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A federal judge on Monday declared some of the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health grants “void and illegal,” accusing the government of racial discrimination and prejudice against L.G.B.T.Q. individuals. Ruling from the bench, Judge William G. Young of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts delivered a damning assessment of the Trump administrations’ motives in targeting hundreds of grants that focused on the health of Black communities, women and L.G.B.T.Q. people. (Montague, 6/16)

A federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan on Monday accused the Trump administration of “appalling” and “palpably clear” discrimination against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ Americans. “I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable. I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” said U.S. District Judge William Young, a Massachusetts-based jurist who took the bench in 1985. (Cheney and Nguyen, 6/16)

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 state domestic violence and sexual assault organizations on Monday, arguing that restrictions the Trump administration has placed on grants are illegal and conflict with requirements laid out in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). (Gerson and Mithani, 6/16)

Light, rhythmic sound waves fill the air as Annette Smith reclines in her seat and exhales. She’s joined by a handful of others under a large tent in Fountain Park, all seeking peace of mind days after the May 16 tornado left hundreds displaced and five people dead in the St. Louis region. The Bullet Related Injury Clinic and its mobile harm reduction clinic from the T STL have been setting up shop in Smith’s Fountain Park neighborhood across from the now-damaged Centennial Church every week since the storm destroyed several properties in the area. (Wimbley, 6/17)

The Trump administration on Monday denied reporting by The Guardian that said new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals could refuse care to veterans based on factors like marital status and political affiliation due to an executive order by President Trump. The Guardian earlier Monday published a report saying VA hospitals are implementing new rules in response to Trump’s executive order in January, which would permit workers to deny care to veterans based on characteristics not protected by federal law. (Choi, 6/16)

Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump. The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers. Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law. (Glantz, 6/16)

The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday. The move, which could halt enforcement of the ban for several years during the reconsideration, is a major blow to a decades-long battle by health advocates to prohibit the carcinogenic mineral in all its forms. (Tabuchi, 6/16)

The Trump administration is seeking to rescind key civil rights protections for sex discrimination in sports and education programs through a swift regulatory process at an unlikely agency: the Department of Energy. Buried in a list of more than three dozen regulation changes published in May, the DOE is moving to rescind regulations that oversee sports participation and sex discrimination protections for students in education programs. (Quilantan, 6/16)

President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown threatens to shrink the workforce for one of America’s fastest growing jobs: Home health and personal care aides. Demand for such care is expected to swell as the US population ages, and the industry has increasingly relied on immigrants to fill home health positions. Foreign-born people comprise roughly one in five US workers, yet they account for more than 40% of home health aides and nearly 30% of personal care employment, according to US government data. (Saraiva and Caldwell, 6/16)

Jerome Adams, President Trump’s first-term surgeon general, is becoming one of the most prominent voices speaking out against the public health policies and decisions carried out in the president’s second term. Adams, known as a relatively low-profile member of the Trump administration during his tenure, has in recent weeks gone on something of a media campaign against the White House’s health care choices. During the pandemic, Adams at times broke from Trump, such as when the president downplayed the death toll of COVID-19 or suggested injecting bleach to combat infections.  But now that he’s on the outside looking in, the criticism is becoming more frequent. (Choi, 6/16)