The vote was 52 to 48. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican majority leader and a polio survivor, was the sole Republican joining Democrats to vote against Kennedy. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch swore Kennedy in Thursday afternoon at a ceremony in the Oval Office attended by President Trump and members of Kennedy's family, including his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, and his children. Later on Thursday, Trump issued an executive order to establish a Make America Healthy Again Commission, with representation from the departments of Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
The layoffs, which are slated to save over $200 million from MGB’s $10.3 billion salary and benefits expenses, are part of a broader joining of services across the sprawling 12-hospital network. To many, the consolidation is a critical, albeit challenging, step the system has put off since Mass. General came together with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1994. But much as many might agree on the necessity of the work, opinions differ on whether the specific decisions that executives are making are the right ones.
State licensing approval to reopen Sharon Regional Medical Center could be issued within a couple of days, says Radha Savitala, CEO of nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation Sharon LLC, the hospital's new owner. "Once we get approved for the license we would hope to reopen around 48 hours later," she says. Tenor bought Sharon Regional on Jan. 22 from Steward Health Care, which is mired in bankruptcy. Steward closed the hospital on Jan. 6. The state is allowing the hospital to reopen under Steward's former license instead of requiring a new license.
The Senate voted along party lines on Thursday to confirm Russell T. Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, putting in place one of the most powerful architects of President Trump's agenda to upend the federal bureaucracy and slash spending that the administration thinks is wasteful. In speeches, Mr. Vought made clear that he relished the opportunity to overhaul the ranks of career federal workers that Mr. Trump views as part of the "deep state."
Airica Steed, who became CEO of MetroHealth in December 2022 and was fired less than two years later, sued the public hospital's board Monday. Steed alleges in the lawsuit that she was subjected to racial discrimination and fired by the board unlawfully while on medical leave despite having received positive performance reviews. She also claims that the board retaliated against her after she raised concerns about racial discrimination within the executive ranks and about missing public records; the board made public comments after her firing that harmed her reputation; and the board leaked her travel expenses to reporters to make her look bad.
A White House executive order threatened to pull federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for trans youths. But not providing the care could violate state law, Letitia James says.