( October 28, 2025, 10:24 AM EDT) -- PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island federal judge on Oct. 27 via a text order docket entry granted a motion by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a 45-day extension of the deadline to respond to a complaint filed by several states 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....