By HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Trump administration can continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other health centers that provide abortions while a coalition of mostly-Democratic states challenge the cuts, a federal appeals court ruled.

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The decision Tuesday in one of multiple lawsuits filed after President Donald Trump signed tax breaks and spending cuts legislation in July that Medicaid reimbursement for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that received more than $800,000 in 2023. The lawsuits include two filed in Massachusetts by 21 states and the District of Columbia and Planned Parenthood itself, and a third filed in Maine by a network of medical clinics there.

In the Massachusetts cases, a federal judge issued separate preliminary injunctions siding with Planned Parenthood in July and the coalition of states in early December. But an appeals court overturned the first order on Dec. 12 and put the second on hold Tuesday.

“Although we are disappointed in the court’s decision, we remain committed to holding the federal administration accountable and ensuring vulnerable Californians can access the health care they need,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Maine lawsuit has been dismissed at the request of the clinics that challenged the cuts.

Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 clinics in many of the poor and rural areas of the state, shut down their primary care operations in October due to the loss of funding.

In August, a federal judge ruled against restoring funding as the lawsuit proceeded, and the clinics appealed. But earlier this month, the network notified the court that it was ending the lawsuit.

“As the Trump administration has dismantled the nation’s health care system, we have remained focused on delivering high quality care to our patients, particularly those across rural Maine,” CEO George Hill said in a statement Wednesday. “Though our lawsuit will not continue, we are not wavering in our commitment to our patients and to advocating for the health care system that Mainers need and deserve.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented Maine Family Planning, said Wednesday that clinic leaders have decided to focus their resources on treating patients.

“The Trump administration on the other hand has no regard for patients or how the ‘big beautiful bill’ has made healthcare even harder to access in this country,” the center said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood, which did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, has said that nearly half its patients rely on Medicaid for health care aside from abortions, which was already not covered by the federal insurance program that serves millions of low-income and disabled Americans. At least eight states have directed state funds to compensate Planned Parenthood for the lost funding, including Connecticut, where Gov. Ned Lamont recently announced $8.5 million for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.

Tuesday’s court decision makes that kind of action even more important, Connecticut Attorney General William Wong. He called the ruling a “disappointing setback,” but noted the legal process has a long way to go.

“This defunds essential, preventive healthcare, including cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “We will keep fighting to protect access to essential healthcare and to keep partisan politics out of doctors’ offices.”

Health and Human Services press secretary Emily Hilliard said Wednesday the department doesn’t comment on litigation but added, “We remain committed to protecting the integrity of Medicaid programs to ensure full compliance with the law.”

Associated Press writers David Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, Ed White in Detroit and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed.

By SOPHIE BATES, Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man handed an illegal prison sentence years longer than the maximum penalty for his crime has been granted clemency by Mississippi’s governor, weeks after the man’s brother received clemency in a similar case.

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Gov. Tate Reeves announced Wednesday that he was granting clemency to Maurice Taylor. The man’s brother, Marcus Taylor, received clemency earlier this month from the governor for another illegal sentence.

In February 2015, both brothers accepted plea bargains and pled guilty to conspiracy to sell a Schedule III substance.

At the time, the maximum penalty for conspiracy to sell a Schedule III substance was five years. Yet Maurice Taylor was sentenced to 20 years in prison with five years suspended, and Marcus Taylor to 15 years.

“Like his brother, Maurice Taylor received a sentence more than three times longer than allowed under Mississippi law,” Reeves wrote in his announcement. “When justice is denied to even one Mississippian, it is denied to us all.”

In May, the Mississippi Court of Appeals had ruled that Marcus Taylor’s sentence was illegal, but did not commute his sentence because Taylor had missed the deadline to apply for post-conviction relief. After rehearing that case in November, the court reversed course and ordered his release.

In Wednesday’s order, Reeves wrote that Maurice Taylor’s post-conviction counsel contacted his office for the first time a few weeks ago, providing legal documents in his case. Maurice Taylor must be released within five days, according to Reeves’ order.

The Associated Press was not immediately able to identify and contact Maurice Taylor’s post-conviction counsel.

The brothers are the only people to receive clemency from Reeves.

By The Associated Press

Two iconic celebrations to ring in the New Year — the Rose Parade in Southern California and the midnight ball drop in New York City — are in for some rough weather.

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Marching bands, floats and throngs of spectators are bracing for a rare dose of New Year’s Day rain and even thunder at the prestigious Rose Parade in Pasadena. Across the country, in New York City, hats and gloves were as necessary as noisemakers Wednesday for what could be the coldest ball drop in many years.

Rain forecasts for the 137th Rose Parade, which has been dry for 20 years, have grown all week.

“It’s looking like a wet one,” AccuWeather meteorologist John Feerick said. “It may not be raining the whole time. There could be some pretty good downpours. A rumble of thunder or two is not out of the question.”

People were allowed to show up Wednesday to secure spots along the nearly 6-mile route in Pasadena, but predictions of overnight rain could make the wait miserable. The two-hour parade starts at 8 a.m. Thursday and is typically attended by hundreds of thousands of people, in addition to millions more watching on national television.

Organizers are making only small changes, said Candy Carlson, communications director for Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the group that organizes the parade ahead of the Rose Bowl college football game.

The tops will be up on convertibles carrying grand marshal Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other VIPs, she said.

In New York City, forecasters predict temperatures in the low 30s Fahrenheit amid snow flurries when hundreds of thousands of people witness the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

The midnight temperature in New York could be “the coldest since the cusp of 2017 and 2018,” AccuWeather meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said.

Elsewhere, rain is possible in Las Vegas, where several casinos will be shooting fireworks from rooftops. During Nashville’s Big Bash, a New Year’s Eve event at a park, temperatures will be in the low 30s when an illuminated music note drops at midnight in the Tennessee city.

New Orleans will be in the mid-40s Fahrenheit for a free concert and fireworks along the Mississippi River.

By STEPHEN GROVES and SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has expanded its review of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to 5.2 million as it also increases the number of attorneys trying to comply with a law mandating release of the files, according to a person briefed on a letter sent to U.S. Attorneys.

The figure is the latest estimate in the expanding review of case files on Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that has run more than a week past a deadline set in law by Congress.

The Justice Department has more than 400 attorneys assigned to the review, but does not expect to release more documents until Jan. 20 or 21, according to the person briefed on the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The expanding scope of the disclosure and the additional legal firepower committed to it showed how the Epstein file investigation will continue to occupy significant attention in Congress and the White House, almost ensuring that it remains a potent political force as the new year rolls toward midterm elections.

The White House did not dispute the figures laid out in the email, and pointed to a statement from Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, who said the administration’s review was an “all-hands-on-deck approach.”

An email that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

Blanche said Wednesday that lawyers from the Justice Department in Washington, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern District of New York are working “around the clock” to review the files. The additional documents and lawyers related to the case were first reported by The New York Times.

“We’re asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain,” Blanche said. “Required redactions to protect victims take time, but they will not stop these materials from being released.”

Still, Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing pressure from Congress after the Justice Department’s rollout of information has lagged behind the Dec. 19 deadline to release the information.

“Should Attorney General Pam Bondi be impeached?” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who helped lead the effort to pass the law mandating the document release, asked on social media this week.

Democrats also are reviewing their legal options as they continue to seize on an issue that has caused cracks in the Republican Party and, at times, flummoxed President Donald Trump’s administration.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media that the latest figures from the Department of Justice “shows Bondi, Blanche, and others at the DOJ have been lying to the American people about the Epstein files since day one” and pointed out that the documents released so far represented a fraction of the total.

What’s expected next

A late January release of documents would put the Department of Justice more than a month behind the deadline set in law, but some key lawmakers appeared willing to let the process play out before trying to take direct action against the Trump administration.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who also led the effort to pass the law requiring the release, told The Associated Press that the Justice Department’s expanding review showed that the law is working.

“We are willing to give DOJ a few extra weeks to comply, provided they release the survivors’ statements to the FBI naming the other rich and powerful men who abused them or covered up and the prosecution memos about charges that were dropped against Epstein and co-conspirators,” he said. “When all the information comes out, this will shock the conscience of the nation.”

Massie has also said that he wants to see the release of statements that victims gave to the FBI. He has claimed that those could disclose the names of influential business figures and political donors who were involved or complicit in Epstein’s abuse.

The pair has also argued that the expanding disclosure is evidence that more people were involved besides Epstein and Maxwell.

What could the files mean for the midterms?

The Trump administration has already struggled to move past the Epstein files for the better part of last year. While it’s not clear what else will be shown in the files, it will almost certainly give Democrats continued fodder to continue to seize on the issue.

So far, Democrats, even though they are in the minority, have forced Congress to act on an issue that has caused splits in Trump’s political base.

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A tranche of documents released just before Christmas showed that Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, when they had a friendship before a falling out. But the documents revealed little new information about their relationship. The initial release of documents also showed several photos of former President Bill Clinton with women whose faces were blacked out.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have honed in on the connections to Clinton and are seeking to force him and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear for a deposition in January.

Still, Democrats are trying to show that the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files shows that it cannot be trusted and is more concerned about the welfare of the rich and famous than working-class voters.

“Unlike the President, we don’t care who’s in the files,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, on social media. “Anyone that’s involved in the abuse of women and girls should be held accountable.”