The 1%

The LA Times recently reported a litigation settlement restoring about $19 million in research grants to UCLA, UC-Berkeley, and UC-San Francisco by EPA:

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to permanently restore about $19 million in University of California research grants, including studies into wildfire-smoke health effects and water management, that it canceled... The settlement would resolve one part of a broader lawsuit, brought by a legal team that includes UC law school professors and additional attorneys, challenging roughly $2 billion in funding cuts across seven federal agencies...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-23/epa-uc-19-million-research-grant-settlement.

Note that the $19 million is about 1% of $2 billion.

---

The settlement is at:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28678852-thakur-uc-researchers-vs-epa/

Information about the timeline of the litigation and about related documents is at:

https://ucresearchergrantterminations.com/EPA-Settlement/ 

DOJ vs. UCSF

From the LA Times: UC San Francisco’s medical school illegally used race in admissions, discriminating against white and Asian applicants in favor of Black and Latino ones, the Department of Justice [DOJ] alleged Tuesday... In a nine-page letter to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, the Justice Department alleged the medical school used racially discriminatory practices when selecting its incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. It said the practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination by institutions receiving federal money, and the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-based affirmative action in college admissions. “Unfortunately, at UCSF Medical School, MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a back seat to race,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Aspiring doctors should be admitted based on their qualifications.”

In a statement, a UCSF spokesperson said the university disagrees with the finding. “We will continue to engage constructively with the department and look forward to resolving this matter,” the statement said...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-22/doj-ucsf-medical-school-admissions-discrimination.

---

DOJ News Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-ucsf-medical-school-discriminates-based-race-admissions.

DOJ "Findings": https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1462136/dl. 

Best

Yours truly is always skeptical about rankings such as those below. But you will undoubtedly be told about it by the three UC systems listed. So you might as well read about it here:

BEST HOSPITALS HONOR ROLL 2026-2027: From US News and World Report

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Cleveland Clinic

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Houston Methodist Hospital

Johns Hopkins Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital

Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic-Arizona

Mayo Clinic-Florida

Mount Sinai Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell

Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital

NYU Langone Hospitals

Rush University Medical Center

Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital

UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center

UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest, and East Campus Medical Centers

UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center

University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor

--

Source: https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings.