WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has shut down its office that sought to deal with misinformation and disinformation that Russia, China and Iran have been accused of spreading.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Wednesday that he had closed what had been known as the Global Engagement Center because it had taken actions to restrict freedom of speech in the United States and elsewhere.

The center has been a frequent target of criticism from conservatives for calling out media and online reports that it said are biased or untruthful. At times, it has identified U.S. websites and social media accounts that it argued were amplifying misinformation, particularly related to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“It is the responsibility of every government official to continuously work to preserve and protect the freedom for Americans to exercise their free speech,” Rubio said, charging that the office worked “to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving.”

Rubio said that is “antithetical” to the principles that “we should be upholding.”

Congress had supported the center’s work, as had previous State Department leadership.

“This is a deeply misleading (and) unserious portrayal of an organization focused on identifying foreign — primarily Russian — disinformation ops,” former State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a post on X.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program, an electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. But Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use.

The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have slashed their way through the federal government. Musk posted in February on his social media site, X, that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as Direct File.

There was some hope that Musk, with his DOGE team of savvy computer programmers, could take over Direct File and improve it. But the two people familiar with the decision to end Direct File said its future became clear when the IRS staff assigned to the program were told in mid-March to stop working on its development for the 2026 tax filing season.

The two people were not authorized to publicly discuss the plans and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Adam Ruben, a vice president at the liberal-leaning Economic Security Project, said “the fix was in from the beginning.”

“It is an outrage to see everyday taxpayers play no role in this decision,” he said. “Cutting costs and saving money for families were just empty campaign promises.”

But David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which describes itself as a nonpartisan organization that disseminates research and analysis on the government’s effects on the economy, said Direct File was “problematic” from day 1, citing the program’s costs and noting that many people who started the process never finished. According to the IRS 423,450 taxpayers logged into Direct File and 140,803 submitted accepted returns in 2024.

“From hidden costs to taxpayer confusion, the program is riddled with issues,” Williams said.

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Direct File was rolled out as a pilot program in 2024 after the IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by Biden in 2022. The Democratic administration spent tens of millions of dollars developing the program.

Last May, the agency announced that the program would be made permanent.

But the IRS has faced intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing returns each year.

The IRS accepted 140,803 returns filed by taxpayers using Direct File in the 12 states where it was available last tax season. It was expanded to include half the country this year. It is unclear how many taxpayers have used Direct File this year.

Amanda Renteria, CEO of Code for America, which worked with the IRS to create a state tax filing integration program for Direct File, said the decision was “a betrayal of public trust at precisely the time government should be demonstrating its ability to deliver basic services effectively.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a proponent of building out Direct File, said in an emailed statement that Trump and Musk “are going after Direct File because it stops giant tax prep companies from ripping taxpayers off for services that should be free. Americans want a free and easy way to file their taxes — Trump and Musk want to take that away.”

Following a lawsuit involving posters featuring Black Lives Matter, the Lakeville Area Schools Board of Education approved a $30,000 settlement April 8.

In a lawsuit filed more than two years ago, a group of residents alleged their First Amendment rights were violated when the school district allowed posters featuring “Black Lives Matter” to be placed in classrooms, while not permitting the display of posters that read “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter.”

In a 5-1 vote, with board member Amber Cameron absent and member Carly Anderson opposed, the board approved the settlement April 8.

“We appreciate the many different perspectives shared. Lakeville Area Schools remains committed to continuing to partner with our families and community to provide a safe, respectful, engaging, rigorous, and collaborative learning environment where every student belongs, is valued and can succeed,” the district said in a statement provided Wednesday.

Ahead of voting, Anderson said she felt the settlement approval was a premature decision, referencing the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in June to reverse the lawsuit’s dismissal by a lower court.

“The Eighth Circuit decision was based on assuming that everything that the claimants were claiming could be possible in any scenario. And so to me, I believe we should have gone through the discovery process, which would have meant gathering all the information relevant to the case. In that situation, what I’ve understood from our legal counsel is that we are on very good footing, that they felt like what our district did was within the grounds of government speech, and that we had an excellent case,” Anderson said.

In January, the Lakeville school board voted to remove the series of posters from district buildings.

The posters are part of a series of “inclusive” posters ordered by the district in 2021, two of which said “Black Lives Matter,” and were distributed to staff members when requested.

Upper Midwest Law Center represented plaintiffs Bob and Cynthia Cajune, Kalynn Kay Aaker, and Aaker’s minor children in the lawsuit, which argued that the district violated their First Amendment rights “by engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”

“With the Eighth Circuit’s decision clearly signaling that the school district’s policy was constitutionally unsound, Lakeville Schools wisely reversed their policy and removed the posters from district facilities,” Upper Midwest Law Center said in a statement on its website. “Because that was what the plaintiffs had sought in the lawsuit, they agreed to dismiss their claims in the settlement in return for the District paying $30,000 in legal fees to the Upper Midwest Law Center.”

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Authorities in northern New Mexico released police body camera video and other public records Tuesday in the investigation into the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa. The two were found dead Feb. 26 in their Santa Fe home.

Hackman, 95, died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease about a week after Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus.

The records detail some of Arakawa’s last emails, phone calls and internet searches that appear to show she was looking for information on flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques. The documents and video recordings were released after a court ruled that most of them are public record but ordered that the couple’s bodies would have to be blocked from view.

What do the body camera video and records tell us?

Arakawa’s computer showed that between Feb. 8 and the morning of Feb. 12, she was researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms, according to the records released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

In an email to her masseuse, she said Hackman woke up Feb. 11 with flu or cold-like symptoms and she’d have to reschedule her appointment for the next day.

Her search history on the morning of Feb. 12 showed she was looking into a medical concierge service in Santa Fe. A call with the service lasted less than two minutes, and she missed a return call later that afternoon, according to investigators.

Redacted police body camera images showed officers going through the home and finding no signs of forced entry or anything out of the ordinary with the home’s contents. Investigators took note of prescription medication on a bathroom counter as one of the couple’s dogs barked in the background.

Photos from the scene showed crowded bathroom counters and overflowing drawers half open. Piles of papers spilled onto the floor in front of an overflowing trash can and furniture piled high with clothes.

Initially, all photos, video and documents from the investigation were sealed by a temporary court order. Hackman’s estate and Arakawa’s mother asked a judge to extend that order, citing privacy concerns. The Associated Press, CBS News and CBS Studios intervened in the matter, saying in court filings that they would not disseminate images of the couple’s bodies.

The court cleared the way for the release of investigative records as long as there were no videos or photos of the couple’s bodies.

What we know about the deaths

Both were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said. Hackman’s death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing. Authorities linked Arakawa’s death to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by the droppings of infected rodents.

Hackman’s pacemaker showed an abnormal heart rhythm on Feb. 18 — the day he likely died, Jarrell said.

While there’s no reliable way to know for sure when each died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said.

Hackman’s body was found in the home’s entryway, and Arakawa’s body was found in a bathroom. Thyroid medication pills prescribed to Arakawa were found nearby and weren’t listed as contributing to her death, Jarrell said.

Investigators earlier retrieved personal items from the home, including a monthly planner and two cellphones. One of the couple’s three dogs was found dead in a crate near Arakawa. Authorities initially misidentified the breed.

What is hantavirus?

The virus typically is reported in spring and summer, often when people are exposed to mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas. It can cause a severe, sometimes deadly lung infection called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An environmental assessment of the Hackman property found rodent feces in several outbuildings and live traps on the property, according to a New Mexico Department of Health report. The inside of the home was clean, with no evidence of rodent activity.

Nestled among the piñon and juniper hills overlooking Santa Fe, the Hackman home is not unlike others in the area as mice are common within the surrounding landscape.

This is an undated image provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during the course of their investigation and search of the home of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, where the two were found dead Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Santa Fe County Sheriff via AP)

This was the first confirmed case of hantavirus in New Mexico this year. Hantavirus does not spread between people.

Initial symptoms can include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. As the disease progresses, people can experience coughing, shortness of breath or tightness in the chest as the lungs fill with fluid, according to the CDC. About a third of people who develop respiratory symptoms can die, the agency said.

How Hackman made his name

Hackman appeared in a broad range of movie roles dating back to 1961, when he debuted in “Mad Dog Coll.” His roles included playing the arch nemesis Lex Luthor in the “Superman” movies and a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later. He retired in the early 2000s.

Who was Arakawa?

Arakawa was born in Hawaii in December 1959 and grew up in Honolulu. She studied piano and, as an 11-year-old sixth grader, performed in youth concerts in front of thousands of students at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 1971.

She attended the University of Southern California and was a cheerleader for the Aztecs, a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League. She also worked as a production assistant on the television game show “Card Sharks,” the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported in 1981.

She met Hackman while working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade.

Arakawa was vice president of Pandora’s, a home decor and furnishing store in Santa Fe, according to New Mexico business records.

Where were Hackman and his wife living?

Their Pueblo revival home, a style typical in the area, sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains far from Hollywood. The area is known as a preferred location among artists and a retreat for celebrities.

This is an undated image provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during the course of their investigation and search of the home of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, where the two were found dead Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Santa Fe County Sheriff via AP)

The home was featured in a 1990 article by Architectural Digest. The four-bedroom, 8,700-square-foot structure on 6 acres had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

Hackman could be spotted around the historic state capital, but he disappeared largely from the public eye in his later years. His hobbies included painting, deep-sea diving and, later in life, writing novels.