By MATTHEW PERRONE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday moved to limit the use of fluoride supplements used to strengthen children’s teeth, the latest action by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his deputies against a chemical that is a mainstay of dental care.

The FDA said that the products are no longer recommended for children younger than 3 and those who are older but don’t face serious risks of tooth decay. Previously, the products have been prescribed for children as young as six months.

The action stopped short of FDA statements in May suggesting regulators would seek the removal of the products from the market. Instead, the agency sent letters to four companies warning them not to market their products outside the new limits.

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Fluoride tablets and lozenges are sometimes recommended for children and teens at increased risk of tooth decay or cavities because of low fluoride in their local drinking water. Companies also sell drops for babies.

The FDA released a new scientific analysis Friday, concluding that fluoride supplements have limited benefits for children’s teeth and may be linked to emerging safety concerns, including gut issues, weight gain and cognition.

“For the same reason fluoride may work to kill bacteria on teeth, it may also alter the gut microbiome, which may have broader health implications,” the agency said in a statement.

The agency also sent a form letter to dentists and other health providers warning about the risks of the products.

Those claims have been disputed by the American Dental Association, which has said there are no significant health problems associated with fluoride when used at the levels prescribed by dentists. The supplements can cause spotting or discoloration of teeth due to the extra fluoride, a downside the FDA also noted.

Dentists have warned that restricting fluoride supplements may result in more cavities and dental problems in rural communities, which are less likely to have fluoridated water. Kennedy is also seeking to end the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water throughout the U.S.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1962, the agency set guidelines for how much should be added to water.

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin” tied to a range of health dangers.

The FDA regulates most dental products, including fluoride-containing toothpastes, supplements, mouthwashes and rinses. The agency’s actions don’t affect toothpastes, mouthwash or fluoride treatments used by adults or those offered in dentists’ offices.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The first-ever Lt. Beverly Rodriguez Service Award was presented Friday to a team of Metro Transit Police Department employees who, like her, are devoted to helping the homeless.

The award was presented to the department’s Homeless Action Team — the team that Rodriguez was leading at the time of her death.

The winners of the award — Officers Katherine Kompeleian, Quentin Waterkamp, Junehee Han and Hannah Karau — are continuing to do work that reflects Rodriguez’s “spirit, mission and heart,” Metro Transit Police Department Interim Chief Joseph Dotseth said in presenting the award.

Rodriguez, who drowned on June 22 in White Bear Lake, was “a devoted officer and a fierce advocate for compassion, equity and humanity in policing,” Dotseth said. “Her impact rippled far beyond the badge, touching lives, changing systems and bringing dignity to some of the most vulnerable community members across Minnesota.”

Rodriguez, 40, of Woodbury, joined the Metro Transit Police Department in 2017. After her death, she was posthumously promoted to lieutenant.

Rodriguez’s legacy “continues to guide our work and shape our values,” Dotseth said. “(She) once said, ‘We’re not just here to serve the public, we’re here to understand it.’”

The Homeless Action Team works throughout the region but has focused on St. Paul in the past year with regular details at Central Station downtown and on University Avenue. The team “operates on the front lines of one of the most pressing and complex challenges facing our region: homelessness,” Dotseth said.

Members of Rodriguez’s family, including her sons, Macallen and Macody, were recognized at the awards ceremony, which was held at The Club at Golden Valley. Family members declined to comment after the ceremony.

Supervisor of the Year

Rodriguez also was honored on Friday with the department’s Supervisor of the Year Award. In presenting the award, Officer Peter Eshenaur said Rodriguez earned the title through “unshakable integrity, fierce dedication and unwavering commitment to those she served and served with.”

A framed photo of Metro Transit Police Department Lt. Beverly Rodriguez graced the table outside the department’s annual awards ceremony on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. Rodriguez was honored posthumously with the department’s Supervisor of the Year Award. (Mary E. Divine / Pioneer Press)

Rodriguez was “more than a supervisor,” he said. “She was a leader, a mentor and a protector, in the truest sense of the word. Her work … was marked by compassion, courage and a rare blend of strength and grace.”

The “depth of her heart” was revealed particularly during her work in “advocating for the most vulnerable in our community,” he said. “Lt. Rodriguez understood that law enforcement is not just about enforcing rules, it is about building trust, offering help and restoring dignity. She saw people, not just problems.”

Metropolitan Council Chairwoman Debra Barber, one of the featured speakers, said the past year has tested the Metro Transit Police Department in many ways, “including some of the most heartbreaking and tragic events that I can ever remember.”

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“I know our lives have changed and the world feels different since June,” she said. “It was a hard summer for Minnesota and for the MTPD family. Our hearts will always hold her light close, and may we always remember how Lt. Beverly Rodriguez led with compassion, humanity and dignity for others.”

Many other Metro Transit officers received awards during the ceremony, including Officers Colin Reardon, Michael Lindstrom, Kham Vang, Peter Yang and Peter Chang, who were recognized for responding to a shooting on May 12 at Fifth and Cedar streets in downtown St. Paul.

A White Bear Township man is accused of raping a 51-year-old woman on Tuesday while she was out for an evening walk in Vadnais Heights.

Tristen Alan Leritz, 21, of White Bear Township, was charged with felony criminal sexual conduct on Oct. 31, 2025. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Tristen Alan Leritz, 21, was charged Friday with one felony count of criminal sexual conduct, according to a complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Leritz, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge on Monday. No attorney was listed for Leritz in court records.

Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies responded shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a sexual assault in the 1000 block of Pond View Court, where they were met by a woman with leaves in her hair and visible injuries to her face and neck.

The woman, whose hands were shaking, told the deputies she had been walking south on Centerville Road between Birch Lake Boulevard and County Road F, when a man tackled her to the ground from behind and ordered her not to scream.

The woman, who had been on the phone with a friend at the time, fought the man and shouted at her friend to call 911. As she struggled, the woman pulled the man’s glasses off his face and threw them into the grass, the criminal complaint said.

She told deputies the man covered her mouth and strangled her with his forearm as he sexually assaulted her for at least 15 minutes next to the sidewalk while vehicles passed by on Centerville Road.

“The suspect did not seem to care that he was assaulting her in public,” the complaint said. After the assault, the woman ran to an address in Pond View Court and asked for help.

The woman was given a sexual assault examination at an area hospital, where DNA evidence was collected that matched a DNA profile on file for Leritz, according to the criminal complaint.

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Arrested on Thursday, Leritz initially denied assaulting the woman, but he eventually confessed to investigators after being presented with evidence against him, the complaint said.

Leritz explained that he saw the woman while he was out on his bicycle, according to authorities, telling investigators that he rode down the sidewalk ahead of her and waited to ambush the woman as she walked past him.

Leritz was convicted last year of motor vehicle theft in Anoka County, and he was charged in August with felony burglary in Ramsey County. A trial in the burglary case is scheduled for March.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct. 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata. That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently.

It is the Pentagon’s latest step to drive transgender troops out of the armed forces following an executive order from President Donald Trump. He and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in what they say is an effort to make the military more lethal.

The administration’s policies have faced pushback in the courts as trans troops and their supporters say they have proven their worth to the military, but the U.S. Supreme Court in May allowed the ban to be enforced while legal challenges proceed.

The new memo, which advocates say was only made available to troops last week, also sets up an additional hurdle of requiring that trans service members appear before separation boards in uniforms that match the gender assigned to them at birth — and if they fail to do so, their absence can be used against them.

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Uniform mandate could keep trans troops away from hearings

The policy — and specifically the uniform mandate — will force a lot of people not to be able to attend their separation board hearings, according to Emily Starbuck Gerson, a spokeswoman for SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender troops and veterans.

“They’re already essentially being rigged with a predetermined outcome and then now you’re further penalizing someone for not showing up because they can’t wear the wrong uniform,” Gerson added.

When asked about the memo, Pentagon assistant press secretary Riley Podleski said that “as a matter of policy, the Department does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

The policy follows an Air Force directive reported by The Associated Press in August, which said separation boards could not independently decide whether to keep or discharge transgender troops and instead “must recommend separation of the member” if they have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity.

Gerson said the new policy that applies to all the services “feels very similar to what the Air Force rolled out” but noted that some of the additional hurdles like the uniform mandate were “alarming.”

The October memo says, “should the Service member not conform to uniform and grooming standards, board proceedings will continue with the Service member in absentia and may, as appropriate, take the Service member’s failure to comply with standards intro consideration when determining whether the basis for separation has been established.”

‘A betrayal of what the military has seen me as’

Many transgender troops have been serving for years and likely don’t own uniforms in the gender assigned to them at birth. And they say forcing them into those uniforms would feel wrong.

Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the Air Force with 15 years of service, said he has been seen as a man for most of his adult life and for almost 13 years of his military service.

“It would be a betrayal of what the military has seen me as,” he said, adding that “it would be like a costume-like effect.”

Ireland, like almost all other transgender troops, is on administrative leave, and he is sporting a long beard.

“Can I put on a skirt or wear the female dress uniform? Sure, yes. … But does that reflect who I am and what I appear to be on a daily basis? No, and it just creates a lot of confusion,” he said.

Gerson, the advocate, says the new policy seems to run counter to the ideal of a merit-based military that Hegseth has touted.

“It does not account for the service member’s career history, accomplishments, training and the necessity to their field,” she said.

Ireland also noted that the policy “denies us the dignity and respect we were promised as we are forced out of a service that once honored our contributions.”

What the military separation boards do

The boards traditionally offer troops who are facing separation from the military a chance at a quasi-legal hearing to determine if that service member still has value to the military and should stay on. Fellow service members hear evidence of whatever wrongdoing occurred and about the person’s character, fitness and performance.

While not a formal court hearing, it has much the same structure. Service members are often represented by lawyers, they can present evidence in their defense and they can appeal the board’s findings to a federal court.

The Pentagon’s policy on separating officers notes that they are entitled to “fair and impartial” hearings that should be “a forum for the officer concerned to present reasons the contemplated action should not be taken.”

This impartial nature means that the boards can sometimes reach surprising conclusions. For example, the commanding officer of the USS McCain, a destroyer that collided with an oil tanker in the Pacific in 2017, killing 10, was not recommended for separation in 2019.

More recently, the three active duty Marines who were part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were also retained.

Priya Rashid, a military lawyer who has represented service members before hundreds of separation boards, said the fact that commanders can override this process for trans troops subverts justice.

“Service members who are accused of serious misconduct, violent misconduct, sex-based misconduct … are being afforded more due process protections and more rights and entitlements than this group of people solely based on the administrative label of gender dysphoria,” she said.