serve

SHE is regarded as the Queen of Pop.

But it seems that Madonna also has royal standards when it comes to travel. I can reveal that the Like A Prayer hitmaker brought her own private chef on to a British Airways flight last month.

She jetted from Los Angeles to London’s Heathrow with former foot- baller boyfriend Akeem Morris.

Her chef plated her up some sushi before they took off for the 11-hour flight to England.

A source said: “Madonna is strict about her lifestyle and avoids processed foods.

“She has the luxury of taking her private chef when travelling. He knows exactly what she eats to ensure she is sufficiently nourished when travelling between timezones.”

ETERNAL WAIT OVER

Louise reveals she’s working on new music after being inspired by Madonna

POP CARNAGE

Bitter feud brewing as Madonna targets Charli XCX with shady Instagram post

Madge is understood to follow a strict macrobiotic diet which is favoured by A-listers including actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

She avoids sugar, caffeine, alcohol and processed items, instead favouring fruit, veg and protein.

Functional nutritionist Pauline Cox previously told The Sun: “Madonna has a carefully planned diet that allows her to carry on performing at a high level.

“She eats complex carbohydrates — brown rice, beans and oats — for slow energy release.”

I previously told how Madonna turned night owl for a new music video, shooting between 5pm and 2am.

She is set to premiere the ten-minute film at the Beacon Theatre at the Tribeca Festival in New York in the US on June 5.

It is built around the first six tracks from her album, Confessions II, out on July 3.­

ELLIE KNUCKLES DOWN

ELLIE GOULDING let her hair down as she returned to the stage for the first time after giving birth to baby number two in March.

Wearing a baggy white tee, leather shorts and diamond knuckle-duster, inset above left, for her show at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland, the singer revealed that her five-year-old son Arthur was watching.

She said: “So, guys, this is kind of a big deal, because my son is watching me for the first time today.”

Ellie also sang her new song Black Prada Dress.

Great to have you back, Ellie.

BBC RADIO 1 host Charlie Hedges has pleaded for Harry Styles to return to the Live Lounge.

The DJ, who hosts Dance Anthems, revealed how she was presenting a 24-hour show when the former One Direction star was in the building.

She told Biz on Sunday: “Harry was confirmed to be in the Live Lounge however it was the same day that I’d decided to do a 24-hour Radio 1 dance day. So I missed Harry Styles.

“I stitched myself up because it was my idea to do the 24-hour show. I can’t blame anyone. I am fuming.”

Meanwhile Charlie – who is in Sunderland for Radio 1’s Big Weekend – revealed Lewis Capaldi is one of her favourite guests.

She said: “He is probably the funniest man I have ever met in my entire life, let alone being an incredible performer.”

ZARA McDERMOTT cheered on boyfriend Louis Tomlinson from the side of the stage yesterday.

It comes after she was pictured hugging Joey Essex and sent the internet into meltdown.

An onlooker said: “Zara was all smiles.”

SAM SO WIRED

HUNKY electrician Sam Workman is hoping to make sparks fly in the Love Island villa.

The lad, from Dudley, is lined up for the next series of the ITV dating show in Majorca, which kicks off on June 1.

A source said: “Sam is ready to use his electrician charm in the villa.

“He has also been hitting the gym to make sure he’s villa ready.”

Sam has started his summer in style and was spotted at Coachella Festival in California, US, in April.

Hopefully Sam finds himself a festival sidekick in the villa.

STORM OFF, YAS

SHE signed up with top modelling agency Storm Management after leaving Love Island last year.

But I can reveal that Yasmin Pettet has left the company that has launched the careers of supermodels Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.

A source said: “Yasmin loved working with Storm and learned a lot from the agency. However her career is going in another direction.”

The agency posted a snap of Yasmin – who finished third with Jamie Rhodes on the dating show – on their Instagram last year to announce the new signing.

It read: “Yasmin’s fearless, edgy aesthetic positions her within the new wave of British It girls: challenging conventions and breaking the mould.”

MARRIED MILEY’S WEBBED BLISS

MILEY CYRUS is a married woman, according to her mother.

The revelation came at the singer’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in LA on Friday, where Miley wore this webbed maxi dress.

Onlookers witnessed Tish call Miley’s fiancé Maxx Morando, who proposed in winter 2025, her “husband”.

As Miley’s mum herded together family and friends for photographs, she looked over at Maxx, drummer for the rock band Liily, and declared, “We’re gonna bring the husband.”

Maxx then posed next to Miley and kissed her on the cheek.

Tearful Miley lavished praise on her father Billy Ray even though he wasn’t present to see her being honoured with the Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

The singer, who was also joined by designer Donatella Versace and actress Anya Taylor-Joy, declared, “My dad used to say a skyscraper starts with a jackhammer” as she vowed her career is fuelled by making her art immortal.

With tears on her face, Miley continued: “To my family, my future family, parents, my mom, my siblings, my friends, my collaborators, thank you for loving and supporting not only the choices that I make, but my fears, and then facing them with me.

“Today is something that I’ll never forget and I’m always going to cherish.”

AD SUITS YOU, TOM

HE had viewers swooning over him in his suits in The Night Manager – and now Tom Hiddleston is cashing in on his style.

The actor has shot a top-secret Ralph Lauren collaboration, which will be unveiled later this year.

Thor star Tom has been a mainstay at the American label’s events lately, including sitting front row at Milan Fashion Week and attending the post-runway dinner party where he sat pride of place next to Ralph’s son.

A source said: “Tom has a busy filming schedule, but he managed to squeeze in this ad as he was delighted to be asked.

“He loves the brand and plans to wear it on red carpets and at awards dos.” Tom, who is engaged to Fresh Meat actress Zawe Asthon, gushed about fashion earlier this year.

Speaking to Esquire he said: “There’s a certain element of respect when you wear a suit. Not just for yourself, but for the people you’re in the company with.

“I admire the craft of it all, and there’s something about how tailoring can honour shape and athleticism as a man. I love texture. I love the idea of getting dressed up.

“I love the construction of it and the details add up to a whole that I find pleasing.

“My tan shoes match my watch strap, and my pocket square gives a flourish.”

AIR WE GO… OFF TO AMERICA

SHE’S kept her head down since appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this year, but I can reveal that Donna Air is quitting the UK.

The ex-Byker Grove actress is returning to her acting roots and hoping to land some roles in the US.

This follows The Sun on Sunday story in February revealing her links to the paedophile businessman. Plus, earlier this month, Donna lost her dad Trevor to cancer.

Posting on social media she wrote: “I’ve packed up my home, and I’m off to pastures new.”

A source said: “It’s been a tough year for Donna. She wants a change of scene and a fresh start. She is hoping to audition for some roles in America and see what comes her way.”

STARS OUT FOR THE BBC

A HOST of top stars from music, films and telly are backing the BBC after filming a new ad promoting the licence fee.

Chris Martin, Daisy Ridley, Cate Blanchett, Ruth Jones and Claudia Winkleman have remade the 1986 advert starring comic John Cleese, titled What Have The BBC Ever Given Us?

The original was a parody of his and Monty Python’s sketch from 1979 film The Life Of Brian.

The ad was filmed at a top-secret location in London earlier this month with scenes from Glastonbury festival and Wimbledon.

A source said: “The BBC has come under a lot of heat lately so this is its rallying cry to boost morale among the public.”

SCARLETT MOFFATT has revealed that she is expecting a baby boy.

The reality star and partner Scott already have a son, Jude.

She said: “I was born to be a boy mum. I’m so excited. All my family and friends knew I wanted another boy.

“My preference was a boy, to give Jude a brother. I’m just so happy for him.”

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Noah Goldberg, offering up the latest on city and county government.

L.A. voters finally got a chance this week to see how the leading candidates for mayor behave onstage with each other, and they didn’t disappoint.

The back-to-back debates offered plenty of cutting moments as Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Nithya Raman and reality television star Spencer Pratt faced off against each other.

But the two showdowns also served up a few surprises. Here are three that were noteworthy:

Raman and a campaign pledge

Bass went mano-a-mano with Raman on Tuesday for 90 minutes in the drab settings of the Sherman Oaks Adult Center.

Technically it was Raman’s home turf, since the facility is located in her Hollywood Hills district. But the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., the event’s host, wasn’t an especially friendly audience — in part because of their diverging views on real estate development.

Raman soldiered on, telling the audience about her big promise of the day: If elected, she would cut the number of homeless encampments across the city in half by the 2028 Olympic Games.

Then she went further, saying she would remove every encampment by the end of 2030, the conclusion of her hoped-for first term as mayor.

Raman has spent much of the campaign talking up her record on homelessness in her district, which stretches from Silver Lake to Reseda, pointing to a 54% reduction in the number of tents and encampments over three years. She’s been contrasting that work with Bass’ Inside Safe program, which secured a 17.5% reduction over two years citywide.

“I don’t think anybody in Los Angeles right now can say that we are satisfied with spending extraordinary amounts of money and getting only incremental progress,” Raman said the following night, at a debate sponsored by NBC4 and Telemundo 52 at the Skirball Cultural Center.

As part of her pitch, Raman unveiled a four-part strategy to get the city’s nearly 27,000 “unsheltered” homeless residents indoors.

Still, her pledge drew criticism from Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who has emerged as a Bass supporter in recent days. Rodriguez said Raman has been in office since 2020, spending half that time in charge of the committee that oversees homelessness, and is only offering a comprehensive encampment strategy weeks before the election.

“What’s stopped her for the last six years?” Rodriguez asked in a text message.

Bass and needle exchange

On Wednesday, Bass and Raman joined Pratt for the one-hour televised debate at Skirball. Pratt spent much of the night promising to rid the streets of drug addicts, whom he regularly refers to as “zombies” on social media.

“When you get rid of all the drug addicts on the street, the police won’t be responding to the drug addicts all day long,” he said.

Echoing that theme, NBC4’s Colleen Williams told the three candidates that Norm Langer of Langer’s Delicatessen wants the city to end its needle “giveaway program.”

Williams asked the three candidates if they would do as Langer requested. Raman said no. Pratt said yes.

Bass, after a brief pause, also said yes. That was something of a surprise, since the city’s Department on Disability delivers those types of services as part of its HIV/AIDS prevention services, collecting dirty syringes and offering clean ones to drug users.

The mayor’s budget calls for nearly $1.2 million in the coming fiscal year for overdose prevention and syringe exchange services, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said in an email.

Bass spokesperson Paige Sterling said the mayor’s office is now “actively reviewing these programs.”

“Needle exchange programs like this are not designed to end people’s addictions, and we should be doing everything we can to end drug use in our parks — especially given the increased use of deadly drugs like Fentanyl,” she said in a text message.

Langer said needle giveaways should not be in or near “sensitive sites” like parks and schools, including MacArthur Park.

Officials in Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health said so-called harm reduction programs, including the distribution of Narcan and syringes, help save lives and improve public health, reducing the number of overdose deaths and the transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis.

Pratt was in fact kinda chummy with Bass

He calls Bass trash on social media — at least in Spanish. He reposted an AI video that portrays her as the Joker. He blasted her as “an incredible liar” during Wednesday’s debate.

Yet the evidence is clear: Pratt, the former star of MTV’s “The Hills,” did get friendly with Bass for a few moments during his hour onstage with her.

At one point, Pratt praised Bass for working to fund the Los Angeles Police Department, saying her efforts were “important, actually.” At another point, he flagged for the moderators that Bass was trying to rebut some of Raman’s remarks.

“Mayor Bass would like to respond,” Pratt nudged them.

“Thank you,” Bass replied.

Team Raman has been trying to make the case that Bass has been going easy on Pratt, as part of a larger strategy to ensure that she faces him in the top-two Nov. 3 runoff. During the debate, Raman accused the two of teaming up to attack her, saying they were afraid of facing her in Round 2.

Pratt pushed back on the idea, saying he considers Bass to be the more formidable opponent. “You think it’s easier to run against the incumbent mayor with all the unions [endorsing her], or a random council member who’s been a failure for six years?” he said.

Halfway through the debate, Bass tried to reply to another Raman remark, and Pratt stepped in again to assist.

“See how nice they are being to each other?” Raman said.

State of play

— DOUBLE NO-SHOW: Bass won’t be returning to the debate stage next week, skipping a candidate forum scheduled for Wednesday on Fox11. Pratt also is not attending, according to organizers. That leaves City Councilmember Nithya Raman, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller and community organizer Rae Huang. Bass spokesperson Alex Stack said the mayor will be in Sacramento that day lobbying for state funding.

The main organizers of the event — the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs and the League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles — issued a statement calling Bass’ withdrawal from the debate “disappointing.” “Public forums such as this are a cornerstone of democratic accountability,” the groups said.

— TICKING TIMEBOMB: Szabo, the city administrative officer, issued a grim warning this week about the proposal heading to the November ballot that would repeal the city’s business tax, depriving the city of about $860 million per year. Szabo said the measure, backed by a coalition of business leaders, would lead to “an immediate and lasting contraction of public services” and “fundamentally undermine” the city’s ability to host the 2028 Olympic Games.

— THREE MORE STOPS: Metro’s D Line subway extension finally opened Friday, offering three additional stations along Wilshire Boulevard. The line’s westernmost point is now the La Cienega Boulevard station.

— MAD FOR MCKINNEY: L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman and the union that represents rank-and-file police officers endorsed prosecutor John McKinney, dealing a fresh setback to the reelection campaign of City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto. The police union withdrew its endorsement of Feldstein Soto last month, citing her handling of a data breach dealing in part with police lawsuits.

— AIRBNB’S BIG BUCKS: Meanwhile, a campaign committee sponsored by Airbnb just put $1.5 million in an independent expenditure committee backing McKinney, according to a new filing with the secretary of state. Michael Trujillo, political strategist for Feldstein Soto, responded on X:
“Hydee Feldstein Soto SUED AIRBNB for GOUGING LA FIRE SURVIVORS and now they are crying with this IE in support of their hand picked puppet.”

— ROOTING FOR RAMAN: She didn’t get Democratic Socialists of America to reopen its endorsement process for the mayoral primary election. But Raman got something else: a recommendation in DSA’s newly released voter guide.

The group’s L.A. chapter said a vote for Raman would ensure that “a left candidate with a proven track record of delivering for working class Angelenos” makes it into the top two against Bass. The DSA also issued a caveat, saying in boldface that its “recommendation” is “not an endorsement” — and therefore will not cause the group to expend any resources on her behalf.

— THEN THERE’S THIS: The centrist 501(c)4 nonprofit group Thrive LA took a sharply different approach, issuing a voter guide that — wait for it — endorses both Bass and Pratt in the primary. Why? The group doesn’t want Raman, arguing she would bring “higher taxes, more regulation, less housing production, and an ideological approach to governance.”

— STOPPING TRAFFIC STOPS: The City Council took a step toward imposing new restrictions on “pretextual” traffic stops this week, asking the Los Angeles Police Commission to adopt new guidelines similar to San Francisco, which bars officers from pulling drivers over for broken taillights and other minor equipment violations, unless there is a safety threat.

— NOHO TRAGEDY: A jury found Thursday that an LAPD officer was not liable for the death of a 14-year-old girl who was killed by a bullet fired by the officer as he pursued a suspect in a Burlington department store. The family of Valentina Orellana-Peralta filed a lawsuit contending that the officer should have slowed down and deferred to other officers at the scene who had already determined that the suspect wasn’t armed with a gun.

— MEA CULPA: We made a mistake in last week’s newsletter, incorrectly reporting that Councilmember Traci Park voted against L.A.’s “sanctuary city” ordinance. Although Park was highly critical of the ordinance after it passed, she was absent from the council’s vote.

— THEY’RE HERE: Our voters guides have arrived, giving you the rundown on who’s running for what in a whole bunch of races. Take a look!

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to address homelessness revisted a long list of spots that have been targeted by the program previously.
• On the docket next week: As we mentioned earlier, the next televised forum is set for Wednesday, with the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, the League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles and Fox11 hosting.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

As Iran stares down the economic consequences of a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, attention is shifting north.

With Gulf shipping lanes disrupted and oil exports constrained, Tehran may seek to depend less on the Gulf and more on a patchwork of railways, Caspian ports and sanctions-era trade networks linking it to Russia.

The importance of that relationship was underscored this week when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to St Petersburg for talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, praising Moscow’s “firm and unshaken” support as the two sides discussed the war, sanctions and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

But could Moscow really offer a lifeline for Iran’s beleaguered, war-torn economy, and would it even want to? We spoke to experts to find out.

Increasing but modest bilateral trade

Economic relations between Iran and Russia deepened after the US withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other nations in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 served to accelerate that trend as both countries found themselves increasingly cut off from the Western financial system. They turned to sanctions-evasion networks, alternative payment systems and non-Western trade corridors to keep goods, energy and money flowing.

Current trade is dominated by agricultural products – especially wheat, barley and corn – alongside machinery, metals, timber, fertilisers and industrial inputs. Tehran has also supplied Russia with low-cost Shahed drones, which Russia updated and has been using in its war on Ukraine.

“Trade turnover reached $4.8bn last year [2024], but we believe that the potential for our mutual trade is much greater,” Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov told an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran in 2025.

Bilateral trade is reported to have increased by 16 percent during that period, driven largely by Russian exports of grain, metals, machinery and industrial goods.

But experts say that despite this increase, the overall trade relationship remains relatively modest compared with Iran’s trade with China or the Gulf countries.

Trade between the two is “not substantial, because both countries are producing almost similar products and the industries are similar”, Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Al Jazeera.

Alternatives to Hormuz

The backbone of Russia-Iran trade is the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a network of shipping lanes, railways, and roads linking Russia to Iran and onward to Asia, bypassing Western-controlled maritime routes.

Goods move from southern Russian ports, across the Caspian Sea to northern Iranian ports, including Bandar Anzali, before continuing by rail or truck.

The route has become increasingly important for Russian grain, machinery and industrial exports to Iran.

This route can serve as a “viable but partial lifeline”, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at London-based Think Markets, told Al Jazeera, adding that Russian ports in Astrakhan, on the Volga River delta near the Caspian Sea, and Makhachkala, on the Caspian Sea, are already “primed for a surge in grain, metals, timber and refined products”.

A western branch also runs through Azerbaijan, though a key missing rail link between Rasht and Astara in northern Iran remains unfinished.

In 2023, Moscow agreed to help finance the line, with Russia’s president calling the agreement a “great event” that “will help to significantly diversify global traffic flows”.

Easier in theory than in practice

Analysts say that, although these routes may provide a temporary solution, the Strait of Hormuz offers a scale and efficiency that rail and land corridors cannot easily replicate.

Although maritime trade has been highly volatile in recent weeks, “from a historical perspective it is simply the quickest and the most cost-effective way of transporting anything”, Adam Grimshaw, an economic historian at the University of Helsinki, told Al Jazeera.

“Roughly 90 percent of Iran’s international trade is maritime trade that goes through the Gulf, which can’t be quickly or immediately replaced through land access to Iran or through air transport to circumvent the American blockade”, Nader Hashemi, an associate professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera.

Ghodsi said Russia might be able to offer a “lifeline” in the short term, as it did when it exported grain during Iran’s droughts, but in the long run, it simply “cannot substitute” the vast amounts of maritime trade.

Re-routing trade routes via land “takes time”, pushing up prices for consumers and creating more food waste as perishables rot en route.

Does Moscow want to help Iran?

Most analysts say throwing an economic lifeline to Iran is not in Russia’s interests.

“They’ve got their own economic problems,” John Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, told Al Jazeera, pointing to signs of stagnation inside Russia, pressure on reserves and growing frustration over the prolonged war in Ukraine.

While Moscow could offer symbolic support or limited humanitarian assistance, “now is not a good time” to invest in Iran, he said, referring to the US-Israel war on the country.

Replacing maritime trade with overland routes would be extremely difficult, despite years of discussion about alternative corridors linking the two nations, he said.

It also won’t necessarily help Iran’s economy, which needs all the export revenue it can get, experts say.

“Much of Iran’s economy revolves around the sale of oil, and with that blocked or prevented by the American blockade, Russia really can’t help in that regard”, Hashemi said.

Others are more optimistic, however.

“Propping [up] Iran locks in higher global oil prices that buoy Russia’s war economy, cements INSTC dominance for Asian trade, and keeps a key anti-Western ally alive – no downside for Moscow in a fragmented Gulf,” Aslaam said.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday nominated Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a social media post, Trump described Schwartz as “incredibly talented” and said, “She is a STAR!”

The Atlanta-based CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats, has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office more than a year ago, with a succession of mostly temporary leaders.

The agency is overseen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had promised not to change the nation’s vaccination schedule. But shortly after taking office, Kennedy said he was going to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and went on to attempt a substantial rewrite of vaccine recommendations for kids. Some of those efforts were put on hold recently by a federal judge.

The administration’s first pick to run the CDC was former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon, but his March 2025 Senate confirmation hearing was canceled an hour before it was to begin. Weldon said at the time that he’d been told not enough senators were willing to vote for him.

The White House then moved on to Susan Monarez, who had been serving as the CDC’s acting director. Monarez was confirmed by the Senate, but she was ousted in less than a month. Trump administration officials said she wasn’t aligned with their agenda so they terminated her.

Several key CDC scientific leaders resigned in protest, saying Monarez’s dismissal dashed their hopes that a CDC director would be able to guard against political meddling in the agency’s scientific research and health recommendations.

Since then, there’s been a revolving door in agency leadership, with the short-term role of acting director being passed from one Washington-based Health and Human Services official to another. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya has been overseeing the CDC the past several weeks.

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday, Kennedy said the new CDC team was “extraordinary.”

“I think this new team is really going to be able to revolutionize CDC and get it back on track,” he said.

Schwartz holds multiple academic credentials, including both medical and law degrees. Her career has largely been spent in military uniform, including in a leadership position at the U.S. Coast Guard where she oversaw the organization’s system of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays.

She later served as deputy surgeon general, where she helped lead uniformed medical and health professionals posted at the CDC and government health agencies that serve the general public.

Schwartz could not be reached for comment.

Trump also announced the appointment of Sean Slovenski, a former Walmart executive, as CDC deputy director and chief operating officer. Dr. Jennifer Shuford, Texas health commissioner, was named the CDC’s deputy director and chief medical officer. And Dr. Sara Brenner, a former Food and Drug Administration administrator, was designated as a senior counselor for public health to Kennedy.

In a social media post Thursday, Kennedy congratulated Schwartz and the other appointees and said he looks “forward to working together to restore trust, accountability, and scientific integrity” at the CDC.

But Aaron Siri, a lawyer and ally of Kennedy in attacking vaccines and pharmaceutical companies, criticized Schwartz’s selection. In a social media post, Siri lambasted Schwartz’s past promotion of vaccinations and said “she lacks the basic ethics and morals to lead the CDC.”

Schwartz’s nomination comes as Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s pick for another key health-related role, U.S. surgeon general, has had difficulty getting confirmed.

Means’ languishing nomination after appearing for a confirmation hearing in February reflects the skepticism that lawmakers of both parties have expressed toward the direction in which Kennedy has taken his department.

Stobbe writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.