News

TALLAHASSEE — Raising issues about chronic health problems and Florida’s lethal-injection process, attorneys for condemned killer Frank Walls on Wednesday filed an emergency motion asking a federal appeals court to issue a stay of his scheduled Dec. 18 execution.

The motion, filed at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, came a day after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker refused to halt the execution of Walls, who was convicted in the 1987 murders of two people in Okaloosa County. Walls also has asked the Florida Supreme Court to stop the execution on different grounds.

The appeals-court motion is rooted in arguments that putting Walls to death by lethal injection would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Walls’ attorneys cited a July medical exam that indicated the 354-pound Walls has conditions such as hypertension, high cholesterol, a thyroid disorder and chronic sleep apnea. It also alleged errors as the Florida Department of Corrections has carried out a record number of executions this year, including using expired drugs and preparing incorrect quantities of drugs.

The motion contends Walls could be at an increased risk during the execution of suffering pulmonary edema — a condition that involves too much fluid in the lungs — because of his medical problems.

“At issue here is the link between Walls’s complex health issues and the resultant increased risk of an intolerably painful death by pulmonary edema. … The gruesome details of pulmonary edema — and the fact that it has been documented in the autopsies of other prisoners executed by the (lethal injection) protocol and is therefore a known possibility — is crucial to the claim that Walls is in danger of intense pain and suffering, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, should the protocol be applied to him,” Walls’ attorneys wrote.

The motion also linked the health issues to allegations that the Department of Corrections has made errors in using the lethal-injection process in some of the modern-era record 18 executions this year.

“This is a case-specific challenge to defendants (the Department of Corrections) using their protocol to kill a medically vulnerable prisoner like Walls during a sloppy, breakneck pace of executions,” Walls’ attorneys wrote.

But in rejecting the arguments Tuesday, Walker said Walls could have raised the issues long before Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on Nov. 18. Walker wrote that a law “does not permit a last-minute stay in this case when Mr. Walls’s claim could have been brought months, if not years, before his death warrant was signed.”

“In short, Mr. Walls has demonstrated that, for years, some states and federal courts have questioned the continued use of — or completely abandoned — a three-drug protocol like Florida’s to avoid cruel and unusual executions,” Walker wrote. “This history is publicly known, well-documented, and compelling evidence that Mr. Walls could have challenged the … protocol, as applied to him, well before his death warrant was signed in November 2025.”

Walls was convicted in the July 22, 1987, murders of Edward Alger and Ann Peterson, who died of gunshot wounds after Walls broke into their home, according to court documents.

In asking the Florida Supreme Court to halt the execution, Walls’ attorneys have argued, in part, that he is intellectually disabled and executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment for that reason.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER

The ranks of U.S. government statisticians have been gutted in the past year due to layoffs and buyouts. That along with diminished funding and attacks on their independence have put at risk the data used to make informed decisions about everything from the nation’s economy to its demographics, according to a new report from outside experts released Wednesday.

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One agency lost 95% of its staff, while others dropped by about quarter to more than a third, due to government downsizing this year during President Donald Trump’s first months in office, according to the report released by the American Statistical Association. Besides veteran employees with deep institutional knowledge, some of the cuts hit new hires meant to infuse new blood into the agencies, said the annual report.

“Things are getting a lot worse,” Nancy Potok, a former U.S. chief statistician during the first Trump administration who was on the team that produced the report, said Wednesday. “It’s kind of dropping off the cliff there and in a really dire situation.”

The administration’s Office of Management and Budget, home to the U.S. chief statistician who coordinates the system of gathering data, didn’t respond Wednesday morning to an e-mailed inquiry about the report.

However, when asked last month about concerns that the statistical agencies were getting politicized, Mark Calabria, who was appointed in July as the U.S. chief statistician, said: “Everything in government is embedded in politics and is embedded in accountability.”

“So these kinds of debates about independence and accountability, they’re oranges and apples to some extent,” Calabria said during a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. “What you have is wanting to make sure that the data gives you the right answer.”

In the first months of the second Trump administration, thousands of federal government workers were shown the door as part of efforts by the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency. The White House also offered a “deferred resignation” proposal in exchange for financial incentives, like months of paid leave, to almost all federal employees who opted to leave their jobs. It also moved to lay off probationary employees — those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection.

“The statistical system is still functioning, but the threats are very serious,” said Beth Jarosz, vice president of the Association of Public Data Users, who was not involved in the report. “There are staffing reductions, contracted services that have been reduced. We’re seeing that showing up in the cancellation of data products, the reduction in data collection on things like consumer prices.”

The team behind the report noted that they had a “sparsity of information” about the detailed impacts of the cuts since the agencies wouldn’t provide them “perhaps out of caution or because they are not allowed to communicate with outside entities.”

The hardest hit agency was the National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, which lost 95% of its staff. The agency tracks educational trends with the goal of improving outcomes, and the staff losses halted most of its data collection earlier in the year, according to the report. Many outside contracts have since been restored but with a reduced scope, the report said.

The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics’ workforce in the Social Security Administration was almost halved. The cuts eliminated retirement and disability research, among other things, the report said.

The Energy Information Administration, the Economic Research Service in the Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service each lost between 25% and 40% of their staff. The cuts have resulted in discontinued or delayed reports about the energy industry and the cancellation of a survey about farmworkers and some state-specific agricultural reports.

The nation’s largest statistical agency, the U.S. Census Bureau, lost at least 15% of its staff this year, according to the report.

Besides the staff cuts, some barriers to the statistical agencies’ political independence were removed this year. The Trump administration made unsubstantiated claims of biased data; removed the heads of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics; failed to fill key leadership vacancies; and named political appointees who hold other jobs to fill in leadership positions that had been held by career civil servants, according to the report.

“These actions undermine public trust in federal statistics,” the report said.

Follow Mike Schneider on Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

Sponsored: Tis the season for a home inspection  WFAA

Sponsored: Tis the season for a home inspection  WFAA

DEAR MISS MANNERS: How do I respond to some common shaming I get from people I know?

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For background, I am a female member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and have many dear friends who are members of other marginalized communities. My rights and the rights of the people I love are important to me.

Some people I know openly support politicians who want to strip rights away from me and from others I care deeply about. I do not ask people about their political, social, religious or moral beliefs, so I only learn this when they advertise them. They do this through social media posts, clothing items, lawn signs and offhand comments in conversation.

When I learn that an acquaintance supports stripping my rights away, I distance myself from them. Because of this, I’ve received some comments like, “It’s such a shame that you can’t even be friends with me because we disagree on politics,” or, “I don’t know how you can call yourself inclusive if you won’t even socialize with people who think differently than you.”

Miss Manners, I don’t see wanting women or members of the LGBTQIA+ community to have fewer rights as a “difference in politics.” It’s not a matter of supporting different tax plans. Nor is it just “thinking differently,” as if we preferred different ice cream flavors.

To me, it’s strange that people who think I deserve fewer rights also want to be my friend — and complain when I distance myself.

Is there a polite reply I can give when I get yet another scolding comment about how I can’t put these “differences” aside? I unfortunately run into this frequently.

GENTLE READER: Your observation that there is no sense in offering friendship to someone who would strip you of basic rights is, of course, logical.

From a manners perspective, however, it matters little whether the people who are doing this are incapable of understanding that — or whether you have failed to recognize that you are being made light of, if not actively taunted.

Either way, we are where too many societies have been before: divided on fundamental questions and perpetually angry.

The question is how to be these people’s opponent without coming to blows. To that, the general answer is little different than how one deals with an irate customer at work: Be civil, be reserved and put as much distance — mental and physical — between you and them as possible after the workday, or event, is complete.

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• Asking Eric: I’m banned from their house because of what I said about the kids’ violent game

DEAR MISS MANNERS: How many “verys” is too many? My wife has a habit of using “very” to such excess that it becomes annoying. For example, “She has a very, very, very loud voice” or “His shoes are very, very, very, very ugly.” Am I being very critical?

GENTLE READER: Very. While Miss Manners personally agrees that even one “very” is a burden, you will have to negotiate an acceptable number directly with your wife.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Here are the top stories for Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. Get the weather forecast for today here.

SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get our free Morning Update email. Sign up here.

Nonprofit Handy sues Broward schools over terminated $2.6 million lease

Democrat wins Miami mayor’s race for the first time in nearly 30 years

Broward dogfighter sentenced to two years probation for running training, fighting ring

Florida’s CAIR vows lawsuit against DeSantis over ‘foreign terrorist’ label

Florida executes man convicted of killing woman during 1989 home invasion

House panel backs insurance restriction: People, not AI, would have ultimate say on claims

Former Donna Klein Jewish Academy teacher accused of sexual activity with student

Florida lawmakers ready for data centers amid growth of AI and other technology

Lawmakers target ‘crypto ATM’ scams

Miss Manners: I’m so disgusted by begging that I don’t tip anyone, anywhere

The proposal to eliminate Florida property taxes has sparked debate over how schools, public safety and infrastructure would be funded. But a bigger issue is at stake: local control.

Property taxes are one of the few tools cities and counties have to address their needs. Whether fixing a fire station, improving parks or hiring deputies, these decisions are made by people who understand their communities.

Eliminating this revenue source would shift power from local governments to Tallahassee, forcing cities to compete for state funding and undermining the long-standing principle of home rule.

Tax relief sounds appealing, but weakening local authority is too high a price. Before moving forward, Floridians deserve a clear explanation of how this proposal would preserve — not diminish — the ability of communities to govern themselves.

David Rosenof, Parkland

The writer is a former Parkland city commissioner and former President of the Broward League of Cities. 

Cameron Kasky and Israel

Young Jewish activist Cameron Kasky, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting survivor, is running for office (from Manhattan). He boasts of his Hebrew School inspiration that ending American-made weapons slaughtering children must now be his goal by condemning Israel’s genocide.

Larry French/Getty Images for SiriusXMCameron Kasky in 2018, a month after the Parkland shooting.

Either he missed classes or misconstrued what he heard, or he would have learned that Israel’s response was to a slaughter of 1,200 innocent young Israeli Jews and hostage-taking of 250 many of whom were murdered. starved, beaten and sexually abused.

The surprise attack by Hamas was led by Yahya Sinwar, who proclaimed “casualties were necessary to achieve victory.” It required fighting in Hamas tunnels under schools, hospitals and homes in order to create causalities, despite reasonable efforts by Israel to minimize them.

Kasky should return to Hebrew School.

Seymour Brotman, Delray Beach

Drilling platforms in Palm Beach?

With regard to Trump’s desire to drill for oil no matter the consequences to our air and life, a reader suggested setting up drilling towers off Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago.

Since Trump has been guilty of cheating by inflating and deflating the value of his property depending on his financial needs at any given time, I suggest Palm Beach County relieve him of the land and put it to a similar use that it’s getting now, while discouraging people who would own and operate those drilling platforms.

Tracy Anton, Hollywood

Editor’s Note: New drilling in Florida would not be off the Atlantic Coast but in a newly designated South-Central Gulf region, according to the AP. Mar-a-Lago is safe from drilling platforms.

Give Trump a break

Amazing. It seems every letter to the editor is a complaint against Trump.

Not a single person thanks Trump for finally closing the border or doing something against the terrorists who bring deadly drugs into the U.S. I can’t recall anyone complaining when the incompetent Joe Biden had inflation at a 40-year high.

This paper’s one-sided editorial board is going to be the reason you go out of business.

When Democrats rigged the redistricting maps, we didn’t hear a peep out of you. When Nancy Pelosi scammed us on her insider trading scheme, there wasn’t a peep out of anyone.

This paper is only good for wrapping fish, because they stink equally.

Michael Olmstead, Deerfield Beach

Deranged and blinded

I recently had a rather long exchange with a friend whose politics place him a bit more to the right than I am to the left. At some point, he said I had “TDS,” Trump Derangement Syndrome.

I didn’t take kindly to being told I was deranged. So I told him he was BBB (not Build Back Better, but Blinded By Bull***t). He then apologized for his “deranged” comment, to his credit.

Robert Bialer, Palm Beach Gardens

_____________________________________________________________________________

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length. 

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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 10, the 344th day of 2025. There are 21 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 10, 2007, former Vice President Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a call to confront human-caused climate change and stop waging war on the environment.

Also on this date:

In 1861, the Confederacy admitted Kentucky as it recognized a pro-Southern shadow state government that was acting without the authority of the pro-Union government in Frankfort.

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In 1898, a treaty was signed in Paris officially ending the Spanish-American War.

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to win a Nobel Prize, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to negotiate peace in the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, saying he accepted it “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.”

In 1967, singer Otis Redding, 26, and six others were killed when their plane crashed into a Wisconsin lake; trumpeter Ben Cauley, a member of the group the Bar-Kays, was the only survivor.

In 1994, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to advance the Middle East peace process.

In 2021, a two-day outbreak of tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest and South killed more than 90 people across five states, including 77 in Kentucky. The National Weather Service recorded more than 40 twisters Dec. 10 and Dec. 11.

In 2022, Morocco became the first African country to reach the World Cup semifinals by beating Portugal 1-0.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Fionnula Flanagan is 84.
• Actor-singer Gloria Loring is 79.
• Republican Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas is 75.
• Actor Susan Dey is 73.
• Jazz musician Diane Schuur is 72.
• Actor-director Kenneth Branagh (BRAH’-nah) is 65.
• Actor Nia Peeples is 64.
• TV chef Bobby Flay is 61.
• Rock musician Meg White (The White Stripes) is 51.
• Actor Emmanuelle Chriqui is 50.
• Actor Raven-Symone is 40.
• Actor/singer Teyana Taylor is 35.
• Actor Kiki Layne is 34.
• Cyclist Jonas Vingegaard is 29.

Wiltshire care agency receives good rating from inspectors  The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

Wiltshire care agency receives good rating from inspectors  This Is Wiltshire

ORLANDO — At the outset Tuesday night, it was as if the Heat already had passage booked to Las Vegas for the final two rounds of the NBA Cup.

A 15-0 lead can do that.

Not so fast . . . as Vegas baby turned into Vegas maybe and then, ultimately, leaving Las Vegas.

In the end, Erik Spoelstra’s team crapped out, snake eyes of a lost opportunity the ultimate result of a 117-108 loss to the Orlando Magic at Kia Center.

So on to the NBA Cup and the Vegas Strip for the Magic, and back to the regular season for the Heat.

“There was something to really play for right now,” Spoelstra said. “We had all wrapped our minds around it. We’re all still kind of shocked about it.

“We just weren’t able to get the job done.”

With all of an early 16-point lead lost by the midpoint of the second period, and with the Magic later pushing to that margin in the fourth quarter, the Heat now get a multi-day reset instead of an additional payday, after falling to 0-3 this season against their intrastate rival.

“We have an opportunity to do something we hadn’t before,” center Bam Adebayo said, and we let it slip away.”

So, now, idle until a home game on Monday night against the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center, which has been added to the schedule to compensate for not advancing in the Cup.

Having made it to the in-season tournament’s knockout round for the first time in the event’s three years, Heat players each received a $53,093 NBA Cup bonus just for stepping on the court Tuesday night.

But now it is the Magic cashing in, upping their individual Cup bonuses to $106,187, with the opportunity to lift that further by advancing Saturday to the Cup final, where the bonus for championship players rises to $530,933 per player.

For the Heat, the reality of a four-game losing streak, a 14-11 record, with extra time now on the practice court.

The Heat got 21 points from Norman Powell and 21 from Tyler Herro, as well as 19 apiece from Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins.

But it wasn’t enough to offset the 37 points of Magic forward Desmond Bane, who did it while playing through foul trouble.

“Once he got going,” Spoelstra said, “then he became a handful.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday night’s NBA Cup game:

1. Game flow: The Heat busted out to a 15-0 lead that then moved to 18-2, before closing the opening period up 30-17.

The Magic then came back to take a three-point read in the second period, before the Heat went into halftime up 57-56.

“An early lead at the beginning is nothing,” Spoelstra said. “You have to complete quarters and possessions all the way through. So they were able to work their way through it, as it often happens. And they had a huge second quarter. That could have kept things a little bit different if we could have gotten a few more stops.”

The Magic then pushed their lead to seven in the third period and went into the fourth up 89-83.

From there, the Magic went up 16 early in the fourth, and held on from there.

“We were trading baskets when we were down a couple digits,” Spoelstra said. “And you need to put together three, four, five stops in a row to be able to change it. And we just weren’t able to do it.”

2. All present (at outset): Every eligible player on the Heat roster was available at the outset, the only absentee being Terry Rozier, who is on NBA leave in light of the FBI’s gambling investigation.

That necessitated several adjustments for Spoelstra, including moving Kel’el Ware out of the starting lineup to accommodate the returns of Herro and Davion Mitchell.

With a starting lineup of Adebayo, Herro, Powell, Mitchell and Wiggins, Spoelstra then went with a first four off the bench of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Ware, Pelle Larsson and Simone Fontecchio.

That had Dru Smith initially out of the mix, after not practicing Monday and being on the injury report earlier in the day Tuesday with a left hip contusion.

Again out of the rotation was Nikola Jovic.

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3. Larsson lost: However, the Heat then lost Larsson in the second period with a sprained left ankle, which was after Larsson returned from a one-game absence due to tightness in his right hip flexor.

Larsson wound up going 10 minutes, with two points and two rebounds. X-rays on the ankle were negative, with an MRI scheduled for Wednesday.

That had Smith checking in for the first time at the midpoint of the third period.

Shuffled out of the second-half rotation was Fontecchio after his 0-for-5 first half on his 30th birthday.

4. Herro harm: Herro was back after missing the previous two games with a toe contusion, scoring nine points in his opening seven minutes stint, before asking out.

With the performance, Herro extended his career-best streak of games with 20 or more points to 16, dating to last season.

However, he was not his typical 3-point threat, at 0 for 6 from beyond the arc, still one 3-pointer shy of joining Duncan Robinson as the only players with 1,000 or more with the Heat.

“It’s going to be a work in progress,” Herro said.

With the loss, the Heat are now 2-2 in games when Herro and Powell both are available.

“I think it’s just going to continue to take time,” Powell said.

5. What next?: With the loss, the Heat will fill out their regular-season schedule with that Monday night game against the Toronto Raptors, which will return them to an even split of 41 home games and 41 road games.

It will be the first of two games against the Raptors at Kaseya Center in a span of nine days, with the Raptors also to visit on Dec. 23.

“There’s always a silver lining,” Spoelstra said of the break in the schedule. “We’ll be able to get a couple of days of just rest.”

The New York Knicks defeated the Raptors 117-101 Tuesday night in the other Cup Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Had the Raptors won, the Heat would have played Sunday in New York and only have had 40 home games this season.

ORLANDO — Observations and other notes of interest from Tuesday night’s 117-108 NBA Cup loss to the Orlando Magic:

– Yes, this was a different look for the NBA Cup.

– That’s because the Magic’s Cup court was damaged in storage, so the regular-season court was utilized.

– But in his pregame comments, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said the Cup matters very much within the NBA, no matter any outside skepticism.

– “The guys want to win, they want to get to Vegas, they want the money,” he said of the cash bonus for players that crests at over $500,000 per player for winning the title. “They want to have the bragging rights throughout the year. That’s a big thing. No other way to put it. That’s how each team that’s in it looks. ”

– He added, “You know, you see the commercials, you see the advertisements, you see the guys talking about it. They want to win it and there’s no other way to look at it. … That’s the competitive edge that these guys have.”

– And, yes, the money.

– “No matter what they get with their contract, you have the incentive on the back end of getting to Vegas and having the chance to have the bragging rights of winning something big,” Mosley said. “You want to go after it.”

– Similar sentiment had been offered by the Heat in preceding days.

– With the Magic the ones who from the midpoint of the opening period simply did more to cash in.

– With Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell back, the Heat opened with a lineup of Herro, Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell.

– The Heat entered 2-1 when starting that group.

– The shift again had Kel’el Ware shuffled back to the bench, his ninth appearance as a reserve this season.

– Of having Herro alongside Powell for just the third time this season, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said it is needed.

– “If you’ve noticed,” he said pregame, “The last few games our offense hasn’t been that good.”

– As for his roster back to full health, Spoelstra said, “It’s a good thing.”

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– “The guys that have been working back from injury, they’ve been very dedicated behind the scenes,” Spoelstra said. “So you deal with whatever you have to deal with during the NBA season.”

– Which includes fewer minutes than some might expect.

– “The best teams, there is a level of sacrifice to connect to,” Spoelstra said. “But also it’s a long season. Everybody’s going to get their opportunities.”

– The Magic, without sidelined Franz Wagner, opened with a lineup of  Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, Desmond Bane, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr.

– Jaime Jaquez Jr. again was first off the Heat bench.

– Ware and Pelle Larsson then followed, with 4:29 left in the opening period.

– With Simone Fontecchio making it nine deep.

– This was the last of three regular-season games in the matchup in Orlando this season, with two to follow in Miami, on Jan. 28 and March 14.

– The teams also met twice in the preseason.

– “We feel like we’ve played ’em nine times already this season,” Mosley said.

By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has removed any mention of fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming — from its popular online page explaining the causes of climate change. Now it only mentions natural phenomena, even though scientists calculate that nearly all of the warming is due to human activity.

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Sometime in the past few days or weeks, EPA altered some but not all of its climate change webpages, de-emphasizing and even deleting references to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, which scientists say is the overwhelming cause of climate change. The website’s causes of climate page mentions changes in Earth’s orbit, solar activity, Earth’s reflectivity, volcanoes and natural carbon dioxide changes, but not the burning of fossil fuels. Seven scientists and three former EPA officials tell The Associated Press that this is misleading and harmful.

“Now it is completely wrong,” said University of California climate scientist Daniel Swain, who also noted that impacts, risks and indicators of climate change on the EPA site are now broken links. “This was a tool that I know for a fact that a lot of educators used and a lot of people. It was actually one of the best designed easy access climate change information websites for the U.S.”

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration removed the national climate assessment from government websites.

“It is outrageous that our government is hiding information and lying,” said former Obama National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief and Oregon State oceanographer Jane Lubchenco. “People have a right to know the truth about the things that affect their health and safety, and the government has a responsibility to tell the truth.”

An October version of the same EPA page, saved by the internet Wayback Machine, said: “Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which has changed the earth’s climate. Natural processes, such as changes in the sun’s energy and volcanic eruptions, also affect the Earth’s climate. However, they do not explain the warming that we have observed over the last century.”

That now reads: “Natural processes are always influencing the earth’s climate and can explain climate changes prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. However, recent climate changes cannot be explained by natural causes alone.”

“Unlike the previous administration, the Trump EPA is focused on protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback, not left-wing political agendas,” said Brigit Hirsch, EPA spokesperson, in an email. “As such, this agency no longer takes marching orders from the climate cult. Plus, for all the pearl-clutchers out there, the website is archived and available to the public.”

Clicking on “explore climate change resources” on the EPA archived website leads to an error message that says: “This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it.”

Former Republican Governor Christie Todd Whitman, who was EPA administrator under George W. Bush, said, “You can refuse to talk about it, but it doesn’t make it go away. And we’re seeing it. Everybody’s seeing it.”

“We look ridiculous, quite frankly,” Whitman told The Associated Press in an interview. “The rest of the world understands this is happening and they’re taking steps… And we’re just going backwards. We’re knocking ourselves back into the Stone Age.”

Democratic EPA chief Gina McCarthy blasted current EPA chief Lee Zeldin, calling him “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, actively spiking any attempt to protect our health, well-being and precious natural resources.”

Nearly 100% of the warming the world is now experiencing is from human activity, and without that, the Earth would be cooling and dropping in temperatures until the Industrial Revolution, Swain and other scientists said. The EPA listed natural causes “might be causing a very tiny amount of warming or cooling at the moment,” he said.

Marcia McNutt, a geophysicist and president of the National Academy of Sciences, said that there is consensus among experts from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, or NASEM, on the causes of climate change.

“Numerous NASEM reports from the nation’s leading scientists confirm that the climate is changing as a result of human activities,” McNutt said. “Even the EPA acknowledges that natural causes cannot explain the current changes in climate. It is important that the public be presented with all of the facts.”

Former EPA climate advisor Jeremy Symons, now a senior advisor for Environmental Protection Network of former EPA officials, said: “Ignoring fossil fuel pollution as the driving force behind the climate changes we have seen in our lifetime is like pretending cigarettes don’t cause lung cancer.”

Michael Phillis contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MIKE STOBBE

It’s normal for parents, or anyone, to have questions about vaccinations — but what happens if your pediatrician urges a shot that’s under attack by the Trump administration?

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That’s getting more likely: The nation’s leading doctors groups are in an unprecedented standoff with federal health officials who have attacked long-used, lifesaving vaccines.

The revolt by pediatricians, obstetricians, family physicians, infectious disease experts and internists came to a head when an advisory panel handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged an end to routine newborn vaccination against hepatitis B, a virus that can cause liver failure or liver cancer.

That vaccine saves lives, helped child infections plummet and has been given safely to tens of millions of children in the U.S. alone, say the American Academy of Pediatrics and other doctors groups that vowed Tuesday to keep recommending it.

But that’s not the only difference. That Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices now is examining possible changes to the entire childhood vaccination schedule, questioning certain ingredients and how many doses youngsters receive.

Pushing back, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its own recommendations for youngsters. Other medical groups — plus some city and state public health departments that have banded together — also are issuing their own advice on certain vaccines, which largely mirrors pre-2025 federal guidance.

“We owe our patients a consistent message informed by evidence and lived experience, not messages biased by political imperative,” Dr. Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told reporters Tuesday.

But Nahass acknowledged the inevitable consumer confusion, recounting a relative calling him last weekend for advice about hepatitis B vaccination for her new grandbaby.

“Most Americans don’t have a Cousin Ronnie to call. They are left alone with fear and mistrust,” he said, urging parents to talk with their doctors about vaccines.

New guidelines without new data concern doctors

Hepatitis B isn’t the only vaccine challenge. Kennedy’s health department recently changed a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines don’t cause autism. Federal agencies also moved to restrict COVID-19 vaccinations this fall, and are planning policy changes that could restrict future flu and coronavirus shots.

But when it comes to vaccine advice, “for decades, ACIP was the gold standard,” said Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician and Stanford University researcher.

The panel once routinely enlisted specialists in specific diseases for long deliberations of the latest science and safety data, resulting in recommendations typically adopted not only by the CDC but by the medical field at large, he said.

FILE – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)

Last week’s meeting of Kennedy’s panel, which includes vaccine skeptics, marked a radical departure. CDC specialists weren’t allowed to present data on hepatitis B, the childhood vaccine schedule or questions about vaccine ingredients. Few of the committee members have public health experience, and some expressed confusion about the panel’s proposals.

At one point, a doctor called in to say the panel was misrepresenting her study’s findings. And the panel’s chairman wondered why one dose of yellow fever vaccine protected him during a trip to Africa when U.S. children get three doses of hepatitis B vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is designed to protect children for life from a virus they can encounter anywhere, not just on a trip abroad. And other scientists noted it was carefully studied for years to prove the three-dose course offers decades of immunity — evidence that a single dose simply doesn’t have.

“If they’ve got new data, I’m all for it — let’s see it and have a conversation,” said Dr. Kelly Gebo, an infectious disease specialist and public health dean at George Washington University, who watched for that. “I did not see any new data,” so she’s not changing her vaccine advice.

Committee members argued that most babies’ risk of hepatitis B infection is very low and that earlier research on infant shot safety was inadequate.

Especially unusual was a presentation from a lawyer who voiced doubt about studies that proved benefits of multiple childhood vaccines and promoted discredited research pointing to harms.

Dr. Robert Malone chairs a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 to consider changes in hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

“I don’t think at any point in the committee’s history, there was a 90-minute uninterrupted presentation by someone who wasn’t a physician, a scientist, or a public health expert on the topic — let alone someone who, who makes his living in vaccine litigation,” said Jason Schwartz, a vaccine policy expert at Yale University.

By abandoning data and the consensus of front-line doctors, the ACIP is “actively burning down the credibility that made its recommendations so powerful,” added Stanford’s Scott. “Most parents will still follow their pediatricians, and AAP is holding the line here. But the mixed messages are precisely what erode confidence over time.”

Parents already have a choice — they need solid guidance

Trump administration health officials say it’s important to restore choice to parents and to avoid mandates. That’s how the panel’s hepatitis B recommendation was framed — that parents who really want it could get their children vaccinated later.

Parents already have a choice, said Dr. Aaron Milstone of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The government makes population-wide recommendations while families and their doctors tailor choices to each person’s health needs.

But many doctors don’t — or can’t — do their own lengthy scientific review of vaccines and thus had relied on the ACIP and CDC information, Yale’s Schwartz noted.

They “rely on trusted expert voices to help navigate what is, even in the best of times, a complicated landscape regarding the evidence for vaccines and how best to use them,” he said.

That’s a role that the pediatricians and other doctors groups, plus those multistate collaborations, aim to fill with their own guidelines — while acknowledging it will be a huge task.

For now, “ask your questions, bring your concerns and let us talk about them,” said Dr. Sarah Nosal, of the American Academy of Family Physicians, urging anyone with vaccine questions to have an open conversation with their doctor.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By ISABEL DEBRE

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A passerby could hear the cacophony from miles away in the Argentine capital, the unmistakable sound of 2,397 dogs barking — and breaking the unofficial world record for the largest-ever gathering of golden retrievers.

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Excitement pulsed through Bosques de Palermo, a sprawling park in Buenos Aires, as golden retriever-owners from all over Argentina transformed the park’s grassy expanse into a sea of bright yellow fur.

Dog owners of all ages, their clothes covered in dog hair and stained with slobber, plopped down on picnic blankets with their beloved goldens to take in the surreal sight of so many other, exceptionally similar-looking ones. Children squealed with delight and giddily petted every dog that pranced about.

Families posed for pet selfies under the blazing Southern Hemisphere’s summer sun.

Sipping Argentina’s traditional yerba mate drink, attendees swapped fun facts about their favorite breed — such as goldens’ famed ability to sniff out low blood sugar and cancer — and shared stories of their retrievers comforting them throughout all of life’s ups and downs.

“Since we were children, she’s been a constant presence in our family. We’ve had vacations with her. We’ve done everything together,” said Nicolás Orellana, a 26-year-old wearing a T-shirt with a photo of a golden retriever on it. His family said they drove an hour and a half from their hometown in Buenos Aires province for the event.

“It’s a type of dog that’s known to create a special bond,” he said, kneeling to pet his contented-looking 13-year-old dog Luna.

Around them, fellow golden retrievers sniffed each other furiously, some decked out in costumes ranging from Argentine soccer jerseys and national flags to tutus and Star Wars bandanas.

Through the tsunami of tail-wagging and treat-giving, 10 dog-loving volunteers clad in yellow vests roved with clipboards to register each golden retriever in attendance.

• A man plays with his dog at a Palermo neighborhood park as people try to set a world record of most Golden Retrievers gathered in a park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
• Golden Retrievers pose for a picture in a Palermo neighborhood park where people try to set a world record of most Golden Retrievers gathered in a park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
• Golden Retrievers gather at a Palermo neighborhood park as people try to set a world record of most Golden Retrievers gathered in a park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
• A girl offers a treat to a dog in a Palermo neighborhood park as people try to set a world record of most Golden Retrievers gathered in a park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Show Caption1 of 4A man plays with his dog at a Palermo neighborhood park as people try to set a world record of most Golden Retrievers gathered in a park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Expand

After hours of meticulous counting, the final number came in late Monday. With 2,397 golden retrievers recorded, the event’s organizer, Fausto Duperre, announced that Argentina had broken the informal world record set last year when an event in Vancouver drew 1,685 goldens.

“This is a historic event,” gushed Duperre, a 28-year-old Argentine actor who has become something of a golden retriever influencer on social media, where he regularly posts content about his 10-year-old golden named Oli.

“I’m truly grateful and happy, proud, excited and overjoyed all at once,” he added.

High hopes for a big group photo of the dogs alone on the field quickly faded as it became clear that no owner — nor dog — would withstand even a few moments of separation. Plus, there was the all-too-real fear of dogs getting lost among their thousands of furry counterparts. Owners yanked at leashes and wrangled with the most restive dogs to keep them close.

Some said they were expecting total chaos from Monday’s event but were surprised to report that it turned out to be easy and delightful — like the dogs themselves.

“I was afraid I would lose her, I was afraid she would fight, I was afraid another dog would attack her,” said Elena Deleo, 64, stroking her golden retriever Angie. “But no, they’re all affectionate, all gentle. … It’s just a very lovely experience.”

By JIM MUSTIAN and JUAN A. LOZANO

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn from an agreement with the city of Houston to curb illegal dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods, part of the Trump administration’s broad dismantling of environmental justice initiatives.

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Federal authorities quietly ended the monitoring this year as they pulled the plug on a similar settlement over wastewater problems in rural Alabama, according to three former law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the move wasn’t made public.

Without federal monitoring, advocates in Houston said city officials have become less responsive to residents afflicted by persistent dumping in the historically Black neighborhood of Trinity/Houston Gardens.

“We have nothing to fight with anymore,” resident Huey German-Wilson, who has spent years drawing attention to the problem, told The Associated Press during a tour of illegal dumping hotspots. “We’ve got a watered-down EPA. We’ve got no assistance from the DOJ. The city has no reason to respond to us, and we’re finding that they are truly ignoring us.”

The Justice Department declined to comment. Houston officials did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Rotting carcasses’

A DOJ investigation found in 2023 that the Houston neighborhood in question had been inundated by illegal dumping of trash, medical waste, mattresses and even dead bodies and “rotting carcasses” — a description local officials insisted was exaggerated.

Its settlement with the city called for three years of federal monitoring, public data reporting requirements and community outreach to impacted neighborhoods.

Former Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat who died this year after winning a U.S. House seat, had called the DOJ investigation “absurd, baseless and without merit,” though his administration later agreed to the federal monitoring. The city previously has pointed to its efforts to combat illegal dumping through One Clean Houston, a multimillion-dollar cleanup and enforcement initiative.

The nixing of the settlement, which was set to expire in June 2026, came as the Trump administration directed federal agencies to eliminate jobs and programs dedicated to environmental justice. It followed President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order putting a stop to diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the U.S. government.

“The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in April when the Justice Department announced it was ending an agreement with Alabama over persistent wastewater issues in Lowndes County. “President Trump made it clear: Americans deserve a government committed to serving every individual with dignity and respect, and to expending taxpayer resources in accordance with the national interest, not arbitrary criteria.”

Lowndes County is a high-poverty area between Selma and Montgomery where a type of soil makes it difficult for traditional septic tanks to work. A federal investigation found the majority-Black community has long been exposed to raw sewage and lacked basic sanitation services as officials engaged in a pattern of inaction and neglect.

The Alabama agreement required the state to develop a public health and infrastructure improvement plan and stop prosecuting residents who lack the resources to install or repair wastewater systems. It was the result of the Justice Department’s first environmental justice investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin in their federally funded programs and activities.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it was changing its regulations under Title VI to require “proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.” The department said it was ending regulations that “required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race.”

‘It’s never-ending’

In Houston, illegal dumping has been a hot-button issue for years. It drew the DOJ’s attention after Lone Star Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for low-income populations, filed a complaint about city response times lagging considerably for pickups in Black and Latino neighborhoods compared with white communities.

• Huey German-Wilson, Trinity-Houston Community President, is interviewed near large piles of trash and debris littering a narrow roadway in the Trinity Gardens neighborhood in northwest Houston, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi )
• A toilet lays among large piles of trash and debris littered on a narrow roadway in the TrinityGardens neighborhood in northwest Houston, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi )
• Piles of trash fill the ditch across a construction site in the Trinity Gardens neighborhood in northwest Houston, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi )

Show Caption1 of 3Huey German-Wilson, Trinity-Houston Community President, is interviewed near large piles of trash and debris littering a narrow roadway in the Trinity Gardens neighborhood in northwest Houston, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi ) Expand

During the first year of federal monitoring, the city picked up illegal dumping much faster, rolled out new vehicles and added workers, said German-Wilson, president of the Trinity/Houston Gardens Super Neighborhood, a community group.

“We could email everybody,” she said, “and they were listening very intently to see what they could do differently.”

This year, the city has received thousands of complaints about illegal dumping, according to data it publishes online, a backlog that was on display last week when an AP reporter walked past piles of trash and debris, including mattresses, construction waste, a toilet, mulch, wooden pieces of a fence and a car bumper. Some of the piles began as long uncollected leaves and tree branches.

“We also find animals dumped in the midst of all of this,” German-Wilson said. “It’s never-ending.”

Other environmental justice advocates said ending the Alabama and Houston settlements was short-sighted.

“What I find appalling about this administration’s position is these people have not gone out into the community to see how folks are impacted,” said Catherine Coleman Flowers, an activist who filed the civil rights complaint that prompted the Alabama investigation.

“The message they’re sending is they really don’t understand what they’re doing. There are Americans across the board suffering from these issues.”

Mustian reported from New York.

On President Trump’s behalf, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shamelessly ordered the killings of non-combatant and presumably foreign civilians.

We likely will never learn the identities of those who occupied all of those small boats operating in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific waters, but the count so far totals 83 dead. None of the boats was operating near U.S. territory. The administration’s justification is as phony as a three-dollar bill. These killings were illegal murders.

Most informed Americans realize we’re not at war with the sovereign nation of Venezuela, despite claims by Trump and Hegseth that we are. Moreover, the specific order to kill survivors of one of the strikes violated, at the very least, the laws of war and U.S. military regulations.

If the command to kill the two survivors was given by Adm. Frank Bradley, it was surely illegal. He should be court-martialed.

If the evidence proves that Hegseth ordered the illegal killings that Admiral Bradley should have disobeyed, then Hegseth should be fired by Trump (“You’re fired!”) or impeached by Republican senators who ignored multiple indicators of his unfitness and still recklessly confirmed him.

David Kahn, Boca Raton

Too dangerous at Defense

If there were any doubt about Hegseth’s gross ineptitude, his “fog of war” remark in explaining the shooting of survivors of a sunken ship made it all too clear.

“Fog of War,” as credited to Carl von Clausewitz in the early 19th century, referred to the overall confusion and frenzy found on the battlefield, not literal fog caused by our exploding weapons.

How dangerous that this Fox News talking head, who berated our generals for being overweight, knows so little but has his finger on the trigger that could send us to war.

Harvey Starin, Boca Raton

Justices, playing politics

President Trump pledged to deport all the dangerous people who illegally enter this country.

These people, who aren’t hard to find, work at jobs most Americans find beneath them. They are also easy to identify because they are dark-skinned. Having legal status and documents to prove that often means little to federal agents confronting them.

Racial profiling is illegal — or it was until this Supreme Court ruled that it wasn’t.

Why should any of us be surprised? The Supreme Court just upheld its tradition of being on the wrong side of discrimination. It seems like those renown justices on the court bend the law to adhere to the prevailing whims of the government. Something needs to be done about that.

Scott Shampaner, Coral Springs

A horrific bear hunt

The tragedy of the Florida bear hunt is that it is horrific and unnecessary.

As in the Western U.S. and suburban Orlando’s Seminole County, there are ways of peacefully living with these magnificent creatures. I don’t know what’s behind the cruel decisions of the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and why they persist, despite the public outcry. It would be nice to see behind the curtain as to why they don’t listen or transparently communicate their reasons.

They should consider taking the word “conservation” out of the FWC’s name.

Stuart Himmelstein, Lake Worth Beach

Trump and national harmony

Richard Klitzberg wrote a letter to the editor full of unsubstantiated assertions that concluded with the possibility of shredding the harmony the U.S. has known for 150 years.

I’m not sure of the 150 years part. Our nation is almost 250 years old and the Civil War ended 160 years ago. But I think I figured it out. The 150 years of harmony in question fits nicely between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Trump’s first term.

I have to agree with Mr. Klitzberg: Trump and harmony cannot possibly co-exist.

Bob Chaban, Boynton Beach

Please submit a letter to the editor by email to letterstotheeditor@sunsentinel.com or fill out the online form below. Letters may be up to 200 words and must be signed with your email address, city of residence and daytime phone number for verification. Letters will be edited for clarity and length. 

 

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Here are the top stories for Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. Get the weather forecast for today here.

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Today is Tuesday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2025. There are 22 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 9, 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated TV special featuring characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premiered on CBS.

Also on this date:

In 1979, scientists certified the global eradication of smallpox, a disease which killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century.

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In 1990, Solidarity founder Lech Wałęsa (lek vah-WEN’-sah) won Poland’s first free presidential election since 1926.

In 1992, the first U.S. Marines made a predawn beach landing in Somalia in support of Operation Restore Hope; they were met by hundreds of reporters awaiting their arrival.

In 2006, the space shuttle Discovery launched on a mission to add to and rewire the International Space Station.

In 2013, scientists revealed that NASA’s Curiosity rover had uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars.

In 2019, an island volcano off New Zealand’s coast called Whakaari, or White Island, erupted, killing 22 tourists and guides and seriously injuring several others. Most of the 47 people on the island were U.S. and Australian cruise ship passengers on a walking tour with the guides.

In 2021, a cargo truck jammed with migrants crashed in southern Mexico, killing at least 53 people and injuring dozens more.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Judi Dench is 91.
• Actor Beau Bridges is 84.
• World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Kite is 76.
• Actor John Malkovich is 72.
• Singer Donny Osmond is 68.
• Actor Felicity Huffman is 63.
• Empress Masako of Japan is 62.
• Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is 59.
• Rock singer-musician Jakob Dylan (Wallflowers) is 56.
• Actor Simon Helberg is 45.
• Olympic gymnastics gold medalist McKayla Maroney is 30.
• Actor Nico Parker is 21.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of stabbing a woman to death during a home invasion robbery more than 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, is set to receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery, burglary and stealing a car and was sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.

It would be Florida’s 18th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for total executions in a single year.

According to court records, Tressa Pettibone’s 8-year-old son found his mother beaten and stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home in February 1989. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done remodeling work at the home.

Geralds ran into Pettibone and her children at a shopping mall about a week before the killing, and Pettibone mentioned that her husband was away on business. Geralds later approached Pettibone’s son at the video arcade and asked when the boy’s father would return and what time he and his sister left for and returned from school each day, according to court records.

Investigators found that Geralds pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone’s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds’ car.

After a death warrant was signed last month and his execution date set, Geralds told a judge he did not wish to pursue any further appeals. The judge signed off on that decision.

A total of 44 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and a handful of executions are scheduled for the rest of the year.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year. Another execution is planned for next week in the state under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Florida’s 19th execution this year on Dec. 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessing to three other killings.

Florida’s lethal injections are carried out with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.