Influenza cases continue to mount with the virus reaching activity levels in the U.S. not seen for the last 15 years, according to the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention.

A group of Democrats on Monday pressed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over plans for tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “plug in.” In a letter, the Democrats noted recent posts on the social platform X from Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about DOGE involvement with aviation. “Big News -...

{beacon} Welcome to The Hill's Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} a> Defense &National Security Defense &National Security   The Big Story  No plans to draw down US forces in Europe, for now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday said the Trump administration doesn't anticipate cutting U.S. troop levels in Europe any time soon, but that...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug to treat a disorder causing the growth of noncancerous tumors on nerves throughout the body.  The federal agency said on Tuesday it greenlighted SpringWorks Therapeutics's drug Gomekli for patients dealing with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) "who have symptomatic plexiform neurofibromas (PN) not amenable to complete resection." ...

Kansas’s Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a proposal to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth for the third consecutive year, setting up another battle with the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature that has previously failed to overrule her on the issue. Kansas’s Senate Bill 63 would broadly prevent health care professionals from providing gender-affirming medical care, including puberty...

Two senior Trump administration officials told Republican senators at a closed-door lunch meeting Tuesday that they’re running out of money to secure the borders and need Congress to immediately pass $175 billion to complete the U.S.-Mexico border wall and hire more law-enforcement agents. Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and his White House budget director, Russell...

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is instructing agencies that they do not have to fire all federal employees still on probation but is encouraging them to remove any low performers. The direction, confirmed by a source familiar, comes after the OPM asked agencies across government to turn over lists of employees hired within the last year...

Click for more from The Hill. {beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment   The Big Story SEC backs away from climate disclosure rule The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that it will not defend a Biden-era rule requiring publicly held companies to disclose climate-related risks and in some cases the details of...

Presented by American Medical Association — A federal judge has directed health agencies to restore webpages and online datasets that were recently removed in response to an executive order from President Trump. {beacon} Health Care Health Care   The Big Story Judge tells health agencies to restore website data A federal judge directed health agencies...

President Trump’s declarations that the U.S. will take and rebuild Gaza and suggestion that Arab allies should take in displaced Palestinians are drawing muted pushback — and some doubt — from Senate Republicans. Trump on Tuesday met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and doubled down on his vision for the U.S. taking control of Gaza...