( December 19, 2025, 5:56 PM EST) -- PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge via a text order docket entry granted a joint motion by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and several states for a stay and ordered the parties to submit a status report by Jan. 30 in the states’ lawsuit seeking to block HHS from enforcing a March 24 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended....