Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.

The state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn't care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.

Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.

Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are asking a U.S. court to throw out the verdict and order a new trial in a landmark anti-trust case where a jury found the company operates an anti-competitive monopoly that's been overcharging sports and music fans.

This latest legal salvo comes just hours after 33 states alongside the District of Columbia filed formal motions on Thursday calling for the breakup of the world's largest entertainment conglomerate.

The plaintiff states are asking the U.S. District Court of Southern New York to order compensation for fans, stricter industry controls and the selloff of amphitheatres as well as Ticketmaster, Live Nation's online box office arm.

Donald Trump will not attend his eldest son’s wedding, reportedly taking place in the Bahamas this weekend.

After telling reporters Thursday he was going to “try to make” the intimate ceremony between Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson, but that it was “not good timing” because of the Iran war, Trump confirmed he won’t attend.

“He’d like me to go,” Trump said. “I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’”

“That’s one I can’t win on,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if he planned to attend his eldest son’s wedding. “If I do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed by the fake news, of course.”

Nearly 12 weeks into the Iran war, Trump is facing record-low approval ratings amid the public’s growing discontent over the high cost of gasoline, groceries and other everyday expenses – all impacted by the president’s war in the Middle East.

As a deadly Ebola outbreak tears through northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, many first responders are turning a critical eye on events that preceded the crisis: layoffs of health workers funded by the United States, shortages of critical medical supplies and a steep reduction in American support for global aid programs.

The World Health Organization says more than 170 deaths are thought to be linked to this outbreak, with nearly 750 suspected cases so far and it’s warning that “we know the scale of the epidemic in DRC is much larger.” It also said this strain of the virus – for which there is no specific vaccine or treatment – could have been circulating for months before it was detected.

There are several reasons for this delay, WHO says: the unusual strain of the virus, weak health infrastructure in the rural area where it originated and ethnic conflict in the region that hampered testing. But the tardy response has also shed an uncomfortable light on the real-world costs of the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid and its withdrawal from WHO, the global health body tasked with managing outbreaks of this kind.

Senior officials in the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco center were blindsided by a recent decision that opens the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, The Associated Press has learned.

The guidelines, posted days before former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned, will allow companies to launch certain nicotine-based products before they’ve been fully vetted by regulators.

Some FDA officials tasked with enforcing vaping regulations were not consulted on the changes and only learned of them the night before the document was published earlier this month, according to two staffers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters. The document’s sudden appearance sparked internal confusion about how the policy came about and who authorized it, the staffers said.

A coalition of Donald Trump’s critics, including a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest, sued Friday to block payouts from a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies claiming to be victims of a weaponized government.

The lawsuit adds fuel to a mounting backlash against the Trump administration’s creation of an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to resolve the Republican president’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit, filed in Alexandria, Virginia, claims there is no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

Former Wall Street banker takes over amid growing concern over cost of living – and disapproval of Trump’s agenda

Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as chair of the US Federal Reserve, tasked with steering the world’s largest economy as the Trump administration faces mounting pressure over Americans’ financial wellbeing.

Warsh, handpicked by Donald Trump, takes charge of the powerful central bank as it comes under extraordinary pressure from the US president to cut interest rates, even as prices climb.

While Trump faces growing criticism over his handling of the economy, Warsh will now chart a course through an uncertain outlook, darkened by the US-Israel war on Iran.

"Do not order unless you're ready for your information to be leaked. It's basically that bad."

Donald Trump’s smartphone has only been in reviewers’ hands for a few days, and it’s already coming apart at the seams.

According to Stephen Findeisen, a popular YouTuber who investigates online scams under the handle “Coffeezilla,” anyone who ordered the Donald Trump’s signature smartphone, the T1, is liable to have their personal information leaked to the world.

Essentially, Findeisen alleges that the Trump Mobile website contains a simple exploit allowing an entry-level hacker to both place fake pre-orders for the T1, as well as view the entire list of data from previous orders. The YouTuber was made aware by a friendly white-hat hacker, who was able to produce Findeisen’s name, order information, and mailing address, among other personal data.

The former leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist, far-right group that played a major role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, says he's "excited" about the announcement of a $1.776 billion fund for people who believe they are victims of the justice system.

Enrique Tarrio told PBS News that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is doing an "amazing job" and that, between his commuted sentence last year and potential compensation under the fund, he feels like he is finally getting the justice he deserves.

Following the Department of Justice announcement of the "anti-weaponization" fund Monday, PBS News spoke with several Jan. 6 defendants, including Tarrio, who had one of the highest-profile convictions in the agency's large-scale investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Taipei says it’s yet to receive formal notice as concerns grow over Washington’s commitment to island’s security

The U.S. is pausing a $14bn arms sale to Taiwan as it diverts munitions to sustain the war against Iran, exposing mounting anxieties over rapidly depleting stockpiles.

It comes just days after Donald Trump returned from a high-profile summit with Xi Jinping in China, a country that claims sovereignty over self-governed Taiwan and has threatened to “reunite” it with the mainland by force, if necessary.

Trump said he had discussed the matter of the $14bn arms deal “in great detail” with Chinese president Xi Jinping and would make a decision “over the next fairly short period”, breaking decades of U.S. policy that states decision on Taiwan should not be made in collaboration with Beijing.

Chicago’s top federal prosecutor abandoned a closely watched case Thursday against four activists who protested outside a federal building during last year’s immigration crackdown in the city, after a judge scrutinized allegations of grand jury misconduct by the prosecutor’s office.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros announced the decision to dismiss the remaining charges in court following a closed-door meeting over redacted grand jury transcripts.

He told U.S. District Judge April Perry he was unaware until recently of the alleged misconduct, including a prosecutor meeting with a grand juror outside proceedings and other jurors who disagreed with the case being dismissed prevented from participating. Boutros did not dispute the allegations, saying the conduct was upsetting and the reason the case was being dismissed.

The Army has canceled dozens of medical training courses as the service moves to manage a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall that is rippling across the force, according to multiple U.S. officials and internal documents reviewed by ABC News.

At least 34 medical-related courses have been canceled during the second half of the Pentagon’s fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, according to the documents.

The cuts come from the Army Medical Center of Excellence, the service’s hub for its medical training, headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Those cuts come as commanders are being told to closely scrutinize their spending as the service faces ballooning operational costs, including those related to the war in Iran and skyrocketing fuel costs.