Chinese vacuum maker Dreame Technology is doubling down on its promise to build an EV that’s the spitting image of a Bugatti Chiron. The company’s car division, Dreame Auto, has just released another image of its creation, and like the handful of renders shown last week, this one also appears to have been generated, at least in part, with the help of AI.

More: Chinese Vacuum Giant Aims To Beat Bugatti With The World’s Fastest Hypercar

More importantly, company insiders have also shared some technical details, as well as news of a second luxury brand aiming to rival the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

Spot the Differences

The single new image, still a rendering, rather than a photo of a real vehicle, shows the car that’s apparently (and unashamedly) codenamed “Dreame Bugatti,” with its doors open this time. We already knew it had four doors, but now we can see the rear pair are rear hinged, that all four open upwards like a McLaren’s, and that there’s no B-pillar.

Close comparison of the old and new pictures reveals some detail differences. The new images of the white model show two vents in the hood, one behind each headlight, and the grille is slightly broader and less rounded, looking slightly less Bugatti-like, and more Jaguar-ish. The changes are, however, unlikely to placate Bugatti. The company never replied when we asked it for comment last week, but we doubt it’s thrilled at the news.

Both pure EV and range-extender hybrid versions will be offered when the finished car enters production in 2027 at a site next door to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin, according to Weixin, which cites a company insider it spoke to. But we’ll get our first look at a physical car in January next year when the company brings a pre-production prototype to CES – yes, that CES in Las Vegas.

Second Luxury Brand Modeled After Bentley and Rolls-Royce

The company’s automotive ambitions stretch further than a Bugatti lookalike. The same insider told the Chinese outlet that Dreame Tech is splitting its car operations into two divisions. Dream Auto is focused exclusively on building the Chiron-a-like, which founder Yu Hao hopes will go on to break hypercar speed records. The other division we learned about today, Starry Sky Auto, has been benchmarking cars such as the Rolls Royce Cullinan and various Bentley models in preparation for the development of four vehicles built from the same basic components.

Citing a recent internal communication meeting, the Chinese outlet reports that the company’s founder told his team the Starry Sky Auto premium models will be built on wheelbases of 3.2 meters (126 inches) and 3.3 meters (130 inches) long. He also “put forward the requirements that the former should be larger in length, width, and height than the Li Auto L9 and M9, and the latter should have a domineering and tough appearance, with all dimensions no smaller than those of the Cullinan.”

According to the report, Dreame Auto has ” assembled a cross-industry team covering R&D, manufacturing, and quality control. The team includes core R&D personnel from its original smart hardware business, as well as experts from traditional vehicle manufacturing.”

Budget Meets Ambition

With prices allegedly ranging from $38,000 to $83,000, Starry Sky Auto’s models will certainly not be in Bentley and Rolls Royce territory, and are instead designed to take on EVs from smartphone-maker Xiaomi, whose expansion from electronics giant to automaker Dreame wants to replicate.

Dreame Auto

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Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services is continuing to recommend that anyone over 6 months old get an updated, annual version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, the state’s DHS has put out a standing order for the vaccine. State officials say that will ensure that most Wisconsinites are able to get the COVID vaccine at pharmacies across Wisconsin without a prescription. 

This year’s Wisconsin DHS guidelines mirror guidance from a broad range of medical experts. And the guidance echoes what state and federal health officials have recommended in recent years.

Wisconsin’s recommendations stand in contrast, however, to recent moves at the federal level.

This year, the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved the new COVID vaccine for Americans ages 65 and older and for people with certain higher risk conditions. At the national level, a panel is set to meet later this week to discuss vaccine recommendations that will be provided to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a vaccine skeptic who has promoted false information about vaccines.

Wisconsin is now one of several states where health officials have moved to take statewide action on vaccines because of worries about how federal actions could impede vaccine access.

“In the past several months, leaders at federal agencies have made policy decisions and issued recommendations that aren’t supported by or directly contradict scientific consensus,” Dr. Ryan Westergaard, a chief medical officer within DHS, said during a news conference.

The latest announcement from Wisconsin’s health department comes a day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order directing the Wisconsin DHS to put out its own COVID vaccine recommendations.

The order also attempts to ensure that Wisconsinites won’t have to pay out of pocket for COVID vaccines. It says that the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance shall “direct all health insurers within their regulatory authority to provide coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine without cost-sharing to all their insureds.”

“Vaccines save lives, folks,” Evers said in a statement accompanying his order. “RFK and the Trump Administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.”

State health officials are recommending that Wisconsinites get their new COVID vaccines to coincide with the fall spike in respiratory diseases. Those shots are recommended even for people who have gotten COVID shots in the past. That’s because the vaccines released in 2025 are designed to hedge against potentially waning immunity and to target newly emerging versions of the virus, Westergaard said.

“The same way that we recommend getting your flu shot booster every year, because the flu that’s going around this year might be slightly different than the flu that was going around last year, we recommend a COVID booster,” he said.

This story was originally published by WPR.

Wisconsin health department continues to urge new COVID-19 vaccine for anyone over 6 months old is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Susan Monarez testifies before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Sept.17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez testified before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that she was fired after just 29 days because she refused to pre-approve vaccine recommendations or fire career officials for no reason. 

Monarez, who was nominated by President Donald Trump earlier this year and confirmed by the Senate in July on a party-line vote, became a central figure in the country’s debate over public health last month after she refused to resign. 

Monarez testified that during a meeting in late August, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told her she needed to commit to approving upcoming recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without reviewing any data or research. 

“He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause. He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign,” Monarez said. “I responded that I could not pre-approve recommendations without reviewing the evidence and I had no basis to fire scientific experts.”

Monarez testified before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the nearly three-hour hearing that she told Kennedy if he didn’t trust her, then he could fire her.

During that same late August meeting, Monarez said Kennedy told her the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing in September and that she needed to be on board with that.

“We got into an exchange where I had suggested that I would be open to changing childhood vaccine schedules if the evidence or science was supportive,” Monarez testified. “And he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule.”

ACIP is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Kennedy testified before a separate Senate committee earlier this month that he did demand that Monarez fire career CDC scientists but said he didn’t tell her to accept the recommendations of the vaccine advisory panel without further review.

“What I asked her about is she had made a statement that she was going to not sign on and I wanted clarification about that,” Kennedy said at the time. “I told her I didn’t want her to have a role if she’s not going to sign onto it.”

Vaccine safety at issue

Monarez said that undermining vaccine safety will lead to an increase in preventable diseases, some of which have long-term or even lifelong consequences for children’s health. 

“I believe that we will have our children harmed for things that we know they do not need to be harmed by — polio, measles, diphtheria, chickenpox,” she said. 

Former CDC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Debra Houry told the committee there are significant ramifications if the new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who were appointed by Kennedy after he fired all of the former members, don’t use rigorous science and data to make their recommendations. 

“It’s going to be heartbreaking,” Houry said. “I think what concerns me is these aren’t harmless diseases. We just saw the case in California of a young child that died of encephalitis years after measles. These diseases have long-term consequences and in the U.S. we have gone so far in reversing this. We don’t want our children to die.”  

Houry was one of several CDC officials who resigned after learning about Monarez’s firing, which happened just weeks after a gunman opened fire at the CDC’s headquarters, killing a police officer. 

Both Monarez and Houry testified, in response to a question from Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, that confusion about vaccines and CDC recommendations had real consequences. 

“I myself was subject to threats,” Monarez said. “And I am very concerned that the further promulgation of misleading information will undermine not just the safety and health of our children, but it will also exacerbate some of these tensions — the willingness to commit harm if someone is affronted by a belief that the people like us that are trying to help them are actually not trying to help them.” 

Houry told the committee the gunman fired about 500 rounds, with approximately 180 of those hitting the building. 

“Each bullet was meant for a person, and each of my staff were very traumatized afterwards,” Houry said. “I had staff that were covering their kids in the day care parking lot. There were people that were out at the ride-share as bullets were passing over their head. I have many that won’t speak about vaccines now and removed their names off of the papers. They don’t wish to present publicly anymore because they feel they were personally targeted because of misinformation.”

‘Did we do something wrong?’

HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said at the beginning of the hearing he intended to invite Kennedy and possibly other HHS officials to testify before his committee later in the year if they wanted to respond to what was said in the Wednesday hearing. 

He also raised concerns that Monarez was fired after less than a month in the role, despite her being nominated by Trump, confirmed by the Senate and Kennedy saying while swearing her in that she had “unimpeachable scientific credentials.”

“We as senators need to ask ourselves, did we look past something? Did we do something wrong?” Cassidy said. “It may be that we did nothing wrong, in which case, Dr. Monarez and Dr. Houry, the onus is upon you to prove that the criticisms leveled by the secretary are not true.”

Cassidy later added that “it may be impossible to learn who’s telling the truth.”

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member on the committee, said the Trump administration’s decision to fire Monarez after less than a month in the CDC director’s role was because “she refused to act as a rubber stamp to implement Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous agenda to substantially limit the use of safe and effective vaccines that would endanger the lives of the American people and people throughout the world.”

Sanders raised concerns that the loss of career officials at the CDC and other federal health agencies could hamper the country from addressing disease outbreaks in the months and years ahead. 

Confusion over whether Monarez was recorded

There were a few awkward moments in the hearing, in addition to the serious discussion about the Trump administration’s approach to public health. 

One came after Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody mentioned twice during her five minutes of questions that Monarez had spoken with Cassidy about her firing, implying that was somehow improper.  

Cassidy gave a lengthy statement afterward, clarifying the record. 

“As chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over the CDC that favorably reported Dr. Monarez as the CDC director, it is entirely appropriate for someone with oversight concerns to contact my office, or me, or frankly any of us,” Cassidy said. “Upon receiving outreach from Dr. Monarez, I contacted both the secretary and the White House to inquire about what was happening and to express concerns about what was alleged. As soon as the director was fired, the HELP Committee began reviewing the situation, as it is our responsibility, and any and all communication with the witnesses was conducted by HELP staff in coordination with attorneys.”

Another somewhat uncomfortable and slightly confusing moment came after Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin told Monarez that someone had recorded her meeting or meetings with Kennedy.

Mullin then repeatedly questioned her recollection of her conversations with Kennedy, implying that he had a different view because he had listened to the recording. 

The exchange led Cassidy to give another statement to the committee. He appeared somewhat frustrated that someone gave just one senator on the panel the recording, that Mullin had not shared it with any other members of the committee and that HHS had chosen not to give it to the committee in response to a request for documents related to Monarez’s firing. 

“If a recording does not exist, I ask Sen. Mullin to retract his line of questions,” Cassidy said. “I’ll also note that if he has it, I’m also curious why only one senator was given this and why we’re just hearing about it now.”

A few minutes later, Cassidy announced to the hearing room that Mullin told reporters elsewhere that he was mistaken about there being a recording of the meeting or meetings. 

Monarez lawyer

Several GOP senators on the panel also questioned Monarez at length about when and why she chose to hire legal representation and why she ultimately went with Mark Zaid, who has made public statements against Trump and his policies. 

Monarez testified that she wasn’t aware of Zaid’s political beliefs when she hired him and hasn’t spoken with him about politics. 

“I was seeking some critical counsel to be able to help me make sure that I was understanding and aware of everything that had transpired and preparing for what might be next, including this committee hearing,” Monarez said. “Mark and I have never spoken about politics. I never asked him about his politics. He has never asked me about my politics.”

ANN ARBOR, Mich. –Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) started off the new school year by welcoming students back safely thanks to the support from its transportation provider, Durham School Services. As part of its back-to-school preparation training, the Durham team refined and practiced various safety and driving skills and performed practice runs of their routes to ensure familiarity and efficiency. In total, Durham runs 112 routes and transports over 5,000 students to and from the school every day for the district.

“The Ann Arbor Public Schools is pleased to be working with Durham School Services who provides the district’s general education and special education bus service. The management staff, led by manager Renae Pickel and her team, partner with us to provide transportation services to over 5,000 students,” said Liz Margolis, Executive Director of School Safety & District Operations, Ann Arbor Public Schools. “The Durham team also works with us to ensure students are scheduled for busing in the most efficient manner and to assess the routes during the first few weeks of school for any improvements in service. Further, they understand our families and the expected level of service. We look forward to a smooth 2025-2026 school year for transportation.”

In addition to celebrating the successful start to the school year, AAPS and Durham are also celebrating a three-year extension to its already decades-long partnership. The new partnership between AAPS and Durham extends through 2028 and plans are currently underway to transition the school’s fleet of buses to electric vehicles (EV).

Durham was one of five providers that submitted a proposal in response to AAPS’ request for proposals and was recommended by the review committee after careful and thorough consideration. In the recommendation letter, which is publicly accessible, it was noted that, “Over the contract term, Durham focused on student safety, on-time performance, and customer service, with an expertly maintained fleet of updated buses. The Durham Ann Arbor operation has consistently been awarded the Michigan State Police Certificate of Excellence for a 100% pass rate for all school bus safety inspections.”

“Maintaining and building a decade-long partnership, as you can imagine, takes significant dedication, effort, and hard work,” said Renae Pickel, General Manager, Durham School Services. “Thanks to our team members, we’ve not only been given the opportunity to continue serving AAPS for another three years but also had our best school start-up in years. We had a driver in every seat covering all 112 routes and all routes ran successfully. That is such an immense achievement, and I can’t help but feel a huge sense of pride for what my team has accomplished through their diligence and immeasurable efforts. Lastly, on behalf of the team, I’d like to express how truly appreciative we are for the school’s trust and recognition of our team’s commitment to always providing the utmost safe, dependable service to their students and community.”

About Durham School Services: As an industry-leading student transportation provider, Durham School Services and its sister brands, Stock Transportation and Petermann Bus, are dedicated to the safety of our students and People. Collectively, for more than 100 years, we have been committed to Excellence and upholding our mission of getting students to school safely, on time, and ready to learn. Through this mission and a grassroots approach to our operations, Durham School Services and its sister brands have earned recognition as a trusted transportation provider among our Customers and the Communities they serve.

The post Ann Arbor Public Schools and Durham School Services Start New School Year with Excellent Service and Partnership Renewal appeared first on School Transportation News.

Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday that is aimed at protecting access to vaccines in Wisconsin. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

Seeking to combat efforts of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration, Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday that is aimed at protecting access to vaccines in Wisconsin. 

“Vaccines save lives, folks. Spreading fear, distrust, and disinformation about safe and effective vaccines isn’t just reckless, it’s dangerous,” Evers said in a statement. “RFK and the Trump administration are inserting partisan politics into healthcare and the science-based decisions of medical professionals and are putting the health and lives of kids, families, and folks across our state at risk in the process.”

Kennedy in his role as the health secretary has taken aim at vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine. This week, a CDC committee with new members appointed by Kennedy who are skeptical of vaccines is expected to consider softening or eliminating some recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine and some childhood immunizations. 

“Here in Wisconsin, we will continue to follow the science to ensure Wisconsinites have access to the healthcare they need when and where they need it to make their own healthcare decisions that are right for them,” Evers said. 

The order directs the state Department of Health Services to take several steps towards protecting access including monitoring and reviewing immunization recommendations, issuing guidance on the COVID-19 vaccine, determining additional measures that may be necessary to provide clarity and guidance on other routine vaccines.

The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance is also directed under the order to collaborate with health plans to make sure people have accurate, up-to-date information on access to vaccines and to help limit the costs of vaccines and to direct health insurers within their regulatory authority to provide coverage for the COVID-19 vaccine without cost-sharing.

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Children at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field)

Federal judges in Rhode Island and Washington have blocked the Trump administration from excluding people without legal immigration status from a group of federal programs, including Head Start early childhood education.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Rhode Island halted a broad array of rules based on the new immigration restrictions from taking effect. Wisconsin was one of 21 states and the District of Columbia to join that lawsuit.  

Reuters reported that a White House statement said the administration expected a higher court to reverse the decision.

On Thursday, a federal judge in the state of Washington ordered the Trump administration to pause a requirement that Head Start early childhood education programs exclude families without legal immigration status. That ruling came in a case brought by Head Start groups in four states, including Wisconsin.

Head Start programs were included in a broader federal directive that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued July 10 listing federally funded “public benefits” that must exclude immigrants without legal status under the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

Certain programs, such as Medicaid, have been required to verify lawful immigration status for participants. But since 1998, the federal government has considered a range of programs exempt that are generally open to all in a community, according to Reuters.

The July HHS order revoked the 1998 policy and closed the door to immigrants lacking legal status for Head Start along with a collection of programs providing mental health and substance abuse treatment, job training and other assistance.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy issued a preliminary injunction that halted orders from HHS as well as the departments of Education, Labor and Justice based on the policy shift.

“The Government’s new policy, across the board, seems to be this: ‘Show me your papers,'” McElroy wrote in her order.

McElroy wrote that the administration acted “in a rushed way, without seeking comment from the public or interested parties,” likely violating the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez issued a temporary restraining order directing HHS not to apply the immigration restriction to Head Start programs.

Head Start programs have never been required to determine the immigration status of families in the program since it started nearly 60 years ago, according to Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association.

The Wisconsin association joined the lawsuit against the HHS order filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of Head Start programs in the states of Washington, Illinois and Pennsylvania as well as advocacy groups in California and Oregon.

“This ruling affirms what we know to be both right within the law and right for communities,” Mauer told the Wisconsin Examiner on Friday. “Keeping eligible Head Start Families in the program is the best outcome for Wisconsin. Kids are safer and it keeps Wisconsin working.”

Martinez wrote in a 26-page opinion focused on the Head Start portion in the HHS order that harms the plaintiffs warned of “are not merely speculative.” Martinez was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed in 2004.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs told the court that a Wisconsin Head Start program reported at least four families withdrew after the federal directive was issued. Several Pennsylvania programs reported withdrawals, one reported that it expects to have to close and another said it will have to close one of its rooms due to a drop in enrollment.

The plaintiffs’ arguments “detail confusion on how to comply with the Directive, how to verify immigration status, who status is based on, whether non-profits are exempt, difficulties in recruiting and families obtaining proper documentation, and the families’ overall fear that reporting immigration status will result in a choice between family safety and a child’s education,” Martinez wrote.

The directive has unclear guidance and has had a “chilling effect” on programs as well as on families who have relied on Head Start, resulting “in the immediate harm of childhood education loss” and “leading to long-term harms in development,” he wrote. “It also results in parents losing childcare, risking missed work, unemployment, forced dropouts, and inability to pay life expenses and support families.”

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A petroleum refinery in Louisiana. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that Wisconsin doesn't need to comply with stricter air quality rules to decrease smog in three southeastern Wisconsin counties. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

A federal appeals court has ruled that the state of Wisconsin and businesses operating in certain parts of southeastern Wisconsin will not be required to meet more stringent air quality standards for ozone pollution — giving state regulators and industry a reprieve from what they say were “costly and burdensome requirements.”

On Friday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state’s request to temporarily postpone a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. Late last year, the EPA reclassified areas of Milwaukee, Kenosha and Sheboygan counties as being in “serious nonattainment” of the agency’s 2015 ozone standards. In February, the state filed a lawsuit for the review of the EPA finding. 

The enforcement of the EPA standard would have forced the state to revise its plan for complying with national air quality standards under the Clean Air Act, and hundreds of businesses would have had to assess if their existing permits need to be renewed or revised. The state complained that these measures would have cost the Department of Natural Resources and the state’s businesses millions of dollars when most of the ozone pollution over the areas is caused elsewhere and settles over southeast Wisconsin after drifting across Lake Michigan. 

Environmental groups have said that even if Wisconsin’s industries aren’t creating most of the ozone pollution, the businesses have a duty to work to protect the health and well-being of the state’s residents. In 2018, Clean Wisconsin sued the EPA to force the agency to declare the three southeastern Wisconsin counties aren’t complying with federal air quality rules. 

Ozone pollution, also known as smog, occurs most often in the summer when air pollution from vehicle exhaust and industrial processes reacts with sunlight. The pollution can be harmful to people’s respiratory systems. 

“The fact that southeastern Wisconsin has been reclassified as in serious nonattainment for ozone means that residents of those counties are at higher risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and Wisconsin should be implementing all possible policies and strategies to reduce ozone pollution to protect public health,” Clean Wisconsin attorney Katie Nekola said in a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio. 

But business groups and the state have argued the costs are too high for a problem that doesn’t start in Wisconsin. DNR analysis has found that less than 10% of the ozone pollution in the state is caused by Wisconsin industry. 

The state Department of Justice said in its lawsuit that the “change triggers costly permit requirements, complex regulations, and stringent emissions offset mandates,” which could create $4 million in added costs for the state and cost an estimated 382 businesses between $1 million and $6.9 million.

Scott Manley, a lobbyist for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, said the court’s Friday order grants relief from the “crushing and job-killing ozone regulations.” 

“Data from both the DNR and EPA indicate that the vast majority of ozone pollution in eastern Wisconsin is caused by emissions originating from outside our state borders,” Manley said in a statement. “It’s unfair to punish Wisconsin businesses for pollution they didn’t create, and [the] order is the first step toward righting this wrong.”

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Update: The Polestar 5 has officially hit the stage in Munich, and we’ve added live photos from its world premiere.

Polestar unveiled the Precept concept over five years ago and it’s finally morphed into a production vehicle. While the car is roughly a year behind schedule, the Polestar 5 looks fantastic and is ready to tackle the Porsche Taycan.

Photos Stefan Baldauf & Guido ten Brink

Billed as a four-door performance grand tourer, the car follows in the footsteps of the original concept and features dual blade headlights with Pixel LED technology. They’re joined by taut bodywork, retractable door handles, and frameless windows.

Buyers will also find 20- to 22-inch wheels as well as a rakish windscreen that flows into a long, sloping roof. The latter ends at a Kamm-style tail, but the car is more notable for eschewing a rear window.

An Elegant And Minimalist Interior

Photos Stefan Baldauf & Guido ten Brink

The interior is minimalist and high-tech as owners will find a 9-inch digital instrument cluster, a 9.5-inch head-up display, and a 14.5-inch infotainment system with a portrait orientation. The latter runs a Polestar-specific version of Android Automotive and features Google integration.

The front seats were designed in collaboration with Recaro and can be wrapped in MicroTech or Bridge of Weir Nappa leather upholstery. They also offer heating, ventilation, and massage functions.

More: Polestar Teases Next Electric SUV To Be Built Alongside A Mysterious New Volvo

Polestar says the car was designed primarily as a four-seater and the rear center armrest folds down to reveal controls for the four-zone climate control system as well as the heated, ventilated, and massaging rear seats. The seats also recline and the company noted passengers will find a “foot garage behind the front seats,” which “gives occupants extra foot space and a more natural seating position.”

Elsewhere, there’s a digital rearview mirror, Econyl carpeting, and flax-based trim instead of carbon fiber. A ten-speaker audio system is standard, while a 21-speaker Bowers & Wilkins setup is optional. Buyers will also find a massive panoramic glass roof that measures over six feet long.

If you’re more concerned about cargo, the 5 offers 12.9 cubic feet (365 liters) of rear luggage space. There’s also a frunk that provides 2.2 cubic feet (62 liters) of room.

A Bespoke Platform And Powerful Motors

The 5 rides on a bespoke hot-cured bonded aluminum platform, which is known as the Polestar Performance Architecture. The model also sports a Brembo braking system as well as 11 exterior cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and one mid-range radar. These enable a host of driver assistance systems including available Pilot Assist.

Power comes from a 112 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, which feeds a dual-motor all-wheel drive system producing 738 hp (550 kW / 748 PS) and 599 lb-ft (812 Nm) of torque. This enables the car to accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 3.9 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h). Drivers can also expect a WLTP range of up to 416 miles (670 km).

When the battery is low, owners will be thankful for a DC fast charging capability of 350 kW. It takes the battery from 10-80% in as little as 22 minutes. At home, the AC charging capacity tops out at 19 kW. Speaking of charging, there’s an indicator on the C-pillar, which tells you the battery status at a glance.

Customers can also get a Performance variant, which features an upgraded dual-motor all-wheel drive system producing 872 hp (650 kW / 884 PS) and 749 lb-ft (1,015 Nm) of torque. This lowers the 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time to 3.2 seconds, but the range also drops to 351 miles (565 km).

Besides being more powerful, the Polestar 5 Performance has a sportier suspension with adaptive dampers that can react to road conditions within three milliseconds. Buyers will also find gloss black accents as well as Swedish Gold brake calipers, seat belts, and valve caps.

Now Available To Order

The Polestar 5 is currently available to order and German pricing starts at €119,900 for the entry-level model and €142,900 for the Performance variant. In the UK, pricing starts at £89,500 and £104,900.

The initial launch will be focused on 24 markets, but North America isn’t included. While that’s unfortunate, the company said pricing and availability for Canada and the United States will be announced at a later date.

Buying an electric vehicle from a carmaker that’s already gone under sounds like the kind of gamble best left to thrill-seekers, yet we suspect that the Fisker Ocean has become so absurdly cheap that plenty of buyers will probably talk themselves into rolling the dice.

Read: This Dealer Is Quietly Selling Dozens Of Nearly New EVs From A Dead Company For The Price Of Used Corollas

In late July, we discovered that Newport Fisker in Costa Mesa, California, was attempting to offload no less than 24 used Ocean, all of which had been heavily discounted to between $22,990 and $27,990. Fast forward to September, and the prices of many of these models have been slashed even further, with no less than four examples now available for just $17,990.

Bargain Pricing With Caveats

The blue Fisker Ocean you see here is one of them. While it officially has a sticker price of $21,990, that falls to $17,990 for those who are eligible to receive the used EV federal tax credit before the Trump administration ditches it at the end of September. This means it’s possible to buy a low-mileage electric SUV for roughly the same price as a new Nissan Versa.

This ultra-affordable Ocean has been driven just 9,200 miles and includes a tow hitch, a Level 2 home charger, and all-weather floor mats. There’s no word on whether the EV has received all of the recall repairs that Fisker has issued.

In terms of performance, it undeniably represents great value for money at under $20,000. This 2023 model is an Ocean One, meaning it has twin electric motors combining to deliver 564 hp, allowing it to hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in less than 4 seconds. It also features a large 106 kWh battery pack that gives it up to 360 miles (580 km) of range.

What if Something Goes Wrong?

If the deal sounds to good to be true and you wonder where the catch is, this could be the fact that the dealer notes that “should the vehicle prove defective following their purchase, the buyer and not the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing and repairs.”

In other words, once the Fisker’s keys are yours, so are the risks. If something goes wrong, you’re responsible for footing the bill to get if fixed.

So, would you take the plunge on a bargain-bin EV from a company that no longer exists, or does the thought of hunting down parts for a ghost-brand SUV make you run for the hills?

Duck on the Menominee River | Laina G. Stebbins

State agencies are warning Wisconsinites to limit the amount of ducks that they eat, or to avoid certain birds entirely, due to PFAS contamination. Waterfowl harvested around Green Bay were shown to have high levels of the man-made “forever chemicals,” which persist in the environment forever and have been linked to several chronic diseases including cancers. 

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Department of Health Services (DHS) are advising people not to eat mallards from around lower Green Bay from Longtail Point to Point au Sable, and south of the mouth of the Fox River. Additionally, mallards and wood ducks living around Green Bay from the city of Marinette across to Sturgeon Bay should not be consumed frequently — no more more often than once per month for mallards and only one meal per week for wood ducks. 

Back in 2022 levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), another man-made chemical, in waterfowl led to similar advisories in lower Green Bay. Further assessments found concentrations of PFAS in breast muscle tissue, according to a DNR press release. In 2023 and 2024, more samples were taken from ducks, with all samples taken during July and August when the birds were most likely to represent local breeding populations. Those efforts revealed elevated levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), which is a type of PFAS, in the breast muscles of the birds. The inquiry suggested that both adult and juvenile ducks in lower Green Bay have higher concentrations of PFOS than in the northern portion of the bay. 

PFAS chemicals were first developed as part of U.S. government nuclear and atomic weapons research during the Manhattan Project. After the project ended private companies, particularly DuPont, began researching the compounds for commercial use. Over the subsequent decades, PFAS was used in products including  non-stick Teflon pans, fast food wrappers, and firefighting foam. The chemicals do not degrade in the environment, nor within the body, and have been linked to cancers and other chronic diseases. 

The DNR tracks PFAS consumption advisories spanning multiple species including deer, fish and waterfowl. On Sept. 4, deer and fish advisories for PFAS were issued for the Town of Stella and surrounding waterbodies in Oneida County. All fish in the Moen Lake Chain were included in a “do not eat” advisory due to PFAS contamination, and a similar warning was distributed against the consumption of deer liver near the Town of Stella.

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TULSA, Okla. – Over the summer, as part of school start-up preparation and training, fourteen maintenance team members from Durham School Services and its sister brands, Petermann Bus and Stock Transportation, participated in IC Bus University’s annual three-day training sessions. The training sessions taught participants how to service various types of engines, transmissions, and a number of other vital bus components from different manufacturers and vendors. Representatives from each manufacturer led their respective trainings for each bus component.

Training topics included, but were not limited to:

Allison transmissions
Bendix Intellipark/Stability
Braun Ability wheelchair lift
Cummins diesel engines
Electric Buses
New DLB/SDS software training
Next Gen updates
Service Portal navigation

In addition to the training sessions, participants were also given the opportunity to tour IC Bus’s assembly plants for both their standard and electric school buses.

“It is important for our Company to ensure our team members are provided with opportunities to fine tune and enhance their skills. The annual IC Bus University Training is one example and timing-wise is a great segue and supplement to our own school start-up preparation,” said Regis Rock, Senior Manager of Talent Development, Durham School Services. “And most importantly, these training and development opportunities ensure that our technicians are continuously being equipped with the utmost knowledge and skills to keep our buses in top condition to transport students safely year-round. We are lucky that we have some of the most committed, ambitious team members who are constantly searching for training opportunities to refine and advance their skills and are glad to be able to support their development.”

About Durham School Services: As an industry-leading student transportation provider, Durham School Services and its sister brands, Stock Transportation and Petermann Bus, are dedicated to the safety of our students and People. Collectively, for more than 100 years, we have been committed to Excellence and upholding our mission of getting students to school safely, on time, and ready to learn. Through this mission and a grassroots approach to our operations, Durham School Services and its sister brands have earned recognition as a trusted transportation provider among our Customers and the Communities they serve

The post Durham School Services and Sister Brand Technicians Elevate Maintenance Skills with IC Bus Training for School Start-Up appeared first on School Transportation News.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Sept. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  vehemently defended his actions on vaccines and other public health issues under questioning by both Republican and Democratic senators during a contentious hearing Thursday.

Kennedy, confirmed on a mostly party-line vote earlier this year, repeatedly justified firing everyone on an influential vaccine advisory panel, as well as the president’s decision to remove a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director who’d served for less than a month after confirmation by the Senate.

“In your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. “The public has seen measles outbreaks. Leadership of the National Institutes of Health questioning the use of mRNA vaccines. The recently confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired. Americans don’t know who to rely on.”

Video courtesy of C-SPAN.

Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon, sought to reinforce support for vaccines to Kennedy during the Senate Finance Committee hearing, saying they “are estimated to have saved 154 million lives worldwide.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who received several concessions from Kennedy in exchange for voting to confirm him as HHS secretary, raised numerous questions about Kennedy’s behavior. Cassidy is the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Cassidy appeared to box in Kennedy on the COVID-19 vaccine by saying President Donald Trump should receive the Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, which led to the development of the shot during his first term. 

Kennedy agreed Trump should “absolutely” get the prize, leading Cassidy to question why he’d taken actions as HHS secretary to erode trust and eliminate funding for vaccine development activities. 

“It surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when, as an attorney, you attempted to restrict access,” Cassidy said. “It also surprises me because you’ve canceled, or HHS did, but apparently under your direction, $500 million in contracts using the mRNA vaccine platform that was critical to Operation Warp Speed.”

Cassidy said the cancellation represents not only “an incredible waste of money but it also seems like a commentary upon what the president did in Operation Warp Speed, which is to create a platform by which to create vaccines.”

Cassidy also questioned Kennedy’s actions eliminating everyone on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replacing them with his own choices. 

“If we put people who are paid witnesses for people suing vaccines, that actually seems like a conflict of interest,” Cassidy said. 

Kennedy disagreed, testifying that “it may be a bias. And that bias, if disclosed, is okay.”

Tillis asks RFK Jr. to respond in writing

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis asked Kennedy a series of questions but said he wanted the secretary to submit his answers in writing in order to clarify several of his positions. 

“Some of your statements seem to contradict what you said in the prior hearing,” Tillis said. “You said you’re going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job. I’d just like to see evidence where you’ve done that, and I’m sure that you will have some.”

Tillis said he wanted Kennedy to respond to reports that he’s gone back on his commitments to senators to not do anything “that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines” and that Kennedy would not “impose my belief over any of yours.”

“That, again, seems to be contradictory to the firing of the CDC director, the canceling of mRNA research contracts, firing advisory board members, attempting to stall NIH funding, eliminating funding for I think a half a billion dollars for further mRNA research,” he said, referring to the National Institutes of Health. 

Tillis said he was having difficulty understanding why former CDC Director Susan Monarez, whom Trump nominated in March and the Senate voted to confirm in late July, had been fired so quickly. 

“I don’t see how you go … from a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials, a long-time champion of MAHA values, caring and compassionate and brilliant microbiologist — and four weeks later, fire her,” Tillis said. 

CDC shooting, Monarez firing probed

Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock questioned Kennedy at length over the firing of Monarez as well as a shooting at the Atlanta-based agency this summer. 

Kennedy testified that he doesn’t believe he criticized Monarez during a meeting in late August over her comments following the CDC shooting that “misinformation can be dangerous.”

During that meeting, Kennedy said he did demand that Monarez fire career CDC scientists but testified he didn’t tell her to accept the recommendations of the vaccine advisory panel without further review.

“What I asked her about is, she had made a statement that she was going to not sign on and I wanted clarification about that,” Kennedy said. “I told her I didn’t want her to have a role if she’s not going to sign onto it.”

Monarez wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal just hours before the hearing began that during the meeting with Kennedy she “was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.”

“That panel’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 18-19,” Monarez wrote. “It is imperative that the panel’s recommendations aren’t rubber-stamped but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”

Warnock asked Kennedy if he said that the CDC was the “most corrupt federal agency in the history of the world.” 

Kennedy testified he didn’t say that exactly but did say “it’s the most corrupt agency at HHS and maybe the government.” 

Warnock concluded his five minutes of questions telling Kennedy that “it’s clear you’re carrying out your extremist beliefs” and that he represents “a threat to the public health of the American people.”

“For the first time, we’re seeing deaths from children from measles,” Warnock said. “We haven’t seen that in two decades. We’re seeing that under your watch. You are a hazard to the health of the American people.”

Lankford, Daines ask about medication abortion

Several senators, including Oklahoma Republican James Lankford and Montana Republican Steve Daines, asked Kennedy about the ongoing review of mifepristone, one of two prescription pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion. 

Kennedy said he spoke with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary about the topic just yesterday and committed to keeping senators informed, but didn’t appear to know much more than that. 

“I don’t know if they’re going to do an insurance claim study. That’s one way to do it. I don’t know exactly whether they’re doing epidemiological studies or observational studies. I don’t know exactly what they’re doing,” Kennedy said. “But I know I talked to Marty Makary about it yesterday, and he said those studies are progressing and that they’re ongoing. So I will keep your office informed at every stage.”

Kennedy testified that he didn’t know when exactly the studies would be completed. 

The FDA first approved mifepristone in 2000 before updating the prescribing guidelines in 2016 and during the coronavirus pandemic. 

It’s currently approved for up to 10 weeks gestation and can be prescribed via telehealth and shipped to patients. Mifepristone is the first pharmaceutical of medication abortion and is typically followed by misoprostol. 

Medication abortion accounted for about 64% of all abortions in 2023, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute. 

The Supreme Court rejected an effort to limit access to medication abortion last year in a case originally filed by four anti-abortion medical organizations and four anti-abortion doctors that were represented by Alliance Defending Freedom.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion that “federal conscience laws have protected pro-life doctors ever since FDA approved mifepristone in 2000.”

Numerous medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, wrote briefs to the Supreme Court in that case attesting to the safety and efficacy of mifepristone. 

“The scientific evidence is overwhelming: major adverse events occur in less than 0.32% of patients,” the medical organizations wrote. “The risk of death is almost non-existent.”

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report, 94 percent of VA facilities this year reported severe occupational staffing shortages for medical officer positions.

The post Report: Wisconsin VA hospitals face severe staffing shortages appeared first on WPR.

Members of the public attend a hearing over Enbridge Line 5. (Photo courtesy of Devon Young Cupery)

An administrative law judge in Madison heard arguments Wednesday in a case contesting Wisconsin’s approval of Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 pipeline reroute. Members of the  public testified, followed by an expert witness in geology and hydrology, who questioned aspects of the reroute plan. 

The lawsuit, brought by Clean Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates (on behalf of the Sierra Club of Wisconsin, the League of Woman Voters of Wisconsin and 350 Wisconsin), challenges permits allowing the Canadian oil company to move forward with rerouting the Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin. Wednesday’s hearing followed the opening day of testimony in Ashland and was one of a series of hearings  scheduled through early October. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is challenging Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources permits for a Line 5 reroute, which was designed to fix a legal problem with the existing pipeline after a federal court found that it trespasses on tribal land. Attorneys for the Band, environmental groups and Enbridge testified at the hearing. 

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline has been a polarizing issue, with one side arguing that it’s crucial for energy independence and jobs in Wisconsin, while the other points to a history of leaky and ruptured Enbridge pipelines causing ecological damage, a national need to transition away from fossil fuels, and the company’s years-long trespass on the Bad River Band’s sovereign land. 

Public testimony Wednesday drew  people from both sides of the debate. “The loss of Line 5 would have devastating impacts on the propane industry,” said Connor Kaeb, an associate manager with GROWMARK, which Kaeb said is Wisconsin’s fifth largest provider of propane. Kaeb stressed that farmers and northern Wisconsin communities depend on affordable and easily accessible propane. Shutting down Line 5 could cause “immense strain on the entire propane system in the region,” he said. 

Tabitha Faber, who spoke against the pipeline, said that the reroute would cross more than 100 waterways, and that even though it avoids the Bad River Band’s reservation, that the pipeline remains in the Bad River watershed, continuing to endanger the Band’s natural resources. Faber recalled visiting sites along the reroute path and seeing bald eagles and wood turtle  habitats. Faber also said that the pipeline’s construction and operation could wash invasive species into new and sensitive habitats, including within the Bad River reservation. Steve Boas, a Madison resident, also spoke against the project, calling the more than 70-year-old pipeline “an accident waiting to happen.” 

The American Petroleum Institute called the relocation project “essential to maintaining Wisconsin’s energy reliability.” The Institute claimed that rerouting Line 5 will create more than 700 jobs, adding that the pipeline has heated homes and businesses, aided agriculture and enabled transportation for decades “without any issue.” In contrast, Third Act Wisconsin — a group of older Americans concerned about climate and democracy — echoed concerns that Line 5 would threaten high-quality wetlands, the Bad River watershed as a whole and even Lake Superior.

Access to clean water is a crucial asset for Wisconsin, environmental groups testified. Tourism generates $378 million in Bayfield, Ashland, Douglas, and Iron counties, while also supporting 2,846 jobs, all in the area near Line 5, according to Clean Wisconsin. 

“For decades, the Bad River Band has been sounding the alarm about the unprecedented risks posed by Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline,” Ellen Ferwerda, who leads Third Act Wisconsin’s work on Line 5, said in a statement. Despite “a myriad of scientists, economists, environmental groups, and citizens” who’ve spoken out against the pipeline, “the DNR summarily dismissed these concerns and issued a permit allowing Enbridge to begin construction of a reroute around the Bad River Reservation.” 

“It feels like the Bad River Band is being punished for standing up for their legal right to protect the watershed their culture and livelihood has relied on for centuries,” she added. Julia Issacs, co-facilitator of Third Act Wisconsin, said in a statement that “we should be decommissioning old and dangerous pipelines, not investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure.” 

Most of Wednesday’s hearing was dedicated to grilling William Joseph Bonin, a licensed senior geologist with Midwest Geological Consultants. He produced a report in May 2025 that pushed back on assessments made by experts from the DNR and Enbridge. 

Bonin raised a multitude of concerns, particularly around how construction of the pipeline could affect springs, aquifers and groundwater. He pointed to the presence of glacial sediments, which make it difficult to predict how water flow could be affected. Bonin recalled one 2018 project in Minnesota, where a gas pipeline was installed along a roadway near adjacent springs. The springs disappeared, and then other springs showed up in a parking lot on a private property, he said. Springs and aquifers that help feed nearby wetlands and other adjacent habitats could be affected by pipeline construction, he testified, and cutting trenches to construct the pipeline could also lead to increased erosion.

Bonin said the risk of aquifer breaches is higher than what had been assessed, and questioned how the presence of already fractured rock layers could be altered by the use of blasting in constructing the reroute. He also pointed to the possibility of “thermal impacts” to waterways, including high-quality trout streams which are sensitive to temperature changes. “Blasting is going to have a larger impact than the expert reports discussed and the reason for that is the already fractured bedrock was not taken into consideration in the reports,” Bonin said. “The effects of blasts, especially on fracture networks, may be permanent,” he added.  “The basted rock is never going to be restored.” This, in turn, could have a ripple effect on how water moves and behaves in the ground around the pipeline reroute, he testified. 

Attorneys representing the DNR and Enbridge took turns cross-examining Bonin. They discussed knowledge gaps Bonin had regarding the wetland aspects of the permits, and argued that methods like blasting and trenching are very common construction practices for all sorts of projects from pipelines to roads.  Enbridge’s attorney pointed out that, while  Bonin has reviewed and analyzed the effects of blasting, Bonin himself has not worked in the field. 

Another hearing in Madison is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 12, at the Hill Farms State Office Building. On Sept. 15 and 19, there will be  hearings in Ashland at the Northwood Technical College Conference Center, followed by more hearings in Madison on Sept. 22, Sept. 26, Sept. 29 and Oct. 3. 

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside President Donald Trump at a news conference on May 12. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Public health and access to lifesaving vaccines are on the line in a high-stakes leadership battle at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire CDC director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. The firing marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-vaccine, anti-science agenda that will have profound effects on the lives and health of all Americans, public health leaders say.

Kennedy wants to see the Pfizer and Moderna messenger RNA-based covid-19 vaccines pulled from the market, according to two people familiar with the planning who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the press. He’s also set his sights on restricting or halting access to some pediatric immunizations, some public health leaders say.

His actions have already reduced federal help to states, creating the potential for more infectious disease outbreaks and incidences of foodborne illness. Some public health leaders say they expect Kennedy will use the CDC to publicize health information that isn’t grounded in science.

“It’s crazy season,” said Richard Besser, former acting CDC director during the Obama administration. “People want information they can trust to make critical decisions about their health. Until now, we’ve been able to say look at the CDC. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do that anymore.”

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard disputed the criticism.

“Secretary Kennedy remains firmly committed to delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again, dismantling the failed status quo that fueled a nationwide chronic disease epidemic and eroded public trust in our public health institutions,” Hilliard said in a statement.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Kennedy and Commissioner of Food and Drugs Marty Makary have reiterated that covid shots will remain available for Americans who need and want them.

“The Trump administration is restoring Gold Standard Science as the sole guiding principle of health decision-making,” Desai said in an email. “Only the Fake News could ignore these facts to continue pushing Democrat talking points and hysteria.”

Behind the ouster

The shake-up began last week, when Kennedy sought to fire Monarez, a microbiologist who’d just been confirmed by the Senate in July. She refused to leave the position, and her lawyers said Kennedy sought to oust her because she wouldn’t fire senior staff or follow unscientific directives. Four top career officials at the CDC resigned on Aug. 27 in protest.

Career staffers at the CDC and some public health groups had hoped President Donald Trump would intervene and put the brakes on Kennedy. Instead, the White House backed Kennedy, saying Monarez was fired.

Trump on Sept. 1 demanded that drug companies show that covid vaccines work, in a further sign he’s not set on defending the shots.

“I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as ‘BRILLIANT’ as many say it was. If not, we all want to know about it, and why???” Trump said on Truth Social.

Operation Warp Speed was the initiative that Trump himself announced in 2020 to accelerate the development of covid vaccines, including the Pfizer and Moderna shots. The vaccines have proved safe and effective in multiple clinical trials; a study published in JAMA Health Forum estimated that they saved about 2.5 million lives worldwide.

CDC staffers are worried the agency’s next director won’t fight for science, according to an employee who asked not to be identified for fear of professional retaliation.

Trump’s support for Monarez’s ouster was a watershed moment that signaled there are no checks on Kennedy and his agenda, public health advocates say. Leading congressional Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Kennedy’s firing. Hundreds of HHS staffers have also implored Congress to intervene, saying Kennedy threatens science and public health. He is slated to testify Sept. 4 before the Senate Finance Committee.

Kennedy said in a message to CDC staff that his focus is on boosting the agency’s reputation and leadership. The Atlanta-based agency was already reeling after the Trump administration pushed out thousands of its staff and a gunman who reportedly believed the covid vaccine had caused him health problems fired hundreds of rounds at its campus last month, killing a police officer.

“The CDC must once again be the world’s leader in communicable disease prevention. Together, we will restore trust,” Kennedy wrote. “Together, we will rebuild this institution into what it was always meant to be: a guardian of America’s health and security.” He said his deputy, Jim O’Neill, would serve as acting CDC director.

Nine former CDC directors or acting directors who served under both Republicans and Democrats criticized Kennedy in the aftermath of the Monarez firing, saying in an op-ed in The New York Times that the impact on public health is “unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.”

HHS spokesperson Hilliard took exception with this point, listing four covid vaccines that continue to get the nod for use.

However, the Food and Drug Administration last

week approved updated covid mRNA boosters only for people 65 or older and others at high risk of complications. The CDC has also stopped recommending the shots for healthy children and pregnant women. Previously, the shots had been advised for anyone 6 months or older.

As a result, many people who don’t meet the criteria but want the vaccine will have to get prescriptions or consult with their doctors. Insurance may not always cover the shots, which can run around $200. Major drugstores such as Walgreens and CVS have said the shots may not be available at all pharmacies and may require a prescription.

The American Academy of Pediatrics on Aug. 19 broke with the administration, recommending that all young children get the covid vaccine. Insurance still may not cover the cost in some cases and parents could face obstacles in getting the vaccines without a prescription.

Next move: The advisory committee

Kennedy and his team changed official covid vaccine recommendations even though there have been no new safety issues. A dose of the 2023-24 covid mRNA vaccine prevented significant illness and death across all age groups, according to a study published in August led by a University of Michigan researcher. The virus killed about 1,000 people a week in the U.S. in mid-January, and cases are rising again and expected to accelerate this winter.

Kennedy has handpicked a vaccine advisory committee for the CDC that is reviewing mRNA-based covid vaccines, which he falsely claimed in 2021 were “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” The covid vaccine review is being led by Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has said without evidence that the shots cause serious harm, including death. If the committee recommends against them, Kennedy and the FDA could then begin the process of removing them from the market.

Taking mRNA-based covid shots off the market would leave consumers with fewer options for protection. Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that treats the infection in high-risk adults, would be available.

The CDC advisory committee reviewing the covid shots is also probing a long-debunked link between aluminum, used in many childhood immunizations such as those for hepatitis A and pneumonia, and autism or allergies.

The group’s findings are expected to support the erroneous link, some public health officials say. HHS could then require drugmakers to undertake costly reformulations of the shots or stop manufacturing them altogether.

“That would set up the elimination of all childhood vaccines,” Besser said.

The advisory group’s next meeting is set for Sept. 18, although Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has called for the meeting to be indefinitely delayed. Cassidy, a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, voted for Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS secretary after receiving assurances, he said, that the longtime vaccine opponent wouldn’t disrupt the U.S. vaccination system. Kennedy’s promises, Cassidy said, included that he wouldn’t change the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Kennedy removed all of the panel’s members in June and replaced them with his own appointees, including anti-vaccine activists.

Kennedy’s move to put his stamp on the CDC means states that have long relied on the agency’s expertise and help in crises such as disease outbreaks will largely be left to fend for themselves, said Ashish Jha, who served as President Joe Biden’s covid response coordinator from 2022 to 2023.

“States are going to be left on their own,” Jha said. “States will struggle with the CDC incapable and dysfunctional. Our system is not designed for states to go it alone.”

The CDC typically plays a critical role by assisting states with disease surveillance, public health interventions, and outbreak response, especially when a crisis spills across state lines. An outbreak of measles this year led to more than 1,400 cases nationwide, and states including Texas, where the outbreak was identified, struggled to get help from the CDC.

A CDC program that has long tracked pathogens in food has already reduced the number of hazards it looks for from eight to two, which public health leaders say is making it harder to identify outbreaks. Staff overseeing a CDC program that tracks outdoor pollution that can exacerbate asthma also have been cut.

The agency runs a hotline that doctors around the country can call to get treatment and other types of advice. Under Kennedy’s watch, the CDC has had to pare assistance because of staffing reductions, said Wendy Armstrong, vice president at the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

“Lives are 100% at stake, no question about it,” Armstrong said. “That you can no longer trust the recommendations out of the CDC is just devastating. It’s appalling to think we can’t trust that information is science-based anymore.”

Kennedy wants to shake up CDC leadership because he sees the agency as the heart of corruption and resistance within the federal health bureaucracy, according to people familiar with his planning. Kennedy has said the agency suffers from malaise and bias.

Many public health leaders, however, view the CDC as under siege by an administration they say is corrupting science for its own ends. HHS staffers signed onto a letter that now has more than 6,800 signatures, saying Kennedy is “endangering the nation’s health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information.”

Kennedy has also been fending off mounting criticism of his response to the shooting at the CDC’s headquarters. He responded to the attack on social media, hours later, after first posting pictures of himself fly-fishing.

Some younger staffers are considering leaving and some workers feel like the shooting accelerated Kennedy’s overhaul of the agency, the CDC employee said.

With the battle for control of the CDC still raging, public health leaders are now looking to Congress to put the brakes on Kennedy. Some Republican lawmakers have called for a review of Kennedy’s actions.

“These high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee,” Cassidy said Aug. 27 on the social platform X. Cassidy had backed Monarez to lead the agency.

Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News senior correspondent, and Andy Miller contributed to this article.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

It’s standard practice among car manufacturers to increase, to some degree or another, the prices of their vehicles with each passing year. However, Dodge is doing something different for the 2026 Charger Daytona, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for a model that was supposed to usher in an exciting new era of all-electric muscle cars.

Dodge initially launched the Charger Daytona in R/T and Scat Pack guises. However, after realizing that no one actually wanted to buy a Charger without a V6 or a V8, it ditched the R/T, leaving the $64,995 Scat Pack as the only electric version of the new-age Charger available. It has now been revealed that its price will be slashed to $59,995 for the 2026 model year, which amounts to an 8.3 percent price reduction.

Read: Charger Daytona Owner Says His New Car Is ‘Practically Useless’ After Endless Problems

The price cut means the Scat Pack will soon be just $2,000 pricier than the discontinued R/T, which used to start at $57,995. This comes despite the fact that the Scat Pack delivers an impressive 670 hp, whereas the R/T was capped at “just” 496 hp.

CarsDirect uncovered pricing details for the 2026 Charger Daytona Scat Pack through an official order guide. It made no mention of any major equipment changes for the 2026 model, so it should be largely identical to the current car.

No Tax Credit

Sadly, the price cut will not completely offset President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Although the Scat Pack had not been eligible for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit when purchased, the rebate was available when leased. This will no longer be the case after the Trump administration axed the long-standing EV incentive program.

In addition, the Scat Pack remains pricier than the recently announced Charger Sixpack. Dodge recently announced that the twin-turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline-six version will start at $54,995. For traditional muscle car enthusiasts, it will likely remain the obvious choice, but given that it is capped at 550 hp, shoppers seeking the ultimate in performance regardless of powertrain would be wise to look closely at the Daytona Scat Pack.

COPPELL, Texas – Coppell Independent School District (ISD) and Durham School Services celebrated a smooth, successful start to the school year thanks to the outstanding job done by Durham’s team in transporting students to their first day of school safely, on time, and ready to learn. The Durham team transports 7,500 students and runs 64 routes for the school district.

Durham and Coppell ISD have been partners since 2017 and have built a mutually supportive, trusting partnership over the course of the past eight years. Beyond providing transportation services, the Coppell Durham team is also a committed community partner. Throughout the years, the Durham team has participated in the community’s holiday parade as part of its Partners Beyond the Bus community outreach program and is also a member of the Coppell Chamber of Commerce.

Sid Grant, Chief Operations Officer for the Coppell Independent School District, shared, “The first day and week of student transportation provided by Durham School Services was the smoothest and most operationally efficient start-up I have ever witnessed in my twenty plus years of working with student transportation. Durham’s General Manager, Jake Sutton, and his team, did amazing work developing bus routes, routing each student, communicating to parents, and training the drivers in preparation for the first day of school. Their efforts and attention to every detail ensured the safe and successful transportation of 7,500 students.”

“Our team here in Coppell has worked extremely hard to ensure we started the school year successfully,” said Jake Sutton, General Manager, Durham School Services. “I could not be prouder of the office staff, maintenance team, drivers, and monitors for delivering the best start up in decades. Thank you, team, for being the premier team in the business, and thank you to Coppell ISD for recognizing the team’s efforts and being a phenomenal, supportive partner.”

If you’d like to be part of the Durham team in Coppell or another location, we encourage you to search and apply for available opportunities at www.durhamschoolservices.com/career/.

About Durham School Services: As an industry-leading student transportation provider, Durham School Services and its sister brands, Stock Transportation and Petermann Bus, are dedicated to the safety of our students and People. Collectively, for more than 100 years, we have been committed to Excellence and upholding our mission of getting students to school safely, on time, and ready to learn. Through this mission and a grassroots approach to our operations, Durham School Services and its sister brands have earned recognition as a trusted transportation provider among our Customers and the Communities they serve.

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U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Kennedy's confirmation hearing on Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan leaders of a U.S. Senate committee dealing with health policy expressed alarm with the direction of the country’s top public health agencies after President Donald Trump fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other high-level officials resigned. 

Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy — chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — posted on social media late Wednesday that the “high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee.”

Cassidy separately called on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to indefinitely postpone its September meeting.

“Serious allegations have been made about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed for the now announced September ACIP meeting,” Cassidy wrote in a statement. “These decisions directly impact children’s health and the meeting should not occur until significant oversight has been conducted. If the meeting proceeds, any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member on the committee, called for a bipartisan investigation into the reasons Trump fired Susan Monarez as CDC director less than a month after she received Senate confirmation.

Sanders said that Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Monarez and the handful of high-ranking CDC officials who resigned this week should be able to testify publicly about what’s happening inside the agency. 

“We need leaders at the CDC and HHS who are committed to improving public health and have the courage to stand up for science, not officials who have a history of spreading bogus conspiracy theories and disinformation,” Sanders wrote.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing that Trump had every right to fire Monarez and that he expects to pick a new nominee “very soon.”

“Her lawyers’ statement made it abundantly clear themselves that she was not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again,” Leavitt said. “The secretary asked her to resign. She said she would and then she said she wouldn’t. So the president fired her, which he has every right to do.” 

Kennedy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Finance Committee next week, that panel’s chairman, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, announced Thursday.

Kennedy “has placed addressing the underlying causes of chronic diseases at the forefront of this Administration’s health care agenda,” Crapo wrote on X. “I look forward to learning more about @HHSGov’s Make America Healthy Again actions to date and plans moving forward.”

Cassidy key vote for RFK

Cassidy was an essential vote to confirm Kennedy as director of HHS, which oversees the CDC, though he expressed concerns throughout that process that Kennedy’s past statements about vaccines weren’t rooted in reputable medical research.

Cassidy said during a floor speech in February after voting to advance Kennedy’s nomination that Kennedy assured him he will protect “the public health benefit of vaccination.” 

“If Mr. Kennedy is confirmed, I will use my authority of the Senate committee with oversight of HHS to rebuff any attempt to remove the public’s access to life-saving vaccines without ironclad causational scientific evidence that can be accepted and defended before the mainstream scientific community and before Congress,” Cassidy said at the time. “I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongly sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote.”

A researcher surveys wild rice on the Pine River. (Wisconsin SEA Grant)

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that this year’s wild rice crop yield in northern Wisconsin is low, continuing a pattern of lower yields over recent years. Wild rice crops have been affected by heavy rainfall and powerful storms this year, contributing to an 18% decline in the wild rice crop compared to last year.

“The 2025 season has brought a mix of conditions, including several notable storm systems,” said Kathy Smith, Ganawandang manoomin (which means she who takes care of wild rice), with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. “A fast-moving windstorm in mid-June produced widespread wind damage and heavy rainfall across the upper Midwest. In late June, some areas saw 6-7 inches of rain in a short period, contributing to temporary high-water levels on seepage lakes.”

Using satellite-facilitated remote sensing technology, the commission was able to determine the 18% decline in the wild rice crop. A DNR press release notes that these technologies do not provide insights into local wild rice production, bed densities, or seed production. Early scouting reports help fill in the gaps, showing a “mixed bag of production,” the agency stated,  “with some top-producing lakes seeing declines in the crop from last year, while others appear to be rebounding.” 

Wild rice harvesting is open to all Wisconsin residents with a wild rice harvester license. The crop provides nutritious, naturally grown food to people across the upper Midwest. Wild rice also holds an important cultural place for indigenous tribal communities. Around late August through mid-September, the rice reaches maturity. Jason Fleener, a DNR wetland habitat specialist, stresses that it’s important to wait to harvest the rice until it falls with relatively gentle strokes or knocks from  ricing sticks. If no rice falls, then it’s best to wait a few more days before attempting to harvest. 

Harvesting immature beds can negatively affect the overall harvest, as well as the long-term sustainability of the rice. Besides climate effects, human activity such as boating (which creates waves that uproot growing rice plants) can also harm the crop.

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Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 25, 2025 in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t appear inclined to leave her post, despite the Trump administration announcing Wednesday that she’s no longer running one of the country’s top public health agencies. 

Attorneys for Susan Monarez, who received Senate confirmation in late July, posted that she hasn’t been fired or resigned, but didn’t announce whether they plan to sue the administration. 

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” wrote Mark S. Zaid and Abbe David Lowell. “For that, she has been targeted. Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign.”

The statement from Monarez’s attorneys came just hours after the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, wrote on social media that she was no longer running the agency. 

“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the post stated. “We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people. @SecKennedy has full confidence in his team at@CDCgov who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad.”

The Washington Post first reported the news. 

The U.S. Senate voted along party lines to confirm Monarez as CDC director in late July, giving her just weeks in one of the nation’s top public health roles.

Monarez’s last post on social media from her official account was on Aug. 22, marking the death of a police officer after a gunman opened fire at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. 

“A large group of CDC employees and I attended today’s memorial for Officer David Rose, whose Tour of Duty ended on August 8 when he responded to shots fired,” Monarez wrote. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, courage, and service to the community that will never be forgotten.”

The dispute over Monarez’s position as CDC director appeared to potentially mark the beginning of a wave of resignations from other public health officials, including Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre C. Daskalakis.

“I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” Daskalakis wrote in a lengthy social media post. “The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.”

Monarez second choice after Weldon

Monarez was President Donald Trump’s second choice for CDC director. He originally selected former Florida U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to run the CDC shortly after he secured election to the Oval Office in November. But the White House pulled Weldon’s nomination in March, after it appeared he couldn’t secure the votes needed for confirmation.

Later that month, Trump announced his plans to nominate Monarez in a social media post.

“Dr. Monarez brings decades of experience championing Innovation, Transparency, and strong Public Health Systems,” Trump wrote. “She has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and PostDoctoral training in Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“As an incredible mother and dedicated public servant, Dr. Monarez understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future. Americans have lost confidence in the CDC due to political bias and disastrous mismanagement. Dr. Monarez will work closely with our GREAT Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr. Together, they will prioritize Accountability, High Standards, and Disease Prevention to finally address the Chronic Disease Epidemic and, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”

Restoring trust in CDC

Monarez testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in June as part of her confirmation process. The committee voted 12-11 in July to send her nomination to the Senate floor, where Republicans approved her to the post later that month. 

Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., said during the committee’s markup that he believed Monarez would put science first and help to restore public trust in the agency. 

“The United States needs a CDC director who makes decisions rooted in science, a leader who will reform the agency and work to restore public trust in health institutions,” Cassidy said at the time. “With decades of proven experience as a public health official, Dr. Monarez is ready to take on this challenge.”