www.youtube.com – FOX 5 Atlanta – 2025-05-20 13:36:52
SUMMARY: Kentucky residents are bracing for another round of dangerous weather, just days after a deadly tornado struck London. Many are staying in temporary housing or with family to stay safe. The National Weather Service’s radio alerts are down for a computer update, so officials urge residents to use other sources for weather warnings. People have been salvaging belongings from wrecked homes. One family shared their experience of taking cover in a basement as the storm struck. Crews are working to clear debris, but the governor advises staying away from hazardous areas. The community remains on high alert.
Residents of London, Kentucky, who are still trying to recover from the deadly tornado that killed multiple people in their community last weekend is facing the possibility of more dangerous weather headed their way. FOX’s Chelsea Torres is live in Kentucky.
FOX 5 Atlanta delivers breaking news, live events, investigations, politics, entertainment, business news and local stories from metro Atlanta, north Georgia and across the nation.
On May 20, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before a Senate committee about the forthcoming “Make America Healthy Again” report, assuring it won’t disparage American farmers or common pesticides like glyphosate. He emphasized partnership with farmers for a safe food supply, countering Republican concerns that the report might unfairly target modern agriculture. Lawmakers also questioned Kennedy on budget issues, including preserving the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and NIH funding cuts for research institutions. Kennedy pledged to support Head Start funding and improve its food quality. He addressed staffing and safety concerns at NIOSH related to mining research, committing to resolutions.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress on Tuesday that a major report due out later this week from his agency will not disparage farmers or a commonly used pesticide.
Kennedy, who has long been critical of certain aspects of modern agriculture and processed food, at a U.S. Senate hearing urged lawmakers to read the widely anticipated “Make America Healthy Again” report once it’s published Thursday, but didn’t go into details about any possible recommendations.
“Everybody will see the report,” Kennedy said. “And there’s nobody that has a greater commitment to the American farmer than we do. The MAHA movement collapses if we can’t partner with the American farmer in producing a safe, robust and abundant food supply.”
His comments followed stern questioning from Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who said she had read news reports from “reliable sources” that the MAHA Commission’s initial assessment “may unfairly target American agriculture, modern farming practices and the crop protection tools that roughly 2% of our population relies on to help feed the remaining 98%.”
“If Americans lose confidence in the safety and integrity of our food supply due to the unfounded claims that mislead consumers, public health will be at risk,” Hyde-Smith said. “I’ve said this before, and it’s worth saying again, countries have gone to war over many things — politics, religion, race, trade, natural resources, oil, pride, you name it — but threaten a nation’s food supply and allow people to go hungry. Let’s see what happens then.”
Hyde-Smith, who was her home state’s commissioner of agriculture and commerce from 2012 to 2018, probed Kennedy about his past work in environmental law and whether he might be inserting “confirmation bias” into the forthcoming report.
She asked Kennedy if he would try to change the current approval for glyphosate, a commonly used herbicide, that she referred to as “one of the most thoroughly studied products of its kind.”
“We’re talking about more than 1,500 studies and 50-plus years of review by the EPA and other leading global health authorities that have affirmed its safety when used as directed,” Hyde-Smith said. “Have you been able to review thousands of studies and decades of scientific review in a matter of months?”
Kennedy responded that her “information about the report is just simply wrong.”
“The drafts that I’ve seen, there is not a single word in them that should worry the American farmer,” Kennedy said.
Hyde-Smith continued her questioning and told Kennedy that it would be “a shame if the MAHA commission issues reports suggesting, without substantial facts and evidence, that our government got things terribly wrong when it reviewed a number of crop protection tools and deemed them to be safe.”
Home energy program in Maine
Several other Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee raised concerns during the two-hour hearing about how Kennedy has run HHS since they confirmed him in February.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee, brought up the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which the Trump administration has called on Congress to eliminate.
“The LIHEAP program, which we’ve talked about, is absolutely vital for thousands of older Mainers and low-income families,” Collins said. “It helps them avoid the constant worry of having to choose between keeping warm, buying essential foods and medications and other basic necessities.”
Kennedy sought to distance himself from the president’s budget request, saying that he understands “the critical, historical importance of this program.”
“President (Donald) Trump’s rationale and (the Office of Management and Budget’s) rationale is that President Trump’s energy policies are going to lower the cost of energy … so that everybody will get lower cost heating oil,” Kennedy said.
NIH indirect costs
Subcommittee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., brought up several issues with Kennedy, including efforts to change how much the National Institutes of Health provides to medical schools and research universities for Facilities and Administrative fees, often called indirect costs.
NIH sought to set that amount at 15% across the board for any institution that receives a research grant from the agency, a significantly lower amount than many of the organizations had negotiated over the years, bringing about strong objections from institutions of higher education.
Kennedy indicated NIH has figured out a way to help medical schools and research universities pay for items like gloves, test tubes and mass spectrometers, particularly at state schools.
“In the public universities, we are very much aware that those universities are using the money well, that it is absolutely necessary for them. And we’re looking at a series of different ways that we can fund those costs through them,” Kennedy said. “But not through the independent, indirect cost structure, which loses all control, which deprives us of all control of how that money is spent.”
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican, brought up the measles outbreak and pressed Kennedy on whether HHS needed additional resources to help his home state and others get the virus under control.
Kennedy testified the “best way to prevent the spread of measles is through vaccination” and that HHS has been urging “people to get their MMR vaccines.”
South Dakota grant on mine safety
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds called on Kennedy to continue fixing issues created earlier this year when HHS fired people working on mine safety issues at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
“My office has learned that staff at NIOSH’s Spokane mining research division have been laid off. This office focuses on the unique challenges of Western mining operations that are often more geologically complex and exposed to harsher conditions,” Rounds said. “This division provides critical technical support for institutions like the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, which recently received a $1.25 million grant to improve underground mining safety. However, the grant has now been canceled due to loss of oversight from the Spokane office.
“This is not just a missed opportunity, it undermines our ability to meet national security goals tied to mineral independence and supply chain resilience.”
Kennedy testified that he’s been able to bring back 238 workers at the agency and said he would work with Rounds to address ongoing issues.
Pledge to fund Head Start, but no dollar amount
Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, a Republican, asked Kennedy about news reports earlier this year that HHS would ask Congress to zero out funding for Head Start, one of numerous programs left out of the administration’s skinny budget request. Head Start provides early learning, health, family and development programs for free for children from low-income families.
Kennedy testified that eliminating Head Start would likely not be in the full budget request, which is set to be released later this year, though the White House budget office has not said when. He said it would ask Congress to fully fund the program, but didn’t share a dollar amount.
“There’s 800,000 of the poorest kids in this country who are served by this program. It not only teaches the kids preschool skills — reading, writing and arithmetic — before they get to prepare them for school. But it also teaches the parents and teaches them how to be good parents.”
Kennedy said there are challenges faced by the Head Start program that he hopes to change during the next four years, including the quality of the food.
“The food they’re serving at Head Start is terrible. You need to change that,” Kennedy said. “We’re poisoning the poorest kids from their youngest years, and we’re going to change that.”
Last updated 3:42 p.m., May. 20, 2025
Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This content presents a fairly balanced view but leans slightly toward a center-left perspective by highlighting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s criticisms of modern agriculture, emphasis on public health concerns, and support for social programs like Head Start and energy assistance for low-income families. The article includes detailed questioning from Republican senators that defend agricultural and budgetary policies aligned with conservative viewpoints, suggesting an attempt at fair coverage, but the overall framing centers on reform, public health, and support for vulnerable populations, typical of center-left narratives.
www.thecentersquare.com – Justin Evan Smith | Young Voices – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-20 13:30:00
Georgia’s new tort reform law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, has received praise for addressing issues like excessive damages and predatory litigation. It caps damages, tightens evidence standards, and limits litigation abuses. However, a provision requiring disclosure of third-party litigation funding could limit access to courts, potentially infringing on constitutional rights. While addressing genuine concerns about litigation finance, the law risks curbing plaintiffs’ ability to seek justice by introducing procedural hurdles. Critics argue that such reforms, while economically beneficial, must carefully balance legal efficiency with constitutional protections, ensuring the right to petition remains intact.
Georgia’s new tort reform package, recently signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, has been met with predictable applause from the business community and legal reform advocates.
It caps runaway damages, imposes new standards on evidence admissibility, and reins in what many see as a predatory litigation environment. For conservatives, it’s a familiar victory — an effort to restore balance, predictability, and economic competitiveness to a system distorted by jackpot verdicts and aggressive trial lawyer advertising.
On the surface, this is great for Georgia, and other states should be looking to follow suit. There is, however, one caveat: Buried in the text is a provision that should give pause, even to the most ardent tort reformers: A set of new restrictions and disclosure requirements aimed at third-party litigation funding.
On the surface, these rules appear procedural — mere transparency. In practice, they risk chilling access to courts and burdening a core constitutional right: the right to petition the government for redress.
This piece is not a defense of unchecked litigation finance. The industry, which connects plaintiffs with investors willing to fund lawsuits in exchange for a cut of any judgment or settlement, raises legitimate concerns. It can distort incentives, complicate discovery, and create conflicts of interest. But it also serves a real function — particularly for individuals or small businesses facing powerful defendants with deep legal war chests.
When the law makes it harder for those plaintiffs to access the resources they need to file a claim, it doesn’t just protect defendants. It curtails one of the most foundational elements of our legal system: The ability to assert your rights in court.
The First Amendment guarantees not just freedom of speech and association — it also protects the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Courts have consistently recognized that this includes access to civil courts. In NAACP v. Button (1963), the Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s attempt to restrict civil rights litigation on the grounds that it infringed associational rights.
In the case of In re Primus (1978), it reaffirmed that legal representation, funding, and coordination — particularly for public interest litigation — are forms of protected expression and advocacy.
Georgia’s new law doesn’t ban litigation funding outright, but by compelling disclosure of funding sources and adding procedural friction, it introduces the kind of selective burden that courts have previously frowned upon.
If litigation funders are forced into the open while insurance companies, defense consortia, and corporate legal departments remain shielded, that’s not neutrality — it’s viewpoint discrimination dressed up as reform.
There’s also a practical consequence worth noting. Many of the plaintiffs who rely on outside funding aren’t filing frivolous claims — they’re trying to stay in the fight. For them, the courtroom is the last available venue for justice. Reformers should be careful not to mistake asymmetry for abuse.
Conservatives are right to be skeptical of a litigation system that incentivizes massive payouts and strategic filings. But they should be equally skeptical of reforms that quietly erode constitutional rights in the name of efficiency.
The right to sue is not just a policy lever — it’s a protected mode of civic participation. And like any other constitutional right, it should not be curtailed simply because it’s inconvenient.
Georgia’s reform bill gets a lot right. It addresses real problems with creativity and courage. But if tort reform is going to remain a principled conservative project, it must hold the line not only on economics — but on the Constitution.
Justin Evan Smith is a law student and former business executive. He writes on contemporary legal issues, including constitutional law, judicial overreach, and the evolving balance of power in American governance.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article presents a clear ideological perspective that leans toward a Center-Left viewpoint. While it acknowledges conservative principles such as tort reform and the desire to limit excessive litigation and damages, it critiques specific elements of the Georgia tort reform package that impose restrictions on third-party litigation funding. The language frames these restrictions as potentially chilling constitutional rights and introducing “viewpoint discrimination,” which aligns with concerns often emphasized in progressive or Center-Left discourse about access to justice and protection of civil rights. The piece emphasizes the role of litigation funding in empowering less-resourced plaintiffs and warns against reforms that might undermine constitutional protections, reflecting a prioritization of individual rights and skepticism of reforms driven by business or conservative agendas. However, the article is measured and balanced, recognizing legitimate conservative concerns about litigation abuse, which places it in a moderate left-leaning position rather than a more radical one.
SUMMARY: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has entered Georgia’s 2026 gubernatorial race. Serving as mayor from 2018 to 2022, she chose not to seek re-election and later joined the Biden administration as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Bottoms emphasized expanding and improving Medicaid coverage in Georgia as her top priority, criticizing the state’s refusal to expand it, which has led to significant healthcare gaps. She faces competition from Democratic Sen. Jason Esteves and Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, with more candidates expected to announce soon.
