Ariel Wittenberg
Public health reporter at POLITICO’s E&E News. New Englander at heart. Mom. Hobbyist watercolorist. PEN Guild forever ✊🏼
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- “You’re taking down a system that brings multiple agencies together beforehand to respond to disasters, you’re cutting down a lot of networking and a lot of preparedness, a lot of training and a lot of resources" My latest: www.eenews.net/articles/hos...
- My latest on xAI's power supply--The company wants to bring dozens more gas turbines to Memphis, according to newly-revealed EPA documents. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- Reposted by Ariel Wittenberg“If they are killing contracts that may affect the delivery of care, then we have a right to know,” said Rosie Torres, founder of Burn Pits 360, the veterans advocacy group. by @ericumansky.bsky.social + @vernalcoleman.bsky.social
- Now in @politico.com : Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is operating 35 gas turbines without any pollution permits, belching asthma-worsening emissions into an area that leads Tennessee in ER visits for asthma. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergI've been reporting for years on anti-abortion groups' strategy to push bills like this in many states and in Congress: www.politico.com/news/2025/01... www.politico.com/news/2022/11...
- Holy Crap. Not sure I've seen anything more redolent of 2025 www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2...
- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergA few days ago, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR, the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country.
- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergThe actual findings of the new HHS gender-affirming care report don’t really line up with what the agency is saying about it.
- NEW from me: Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is operating 35 gas turbines without any pollution permits, belching asthma-worsening emissions into an area that leads Tennessee in ER visits for asthma. www.eenews.net/articles/elo...
- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergToday, we issued a letter — signed by 70% of our unit — to @sengelberg.bsky.social and @robinsparkman.bsky.social asking them to uphold ProPublica’s values of fairness, transparency and accountability at the bargaining table.
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- I wrote about those layoffs a couple of weeks ago www.eenews.net/articles/mil...
- CDC published a study on the lead in applesauce case that "highlights the importance of coordination" among state/federal lead experts less than a month after all of CDC's lead experts were laid off. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
- New from me: The Trump administration has laid off the CDC's asthma experts at a time when EPA plans to slash air regs that prevent asthma attacks. "These are programs that were keeping people alive.” subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- HHS nixed a program that protects firefighters from chemical exposures, including when EV's burn. The decision has safety experts "up in arms." “It is a dirty, nasty business in emergency response and demolition, and we need all the help we can get.” My latest www.eenews.net/articles/hhs...
- Worth noting that not only has RFK overseen a total gutting of CDC's enviro health offices, he's also been silent as EPA slashes regs to control the very same toxins he alleges cause autism www.eenews.net/articles/rfk...
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- This is a good example of why the HHS top line RIF stat —18 percent—is misleading. It may be 18 percent of HHS employees overall but entire divisions — sickle cell, lead, asthma, LIHEAP are 100 percent gone.
- Nearly half of CDC's developmental disabilities and birth defects center is now off the job Secy Kennedy's layoffs included entire team working on sickle cell disease www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cut...
- My latest with @ellieborst.bsky.social on MAHA, and EPA and the legitimate scientists who think fluoride shouldn't be added to drinking water www.eenews.net/articles/mah...
- I wrote about Fluoride and the first Trump EPA five years ago and, man, it’s a hoot to be rereading it now www.eenews.net/articles/epa...
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- Remember that lead in applesauce case from a few years back? HHS fired the CDC folks who tracked down all the poisoned kids. They were helping Milwaukee respond to a lead poisoning crisis that could affect 68,000 kids when they got the notice. My latest. www.eenews.net/articles/mil...
- Critical heat programs are left without staff after HHS cuts. LIHEAP, which gives $ to low income families for cooling, Climate/Health office that runs heat/health online tools, worker safety staff--all gone. My latest for @eenews.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- RFK's potential number 2 health official at HHS-- A penile implant specialist who has spread misinformation about COVID-19 My latest. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- CDC's climate program, and some lead programs, are being eliminated today. The layoffs target divisions that work on issues RFK jr says are a priority, including lead poisoning and toxic food contaminants. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- The Trump admin has cancelled NIH's Scientific Integrity Policy, meant to prevent political interference in research, over its stated commitment to diversity. By me for @eenews.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
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- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergNice solidarity here when Greene calls on an American: "I'm an American journalist, and I'd like to hear your answer to what she's asking."
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- Reposted by Ariel Wittenberg“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”
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- RFK jr has been mercury poisoned from eating fish, and used his fish-fighting credentials to get confirmed to HHS, where he promised to get chemicals out of food. But he's been silent as EPA promises to rollback mercury rules My latest for @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/rfk...
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- Reposted by Ariel WittenbergHHS Sec RFK Jr.’s first major health crisis? A measles outbreak. But while his aides worked to track and contain the outbreak this weekend, Kennedy was hiking in CA. Inside the frustration at HHS and beyond w/ @adamcancryn.bsky.social & Sophie Gardner www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
- Interesting context for today's SCOTUS Cean Water Act decision-- Trump has previously used this exact authority to *cite San Francisco* for pollution to the Bay during a nasty 2019 dispute over homeless populations in the city. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
- Trump/RFK may say they want to "Make America Healthy Again" by rooting out "corporate influence or cronyism," but many Trump nominees to the EPA have worked on behalf of industry to role back health-based pollution limits My latest for @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/can...
- Trump's OSHA Pick-- a former top UPS safety exec who oversaw the company as dozens of workers were hospitalized for heat exposure. My latest for @eenews.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
