Florida Senator Rick Scott on Friday demanded answers from the Biden administration on a watchdog report that said grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was directed to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, and pressed the administration to explain if it is barring future funding to the lab that some think is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Scott noted that an HHS report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that NIH failed to properly monitor their grant awards, including one to the Wuhan lab. The OIG report found that HHS grants to the non-profit group EcoHealth Alliance weren’t properly monitored as they made their way to the lab.

‘NIH allowed EcoHealth Alliance to sub-award the grant to the Communist Chinese government and failed to conduct proper oversight,’ Scott wrote. ‘American tax dollars should always be protected from waste, fraud, and abuse. It is vital that NIH provide oversight of how these funds are spent on grants.’

The report also recommended that NIH consider barring the Wuhan lab from future grants, and Scott asked NIH how it was going to handle that recommendation.

‘OIG recommends that the [Wuhan Institute of Virology] should be debarred from future federal contracts,’ he wrote. ‘What is NIH doing about this matter?’

Scott said that because of the overall failure to properly oversee the grant funding to the Wuhan lab, EcoHealth Allliance failed to report in on how the money was being spent. He argued that some of the information that was missing related to the Wuhan grant could have shed light on the source of COVID-19, a question that is still being debated within the U.S. government. Some federal agencies believe the most likely source of COVID was the Wuhan lab.

‘Some of the missing information included data from the [Wuhan lab],’ Scott wrote. ‘This information, which could provide further clarity on the origin of COVID-19, has been lost.’ He added that neither the lab nor China’s government have shown any interest in ‘being transparent and providing information to NIH.’

Scott also noted that federal standards require oversight before grants are sent to institutions that might perform gain-of-function research. But he said the federal system of oversight failed to review the grant to the Wuhan lab.

‘The first priority of the NIH should be to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that all funds are properly accounted for with appropriate oversight of both the funding and the research,’ Scott’s letter read. ‘This failure by NIH is unacceptable.’

Scott listed more than a dozen other questions for Becerra to answer, including how NIH monitors and determines where its grant money goes and whether EcoHealth is going to receive any more federal funding.

He called for grants that are going to foreign governments in particular to receive ‘a higher level of scrutiny.’

‘Allowing awardees to do sub-awards to foreign government should require NIH to provide a higher level of scrutiny. Despite knowing that the Communist Chinese government was receiving NIH funds at the [Wuhan lab], NIH kept a hands-off approach—completely ignoring the oversight process,’ Scott wrote.

A New York state lawmaker is facing calls to resign from the governor and other fellow Democrats after two women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2015.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are among a chorus of state and federal elected officials who say first-term Assemblyman Juan Ardila of Queens in New York City should step down.

The calls came after The Queens Chronicle and other media outlets reported that two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a party in 2015 attended by students and alumni of Fordham University.

One woman said Ardila inappropriately touched her on a couch while she was heavily intoxicated. That woman shared a written account from a second woman who said Ardila exposed himself to her after kissing her in a bathroom.

Ardila said in a statement posted on social media Tuesday that he takes responsibility for his actions and is ‘committed to a process of accountability.’

‘I want the public to know that I am deeply apologetic for my past behavior and acknowledge that my actions have caused great harm,’ according to the statement.

A phone message was left at Ardila’s district office Friday seeking updated comment.

Ardila said in the prepared statement that he was eager for ‘restorative justice-centered process’ to help repair the damage. A group of his fellow Queens Democrats said in a statement that process cannot go forward while he holds power.

Hochul, asked about Ardila after an event in the city on Thursday, told reporters what he did was ‘intolerable and unacceptable.’

‘I support the survivors in their call for accountability. And yes, he should resign,’ she said.

Ardila was elected to the Assembly in November with support from progressive Democrats.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Wednesday called the allegations serious, but he did not say whether Ardila should resign. He said since Ardila was not in the Assembly in 2015, the alleged incidents were beyond the purview of the chamber’s ethics committee.

The Vermont Senate on Friday passed a bill that aims to protect health care workers from disciplinary action for providing abortions and gender-affirming health care, and change insurance premium charges related to such care.

The legislation defines reproductive and gender-affirming health care as legally protected ‘health care activities.’

Another bill that passed in the Vermont House last month would provide health care providers with legal protection. It would also ban public agencies from cooperating in interstate investigations seeking to impose civil or criminal liability on patients or providers.

The bills were introduced in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June, amid major changes across states that restrict or take steps to protect access to such care.

‘The Dobbs decision last summer upended our national understanding of reproductive autonomy,’ said Democratic Sen. Ginny Lyons, the lead sponsor of the bill. ‘The result has been absolutely turbulent and sometimes terrifying. It’s an upheaval of our social fabric across our country, and Vermont must continue to do everything in our power to protect access to reproductive and gender-affirming care at the state level.’

Seven states have enacted similar so-called abortion shield laws, with three of them covering gender-affirming care, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Vermont has formally changed the state’s Constitution to include the Reproductive Liberty Amendment, which protects reproductive rights including abortion. Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the constitutional amendment in December. The Legislature also passed a law in 2019 guaranteeing abortion rights.

The Republican-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court announced his first television ad buy on Friday, just over two weeks before the election and after his Democratic-supported opponent has dominated the airwaves for weeks.

Conservative candidate Dan Kelly’s first ad, which faults sentences handed down by opponent Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, amounts to $70,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks spending on campaign ads.

That is less than 1% of the $9.3 million that Protasiewicz has spent on TV ads since the primary, according to AdImpacts totals.

Outside groups have also poured millions into the race, making it the most expensive state Supreme Court contest in U.S. history. WisPolitics.com puts the total of all spending at nearly $30 million, roughly double the previous record of $15.2 million spent on an Illinois race in 2004.

The winner of the high stakes race will determine whether conservatives maintain 4-3 control or it flips to liberals. The court is expected to deal with abortion rights, voting and election laws heading into the 2024 presidential race and the legality of Republican-drawn legislative maps.

Kelly and Protasiewicz are scheduled to meet Tuesday for the only debate before the April 4 election. Early in-person voting also begins Tuesday.

Wisconsin’s longtime Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette abruptly resigned on Friday, saying he was leaving three months into his 11th consecutive term ‘to focus on my personal needs’ after watching the office be stripped of its power over the past 50 years.

Gov. Tony Evers appointed former Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, to fill out the four-year term. Wisconsin’s secretary of state has not been in charge of elections since 1974 and has almost no official duties.

‘After many years of frustration, I’ve decided that I don’t want to spend the next three and a half years trying to run an office without adequate resources and staffing levels,’ the 82-year-old La Follette said in his resignation letter.

He did not immediately return a telephone message left seeking comment.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu called on Evers to hold a special election, saying the appointment of Godlewski was ‘an insult to voters of Wisconsin and our democratic process.’

Evers, also a Democrat, defended the appointment.

‘In a critical position that has seen no turnover in decades, maintaining continuity with a leader who’s prepared and committed to fulfilling this office’s constitutional obligations could not be more important—and there’s no one more uniquely qualified or better suited for the job than Sarah,’ Evers said in a statement.

Godlewski, 41, was 1-year-old when La Follette began his current consecutive run as secretary of state.

Godlewski said she was humbled by the appointment. She becomes the third woman to hold the position in state history. She served one term as treasurer, from 2018 to 2022.

‘I know how important this role is and my responsibilities are, and I’m looking forward to getting to work,’ she said in a statement.

Godlewski ran for U.S. Senate last year on an abortion rights platform but dropped out of the race ahead of the August primary after falling behind Democratic front-runner Mandela Barnes by double digits in public polling. Her name remained on the primary ballot but Barnes won the nomination. He went on to lose to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Godlewski, a native of Eau Claire, formerly worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaigns for president in both 2008 and 2016.

Before running for treasurer in 2018, Godlewski led a bipartisan coalition that worked against a measure on the ballot that spring that would have eliminated the treasurer’s office. Voters rejected it, leaving the state treasurer’s office in place but with few official duties.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said Godlewski ‘will self-promote and use the office to prepare for her next campaign. ‘

‘Now we see why Godlewski ducked out of the US Senate race, as she was apparently promised a soft landing,’ he said.

La Follette was first elected secretary of state in 1974. After a failed try for lieutenant governor in 1978, he won the office of secretary of state again in 1982 and won reelection 10 times.

Republicans have gradually stripped the office of almost all its duties and staff and relegated La Follette to a cramped office in the Capitol basement. However, since the 2020 presidential election, Republicans have been mulling shifting oversight of elections to the secretary of state.

La Follette won reelection in November over Republican Amy Loudenbeck, who wanted to shift election duties to the office. La Follette said ahead of the election that he was running again to ensure Republicans couldn’t use the office to overturn a Democratic presidential win in the state in 2024.

Loudenbeck criticized his resignation Friday.

‘This move coming so soon after the election raises questions once again about the tactics used by those in power who will do anything to keep that power,’ she said in a statement.

La Follette did not campaign very intensely, saying he was afraid of contracting COVID-19 on the campaign trail. Those fears didn’t stop him from taking a vacation in Africa in June, however. In the end, his name recognition was enough to carry him to victory, as it had for years.

La Follette is a distant relative of Robert ‘Fighting Bob’ La Follette, a progressive Wisconsin governor and 1924 presidential candidate. A Madison high school is named after Bob La Follette and state Democrats still hold him up today as a progressive champion.

Earlier this year, Doug La Follette led a fundraising effort to get a plaque placed on the bust of Bob La Follette that’s in the state Capitol.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday reinstated a lawsuit that challenged provisions of a voting law enacted in 2021 that opponents argue is unconstitutional and limits voting rights.

The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Loud Light, the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

They challenged provisions of a law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that limit how many advance mail ballots individuals can collect and require election officials to match the signatures on an advance ballot to a person’s voter registration record.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said Friday he would appeal the ruling.

Supporters of the law argued that restricting individuals from collecting and returning more than 10 advanced ballots per election would reduce ‘ballot harvesting’ and limit voter fraud. Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure, but lawmakers overrode her veto.

The unanimous opinion Friday, written by Judge Stephen Hill, said the two provisions impair the right to vote.

‘It was by free elections that we gained statehood. Thus, voting rights are preserved in the Kansas Constitution,’ Hill wrote. ‘Great care must be taken when trying to limit or infringe on those rights. Voting was important then. Voting is important now.’

The court sent the lawsuit back to Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson, who originally dismissed it in April 2022 after finding the restrictions were reasonable. The ruling does not strike down the law. But it requires Watson to review the lawsuit using ‘strict scrutiny,’ which is the highest standard of legal review.

Kobach called the ruling ‘the most radical election law decision in the country.’ He said the signature verification requirement protects people from having their votes stolen. He did not address the provision limiting the collection of ballots.

‘It is clearly wrong,’ Kobach said in a statement. ‘The decision is directly contrary to what the U.S. Supreme Court has said, as well as what every state supreme court has said on the matter.’

Davis Hammet, executive director of Loud Light, noted the ruling did not address whether the law is constitutional but said it was still a victory for voters.

‘It clarified the right to vote is a fundamental constitutional right and said when election laws are challenged the courts will apply the highest level of scrutiny to those laws,’ Hammet said.

Hammet said the ruling is especially important in the aftermath of baseless claims that the 2020 election was not valid, which prompted a wave of misinformation and voter suppression laws across the country.

‘What the court said here is (lawmakers) can’t just restrict the right to vote,’ he said. ‘If you have a restriction, it has to be there for a compelling reason. You have to show you’re not just stopping people from voting or having their votes count.’

Jacqueline Lightcap, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, said the ruling supports many arguments that voting advocates have been making since 2021.

‘We think the judge has some excellent points in saying voting is fundamental right and the earlier case was rushed out of district court,’ Lightcap said. ‘We’re very excited to have the chance to get it heard again.’

Secretary of State Scott Schwab said his office was reviewing the decision but said it ‘appeared to be a substantial change to the judicial standard of reviewing state election laws.’

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, called the decision ‘shocking’ and said it endangers all current election integrity laws.

‘I am confident that Attorney General Kobach will swiftly appeal this egregious decision and Republicans in the House will support his efforts in every possible way,’ Hawkins said.

The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments last month on another provision of the law, which makes it a crime to impersonate election officials. Opponents said the provision would make it difficult to conduct voter registration drives.

A pilot program in Massachusetts offering universal school meals would be extended through the end of the 2023-2024 school year as part of a supplemental budget proposal filed Friday by Gov. Maura Healey.

The $734 million proposed spending plan includes $171 million for the state-funded school meals program.

The proposal also directs the state Office of Education to report by early next year on options to extend this program into the future, including looking for ways to tap into federal funds to help pay for the meals. The administration had earlier requested funding to continue the program through the current school year, according to Healey.

‘The universal school meals program has proven to be a success in expanding access to nutritious meals for all students, and it’s essential that we keep it running,’ Healey said in a press release.

The move comes as states have grappled with the end of a pandemic-era federal aid program that made school meals available for free to all public school students — regardless of family income levels.

California and Maine made universal meals permanent in 2021. Last year, Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to provide free meals for all public school students,

Other states are weighing expanded or universal meals programs.

Vermont — which opted last year to continue the free meals for all public school students for another year using surplus state education funding — is considering a bill that would make universal free school meals permanent.

Healey’s supplemental budget plan also includes $20 million to help the beleaguered Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority recruit and retain employees — money that would help increase hiring bonuses, boost entry-level pay for bus operators and develop a marketing campaign to support hiring efforts.

Worker shortages at the transit authority has contributed to a slew of problems, including a slowdown in subway trips during rush hours.

The proposed budget also would triple the operating budget of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to help pay for the state’s continued push for clean technology and decarbonization efforts. It also includes $2 million for the state’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

The budget plan now heads to state lawmakers.

Numerous Mar-a-Lago staff members have been subpoenaed as part of an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to Fox News.

The source did not know the exact number of staff members who were issued court orders.

CNN reported that Trump’s communication aide Margo Martin appeared before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, though she declined to answer questions when approached by one of the media company’s reporters.

Special counsel Jack Smith is handling investigations into Trump over the FBI’s discovery of classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, home at Mar-a-Lago, as well as his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

According to CNN, Smith is looking for testimony from people in Trump’s inner circle, including Mar-a-Lago staffers, seeking an insight into things they may have seen or heard while working at the estate.

Sources told CNN that legal services for the staffers are being paid for by Trump entities.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to investigate the entirety of the criminal probe into the unlawful retention of national defense information at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

In the role, Smith will oversee the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether he obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter.

On Aug. 8, FBI agents raided Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago and seized classified records, including some marked as top secret, according to a warrant and property receipt.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart signed the warrant, giving agents the authority to seize ‘all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed’ in violation of U.S. Code, including documents with classification markings and presidential records created between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021.

The property receipt showed FBI agents took approximately 20 boxes of items from the premises, including one set of documents marked as ‘Various classified/TS/SCI documents,’ which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.

Classified documents have also been found at the homes of President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, and the Justice Department is handling investigations into those discoveries, as well.

Democratic lawmakers unveiled plans Thursday to largely eliminate the use of cash bail in Wisconsin, clashing with Republicans who proposed a constitutional amendment to make it harder for people to get out of jail before trial.

The Democratic proposal, which almost certainly will not pass the Republican-controlled Legislature, would rely on risk assessments to allow most defendants to be released from jail before trial.

Democrats presented the plan as an alternative to a proposed constitutional amendment Republicans placed on the April 4 ballot that would allow judges to consider the criminal histories of people accused of violent crimes when setting bail. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers cannot veto the amendment if it is ratified by a majority of voters next month. The measure’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard, said it will allow judges to set higher bail amounts for people they deem a risk to public safety.

But criminal justice advocates warn it could worsen crime rates and increase disparities between rich and poor. Research on bail shows that people who are detained before trial are more likely to plead guilty, often accepting plea deals to end their detainment, and more likely to be unemployed in the years after their release. It’s not uncommon for people to lose their jobs and even their homes while in jail awaiting trial.

‘Incarceration for just a day or two can destroy a person’s life for a crime they may not have even committed,’ Jon McCray Jones, a policy analyst at the ACLU of Wisconsin, said at a news conference Thursday announcing the Democratic bail measures.

Meanwhile, the Republican bail plan came one step closer to completion on Thursday when the Senate judiciary committee voted 5-3 along party lines to approve a bill defining what offenses would be considered violent crimes. The bill will only go into effect if the proposed amendment is approved by voters.

The Republican bill is scheduled for an Assembly vote Wednesday. It must also pass the Senate and be approved by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to take effect.

Opponents have criticized the list of crimes proposed by Republicans as too extensive. It includes offenses such as watching a cockfight or leaving a firearm where a child gains access to it.

‘It could be devastating to us as a state and our prison and jail population will move out of control,’ said Jerome Dillard, executive director of Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, or EXPO. The group lost a lawsuit last month seeking to block the bail amendment from the April ballot.

It’s not clear what crimes Democrats plan to include in their own list of violent offenses that could preclude someone from being released before trial. Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that they had not finished writing their proposals. Rep. Ryan Clancy, who is sponsoring the plan alongside Sen. Chris Larson, said it would likely not include misdemeanors.

Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday urged the operators of a large western North Carolina paper mill set to shutter to find a way to keep it running, saying a closure would have a ‘devastating effect’ on the region and its people.

Pactiv Evergreen announced last week that it expected to close its Canton mill during the second quarter as part of a restructuring of its beverage merchandizing operations. About 1,100 employees are expected to lose their jobs.

In a letter, Cooper asked Pactiv Evergreen USA CEO Mike King to ‘explore all options’ to keep the mill operating, whether through a sale, repurposing of the plant, or through any other means.

The mill ‘has been in operation for more than a century and has been the lifeblood of that town and region,’ Cooper wrote. ‘Our priority remains to support the people affected by this unexpected closure by providing any available resources to their relief and recovery.’

The company said in its March 6 announcement that about 1,300 positions would be eliminated with the closing of the Canton mill and a converting facility in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.

Cooper also put the company on notice that the state would seek to recover $12 million in state-funded incentives received to keep the mill operating if it closed.

A Job Maintenance and Capital Development grant agreement announced in late 2014 between the state and two subsidiaries required the company to retain at least 800 full-time workers through the end of 2024, according to Cooper.

‘If you follow through your announced plans, we will demand full repayment of those funds,’ Cooper wrote.

Attorney General Josh Stein on Thursday sent a separate letter to King that went further, demanding his company repay the grant funds immediately based on ‘the company’s clear intent to breach’ the agreement. Stein also reminded King of Pactiv Evergreen’s responsibilities to address any outstanding environmental issues at the mill site.

Local officials have pledged resources to the workers who are expected to be laid off. Cooper’s state government budget proposal released on Wednesday recommended $5 million be set aside to support employee and community needs in Canton. The budget document said any incentives clawed back from the two subsidiaries would be used to help Canton.