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A Drug Testing Company Favored Speed Over Reliability, Some Ex-Employees Say. The Firm Says Its Work Is “Accurate.”
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

In 2020, a foster care supervisor in Montcalm County, Michigan, messaged her boss with concerns about drug testing. A father who was working to reunite with his children had tested positive for methamphetamine with the lab the state had a contract with, Averhealth, and the results contradicted tests ordered by other law enforcement agencies, she wrote.

“Judge indicated on the record that the issue of Averhealth’s testing results was a state-wide issue and that probate court judges all over the state were having similar problems.”

Months later, another official with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services wrote to colleagues about similar worries. “We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” supervisor Sara Winter wrote. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from.”

The cause of the discrepancies was unknown. But that year, 2021, Averhealth’s accreditor faulted its practices and placed the lab on a six-month probation, citing, among other issues, data manipulation and failed proficiency tests, which are done to ensure test accuracy.

When state officials caught wind of the investigation and repeatedly inquired about it, they hit a wall. The College of American Pathologists’ Forensic Drug Testing Accreditation Program told them that “findings of the investigation are kept confidential.” They asked Averhealth’s then-CEO Jason Herzog for all available reports on the lab. He was out of the office, he said, and promised to “track down when I have a good internet connection.”

Averhealth didn’t disclose that it had been placed on probation — its contract didn’t require such notification. And more than a year would pass before Michigan officials got a full picture of what accreditors observed at one of the nation’s largest drug-testing operations for child welfare, custody and probation cases. 

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the messages its staff sent regarding Averhealth.

A ProPublica investigation found that Averhealth’s lab practices have not only been faulted by its own accreditor but also targeted in lawsuits, and prompted Michigan’s child welfare agency to order its employees not to use Averhealth’s tests as evidence in court and to withdraw any petitions based solely on the lab’s results.

Six former employees told ProPublica that the company’s central lab facility in St. Louis was mismanaged. The former employees, who include two chemists and two lab managers, complained variously of understaffing, broken and poorly maintained instruments, and pressure from management to speed up the delivery of test results, even when some feared they were compromising accuracy.

In statements and interviews, the company defended its practices and denied that leadership mismanaged its laboratory. “Averhealth provides accurate and forensically defensible test results,” company CEO Dominique Delagnes said in a statement. “The integrity of the data and information that we provide is of the highest importance to us.” Averhealth’s goal, she said, is to “reclaim …

Millions go without power as Russia launches barrage at Ukraine during peace talks
We're watching the same failure loop.

Russia launched 375 drones and 21 missiles on Saturday against Ukraine, causing millions to lose power in the middle of winter, the embattled country said. The attack occurred on the second day of Ukrainian, Russian, and American diplomats meeting in Abu Dhabi for trilateral peace talks.

“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. “Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process. His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”

The strike’s targets included Kyiv and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city after the capital. Ukraine says that the main targets of the attack were civilian electrical infrastructure and residential areas.

A MASSIVE WINTER STORM IS SET TO FREEZE DC: WHAT TO KNOW

The peace talks in Abu Dhabi are based on a joint 20-point peace plan crafted by the United States and Ukraine. Discussions could focus on territorial control in the Donbas, the eastern region of Ukraine where much of the war’s fighting has occurred, a central concern for both sides. 

“The central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X. “I highly value the understanding of the need for American monitoring and oversight of the process of ending the war and ensuring genuine security.”

Our delegation delivered a report; the meetings in the UAE have concluded. And this was the first format of this kind in quite some time: two days of trilateral meetings. A lot was discussed, and it is important that the conversations were constructive.

The negotiations also…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 24, 2026

Present at the meeting are Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who flew to Abu Dhabi from Moscow after conducting negotiations with the Kremlin. Ukraine is sending its top diplomatic team, including Zelensky’s new chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov.

The Ukrainian president heavily criticized European countries at Davos on Friday, citing their inability to take Russia’s threat to continental security seriously and build up their armed forces. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a speech at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. …

Adam Chinnery: Too many Conservatives accept we need more housing nationally – but oppose it locally
This affects the entire country.

Cllr Adam Chinnery is a councillor for Hutton East on Brentwood Borough Council.

I was elected as a councillor in 2024 in a tight race at the age of 23 and am around 35 years younger than the average Councillor. I also work a full-time corporate job in London alongside my council duties.

Being both a Councillor and a young professional is rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. It is genuinely fulfilling to bring an analytical mindset developed in my line of work to scrutinising reports in a Committee, or to offer a different perspective at Full Council and group meetings. Yet it has also left me with a growing concern: I increasingly feel as though I am living in two very different Britains.

On one evening, I may be speaking with residents or fellow Councillors, many of whom are over 50, financially secure, and deeply rooted in the community after decades of home ownership in the affluent suburban area I represent. The next day, I will be talking with colleagues in London, most under forty, who have little idea how they will ever afford a home, where they might live long-term, or how they will start a family despite often paying the higher rate of income tax and earning above median incomes.

This contrast is striking, and it helps explain why Britain now suffers from such a pronounced generational divide. If we are serious about restoring intergenerational fairness and winning over working-age people to the centre-right, we must first be honest about the scale and causes of the housing crisis.

Since the 1990s, when many councillors in my Borough were already established on the property ladder, housing costs have risen far faster than incomes. Various studies show that average house prices have roughly doubled relative to earnings over this period. Research from the Centre for Policy Studies, for example, found that rents in London increased from around 15 per cent of household income in the 1980s to approximately 40 per cent by 2021. This reflects a national housing shortage that is now estimated at around five million homes.

Demand has clearly risen over time, driven mainly by sustained high levels of legal immigration across two decades. But focusing solely on demand misses the central point: Britain has failed miserably to build enough homes. Reducing the crisis to rhetoric about recent arrivals is neither accurate nor helpful. The real issue is long-term undersupply.

In the Council Chamber, I have been explicit about the need to increase housing supply, using these facts. Encouragingly, this has been met with respect across party lines, and many Councillors privately agree with the need to deliver more housing locally.

I was surprised particularly by some of the private praise from Liberal Democrats, as they now begrudgingly …

Scott Adams, whose comic strip ‘Dilbert’ ridiculed white-collar office life, dies at 68
This framing isn't accidental.

Scott Adams, whose popular comic strip “Dilbert” captured the frustration of beleaguered, white-collar cubicle workers and satirized the ridiculousness of modern office culture until he was abruptly dropped from syndication in 2023 for racist remarks, has died. He was 68.

His first ex-wife, Shelly Miles, announced the death Tuesday on a livestream posted on Adams’ social media accounts. “He’s not with us right anymore,” she said. Adams revealed in 2025 that he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Miles had said he was in hospice care in his Northern California home on Monday.

“I had an amazing life,” the statement said in part. “I gave it everything I had.”

At its height, “Dilbert,” with its mouthless, bespectacled hero in a white short-sleeved shirt and a perpetually curled red tie, appeared in 2,000 newspapers worldwide in at least 70 countries and 25 languages.

Adams was the 1997 recipient of the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award, considered one of the most prestigious awards for cartoonists. That same year, “Dilbert” became the first fictional character to make Time magazine’s list of the most influential Americans.

“We are rooting for him because he is our mouthpiece for the lessons we have accumulated — but are too afraid to express — in our effort to avoid cubicular homicide,” the magazine said.

“Dilbert” strips were routinely photocopied, pinned up, emailed and posted online, a popularity that would spawn bestselling books, merchandise, commercials for Office Depot and an animated TV series, with Daniel Stern voicing Dilbert.

The collapse of ‘Dilbert’ empire

It all collapsed quickly in 2023 when Adams, who was white, repeatedly referred to Black people as members of a “hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.” He later said he was being hyperbolic, yet continued to defend his stance.

Almost immediately, newspapers dropped “Dilbert” and his distributor, Andrews McMeel Universal, severed ties with the cartoonist. The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts, decided to keep the “Dilbert” space blank for a while “as a reminder of the racism that pervades our society.” A planned book was scrapped.

“He’s not being canceled. He’s experiencing the consequences of expressing his views,” Bill Holbrook, the creator of the strip “On the Fastrack,” told The Associated Press at the time. “I am in full support with him saying anything he wants to, but then he has to own the consequences of saying them.”

Adams relaunched the same daily comic strip under the name Dilbert Reborn via the video platform Rumble, popular with conservatives and far-right groups. He also hosted a podcast, “Real Coffee,” where talked about various political and social issues.

After Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC was …

The Supreme Court may leave alone the Voting Rights Act just long enough to keep the GOP from House control in 2026
Confidence requires clarity.

Republicans want a big Supreme Court redistricting win. They’re losing hope it will help them in the 2026 midterms.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais could weaken the Voting Rights Act and open the door to redrawing congressional maps, particularly across the South. Court watchers expect at least a partial win for conservatives that could let the GOP draw more seats for themselves by erasing Black- and Hispanic-majority districts.

But while that decision could theoretically come as soon as when the court returns on Friday, many experts think the case is more likely to be resolved with the flurry of decisions the court typically releases in late June.

The window of opportunity for new maps going into place before this November’s elections is rapidly closing, as states would need ample time to change deadlines, shift election calendars, vet signatures and print and distribute ballots. And the longer it takes for the Supreme Court to issue a ruling, the harder it will be for state-level Republicans to throw their maps out and draw new ones before this fall’s elections.

“It can get very complicated and very sticky, and that is not fast work,” said Tammy Patrick, the chief programs officer for The Election Center, a nonpartisan consulting firm that works with state and local election officials. “That is time-consuming, very methodical and detail-oriented work that needs to have sufficient time.”

Some state-level Republicans have already given up hope. In Louisiana, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, some state officials believe it's already too late and that the state will have to use its current map in its 2026 elections regardless of the Court’s decision, as the candidate qualifying period opens next month. Louisiana Republicans pushed back its 2026 primary election dates from April to May during a special session late last year, in hopes the Court would rule by the end of 2025 and give them time to install a new map. But the shift still wouldn’t be late enough for a late-term SCOTUS ruling.

Some national Republicans, however, say there's plenty of time to take on a redraw before November, arguing the Legislature can move the deadlines in order to redraw before elections are underway.

At the center of the Supreme Court case is Section 2 of the VRA, a provision that broadly outlaws discrimination in elections on the basis of race and has led to the creation of majority-minority districts, where Black, Latino or Asian voters make up a majority of the population.

Republicans have long argued such districts violate the Constitution and benefit Democrats. Democrats warn that the elimination of seats drawn to satisfy Section 2 could decimate minority representation in Congress and allow lawmakers to redraw lines in such a way …

r/SupremeCourt Weekly "In Chambers" Discussion 01/19/26
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.

Hey all!
In an effort to consolidate discussion and increase awareness of our weekly threads, we are trialing this new thread which will be stickied and refreshed every Monday @ 6AM Eastern.
This will replace and combine the 'Ask Anything Monday' and 'Lower Court Development Wednesday' threads. As such, this weekly thread is intended to provide a space for:
General questions: (e.g. "Where can I find Supreme Court briefs?", "What does [X] mean?").

Discussion starters requiring minimal input from OP: (e.g. "Predictions?", "What do people think about [X]?")

U.S. District and State Court rulings involving a federal question that may be of future relevance to the Supreme Court.

TL;DR: This is a catch-all thread for legal discussion that may not warrant its own thread.
Our other rules apply as always. Incivility and polarized rhetoric are never permitted. This thread is not intended for political or off-topic discussion.

Sam Merullo: Despite the new year noise the blueprint for a Tory revival should be to ‘paint it bold’
Every delay has consequences.

Sam Merullo works in venture capital and is chair of a London academy school. 

Kemi Badenoch had returned to Westminster after Christmas break with a gentle spring in her step.

Just twelve months ago, the outlook was bleak: a bankrupt party, a hollowed-out parliamentary cohort, the spectre of an insurgent Nigel Farage and the lingering scent of internal mutiny.

The last few days may not have been an easy one for the party, but the low tide has turned. For the first time since the last election cycle, the party has finally edged ahead of Labour in the polls and the pre-emptive strike on Robert Jenrick reinforces Badenoch’s grip on the party.

The work must – and does – continue apace.

The Conservative Party emerged from the 2024 election in a state of profound shock.

Defeat, however, presents opportunity. It is a chance to recalibrate, rediscover its instincts and craft a message that speaks once again to a country drifting away. But leadership quickly discovered that it could not rely upon the comforting fiction of a two-year sabbatical for quiet reconstruction. Politics – and election cycles – have accelerated. Labour’s early economic bungling, coupled with the disruptive velocity of Reform, prevented CCHQ from retreating to the think-tank monastery, hoping to just emerge reborn.

The party needs a programme that is bold rather than apologetic: a welfare system that rewards graft over indolence; an immigration policy that is both firm and believable; and a pro-growth economic agenda rooted in enterprise, aspiration and the simple proposition that Britain should be richer than it is. The challenge, of course, is to restore our economy by reducing tax and welfare whilst gaining the votes needed to win.

Governing demands the courage to defy public opinion. Opposition, perversely, demands acute sensitivity to it. Conservatives must reckon with the country as it is, not as they wish it were. We must recognise the prevailing public mood: that we are over-policed yet under-protected; that community is fraying; that stagnant growth and sticky inflation are leaving people poorer and angrier; that businesses are shackled with ever increasing cost and regulation; and that unpoliced migration continues to reshape the country in ways no one voted for.

Party Conferences are echo chambers, but last year’s was particularly important in providing clarity of purpose. The party is now beginning to look and feel like a coherent government-in-waiting. But we must stay on the front foot: visible, proactive and combative. The leader and shadow cabinet must own the airwaves, confident in their role as HM’s formal Opposition, calling out Labour failures and presenting a bold, positive alternative. We should not be distracted by Reform.

Cosmetics matter too. The …

Trump's pardon of House Dem Cuellar back in the spotlight as Cuellar's brother faces indictment
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.

The Texas border town sheriff and brother of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was pardoned by President Trump earlier this year after the Biden Justice Department indicted him on federal bribery charges, is now facing his own public corruption charges.
Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar Jr. was indicted after he and his assistant chief, Alejandro Gutierrez, allegedly used public funds, staff and resources to run a for-profit disinfecting business called Disinfect Pro Master during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). 
Disinfect Pro Master entered into service agreements with local businesses, even a school district, but allegedly never had any employees or supplies of its own. The school district contract secured Cuellar and Gutierrez a half million dollars, but the DOJ said they completed the work using county staff and resources. 
Cuellar is a border town sheriff out of Laredo, Texas, which is also part of his brother's congressional district. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife were recently pardoned by President Trump after they were accused by the Biden administration DOJ of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan government-controlled oil and gas company and a Mexico City-headquartered bank. 
WATCH: DEM LAWMAKER THANKS TRUMP FOR PARDON, SAYS IT CAME AS A SURPRISE AMID RE-ELECTION BID
In a statement released by the sheriff after he appeared in court this week, Cuellar vehemently defended himself and insisted that he would be "fully vindicated."
"Over the course of my career — as a Texas State Trooper, a narcotics Sergeant investigator, Narcotics Lieutenant and now as your Sheriff — I have learned the difference between what is right and what is wrong, and I know what I did and did not do," the statement says. 
"While this process moves forward, I ask the public to let the facts — not rumors, not speculation — guide their judgement. My responsibility remains the same as it was yesterday and the day before. … I remain fully engaged in my duties and in communication with the community. Public safety does not pause, and neither does my commitment to this office."
Congressman Cuellar's office also released a statement echoing his brother's comments, adding that he has "a deep respect for the law" and would be vindicated in the end. 
"Under our constitution, he is innocent until proven guilty," the congressman's statement said. "My brother Martin has served our community as a peace officer for more than forty years with integrity, professionalism, and a deep respect for the law. He is an honest man."
TRUMP ENDORSES …

After Sowing Distrust in Fluoridated Water, Kennedy and Skeptics Turn to Obstructing Other Fluoride Sources
Are they actually going to vote on something real?

Last year, when Utah lawmakers passed the nation’s first statewide ban on community water fluoridation, they included a provision making it easier for people to get fluoride supplements without having to visit a dental provider.

This would make fluoride available through individual choice, rather than “mass public dosing,” as a Utah House of Representatives webpage put it — part of the rising rhetoric of skepticism that’s led to rollbacks of water fluoridation, a proven method to reduce tooth decay.

“It’s what I like to refer to as the win-win, right?” Speaker Mike Schultz said on a June episode of the “House Rules” podcast from the Utah House. “Those that want fluoride can now get fluoride easier, and those that don’t want fluoride in their drinking water don’t have to have that.”

But even as critics point to fluoride supplements as an alternative — along with fluoride toothpaste, rinses and varnishes — many are creating barriers to these same products.

Under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s oversight, the Food and Drug Administration said it issued notices to four businesses about their ingestible fluoride supplements for children and also put out new guidance for health professionals.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton launched investigations into two large companies over their marketing of fluoride toothpaste to parents and children.

And changes to Medicaid in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten to make it harder than it already is for the most vulnerable people to access any oral health care at all, let alone fluoride treatments at a dentist’s office.

More than anything, experts say, alarmist language from high-profile officials is trickling down to the public, leading more people to question whether any form of fluoride — in drinking water or in other treatments — is a good idea.

Scott Tomar, a professor and associate dean at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry, is among those who have watched with dismay as the conversation about fluoride has been affected by arguments likely to scare people.

“I’m certain that the net result of all of this is going to be a greater reluctance on the part of parents and providers to prescribe fluoride supplements,” Tomar said.

Low, consistent exposure to fluoride is widely credited for dramatic declines in decaying teeth. But long-simmering skepticism about its use gained more influence in recent years, especially with Kennedy’s credibility and influence as the nation’s chief health officer.

“The evidence against fluoride is overwhelming,” he said as he stood alongside Utah lawmakers at a press conference in Salt Lake City last April.

Even though the science to support his conclusions is limited, he claimed that fluoride “causes IQ loss, profound IQ loss,” and he linked water fluoridation to ADHD, hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis, and kidney and liver issues.

Lee Zeldin, who leads the Environmental Protection Agency, spoke at the Utah event, too, crediting Kennedy for helping to spur the agency’s review of its standard for fluoride in drinking water. An EPA spokesperson, in a statement to ProPublica, …

Latino voters powered Trump’s comeback. Now they’re turning on his economy.
Every delay has consequences.

In 2024, economic anxiety and immigration concerns drove Latino voters to President Donald Trump. Those same issues are beginning to push them away.

Across the country, the cost-of-living woes and immigration enforcement overshadowing Trump’s first year back in office are souring Hispanic businesspeople, a key constituency that helped propel him to the White House. In a recent survey of Hispanic business owners conducted by the U.S. Hispanic Business Council and shared exclusively with POLITICO, 42 percent said their economic situation is getting worse, while only 24 said it was getting better. Seventy percent of respondents ranked the cost of living as a top-three issue facing the country, more than double the number that selected any other issue.

That’s a particularly striking number from this group: nearly two-thirds of respondents in the organization’s final survey before the 2024 election said they trusted Trump more than then-Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the economy.

“The broader Hispanic community certainly feels let down,” said Javier Palomarez, the organization’s president and CEO. “It would be different if immigration and the economy had not been principal talking points for [Trump]. On both fronts, we didn't get what we thought we were going to get.”

The combination of ongoing economic uncertainty and stubbornly high prices driven by Trump’s tariffs — coupled with the economic impact of the Trump administration’s ongoing raids in immigrant-heavy communities — makes the situation increasingly dire for some Hispanic business owners.

Trump and his allies argue that they're just cleaning up the mess left by the previous president.

"Republicans are putting in the work to fix the Bidenflation mess we inherited. From lowering inflation to creating a housing plan, President Trump is fighting for the working families Democrats left behind," said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar.

Monica Villalobos, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told POLITICO about a South Phoenix restaurant hit hard by tariffs and labor shortages. Then, a series of ICE raids in the parking lot in front of the restaurant caused customers and workers to stop showing up and forced the owners to shut it down for several days. She predicted this kind of situation will blow back on Republicans in the next election.

“We certainly do sense that our members — our clients in Arizona and across the country — feel a sense of betrayal by this administration, given its excessive overreach,” Villalobos said. “Now that we've had a taste of [the Trump administration], I think you're going to see a big shift [in the vote].”

In 2024, Trump won 48 percent of self-described Hispanic or Latino voters, the highest mark for a …