NEW YORK — A coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its inspector general over a declaration that could complicate access to gender-affirming care for young people.

The declaration issued last Thursday called treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries unsafe and ineffective for children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria, or the distress when someone’s gender expression doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth. It also warned doctors that they could be excluded from federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid if they provide those types of care.

The declaration came as HHS also announced proposed rules meant to further curtail gender-affirming care for young people, although the lawsuit doesn’t address those as they are not final.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, alleges that the declaration is inaccurate and unlawful and asks the court to block its enforcement. It’s the latest in a series of clashes between an administration that’s cracking down on transgender health care for children, arguing it can be harmful to them, and advocates who say the care is medically necessary and shouldn’t be inhibited.

“Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting a document online, and no one should lose access to medically necessary health care because their federal government tried to interfere in decisions that belong in doctors’ offices,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges that HHS’s declaration seeks to coerce providers to stop providing gender-affirming care and circumvent legal requirements for policy changes. It says federal law requires the public to be given notice and an opportunity to comment before substantively changing health policy — neither of which, the suit says, was done before the declaration was issued.

A spokesperson for HHS declined to comment.

HHS’s declaration based its conclusions on a peer-reviewed report that the department conducted earlier this year that urged greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming care for youths with gender dysphoria.

The report questioned standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and raised concerns that adolescents may be too young to give consent to life-changing treatments that could result in future infertility.

Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people have sharply criticized the report as inaccurate, and most major U.S. medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, continue to oppose restrictions on transgender care and services for young people.

The declaration was announced as part of a multifaceted effort to limit gender-affirming health care for children and teenagers — and built on other Trump administration efforts to target the rights of transgender people nationwide.

HHS on Thursday also unveiled two proposed federal rules — one to cut off federal Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to children, and another to prohibit federal Medicaid dollars from being used for such procedures.

The proposals are not yet final or legally binding and must go through a lengthy rulemaking process and public comment before becoming permanent. But they will nonetheless likely further discourage health care providers from offering gender-affirming care to children.

Several major medical providers already have pulled back on gender-affirming care for young patients since Trump returned to office — even in states where the care is legal and protected by state law.

Medicaid programs in slightly less than half of states currently cover gender-affirming care. At least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care. The Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding Tennessee’s ban means most other state laws are likely to remain in place.

Joining James in Tuesday’s lawsuit were Democratic attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor also joined.

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To Karl-Anthony Towns’ credit, he did everything he could to keep the short-handed Knicks in the fight Tuesday at Target Center.

In his second game played in Minneapolis since being traded ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, Towns tallied 35 points and 11 rebounds.

The Knicks — who were without Jalen Brunson, O.G. Anunoby, Deuce McBride, Guerschon Yabusele and Landry Shamet — led midway through the third quarter.

But the Timberwolves eventually managed to overwhelm New York for the team’s third-straight win and 10th in its last 12 games via a 115-104 victory.

Anthony Edwards scored 38 points, Julius Randle had 25, 17 of which came in the final frame. Rudy Gobert continued his recent interior dominance, logging 11 points and 16 rebounds.

“Pick shoutout to Big Ju. He picked it up in the fourth quarter and led us to the win,” Edwards said in his postgame, on-court interview. “We call him ‘The Bully,’ and he played like a bully in the fourth quarter. ”

Towns fouled out with 35 seconds to play and exited the court to a nice ovation from the Minnesota faithful.

“Big shoutout to KAT,” Edwards said after the game. “Show love to KAT.”

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart struggled mightily for New York (20-9), going 11 for 27 from the floor. Towns’ only assistance came in the form of second-year point guard Tyler Kolek, who logged 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Bridges and Hart struggled on a night when the Wolves’ perimeter defensive intensity was stout, with Edwards playing a large role in those efforts.

Minnesota was out-rebounded 55-42, but made up that gap and then some by forcing 19 turnovers that resulted in 22 points.

Naz Reid had eight points and 11 rebounds, while Minnesota won Bones Hyland’s 25 minutes by a gaudy 24 points.

Minnesota next plays on Christmas night in Denver in a nationally-televised affair between two of the best teams in the West.

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Over the course of his hockey career, Andrew Brunette played for six different teams and has coached two more – including his current gig behind the bench for the Nashville Predators. So one would think that by now, walking into Grand Casino Arena some two decades after he spent three seasons in a Minnesota Wild sweater, it would feel like just another rink.

Not so.

“I think you always feel it,” Brunette said before his Preds faced the Wild on Tuesday night. He noted that while watching video of Minnesota’s previous game, versus Colorado, the Wild were decked out in replica sweaters from the early 2000s, when Brunette was a forward on the ice in St. Paul.

“It brings back a lot of memories for sure,” he said. “My whole tenure here was something I’ll never forget.”

And as the franchise celebrates 25 years, few Wild fans would argue that Brunette scored the biggest goal, so far, in Minnesota’s second stint with a NHL team. Round one of the 2003 playoffs, Game 7 in Denver versus the Avalanche, overtime, and Brunette stuffed the puck past legendary goalie Patrick Roy, giving the Wild their first-ever playoff series win.

“It was a little bit devastating for me. I was a big fan of Colorado back in the day because we used to live in Colorado and my dad coached there,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno recalled, conjuring up many details from a game he watched back home in Canada at age 12. The blow of seeing the Avalanche lose that one was softened a bit because Foligno and Brunette are both from Sudbury, Ontario.

“It was a heartbreaker, but it was also really cool, because it was a Sudbury kid that did it,” Foligno said. “Probably the biggest goal of his career. Crazy play, and then you could see Patty Roy, he always does that little head shake afterward. There was probably a swear word in French or something. That always sticks with me.”

Among the many historical photos of Wild games and stars from the past 25 years hanging in the Grand Casino Arena pressbox is one of Brunette, arms outstretched, mouth wide open as he skates away from the crease, without his stick, to celebrate the uncharted territory the Wild were visiting at that moment. Behind Brunette, one can see Roy, kneeling in some disbelief, as the final puck he faced in a hall of fame career eluded him. Roy retired after more than 1,200 games in the summer of 2003.

“Roy’s like, ‘If he scored on me, I’m done. I retire,’” Brunette joked about watching the play all these years later. “It’s funny, you see it and it looks so slow. And I thought it was actually fast.”

In his first season as a head coach, Brunette took over the Florida Panthers in October 2021 and led them to an Atlantic Division title and the NHL Presidents’ Trophy, given to the team with the best regular season record. But after a loss to rival Tampa Bay in round two of the playoffs that season, he was fired.

Brunette is currently in his third season as the head coach in Nashville.

“I think Bruno does a good job. I think he’s a smart guy, smart coach,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “His teams play with good structure and his teams have an offensive element. I think in his brain, his mind as a coach comes out in his teams.”

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By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and MEGAN JANETSKY

Air traffic controllers lost communication for about 10 minutes with a small Mexican Navy plane carrying a young medical patient and seven others before it crashed off the Texas coast in thick fog, killing at least five people, Mexico’s president said Tuesday.

Authorities initially believed the plane had landed safely at its destination in Galveston, near Houston, before learning it had gone down Monday afternoon, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. A search-and-rescue operation in waters near Galveston pulled two survivors from the plane’s wreckage, while one remained missing, Mexico’s Navy said.

In this image provided by Sky Decker Jr., authorities and volunteers respond to a Mexican Navy plane crash near Galveston, Texas, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (Sky Decker Jr. via AP)

U.S. authorities are investigating the cause, but the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it could take a week or more to recover the aircraft.

“What happened is very tragic,” Sheinbaum said in her morning press briefing, noting that sailors were among the dead. The Mexican Navy officers had been working with a group that transports Mexican children with severe burns to a hospital in Galveston.

Plane was too low as it descended

As the twin turboprop Beech King Air 350i approached Sholes International Airport in Galveston, radar shows it was far too low, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration crash investigator.

A navigation system for the runway where the plane was supposed to land had been out of service for about a week, Guzzetti said. The system sends signals to the airplane cockpit that helps pilots navigate in the kind of bad weather that had enveloped the area. The fog was so thick that meteorologists estimated only about a half-mile of visibility.

The pilot should have aborted the landing if the runway wasn’t visible at an altitude of 205 feet, climbing back up before trying again or looking for another airport entirely, Guzzetti said.

Guzzetti said the reported radar track shows that the pilot was descending rapidly below 200 feet, a full 2 miles away from the runway.

“Maybe there was some sort of mechanical malfunction,” he said. “But just looking at the recorded flight track and comparing it with the weather and the airport equipment outage, seems to me that this landing approach should never have occurred.”

Witness describes crash scene

The plane crashed in a bay near the base of the causeway connecting Galveston Island to the mainland. The popular beach destination is about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

A map showing where the Mexican Navy plane crashed Monday. (AP Digital Embed)

Sky Decker, a professional yacht captain who lives about a mile from the crash site, said he jumped in his boat to see if he could help. He picked up two police officers who guided him through the thick fog to the nearly submerged plane. Decker jumped into the water and found a badly injured woman trapped beneath chairs and other debris.

“She had maybe 3 inches of air gap to breathe in,” he said. “And there was jet fuel in there mixed with the water, fumes real bad. She was really fighting for her life.”

He said he also pulled out a man seated in front of her who had already died.

Investigators dig into the cause

Crews from the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration rushed to the scene.

Galveston Police officers watch the water on Galveston Bay west of the Galveston causeway, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, near Galveston, Texas, as emergency personnel search for a small airplane that went down in the bay in heavy fog. (Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP)

A spokesperson for the NTSB said in an email that investigators will review maintenance records, weather forecasts and air traffic control communications. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days.

Guzzetti said the investigation also will likely look into how serious the young patient’s medical condition was and how motivated the pilot was to land.

“There have been previous accidents in the air medical community where pilots try to push their luck in order to save the patient,” he said.

The aircraft had a “very, very proven design,” said aviation safety expert John Cox. He said it’s the latest version of a series that has been in use since the 1960s and would have been outfitted with all the modern electronics, avionics and equipment.

Plane was helping with medical mission

Mexico’s Navy said the plane was helping with a medical mission in coordination with the Michou and Mau Foundation.

The charity was founded after a mother died trying to save her kids from a fire. One child died, while another survived after receiving treatment at Shriners Children’s Texas in Galveston. Over 23 years, the foundation has helped transfer more than 2,000 patients to that hospital and other medical facilities with burn expertise, according to the charity’s website.

In a social media post, the foundation offered condolences to the families of the crash victims.

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Shriners Children’s Texas said in a statement that it learned of the crash with “profound sadness” but wasn’t able to provide any information about the child’s condition because the child hadn’t yet been admitted.

Crash comes amid focus on aviation safety

This latest crash comes amid a year of intense scrutiny on aviation safety after a string of high-profile crashes and the flight disruptions during the government shutdown driven by the shortage of air traffic controllers.

The January midair collision between an Army helicopter and an airliner near Washington, D.C., was followed by the crash of a medical transport plane in Philadelphia. This fall’s fiery UPS plane crash only added to the concerns. Still, the total number of crashes in 2025 was actually down a bit from last year, and experts say flying remains safe overall.

Hallie Golden contributed to this report.