about it. I think the guy does deserve the death penalty, to be honest,” Abbott said Tuesday about the decision. “Any shooting like that is what capital punishment is for.”

Crusius, who is white, was 21 years old and had dropped out of community college when police say he drove more than 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from his home near Dallas to target Hispanics in El Paso.

Moments after posting a racist screed online that warned of a Hispanic “invasion” of the state, he opened fire with an AK-style rifle inside and outside the store.

Before the shooting, Crusius appears to have been consumed by the immigration debate, posting online in support of building the border wall and other messages praising the hardline border policies of President Donald Trump, who was in his first term at the time. He went further in the rant he posted before the attack, saying Hispanics were going to take over the government and economy.

In the years since the shooting, Republicans have called migrants crossing the southern border an “invasion” and dismissed criticism that such rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.

In the U.S. government’s case, Crusius received a life sentence for each of the 90 charges against him, half of which were classified as hate crimes. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said after the sentencing that “no one in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence.”

One of his attorneys told the judge before the sentencing that his client had a “broken brain” and his thinking was “at odds with reality.”

Federal prosecutors did not formally explain their decision not to seek the death penalty, but they did acknowledge that Crusius suffered from schizoaffective disorder, which can be marked by hallucinations, delusions and mood swings.

The people who were killed ranged in age from a 15-year-old high school athlete to several grandparents. They included immigrants, a retired city bus driver, teachers, tradesmen including a former iron worker, and several Mexican nationals who had crossed the U.S. border on routine shopping trips.

In 2023, Crusius agreed to pay more than $5 million to his victims. Court records showed that his attorneys and the Justice Department reached an agreement over the restitution amount, which was then approved by a U.S. district judge. There was no indication that he had significant assets.

AUSTIN (ABC) – The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 18 cases confirmed over the last five days, bringing the total to 327 cases, according to new data published Tuesday.

Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far.

Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the data.

In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases at 140, followed by children ages 4 and under accounting for 105 cases, according to the data.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities. DSHS is working with local health departments to investigate the outbreak,” the department said in a press release.

It comes as another case of measles was confirmed in New Mexico, bringing the total to 43, according to data from the state Department of Health. The majority of cases are in Lea County, which borders Gaines County — the epicenter of the outbreak in Texas.

Additionally, two cases of measles were confirmed in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on Monday. A media release from the Erie County Department of Health said the cases were linked to international travel and there is not a high risk of exposure for the general population.

Two likely measles deaths have been reported so far in the U.S. The first was an unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas, according to the DSHS. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to the department.

The Texas death was the first measles death recorded in the U.S. in a decade, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A possible second measles death was recorded after an unvaccinated New Mexico resident tested positive for the virus following their death. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said the official cause of death is still under investigation.

The CDC has confirmed 378 measles cases this year in at least 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.

The majority of nationally confirmed cases, about 95%, are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the CDC said. Of those cases, 3% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.

For those living in the outbreak area, Texas health officials are recommending that parents consider an early dose of the MMR vaccine for children between 6 months and 11 months, and that adults receive a second MMR dose if they only received one in the past.

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ODESSA — The fracking boom that resuscitated the Texas oil fields has also beaten up the infrastructure in the Permian Basin, the state’s biggest oil and gas drilling region.

More heavy trucks drove through small towns, tearing up roads. Companies built temporary workforce housing, called man camps, which local officials said dramatically increased the population, requiring more public services like garbage pick-up, hospital beds and first responders.

Local leaders say the oil boom has caused strains that their city and county budgets can’t keep up with.

Two West Texas lawmakers want to divert 10% of the roughly $8 billion that oil and gas companies pay the state in so-called severance taxes to benefit oil-producing counties. Legislation sponsored by State Reps. Tom Craddick of Midland and Brooks Landgraf of Odessa would redirect a portion of those taxes to 32 eligible counties to be used for infrastructure repairs, emergency services, health care, education and workforce development.

Regulators, industry and environmental policy experts agree that addressing the damage caused by decades of oil and gas production will require significant policy and funding changes.

A report by the House Appropriations Committee on House Bill 2154, which Craddick and Landgraf authored together in 2019 to address the same issues, said that failing to help communities in the oil patch repair their infrastructure could also impede the oil and gas industry.

“In recent years, the regions of Texas responsible for the growth in the state’s oil and natural gas production have encountered significant challenges that have limited the potential growth of the energy sector and could pose a significant threat to the sustained future growth of oil and natural gas production in the state,” the report said.

Their 2019 bill died in the Senate. And in 2021 and 2023, they tried and failed again.

This time, they introduced two separate proposals. Craddick authored House Bill 265, which is basically identical to the 2019 bill. Landgraf introduced House Bill 188, which would also devote money to oil field cleanup and emissions reduction programs managed by the Texas Railroad Commission and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — and give property tax relief to homeowners statewide.

Landgraf could not say whether the changes will be enough to finally win support in the upper chamber.

“It’s a high barrier. I’ve known that since 2018 when I first started looking into this,” Landgraf said. “But I do think that if it’s a policy that we can put in place, it would have great dividends for every corner of Texas, and that’s why I think it’s a fight that’s still worth fighting.”

The two bills would redirect some oil and gas tax money to certain oil and gas-producing counties, as well as coastal counties where a port authority transports oil and gas. Landgraf’s bill would set aside $500 million, while Craddick’s would collect up to $250 million for all eligible counties.

Under Landgraf’s bill, county governments, school districts, colleges and nonprofits in qualifying counties could apply for the money and spend it on things like road repairs, improving schools, workforce development initiatives and emergency services.

The remaining $300 million would go toward the Property Tax Relief Fund, an account managed by the state comptroller used to reduce maintenance repairs in school districts, which are funded by local property taxes.

If one or both of the bills can get through the Legislature and get Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, they would still need to go before Texas voters this fall as a constitutional amendment.

Budget writers in both chambers typically don’t like being told how to spend money through constitutional amendments, said Sherri Greenberg, a dean of state and local government engagement at the University of Texas at Austin.

The intense pace of oil production in the Permian Basin, which covers 75,000 square miles between Texas and New Mexico, has also inflicted environmental damage.

The Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, has said it cannot afford to keep up with the increasing cost of plugging thousands of so-called orphan oil and gas wells, which have no clear owner or were drilled by now-bankrupt companies.

Recently, a number of these wells have unexpectedly erupted with toxic wastewater that apparently migrated from oilfield disposal wells.

Under Landgraf’s bill, 1% of the diverted money would go to the Railroad Commission to help plug orphan wells. An additional 1% would pay for emissions reduction efforts in trucking, farming and construction overseen by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Oil companies, trade groups and environmentalist policy experts have testified in favor of both bills.

Cyrus Reed, a legislative and conservation director for the Sierra Club, which advocates for policies that strengthen environmental protections nationally, said he supports Landgraf’s bill for its environmental propositions.

“We’re going to support any solution that gets more revenue paid by the oil and gas industry to resolve (environmental) issues,” Reed said. “We don’t want to rely on … just general revenue from the people of Texas to pay for a problem that industry created.”

Landgraf hopes that expanding the legislation so it has an impact beyond energy-producing regions of Texas will help it gain more support in the Legislature.

“My position is that what’s good for the Permian Basin is good for all of Texas,” he said “But sometimes that takes a bit more of a holistic or longer view for people not from the Permian Basin to reach that conclusion.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.