Illinois
Agents seize hundreds of thousands of illegal vapes smuggled from China in nationwide crackdown
BENSENVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Federal agents seized hundreds of thousands of illegal vaping products in raids across the country on Wednesday as the Trump administration moved to crack down on devices that are regularly used by teens in the U.S. after being smuggled in from China.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal officials traveled to Illinois to tout the seizures, which included more than 600,000 illegal products taken from a distributor outside of Chicago, officials said. They stood outside the warehouse flanked by colorful boxes of vapes in fruity flavors that officials say are being illegally sold at stores nationwide.
“They’re targeting children, young adults, college students and even members of our military,” Bondi said.
It’s the latest attempt by law enforcement to staunch the flow of unauthorized vapes that have flooded into the U.S. in kid-friendly flavors, often from China. Their influx has forced the FDA to try to eliminate thousands of illegal products sold by under-the-radar importers and distributors.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service also seized illegal products from distributors and retailers in North Carolina, Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida, federal officials said.
The Justice Department also filed civil actions Wednesday seeking to halt illegal business practices happening at five distributors and five retailers, officials said. That follows undercover buys of illegal products that ATF agents carried out at distributors across the country last month, according to authorities.
Bondi said the Justice Department would also not rule out bringing criminal charges, if warranted.
“Make no mistake. Chinese companies are making billions of dollars off of these products,” Bondi said. “They’re peddling them into our country.”
Vaping among teens skyrocketed in 2019, when more than a quarter reported using vapes daily. But use has declined in recent years, with fewer adolescents reported vaping in 2024 than at any point in the last decade. Officials attributed that drop in part to more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers.
The Vapor Technology Association blasted the FDA and federal officials, arguing the actions threaten to bankrupt thousands of small businesses, cost tens of thousands of jobs, and erase billions in tax revenue. The group’s executive director, Tony Abboud, called the seizures “an assault on American workers, small businesses, and the tax base” and urged regulators to reverse course.
Washington
Trump administration cuts grants for minority-serving colleges, declaring them unconstitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is ending several grant programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of minority students, saying they amount to illegal discrimination by tying federal money to racial quotas.
In a shift upending decades of precedent, the Education Department said Wednesday it now believes it’s unconstitutional to award federal grants using eligibility requirements based on racial or ethnic enrollment levels. The agency said it’s holding back a total of $350 million in grants budgeted for this year and called on Congress to “reenvision” the programs for future years.
More than $250 million of that figure was budgeted for the government’s Hispanic-Serving Institution program, which offers grants to colleges and universities where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding that Latino students were going to college and graduating at far lower rates than white students.
Several smaller programs are also being cut, including $22 million for schools where at least 40% of students are Black, along with programs reserved for schools with certain enrollment levels of Asian American, Pacific Islander or Native American students. The programs have traditionally received bipartisan support in Congress and were created to address longstanding racial disparities in education.
Not included in the cuts is federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which are open to all students regardless of race.
“Diversity is not merely the presence of a skin color,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday. “Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit.”
McMahon added that she aims to work with Congress to repurpose the funding for institutions that serve “underprepared or under-resourced” students without using quotas. She did not elaborate on plans to repurpose the $350 million.
The government’s grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions are being challenged in a federal lawsuit brought by the state of Tennessee and the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions.
Tennessee argues that all of its public universities serve Hispanic students, but none meet the “arbitrary ethnic threshold” to be eligible for the grants.
The Justice Department declined to defend the grants in the lawsuit, saying in a July memo that the 25% enrollment requirement violates the Constitution.
In court filings, a national association of Hispanic-Serving Institutions said the grants are legal and help put its members on an even playing field.
More than 500 colleges and universities are designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, making them eligible for the grants. It includes flagship campuses like the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arizona, along with many community colleges and smaller institutions.
The new cuts drew backlash from Democrats in Congress.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Trump is “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead.” She drew attention to the government’s current funding bill, a stopgap measure passed in March that gives the administration more flexibility to redirect federal funding.
“This is another important reminder of why Congress needs to pass funding bills, like the one the Senate marked up this summer, that ensure Congress — not Donald Trump or Linda McMahon — decides how limited taxpayer dollars are spent,” Murray said in a statement.
The Education Department said it will still release about $132 million for similar grant programs that are considered mandatory, meaning their levels are dictated by existing laws. Even so, the department said it “continues to consider the underlying legal issues associated with the mandatory funding mechanism in these programs.”
Former President Joe Biden made Hispanic universities a priority, signing an executive action last year that promised a new presidential advisory board and increased funding. President Donald Trump revoked the order on his first day back in office earlier this year.
Agents seize hundreds of thousands of illegal vapes smuggled from China in nationwide crackdown
BENSENVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Federal agents seized hundreds of thousands of illegal vaping products in raids across the country on Wednesday as the Trump administration moved to crack down on devices that are regularly used by teens in the U.S. after being smuggled in from China.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal officials traveled to Illinois to tout the seizures, which included more than 600,000 illegal products taken from a distributor outside of Chicago, officials said. They stood outside the warehouse flanked by colorful boxes of vapes in fruity flavors that officials say are being illegally sold at stores nationwide.
“They’re targeting children, young adults, college students and even members of our military,” Bondi said.
It’s the latest attempt by law enforcement to staunch the flow of unauthorized vapes that have flooded into the U.S. in kid-friendly flavors, often from China. Their influx has forced the FDA to try to eliminate thousands of illegal products sold by under-the-radar importers and distributors.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service also seized illegal products from distributors and retailers in North Carolina, Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida, federal officials said.
The Justice Department also filed civil actions Wednesday seeking to halt illegal business practices happening at five distributors and five retailers, officials said. That follows undercover buys of illegal products that ATF agents carried out at distributors across the country last month, according to authorities.
Bondi said the Justice Department would also not rule out bringing criminal charges, if warranted.
“Make no mistake. Chinese companies are making billions of dollars off of these products,” Bondi said. “They’re peddling them into our country.”
Vaping among teens skyrocketed in 2019, when more than a quarter reported using vapes daily. But use has declined in recent years, with fewer adolescents reported vaping in 2024 than at any point in the last decade. Officials attributed that drop in part to more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers.
The Vapor Technology Association blasted the FDA and federal officials, arguing the actions threaten to bankrupt thousands of small businesses, cost tens of thousands of jobs, and erase billions in tax revenue. The group’s executive director, Tony Abboud, called the seizures “an assault on American workers, small businesses, and the tax base” and urged regulators to reverse course.
Washington
Trump administration cuts grants for minority-serving colleges, declaring them unconstitutional
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is ending several grant programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of minority students, saying they amount to illegal discrimination by tying federal money to racial quotas.
In a shift upending decades of precedent, the Education Department said Wednesday it now believes it’s unconstitutional to award federal grants using eligibility requirements based on racial or ethnic enrollment levels. The agency said it’s holding back a total of $350 million in grants budgeted for this year and called on Congress to “reenvision” the programs for future years.
More than $250 million of that figure was budgeted for the government’s Hispanic-Serving Institution program, which offers grants to colleges and universities where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding that Latino students were going to college and graduating at far lower rates than white students.
Several smaller programs are also being cut, including $22 million for schools where at least 40% of students are Black, along with programs reserved for schools with certain enrollment levels of Asian American, Pacific Islander or Native American students. The programs have traditionally received bipartisan support in Congress and were created to address longstanding racial disparities in education.
Not included in the cuts is federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which are open to all students regardless of race.
“Diversity is not merely the presence of a skin color,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday. “Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit.”
McMahon added that she aims to work with Congress to repurpose the funding for institutions that serve “underprepared or under-resourced” students without using quotas. She did not elaborate on plans to repurpose the $350 million.
The government’s grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions are being challenged in a federal lawsuit brought by the state of Tennessee and the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions.
Tennessee argues that all of its public universities serve Hispanic students, but none meet the “arbitrary ethnic threshold” to be eligible for the grants.
The Justice Department declined to defend the grants in the lawsuit, saying in a July memo that the 25% enrollment requirement violates the Constitution.
In court filings, a national association of Hispanic-Serving Institutions said the grants are legal and help put its members on an even playing field.
More than 500 colleges and universities are designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, making them eligible for the grants. It includes flagship campuses like the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arizona, along with many community colleges and smaller institutions.
The new cuts drew backlash from Democrats in Congress.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Trump is “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead.” She drew attention to the government’s current funding bill, a stopgap measure passed in March that gives the administration more flexibility to redirect federal funding.
“This is another important reminder of why Congress needs to pass funding bills, like the one the Senate marked up this summer, that ensure Congress — not Donald Trump or Linda McMahon — decides how limited taxpayer dollars are spent,” Murray said in a statement.
The Education Department said it will still release about $132 million for similar grant programs that are considered mandatory, meaning their levels are dictated by existing laws. Even so, the department said it “continues to consider the underlying legal issues associated with the mandatory funding mechanism in these programs.”
Former President Joe Biden made Hispanic universities a priority, signing an executive action last year that promised a new presidential advisory board and increased funding. President Donald Trump revoked the order on his first day back in office earlier this year.
