The Trump administration is rescinding a Biden-era directive protecting hospitals from investigations and signaled that beefed-up protections for medical whistleblowers would be forthcoming.

The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) announced Friday it would be rescinding an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden in March 2022, which, among other things, gave hospitals the right not to comply with state-level investigations related to their provision of transgender medical treatments to minors. 
Trump's directive eliminates these protections, and the rescission notice indicates that further safeguards for medical whistleblowers are anticipated in the future.

"Under the Biden regime, the door for whistleblowers was closed," said Dr. Eithan Haim, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration after he leaked documents to the media that revealed Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors, even after it said it had stopped. "It was a complete inversion of the role of HHS, the role of our legal framework, because the criminal entities were being protected and the individuals exposing criminal entities were now the ones being targeted."

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Haim was indicted last year by Biden's Department of Justice for blowing the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital, after it continued to provide transgender medical treatments to minors even though the hospital had publicly indicated it had stopped such services in order to comply with new state guidance. Several days after President Donald Trump was sworn in, the charges against Haim were dropped. 

Under Biden's March 2022 directive, titled, "HHS Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care, Civil Rights and Patient Privacy," hospitals were permitted, but not required, to comply with investigations seeking information on their provision of transgender treatments. But, according to HHS's rescission notice, such guidance lacked "adequate legal basis under federal privacy laws." The notice added that, "by its own terms," Biden's March 2022 directive "permits" the release of personal health information tied to transgender procedures when it is needed to comply with other laws. 

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"Covered entities should no longer rely on the rescinded 2022 OCR Notice and Guidance," stated HHS' rescission notice. It added that "in consultation with the Attorney General" the agency will also be "expeditiously" issuing new guidance to protect whistleblowers who take action in accordance with Trump's efforts to protect children "from chemical and surgical mutilation." 

Haim said that under Trump's new leadership, the U.S. legal system is being restored "to a place of equal protection under law, particularly as it relates to people who are trying to follow [Trump's] executive order, or any other federal laws."

"The key thing with this new directive is that, as a healthcare provider, if a hospital or other doctors are participating in misconduct, if they're lying about something, if they are intervening on patients in a way that is harmful to those patients – especially kids – as a doctor, it's not only something you should do, it's something you have to do," Haim pointed out.

In addition to compelling hospitals and gender clinics to begin rigorous compliance with investigations, the Trump administration's Friday directive also removed gender dysphoria from being considered a disability under the federal Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also rescinded orders from the Biden administration indicating it was discrimination for federally funded health programs to refuse to treat someone on the basis of their gender identity.

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

As the Trump administration investigates California’s bullet train project, which has come under scrutiny for very little progress in 17 years, a small area where construction is underway has made life a "nightmare" for some people north of Fresno.

Dalia Pena, who resides in Madera County, California, said that the construction of an overpass for cars has not only created a major eyesore in her backyard, but the construction has also been a loud disruption, including vibrations, for the once-quiet neighborhood.

"They were out here doing construction at 6 o'clock on Saturday mornings," Pena told Fox News Digital during a phone interview, detailing how the first drilling noises were extremely prevalent. 

While she said the noise has gotten a little better, it's unclear if it will get worse before construction is complete. She also added that construction has made it difficult to use the pool in her backyard because of the proximity of the worksite.

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"I feel like it's gonna get worse," she said, adding that she's concerned about safety.

In addition, a survey Pena had done at her residence indicated encroachment on her property, according to a copy obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital.

"The authority doesn't hold them accountable," she said of the contractors when it comes to construction noise and dust, as well as the behavior of workers themselves.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority said that they gave proper public notice to residents with prior meetings, as the construction is expected to be done by the fall, according to Fox 26. 

Pena attended a February 2024 meeting about the Road 26 closure, according to a sign-in document obtained by Fox News Digital, but said she was not adequately informed of earlier meetings about the construction itself, given its closeness to the property. 

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The authority told Fox 26 that they have been in contact with Pena.

"Yes, that is true. However, when I bring an issue to their attention, they don't respond to me," she said, saying she routinely needs to follow up to have them "follow through."

"They're giving me the runaround, honestly," Pena said. "At no point were we offered anything."

She is now asking California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration to step in on the "waste of taxpayer dollars," but she noted there is a deeper issue with how this is impacting residents.

"I agree that they need to be investigated," Pena said.

Last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Union Station in Los Angeles to rail against the project and initiated a compliance audit.

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"It's been 17 years and $16 billion and no rail has been built," Duffy said at a news conference.

Meanwhile, Congressman Kevin Kiley told Fox News Digital that the project has served as a money pit for federal and state taxpayers alike.

"I'm not sure why anyone would be in favor of what's going on in California. We're wasting taxpayer money in a really, just on an epic scale and not getting anything in return for it," Kiley said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the authority for comment, but they did not respond in time for publication. 

Workers around the federal government are scrambling to figure out how and if they should respond to an all-government email sent Saturday at the behest of Elon Musk asking them to list five things they did at work within the last week. During the confusion caused by Musk’s email, workers at the Treasury Department received an email from a former Heritage Foundation staffer who is not the Treasury Secretary from an email address that billed itself as being from “Secretary of the Treasury.”

How and whether to respond to the “What did you do last week” email has itself resulted in much discussion and confusion, and efforts to clarify any confusion have resulted in additional confusion as well as worries about sharing classified or otherwise private information. FBI employees were told by new FBI director Kash Patel not to respond to the email, so were members of the military. Musk tweeted “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” 

The Treasury Department email, seen by 404 Media and currently being discussed widely on Reddit, came from an email address with the name “*Secretary of the Treasury” but signed by John W. York, who is not the Secretary of the Treasury and who previously worked for the Heritage Foundation, the architects of Project 2025. The current Secretary of Treasury is Scott Bessent, not York. Treasury workers seem to not know who York is or why he is sending emails from an email address previously used by past Secretaries of Treasury. 

“It was used in the past rarely: wishing Treasury employees a Merry Christmas or noting there is a return to office mandate,” one source told 404 Media about the email address York’s email came from. “In the past, the emails included the title of the sender (Sec of Treasury, for example) and more often than not a picture of said person. Like when Steven Mnuchin sent emails ordering the evacuation of the buildings in 2020, they had his face on the email. No such embellishments this go round.”

In the email, York tells workers that they must respond to the “What did you do last week” email: “Given the voluminous and extremely important work that Treasury staff perform [sic] on a daily basis, we expect that compliance will not be difficult or time consuming.” 

“Your responses should be descriptive enough to show the significance of the work you performed; however, the descriptions should not reveal confidential, privileged, otherwise non-public, pre-decisional or deliberative aspects of that work, given that these responses will be sent outside Treasury,” he wrote. “If you have any questions about how to respond, please consult with your manager.”

Sources at the Treasury Department told 404 Media that they have not previously received any emails from John W. York, that they are not sure what his job is or whether he actually works for the Treasury Department, and that giving descriptive, substantial rundowns of their work tasks without giving “non-public” or sensitive information is not an easy task.

“John York had no title associated with his signature line (unusual as ALL Fed service employees are proud to put their title, Dept, etc in the sig line as a default),” one source told 404 Media. Employees at the Treasury Department have been doing research on York to attempt to figure out who he is. York worked for the Heritage Foundation before joining the Office of Personnel Management towards the end of Trump’s first term. His LinkedIn says he has worked as a “Strategic Human Capital Lead” at Accenture since March 2021. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he is now a Treasury Department employee.

Top comments on a Reddit post discussing this email are “Who the fuck is John W. York?” and “Schrodinger's phishing email. you're fired if you respond. you're fired if you don’t.” 

Other federal employees tell 404 Media that they have been receiving similar clarification emails from agency heads about how and whether to respond, and have been getting follow up emails from their supervisors about what to say if the things they work on are classified. The majority of these emails, which 404 Media is not sharing specifics on because they were in many cases sent to small teams of people, are begging employees to respond to the “What did you do last week emails” while threading the needle of sharing specifics but not sharing private or confidential information.

• The Office of Personnel Management asked federal workers to email a list of their accomplishments over the past week.
• A number of federal agencies told their employees that they were not required to respond.
• Some agencies said a response is voluntary, while others said they would respond on employees' behalf.

Some federal agencies' response to Elon Musk's worker productivity email: thanks, but no thanks.

A growing number of agencies are telling their workers that they are not required to respond to the email sent from the Office of Personnel Management over the weekend asking for a list of accomplishments from the past week.

According to emails reviewed by Business Insider, some of the agencies told employees that they would respond to OPM on their behalf. Others said a response is voluntary, and failure to respond will not result in any penalties.

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk said that "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," but the initial email didn't make the same claim. This comes after a tumultuous past few weeks for federal workers; a number of agencies terminated thousands of employees last week following directions from President Donald Trump and Musk's DOGE to slash government waste.

These are the federal agencies BI has verified that have so far told their workers that they do not need to respond to OPM's email ahead of the 11:59 p.m. Eastern time deadline on Monday night.

Department of Defense

The Department of Defense posted on X on Sunday that its employees should "pause any response" to the OPM's email.

"The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures," the statement said.

Social Security Administration

On Sunday, the Social Security Administration sent an email to its employees telling them that the OPM email is "a legitimate assignment" and those who received it were required to respond.

However, the agency followed up on Monday afternoon telling employees that any response is "voluntary."

"Non-responses are not considered a resignation," the email said.

NASA

NASA emailed its employees on Monday afternoon saying, "You are not required to respond, and there is no impact on your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond."

The agency said it would respond on employees' behalf and that "employees should continue to feel empowered to report their activities and accomplishments" to their supervisors.

Department of Justice

Jolene Ann Lauria, acting assistant attorney general for administration at the DOJ, emailed employees on Monday: "Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of the Department's work, DOJ employees do not need to respond to the email from OPM."

Bloomberg Law reported that this was a reversal of Lauria's earlier guidance that instructed employees to respond to the email.

Department of Agriculture

The USDA told employees on Monday afternoon that responding to the email is "voluntary," and that "there is no penalty for not responding to the request."

The USDA guidance said that those who do choose to respond should refrain from submitting any sensitive or confidential information.

State Department

The State Department told employees that it would respond on behalf of the agency.

"No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command," the department said.

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy emailed its employees on Sunday night, instructing them to "pause" any responses to the OPM email.

"The Department of Energy is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures," the department said. "When and if required, the Department will provide a coordinated response to the OPM email."

Are you a federal worker? Got a tip? Contact these reporters securely on Signal at the usernames asheffey.97 or alicetecotzky.05, or email them at [email protected] or [email protected].

• Nvidia finally has a chance to tell investors why their violent reaction to DeepSeek was a mistake.
• The chip giant's Wednesday earnings are the first since DeepSeek's AI sparked market panic.
• Key areas to watch are data center revenue, Blackwell's ramp-up, inference demand, and policy.

When Nvidia reports earnings on Wednesday, the chip giant will have the chance to tell investors why it thinks their intense reaction to the rise of DeepSeek was a mistake — or change the subject entirely.

Heading into 2025, Nvidia's rule looked unassailable as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and others lined up for its chips. That is until Chinese startup DeepSeek released R1, an open-source reasoning model with benchmark results to rival OpenAI's o1 model.

Critically, R1 was reportedly produced with fewer and less powerful chips than o1.

"DeepSeek's remarkable feat has shaken the industry's assumptions about how much capital or GPU chips a company needs to stay ahead of the competition," Barclays analysts wrote last month.

Although Nvidia has largely recovered from the violent reaction markets had to DeepSeek — the chip firm lost $600 billion in market capitalization in one day to mark the biggest single drop in US market history — CEO Jensen Huang will need to show investors the party is nowhere near over and that the promise of AI isn't overhyped. Huang previewed his argument at a virtual event broadcast Thursday where he said investors had misinterpreted the signals of DeepSeek.

As Nvidia prepares to address investors officially for the first time since the DeepSeek saga, here's what to look out for in its earnings.

Data center revenue

Analysts predict Nvidia's revenue, especially in its all-important data center business, will keep rising — bolstered by already-announced forthcoming data center buildouts.

From Stargate, with $500 billion in expected spending, to Meta forecasting an additional $65 billion in data centers this year, to Amazon forecasting $100 billion more computing power earlier this month, Nvidia's customers are still lining up.

It will offer Nvidia fresh evidence to present to investors concerned that DeepSeek's claim to use chips more efficiently — a key driver in lowering costs — would hurt demand.

"Despite DeepSeek's supposed 'revolutionary' optimizations, there is no change thus far to spending intentions at NVDA large customers including Microsoft and Meta," Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya wrote in a note to investors in early February.

Model improvements, paired with big data center buildouts, are another favorable evidence point for Nvidia.

Grok 3, Musk's latest model from xAI, is receiving praise for its performance. Musk's firms also recently collaborated on its second data center with roughly 12,000 Nvidia GPUs, BI exclusively reported.

Musk has been aggressively adding to the fleet of GPU-packed data centers supporting Grok, suggesting a link between progress and infrastructure.

Model builders and hyperscalers still have their eyes on artificial general intelligence, and cheaper, highly functional models like DeepSeek won't impact that pursuit, Morgan Stanley analysts told investors in a note from last week.

Blackwell ramp-up

Nvidia's latest and most powerful chip series, Blackwell, has struggled with a slow rollout due to manufacturing and overheating issues. Analysts, however, are expecting the company to report a strong ramp-up.

"Demand for Blackwell is very strong and will outstrip supply for several quarters," Synovus senior portfolio manager Daniel Morgan said in an investor note last week.

UBS's Timothy Arcuri wrote that after much consternation, investor fears of a botched rollout are relaxing, and strong sales numbers could put them fully at ease.

UBS analysts also said the fourth quarter was the last in which Blackwell chips won't make up the majority of Nvidia's GPU sales. Investors will likely favor that shift because Blackwell brings with it higher profit margins.

Nvidia's buzzy GTC conference will take place in San Jose, CA, next month, marking the first anniversary of Blackwell's debut.

Inference and applications

Further growth in inference demand would also be a proof point for Huang's theory of investor error surrounding the DeepSeek rout. Demand for inference, the process of using and improving models once they've been trained, increases when consumers and businesses find value in AI tools.

Investors will likely want to see the share of AI workloads continue to shift to inference, which also requires GPUs to run. On the company's last call in November, Huang repeatedly said that inference across Nvidia's platforms was growing.

Growth in the software layers of Nvidia's tech stack would be a good sign, too. This would suggest maturity in AI products and lend strength to a part of its business that's potentially even more difficult to compete with than the chips themselves.

"What Nvidia talks about on its long-term moats and its possible deployment on the AI application side probably matters more this time," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note to investors Friday.

Worldwide wild card

Investors will also be looking for any signals from Nvidia about the company's approach to China as President Donald Trump threatens to upend business relations with the country.

Just before the end of his term, former President Joe Biden initiated new regulations on the export of high-powered chips like Nvidia's GPUs, which are in the midst of a 120-day comment period. Many policy analysts expect Trump to allow the rules to take effect as they align with his "America First" agenda, though Trump has yet to directly address them.

As Trump said last month, AI leadership is critical to ensuring "economic and national security."

Last month, Trump also threatened to impose tariffs on Taiwan, home of Nvidia's chip manufacturing partner, TSMC. Tariffs could lead to increased costs for Nvidia. Huang met with the president at the White House last month, but neither party provided details of the discussion.

Although Nvidia's share price has recovered much of its DeepSeek-induced losses, the $3 trillion juggernaut faces various potential headwinds. Huang's job Wednesday will be to reassure investors that those headwinds will be mild and reaffirm that Nvidia remains fundamental to the AI story.

• Rep. Rich McCormick faced a town hall full of constituents angry over DOGE last week.
• Now, he seems the government-efficiency initiative is moving too quickly.
• "I'm concerned that maybe we're moving a little bit too fast," he said.

Last week, Rep. Rich McCormick faced a town hall full of voters angry about President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency's swift reshaping of the federal government.

Now, the Georgia Republican says he's worried the government-efficiency initiative is moving too quickly.

"I'm not against anything he's doing, but I'm concerned," McCormick said on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "Politically Georgia" podcast on Monday. "I'm concerned that maybe we're moving a little bit too fast."

At a town hall in Roswell, Georgia on Thursday night, McCormick fielded a variety of contentious questions about the Trump administration's recent moves, with many of the questions focusing on the firing of federal workers and the cutting of certain programs.

The Georgia congressman, who represents a conservative-leaning district, said on Monday that he'd prefer a more methodical approach to cutting than the rapid pace that Elon Musk's DOGE is setting, including the shuttering of entire government agencies.

"We should have impact studies on each department as we do it, and I'm sure they can do that," McCormick said. "But I think if we're moving really, really rapidly, we don't know the impact."

McCormick also suggested that he's not the only House Republican who's concerned by the pace of DOGE's work.

"I think there's debate of how rapidly we're moving," McCormick said. "Some people who are very conservative also think we should move much more slowly."

In response to a request for comment, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to BI that Trump has "enjoyed broad support" for his cost-cutting initiatives.

"The spending freeze is already uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse across federal agencies and ensuring better stewardship of taxpayer dollars, including for American farmers and families," Kelly said. "Ultimately, President Trump will cut programs that do not serve the interests of the American people and keep programs that put America First, just as 77 million voters elected him to do."

• Some 60,000 DoorDash delivery workers will split a $16.75M settlement, NY officials said Monday.
• The settlement ends a probe into deceptive tipping practices and works out to $10K-$14K per driver.
• DoorDash used tips to offset driver salaries, deceiving customers and workers, AG Letitia James said.

DoorDash will pay a $16.75 million settlement to resolve a probe led by New York officials into the delivery platform's tipping practices.

The settlement will be split among some 60,000 delivery workers — known as "Dashers" — and works out to between $10,000 and $14,000 per worker, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Monday.

For years, DoorDash used tips to offset what it paid its Dashers, James told reporters in announcing the settlement.

In an example provided by James, if Dashers were offered a guaranteed amount of $10 for a delivery, and the customer did not tip, DoorDash would pay the Dasher the promised $10.

But if the customer tipped $3, then DoorDash would let the Dasher keep that tip and pay only $7 out of its own corporate coffers.

The practice was kept secret from customers and DoorDash delivery workers, James said. Dashers did not know that their tips were not adding to their income, she said. And customers had no idea that their tips were not subsidizing their Dashers' incomes and were instead helping the company save money.

New York, which also worked with Illinois and DC on the probe, gained access to communications among DoorDash executives who worried that their Dashers would "figure out" what was going on, James told reporters.

"Doordash executives knew how deceptive this policy was," she said. "They knew it wasn't right but they did it anyway."

Under the settlement, the New York AG's office will set up a website for Dashers to use to claim their money. DoorDash will be required to end the tip-sharing practice and lack of transparency in how tips are handled, and for the next three years must report to the AG's office every 6 months on compliance.

A DoorDash spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Utah has fired men's basketball coach Craig Smith, who has a 65-62 record in nearly four seasons but no NCAA tournament appearances.

The warehouse grocery chain plans to open 29 new stores before September.

Over the decades, many hosts have left 'Today' for various reasons.

The three-time NBA champ's 17-year-old daughter is getting candid about dating — and the unexpected challenge that comes with it.

Tomorrow's Golf League is back on Monday when the Los Angeles Golf Club takes on the New York Golf Club at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

After Frankie Montas' injury, the New York Mets suffered another pitching setback as a $75 million offseason signing will miss opening day and weeks more.

Ne-Yo has told his kids about his polyamorous relationship.

Larry Dolan, who owned the Cleveland Guardians since 2000, has died at age 94.

Boston Red Sox executive Craig Breslow gave his updated thoughts on drama surrounding Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman.

Fyre Festival II is officially happening, and it's set to make waves — this time, hopefully for the right reasons.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are scrambling to find a replacement for Spencer Horwitz after his injury news. This former Yankees infielder could be a perfect fit.

The sweeping federal workforce layoffs could upend the gubernatorial election, a key bellwether for Trump, experts told Newsweek.

The Super Bowl 2025 champs have not yet been invited, according to the 'Philadelphia Inquirer'