North Dakota
Democratic AGs ask to defend health access for ‘Dreamers’ since president-elect probably won’t
A group of Democratic attorneys general asked a court on Wednesday to let them defend a federal policy that opened subsidized health coverage to “Dreamers,” young adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
They want to take up the mantle since they anticipate President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will not do so after he takes office on Monday.
The request in U.S. District Court in Bismarck, North Dakota, is among the first of what are expected to be many legal skirmishes over policy as the presidency changes hands. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is leading 14 Democratic prosecutors in the health care effort.
“Undermining Dreamers’ access to healthcare not only hurts them and their American children, but it harms states like New Jersey too,” Platkin said in a statement. “We will never back down from fighting for our Dreamers, no matter who is in charge in Washington.”
For decades, states have often sued the federal government — particularly when it’s under control of the opposing party — over policy. Democratic attorneys general are also preparing to do just that. There could also be more requests like Wednesday’s to let states defend actions taken by the Biden administration.
If a judge allows the Democratic attorneys general to intervene in this case, it would set up a legal battle between red and blue states.
A group of 19 Republican attorneys general, led by Kansas’s Kris Kobach, sued over a federal regulation adopted last year to allow an estimated 147,000 immigrants eligible for coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplace. They assert that the ACA and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits from flowing to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
A federal judge in North Dakota ruled last month that the immigrants would not be allowed to obtain the coverage in the states that sued while the case moves forward. Members of the group in other states can now get coverage.
The “Dreamers” are part of a program that makes them a low priority for deportation. In his first term as president, Trump had varying stances on the program. He attempted to end it but was thwarted by the Supreme Court.
More recently, he has promised “the largest mass deportation program in history” when he takes office and also said he would look for ways for Dreamers to stay in the U.S.
Last week, Biden’s administration extended Temporary Protected Status to allow people from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan to remain in the U.S. legally for another 18 months.
Washington
U.S. recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ever since the U.S. Social Security Administration opened its books to the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, it has been able to stop and recover more than $31 million in improper Social Security payments to dead people.
“These results are just the tip of the iceberg,” the Treasury’s Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk said in a news release.
As part of the omnibus appropriations bill in 2021, Congress gave the Treasury temporary access to the SSA’s “Full Death Master File” for three years, effective December 2023 through 2026. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died and the file contains more than 142 million records, which go back to 1899, according to the Treasury.
The Treasury projects that it will recover more than $215 million during its three-year access period.
“Congress granting permanent access to the Full Death Master File will significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity, and better safeguard taxpayer dollars,” Lebryk said.
The effort has shown areas where the government is preventing fraud, waste and abuse — which is also one of Donald Trump’s campaign promises.
The president-elect has tapped two business titans — Elon Musk and Vivek Rameswamy — to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a new nongovernmental task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, all part of what Trump calls his “Save America” agenda for his second term in the White House.
A representative from the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the incoming administration would continue the efforts or seek to make the Treasury’s temporary access to the file permanent.
New York
NYPD changes policy on high-speed chases
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police department is curbing its use of high-speed chases after finding that about one-quarter of more than 2,200 initiated by officers last year led to a collision, property damage, physical harm or death.
A new policy effective Feb. 1 will limit vehicle pursuits to only the most serious and violent crimes, barring them for traffic infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.
Officers will also have to take into account whether a pursuit would pass through a residential neighborhood or near a school or playground, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. They will have discretion to terminate chases if they do not feel it can be continued safely.
Last October, a bicycle rider was struck and killed by a pickup truck that police were chasing after a suspected robbery in Queens.
“The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary,” Tisch said in a statement. “The advanced tools of modern-day policing make it possible to apprehend criminals more safely and effectively than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary.”
Of 2,278 pursuits last year, about two-thirds involved a vehicle fleeing a traffic stop. Many of those would not be allowed under the new policy, the NYPD said.
The department said it will train all uniformed officers in the new policy and conduct monthly reviews to ensure it is being followed. It will also issue an annual report tracking compliance.
According to 911 data obtained by the website Streetsblog NYC, vehicle chases spiked from 15 in January 2022 to 227 in January 2024. Police made more than 100 pursuits each month from July 2023 to September 2024, the last month for which data was available, according to the site.
Democratic AGs ask to defend health access for ‘Dreamers’ since president-elect probably won’t
A group of Democratic attorneys general asked a court on Wednesday to let them defend a federal policy that opened subsidized health coverage to “Dreamers,” young adults who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
They want to take up the mantle since they anticipate President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will not do so after he takes office on Monday.
The request in U.S. District Court in Bismarck, North Dakota, is among the first of what are expected to be many legal skirmishes over policy as the presidency changes hands. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is leading 14 Democratic prosecutors in the health care effort.
“Undermining Dreamers’ access to healthcare not only hurts them and their American children, but it harms states like New Jersey too,” Platkin said in a statement. “We will never back down from fighting for our Dreamers, no matter who is in charge in Washington.”
For decades, states have often sued the federal government — particularly when it’s under control of the opposing party — over policy. Democratic attorneys general are also preparing to do just that. There could also be more requests like Wednesday’s to let states defend actions taken by the Biden administration.
If a judge allows the Democratic attorneys general to intervene in this case, it would set up a legal battle between red and blue states.
A group of 19 Republican attorneys general, led by Kansas’s Kris Kobach, sued over a federal regulation adopted last year to allow an estimated 147,000 immigrants eligible for coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplace. They assert that the ACA and a 1996 law prohibit U.S. government benefits from flowing to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
A federal judge in North Dakota ruled last month that the immigrants would not be allowed to obtain the coverage in the states that sued while the case moves forward. Members of the group in other states can now get coverage.
The “Dreamers” are part of a program that makes them a low priority for deportation. In his first term as president, Trump had varying stances on the program. He attempted to end it but was thwarted by the Supreme Court.
More recently, he has promised “the largest mass deportation program in history” when he takes office and also said he would look for ways for Dreamers to stay in the U.S.
Last week, Biden’s administration extended Temporary Protected Status to allow people from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan to remain in the U.S. legally for another 18 months.
Washington
U.S. recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ever since the U.S. Social Security Administration opened its books to the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, it has been able to stop and recover more than $31 million in improper Social Security payments to dead people.
“These results are just the tip of the iceberg,” the Treasury’s Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk said in a news release.
As part of the omnibus appropriations bill in 2021, Congress gave the Treasury temporary access to the SSA’s “Full Death Master File” for three years, effective December 2023 through 2026. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died and the file contains more than 142 million records, which go back to 1899, according to the Treasury.
The Treasury projects that it will recover more than $215 million during its three-year access period.
“Congress granting permanent access to the Full Death Master File will significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity, and better safeguard taxpayer dollars,” Lebryk said.
The effort has shown areas where the government is preventing fraud, waste and abuse — which is also one of Donald Trump’s campaign promises.
The president-elect has tapped two business titans — Elon Musk and Vivek Rameswamy — to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a new nongovernmental task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, all part of what Trump calls his “Save America” agenda for his second term in the White House.
A representative from the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the incoming administration would continue the efforts or seek to make the Treasury’s temporary access to the file permanent.
New York
NYPD changes policy on high-speed chases
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police department is curbing its use of high-speed chases after finding that about one-quarter of more than 2,200 initiated by officers last year led to a collision, property damage, physical harm or death.
A new policy effective Feb. 1 will limit vehicle pursuits to only the most serious and violent crimes, barring them for traffic infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.
Officers will also have to take into account whether a pursuit would pass through a residential neighborhood or near a school or playground, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. They will have discretion to terminate chases if they do not feel it can be continued safely.
Last October, a bicycle rider was struck and killed by a pickup truck that police were chasing after a suspected robbery in Queens.
“The NYPD’s enforcement efforts must never put the public or the police at undue risk, and pursuits for violations and low-level crimes can be both potentially dangerous and unnecessary,” Tisch said in a statement. “The advanced tools of modern-day policing make it possible to apprehend criminals more safely and effectively than ever before, making many pursuits unnecessary.”
Of 2,278 pursuits last year, about two-thirds involved a vehicle fleeing a traffic stop. Many of those would not be allowed under the new policy, the NYPD said.
The department said it will train all uniformed officers in the new policy and conduct monthly reviews to ensure it is being followed. It will also issue an annual report tracking compliance.
According to 911 data obtained by the website Streetsblog NYC, vehicle chases spiked from 15 in January 2022 to 227 in January 2024. Police made more than 100 pursuits each month from July 2023 to September 2024, the last month for which data was available, according to the site.
