Morning Report

TODAY’S POLITICS story

Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over video

What happened
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday said he had formally censured Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired Navy fighter pilot and NASA astronaut, and launched an administrative process to demote him from captain, reducing his military pension. Hegseth targeted Kelly (pictured above) after he appeared with five other Democratic lawmakers in a video reminding military service members they can “refuse illegal orders.”

Who said what
Hegseth alleged on social media that Kelly had made “seditious statements” and repeatedly “characterized lawful military operations as illegal.” Hegseth’s post “does not cite any examples of Kelly’s alleged violations” other than the video, The Washington Post said, and “legal experts have said there is no law against pointing out what the law says.”

Kelly replied on social media that he wouldn’t be intimidated and “will fight this with everything I’ve got” to “send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.” The censure itself is “simply a formal letter with little practical consequence,” The Associated Press said. And while Hegseth’s move is “extraordinary,” Reuters said, it “stops short of the threat” he had previously made to “recall Kelly to active military duty status” and court-martial him.

What next?
Hegseth said Kelly has 30 days to submit a response to the grade determination review board and the decision on his rank will be made within 45 days. But grade determination “by law” is “based on an officer’s conduct while on active duty,” and Kelly retired in 2011, USA Today said. “This is dead on arrival,” said Gene Fidell, a former Coast Guard lawyer who teaches military law at Yale Law School. “This is ludicrous,” and this Pentagon “is out of control.”

TODAY’S PUBLIC HEALTH Story

Trump HHS slashes advised childhood vaccinations

What happened
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that children get vaccinated against 11 communicable diseases, not 17. The decision, made by political appointees at the behest of President Donald Trump, was widely condemned by medical groups. The American Academy of Pediatrics called the abrupt changes “dangerous and unnecessary” and said it will continue recommending all of the vaccinations.

Who said what
The new CDC guidelines, effective immediately, still recommend universal vaccination against the measles, chickenpox, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, tetanus and diphtheria, among other diseases. But they cut protections against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), “the leading cause of hospitalization in American infants,” The New York Times said. Federal health officials and insurance groups said all the vaccines in the previous schedule will remain covered at least through this year.

Kennedy, a longtime prominent vaccine critic, said the new recommendations align the U.S. with an “international consensus” of 20 peer nations. But they are mostly “designed to align the U.S. schedule more closely with that of Denmark,” a largely homogeneous country of 6 million with free national health care, said The Wall Street Journal. Denmark recommends vaccinations against 10 diseases, but “many other developed countries, including Australia, Britain and Canada, have vaccine schedules similar to those the CDC is doing away with.”

What next?
Kennedy has “repeatedly used his authority in government to translate his skepticism about the shots into national guidance,” The Associated Press said. But “states, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren.”

It’s not all bad

Images of flat-headed cats have been captured by remote camera traps inside a Thai wildlife sanctuary, thrilling experts who feared they were extinct in the Southeast Asian nation. The rare wild felines, last spotted in the country in 1995, were detected 13 times in 2024 and 16 times in 2025. One photo showed a female cat with her baby, a sign that where “wetlands and river systems remain intact, even the most elusive and threatened carnivores can persist,” Panthera conservationist Wai Ming Wong told environmental news site Mongabay.

Under the radar

‘Jumping genes’ are rewiring polar bear DNA

Polar bears are leaping through their evolution in real time as rising temperatures threaten their habitat. A population of the majestic white carnivores found in an uncharacteristically temperate climate showed genetic differences from their colder-weather counterparts. And those differences could be key to the survival of the species, as well as show how other animals and humans could evolve in the future.

The isolated colony of polar bears found in southeast Greenland “inhabits a warmer climate zone, akin to the predicted future environments of polar bears with vastly reduced sea ice habitats,” said a study published in the journal Mobile DNA. The subpopulation is particularly interesting as it may have had a “200-year start on developing advantageous genetic changes for survival in this shifting landscape,” said Popular Mechanics.

This difference can be attributed to “jumping genes,” or transposons, which are “mobile pieces of a gene that can move around to influence how other genes work,” said Popular Mechanics.
Jumping genes are like “puzzle pieces that can rearrange themselves, sometimes helping animals adapt to new environments,” said Alice Godden, a co-author of the study.

In this case, Godden said in The Conversation, her team found “active jumping genes in parts of the genome that are involved in areas tied to fat processing,” which is “important when food is scarce.” The polar bear genome comprises about 38.1% jumping genes, compared to 45% in humans. Scientists believe this is the “first documented case of rising temperatures driving genetic change in a mammal,” said NBC News.

On this day

January 6, 2002

The Boston Globe published its first investigative report into sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy in Massachusetts. The investigative series eventually led to nearly 250 criminal cases, and the Globe’s efforts were honored with a 2003 Pulitzer Prize and depicted in the 2015 film “Spotlight,” which won the Academy Award for best picture.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Still seething’

“Jan. 6 rioters, still seething, grow angry at their pardoner,” The New York Times says on Tuesday’s front page. “Trump’s approach to the Americas: Speak loudly and carry a big stick,” says The Wall Street Journal. “In U.S. plans for Venezuela, restoration of democracy takes a back seat,” the Miami Herald says. “Trump, Nobel winner part ways over post-Maduro Venezuela governance,” says The Palm Beach Post. “U.S. slashes vaccination protections for children,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. “Across the nation, risk of disease is rising,” The Washington Post says. “Walz exits race” for third term as Minnesota governor as “Sen. Amy Klobuchar floated as new DFL candidate,” says The Minnesota Star Tribune.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Davy Jones’ foot locker

Hundreds of Victorian hobnailed shoes mysteriously washed up on a beach in southern Wales, leaving locals mystified. The leather shoes, believed to be from the 19th century, were first discovered by volunteers restoring rock pools on Ogmore By Sea Beach. Some people have theorized that the old shoes may have been on an Italian ship that sank nearby about 150 years ago. Despite spending time in the water, most are in good condition, said the BBC.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.