HOUSTON — The day he turned 52 years old last December, LaTroy Hawkins hit submit on his final paper, the last thing standing between him and a college degree.

And last month, Hawkins, who is currently with the Twins on their road trip serving as an analyst on the television broadcast, donned a cap and gown as he walked across the stage and received his diploma, fulfilling a dream his mother and grandmother had for him and, he hopes, serving as an example to his family’s younger generation.

Drafted in the seventh round of the 1991 draft by the Twins, Hawkins forwent college as a teenager to begin a career in professional baseball. That career lasted 21 major league seasons, during which he appeared in more than 1,000 games.

But as Hawkins, who is currently works as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Twins and a television announcer, among his other jobs, got deeper into retirement, he started to feel the call to return to school.

“They always wanted to make sure I went back and did it. I didn’t have to,” Hawkins said. “I always told them, ‘If I ain’t have to, I’m not doing it.’ But then you get older. … I got bored. I’ve done a lot of things since I’ve retired. It’ll be 10 years this year, but this is probably the coolest thing I’ve done.”

In the fall of 2021, Hawkins decided to test it out, beginning at Collin College, a community college near his home in the Dallas-area. He was paying $64 dollars per credit hour, he said, so if he didn’t like it, he wasn’t too committed financially.

He attended one class in person because he wanted to have “the classroom experience” that he hadn’t had since high school. But primarily, he completed his coursework online as he maintained his other jobs. It was tough at the beginning, adapting to a totally different learning environment than the one he was in as a teenager.

“I was having my daughter help me put stuff in PDF files,” he said.

But once he was done with his general studies credits and transitioned into classes for his major, sociology, he said his “life experiences took over” and classes became easier and more enjoyable.

Hawkins eventually transferred to Southern New Hampshire University to complete his degree online, finishing in the winter and finally walking across the stage months later in May in front of a group of his loved ones, including his aunt, who surprised him at baggage claim when he landed out east.

There was another surprise waiting for him at graduation, too: The school president took a couple minutes to highlight him and his achievements in front of the class of graduates.

Completing his degree, he said, was especially important as he tried to set an example for the younger generation of his family — his daughter, Troi, his niece, who was in college at the same time as him, and his two young nephews.

“It’s one of those things where you start something and you’re trying to set examples, especially for people in your family for and other people you don’t know you’re impacting,” Hawkins said. “If I started, I’ve got to finish it.”

Now that he has his diploma, he’s often asked what comes next.

Turns out, the answer might be even more school — a friend of his is completing a Master of Science in Sports Leadership at Abilene Christian University, which has piqued his interest.

“I got my eye on that,” he said. “We’ll see.”

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By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — All 17 experts recently dismissed from a government vaccine advisory panel published an essay Monday decrying “destabilizing decisions” made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that could lead to more preventable disease spread.

Kennedy last week announced he would “retire” the entire panel that guides U.S. vaccine policy. He also quietly removed Dr. Melinda Wharton — the veteran Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who coordinated the committee’s meetings.

Two days later, he named eight new people to the influential panel. The list included a scientist who criticized COVID-19 vaccines, a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns and someone who worked with a group widely considered to be a leading source of vaccine misinformation.

“We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,” the 17 panelists wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The new committee is scheduled to meet next week. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted, but a recent federal notice said votes are expected on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, HPV, RSV and meningococcal bacteria.

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The removal of Wharton and CDC immunization staff cuts will make it hard for a group of new outside advisers to quickly come up to speed and make fact-based decisions about what vaccines to recommend and not recommend to the public, the experts said.

“The termination of all members and its leadership in a single action undermines the committee’s capacity to operate effectively and efficiently, aside from raising questions about competence,” they wrote.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to the JAMA commentary, but instead pointed to Kennedy’s previous comments on the committee.

Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the U.S. government’s top health official, has accused the committee of being too closely aligned with vaccine manufacturers and of rubber-stamping vaccines.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the CDC director on how vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration should be used. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations, which are widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs.

ACIP policies require members to state past collaborations with vaccine companies and to recuse themselves from votes in which they had a conflict of interest, but Kennedy has dismissed those safeguards as weak.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who cover their faces while conducting official business could face a misdemeanor charge in California under a new proposal announced Monday.

The bill would require all law enforcement officials show their faces and be identifiable by their uniform, which should carry their name or other identifier. It would not apply to the National Guard or other troops and it exempts SWAT teams and officers responding to natural disasters.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing San Francisco, and State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, a Democrat representing Berkeley and Oakland, said the proposal seeks to boost transparency and public trust in law enforcement. It also looks to protect against people trying to impersonate law enforcement, they said.

“We are seeing more and more law enforcement officers, particularly at the federal level, covering their faces entirely, not identifying themselves at all and, at times, even wearing army fatigues where we can’t tell if these are law enforcement officers or a vigilante militia,” Wiener said.

“They are grabbing people off our streets and disappearing people, and it’s terrifying,” he added.

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In Los Angeles, a series of immigration raids June 6 by federal officers, some with face coverings, triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the LA area. More than 100 people were detained during those raids and immigrant advocates say they have not been able to contact them.

The state senators said that in recent months, federal officers have conducted raids while covering their faces, and at times their badges and names, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Concord, Downey and Montebello.

“Law enforcement officers are public servants and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are. Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability,” Wiener said.

Videos of raids showing masked officers using unmarked vehicles and grabbing people off the streets have circulated on social media in recent weeks.

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies.

Christopher Hanson, a former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in a statement Monday that Trump terminated his position as NRC commissioner without cause, “contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”

The firing of Hanson comes as Trump seeks to take authority away from the independent safety agency, which has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades. Trump signed executive orders in May intended to quadruple domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach. To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. energy secretary authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects.

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White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told reporters that “all organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction” and that the Republican president reserves the right to remove employees within the executive branch who exert his executive authority.

Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. In a similar move, two National Labor Relations Board members were fired. Willie Phillips, a Democratic member and former chairman of the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, stepped down in April, telling reporters that the White House asked him to do so.

Trump also signed an executive order to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called Hanson’s firing illegal and another attempt by Trump to undermine independent agencies and consolidate power in the White House.

“Congress explicitly created the NRC as an independent agency, insulated from the whims of any president, knowing that was the only way to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the American people,” Pallone said in a statement.

Senate Democrats also said Trump overstepped his authority. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that “Trump’s lawlessness” threatens the commission’s ability to ensure that nuclear power plants and nuclear materials are safe and free from political interference.

Hanson was nominated to the commission by Trump in 2020. He was appointed chair by President Joe Biden in January 2021 and served in that role until Trump’s inauguration to a second term as president. Trump selected David Wright, a Republican member of the commission, to serve as chair. Hanson continued to serve on the NRC as a commissioner. His term was due to end in 2029.

Wright’s term expires on June 30. The White House has not said if he will be reappointed.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called Hanson a dedicated public servant and a strong supporter of the NRC’s public health and safety mission. Firing Hanson is Trump’s “latest outrageous move to undermine the independence and integrity” of the agency that protects the U.S. homeland from nuclear power plant disasters, Lyman said in a statement.

The NRC confirmed Hanson’s service ended on Friday, bringing the panel to two Democrats and two Republicans. The commission has functioned in the past with fewer than the required five commissioners and will continue to do so, the statement said.

McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.