On today’s show: NBC has what to know about a growing measles outbreak in Texas. Meanwhile, changes to a CDC vaccine panel under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could reshape policy. NPR explains how. The Justice Department is in turmoil after prosecutors who were ordered to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams quit in protest. Reuters reporter Sarah Lynch discusses the resignations. Immigrants drive Nebraska’s economy. NPR reporter Jasmine Garsd describes how Trump’s mass-deportations pledge has many of them living in fear. Plus, Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on his firing of a top official in a whistleblower-protection office. Police said a slain transgender man faced “prolonged” violence and torture in a case investigators described as “beyond depraved.” And at least eight people are dead after “historic” flooding in Kentucky. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Good morning. It's Monday, February 17th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, protest resignations at the Department of Justice. Nebraska, a state that relies on an immigrant workforce, braces for deportations, and disaster in Kentucky after deadly floods. But first, an outbreak of measles is sweeping through parts of Texas.
Chapter 2: Why is Texas experiencing a measles outbreak?
State health authorities report at least 48 confirmed cases, but say as many as 300 people might be infected. It's Texas's worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in 30 years. The majority of confirmed cases are in Gaines County, along the New Mexico border.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says every infected person is either unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. Most of the confirmed cases are school-aged children.
It is troubling because this is completely preventable.
That's Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins, speaking to CBS.
And I think this is really a reminder that measles is still a risk and it is kind of the canary in the coal mine. And it's the most contagious infectious disease known to humans.
The measles virus can live in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours. That means an unvaccinated person can catch the illness even without being in the same room as an infected person.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the outbreak in Gaines County is largely concentrated in the Mennonite population, a religious sect that one Texas health official described as close-knit and under-vaccinated. In the county, nearly 18 percent of all kindergartners were exempt from the measles vaccine in the 2023 to 2024 school year. That's much higher than the national average of 3.3 percent.
This outbreak comes as the nation's leading health official, newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faces ongoing scrutiny for his long history of anti-vaccine activism. He downplayed that history in his confirmation hearings and told senators he believes vaccines play a critical role in health care.
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Chapter 3: How could Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s influence change vaccine policy?
And NPR reports that Kennedy now has influence over a key panel called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which guides U.S. policy on vaccines and recommends the vaccine schedule for kids and adults. Public health reporter Ping Wang explained for NPR how that could impact vaccinations nationwide.
The committee decides what gets covered free of charge by the Vaccines for Children program, which about half of the nation's kids are eligible for. And the Affordable Care Act also requires various types of health insurance to cover vaccines that this group recommends as well.
Shortly after his confirmation, Kennedy told Fox News he doesn't trust people who serve on advisory panels like this. NPR notes the people on this particular panel are typically experts with advanced medical degrees who specialize in vaccines, pediatrics and the immune system. They also hold regular public meetings to discuss what the latest science says on the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
But Kennedy has questioned the motivations people have for joining these kinds of panels.
In the past, those people, almost all of them, have severe, severe conflicts of interest. And that's not good for our country.
Former CDC director Tom Frieden has said that's not true. He said committee members are vetted for conflicts of interest and ties to vaccine manufacturers. And once they're on the panel, they're required to file annual disclosure reports.
Wong on NPR said during the confirmation hearings, at least one senator expressed concerns that Kennedy could replace all of the panel members with vaccine skeptics like himself.
I spoke with experts and former members of the committee, and they all agreed with that. They said there's just not a lot of guardrails on this group.
Let's turn now to the wave of resignations that rocked the Justice Department at the end of last week. It started when prosecutors were ordered to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, which include bribery, fraud and conspiracy to personally enrich himself by working with foreign nationals, charges that he has pleaded not guilty to.
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Chapter 4: What led to the DOJ prosecutors' resignations?
And she felt, quote, confident that he committed the crimes. Beauvais responded by saying he would strip the case from Sassoon's office. He opened an investigation into her conduct. And Lynch said he kept pushing to get the case dropped.
He went down to the career prosecutors in Washington. who work in the public integrity section of the Justice Department. Now, that's the section that does the most politically sensitive investigations. And he tried to ask them to file the motion to dismiss, and they too refused and resigned.
Then he went to the next level of management when the two top people there had refused to follow his order, and those three also resigned.
Chapter 5: What actions did Emil Bove take regarding the Eric Adams case?
One lawyer who resigned wrote that only a, quote, fool or coward would obey Beauvais' order. But one person ultimately did, Edward Sullivan. The Washington Post spoke to sources who said, at first, all the lawyers who were asked to do this agreed to resign rather than follow the order.
But Sullivan, who is close to retirement, offered to be the one to sign the dismissal motion to save his colleagues from being fired and give them time to find new jobs.
Prosecutors have argued that Beauvais' reasoning for dismissing the charges against Adams so the mayor could work with the Trump administration on immigration initiatives appears to be a case of quid pro quo, which both Beauvais and Adams have denied.
Chapter 6: How does the DOJ's independence come into question?
However, Trump's border czar, Tom Holman, who appeared on Fox & Friends alongside Mayor Adams just before the weekend, described what sounded like a quid pro quo type of agreement.
If he doesn't come through, I'll be back in New York City and we won't be sitting on the couch. I'll be in his office up his butt saying, where the hell is the agreement we came to?
Lynch told us this incident has amplified existing concerns about the DOJ's conduct as the Trump administration continues to fire and reassign career officials.
It gets to the point where you question who's there left to say no. If there's an order given that might not comport with the law. And I think that's what people are questioning right now.
The motion to dismiss the charges was filed on Friday and signed by Beauvais himself. A judge needs to review it before Adams' case is officially dropped. Now to a state that could feel the sweeping effects of Trump's immigration crackdown harder than most, Nebraska. Immigrants make up the backbone of Nebraska's meat processing industry.
The state is one of the top meat producers in the country, but it has one of the worst labor shortages of any state. A study released last year by Nebraska's Economic Chamber found there are only 39 workers for every 100 open jobs. And the report concluded there's really only one way to fill all these roles.
They found we have to become the most welcoming state to foreign-born residents in the country.
Jasmine Garst is NPR's immigration correspondent.
And they literally use the words, we don't have a choice.
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