Utah has become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, pushing past opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warn the move will lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities.

Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation Thursday barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.

Florida, Ohio and South Carolina are considering similar measures, while in New Hampshire, North Dakota and Tennessee, lawmakers have rejected them. A bill in Kentucky to make fluoridation optional stalled in the state Senate.

The American Dental Association sharply criticized the Utah law, saying it showed “wanton disregard for the oral health and well-being of their constituents.”

Cavities are the most common chronic childhood disease, the ADA noted. Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DOGE cleared by court to continue USAID cuts

A federal appeals court has lifted an order blocking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from further cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The three-judge panel found the Trump administration is likely to show that DOGE’s involvement doesn’t violate the Constitution.

The appeals court blocked a ruling from U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, who found that DOGE’s actions violated the appointments clause.

Ozy Media founder’s sentence commuted

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just before he was due to report to prison for a nearly 10-year sentence in a financial conspiracy case.

Watson was convicted last year in a closely watched case that showcased the implosion of an ambitious startup company.

Trump has been aggressively using his presidential powers to commute sentences and pardon people who he believes were treated unfairly by the justice system.

Columbia U interim president steps down

Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong has resigned, returning to her post running the New York school’s medical center.

Armstrong’s return to her former job leading the university’s affiliated hospital comes days after Columbia agreed to a host of policy changes demanded by the Trump administration as a condition of restoring $400 million in government funding.

Amstrong had stepped into the role after the previous president, Minouche Shafik, resigned following scrutiny of her handling of protests and campus divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.

The university’s trustees appointed the co-chair of their board, Claire Shipman, as acting president while the search for a permanent replacement continues.

Federal judge blocks dismantling of CFPB

A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that was targeted for mass firings before the court’s intervention.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed to issue a preliminary injunction that maintains the agency’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve the agency. The judge said the court “can and must act” to save the agency from being shuttered.

CFPB is responsible for protecting consumers from financial fraud and deceptive practices. Congress created the bureau after the 2008 financial crisis. It processes consumer complaints and examines banks to protect student loan borrowers.

Trump seeks to continue deportations

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to use a rarely invoked wartime law to continue to deport Venezuelans with little to no due process.

The emergency application arrived at the court after a federal appeals court kept in place a temporary block on the deportations. In its application to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the administration argued that the matter was too urgent to wait for the case to wind its way through the lower courts.

The justices set a speedy briefing schedule for the case, asking that lawyers for the immigrants file a response to the government’s application by 10 a.m. on April 1.

South Carolina wildfire keeps growing

A large wildfire in the South Carolina mountains has doubled in size on each of the last three days. But fire crews have been able to keep the blaze away from structures.

Firefighters battling the Table Rock Mountain fire have concentrated on saving lives and property by digging fire breaks that push the blaze north through undeveloped land on the Pickens County ridges near the North Carolina state line, officials said Friday.

No injuries have been reported.

Clean energy grants terminated by Trump

President Donald Trump’s administration is terminating grants for two clean energy projects and roughly 300 others funded by the Department of Energy are in jeopardy as the president prioritizes fossil fuels.

The department wrote that it had determined the awards do not meet the administration’s objectives.

California snowpack at 90% of average

The water in California’s mountain snowpack is just shy of average as spring begins, and a winter storm coming to the Sierra Nevada should offer a boost.

The statewide snowpack measured 90% of average on Friday, just ahead of the anticipated April 1 peak before the sun begins melting the snow faster than it can accumulate, sending water flowing into creeks and streams as storms taper off into the spring.

The news comes as more storms are expected to dump precipitation on Northern California early next week.

Forecasted upcoming storms prompted officials to bump up the snow survey to avoid traveling during hazardous conditions.

Turkish protestors face 3-year sentences

Prosecutors in Turkey requested up to three years’ imprisonment for 74 people detained for taking part in the country’s largest protests in more than a decade.

In the first indictment against alleged protesters, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office asked a court for jail terms between six months and three years.

The defendants, who are aged 20 to 40 and mostly university students, are accused of participating in illegal demonstrations and failing to disperse following police warnings.

Seven of those in the indictment are journalists who were detained at home this week.