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States sue administration over reversal of Obama-era school lunch guidelines

Former first lady Michelle Obama. Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Glamour

New York is leading a group of states — and Washington, D.C. — in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for reversing healthier school lunch nutrition standards introduced in one of Michelle Obama's signature programs.

What's happening: California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, D.C., and New York have asked the court to pause the administration's sodium and whole grain standards, citing concerns that students are ingesting too much sodium under the current rules, which allow schools to freeze sodium levels as they exist and opt out of whole-grain products.

The other side: The Trump administration has said it believes healthier options introduced in the Obama plan lead to more waste, as kids don't want to eat the healthier options.

Go deeper

Marisa Fernandez
3 mins ago - Health

OIG: HHS misused millions of dollars intended for public health threats

Vaccine vials. Photo: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel alerted the White House and Congress on Wednesday of an investigation that found the Department of Health and Human Services misused millions of dollars that were budgeted for vaccine research and public health emergencies for Ebola, Zika and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: The more than 200-page investigation corroborated claims from a whistleblower, showing the agency's violation of the Purpose Statute spanned both the Obama and Trump administrations and paid for unrelated projects like salaries, news subscriptions and the removal of office furniture.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Zachary Basu
5 mins ago - Energy & Environment

John Kerry: U.S.-China climate cooperation is a "critical standalone issue"

President Biden's special climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. must deal with China on climate change as a "critical standalone issue," but stressed that Beijing's human rights and trade abuses "will never be traded" for climate cooperation.

Why it matters: The last few years have brought about a bipartisan consensus on the need for the U.S. to confront China's aggression. But as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China will be a vital player if the world is going to come close to reining in emissions on the scale needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook
42 mins ago - World

In cyber espionage, U.S. is both hunted and hunter

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

American outrage over foreign cyber espionage, like Russia's SolarWinds hack, obscures the uncomfortable reality that the U.S. secretly does just the same thing to other countries.

Why it matters: Secrecy is often necessary in cyber spying to protect sources and methods, preserve strategic edges that may stem from purloined information, and prevent diplomatic incidents.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow