A team of federal officials tasked with helping cities and states navigate the effects of climate change on people’s health was disbanded Tuesday, part of a sweeping overhaul ordered by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F.

Those job losses, which left thousands of Americans scrambling for work and brought life-saving research to a standstill, are all a part of “streamlining the agencies,” he said. “The part of that, DOGE — we talked about this from the beginning — is we’re going to do 80% cuts,

It is unclear what will happen to hundreds of pending requests for public information as the health agencies slash staff.

When HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday that he planned to rehire 20 percent of the employees he’d just terminated, he insisted such a move was “always the plan.” Turns out, it wasn’t the plan at all.

The Department of Health and Human Resources secretary fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lead researchers Tuesday in his massive

ATLANTA, GA — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now says some programs at the Atlanta-based CDC were eliminated by mistake amid the DOGE cuts this week. He had been asked why the department cut a CDC program that monitors lead levels in children.

On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said the toll rose to 481 confirmed cases, a 14% jump over last week.

CDC employees helping the city investigate lead poisoning at MPS buildings were swept up in mass federal layoffs announced by Robert Kennedy Jr.