Health

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded the state’s face mask mandate Tuesday afternoon, declaring that it’s time for Texans to get back to business.   “Under no circumstance can someone be punished for not wearing a mask,” Abbott said... Read More

WASHINGTON - It’s hard to believe it’s almost that time of year again, but on Monday came word that the peak bloom for the cherry blossoms ringing the Tidal Basin in Washington is currently expected to occur April 2-5.  That... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats' hopes of including a minimum wage increase in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill seemed all but dead as the Senate prepared to debate its own version of the House-passed aid package.  Four days after the... Read More

WASHINGTON - On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to a third coronavirus vaccine. This vaccine, unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines which received emergency authorizations in December, is a single shot vaccine.  Placebo-controlled, randomized studies of... Read More

WASHINGTON – The House passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package in the wee hours of Saturday morning, helping President Joe Biden clear the first hurdle in passing an economic stimulus bill that includes $1,400 in direct payments to U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has relaxed the rules around storage and transportation for some coronavirus vaccines in order to speed up the vaccine rollout. Frozen vials of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine will be allowed to be kept at... Read More

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci says if a coronavirus vaccine is available, regardless of which one, take it. The top U.S. infectious disease expert told NBC on Thursday a third vaccine becoming available “is nothing but good news” and would... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said during a virtual meeting with essential workers on Wednesday that the administration plans to distribute millions of cloth face masks beginning early next month. According to a statement from the White House, the reusable, American-made masks... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine protects against COVID-19, according to an analysis by U.S. regulators Wednesday that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic.  The Food... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House Budget Committee approved reconciliations to President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion novel coronavirus relief legislation Monday, setting in motion the bill’s final vote in the full House of Representatives expected to follow this week.  If enacted,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders have a potent dynamic on their side as Congress preps for its first votes on the party's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill: Would any Democrat dare cast the vote that scuttles new President Joe Biden's... Read More

The U.S. stood Sunday at the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to the coronavirus.A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just... Read More

NEW YORK -- A groundbreaking “Back-to-Normal Barometer” survey for the first time finds that only half of Americans say that they will receive a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available for them to receive it. Driving this lack of enthusiasm,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Recognizing the vital role of state and local government in achieving President Biden’s charge for our country to Build Back Better, the NewDEAL Forum released policy recommendations Thursday for responding to immediate crises and addressing long-term challenges exacerbated... Read More

WASHINGTON — With proposals by both the Biden Administration and Sen. Mitt Romney coming to the table in early 2021, prospects for an American child allowance have their strongest-ever chance of coming to fruition. Both plans create a new child... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a public health milestone, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it approved a record setting amount of novel medical devices in 2020.  In 2020, the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health gave the... Read More

Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting.Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with Black Americans losing nearly... Read More

DENVER, Colo. - Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Wednesday reintroduced their Medicare-X Choice Act by urging their colleagues to embrace it as a way of expanding both the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.  During a late... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic-led effort to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package has passed its latest challenge with House committees advancing measures that will soon be combined into a single bill expected to clear the full House by... Read More

MILWAUKEE (AP) — President Joe Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his goal after his administration came under fire when... Read More

WASHINGTON — Since the earliest days of the pandemic, the CDC has said COVID appeared to have a disproportionate impact on those negatively affected by social determinants of health. These conditions in the environments in which people are born, live,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives from a DC non-profit say the coronavirus has severely increased the reliance of underprivileged communities on their services, which emphasizes the socially destabilizing impacts of the virus. The DC neighborhoods around the headquarters of Martha's Table, a... Read More

As panicked Americans cleared supermarkets of toilet paper and food last spring, grocery employees gained recognition as among the most indispensable of the pandemic's front-line workers.A year later, most of those workers are waiting their turn to receive COVID-19 vaccines,... Read More

WASHINGTON – This week, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., Mark Warner, D-Va., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., introduced the bipartisan, bicameral COVID-19 Mine Worker Protection... Read More

The pandemic has made clear that broadband access goes hand-in-hand with economic opportunity, exposing the inequities and lack of resources for black-owned businesses across the country, according to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks of the Federal Communications Commission. Since the onset of... Read More

ATLANTA - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its long-awaited guidance on safely reopening schools, emphasizing that it is"critical for schools to open as safely and as soon as possible." The top recommendations are what one... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats pushed half of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan through a House committee Thursday, advancing $1,400 payments for millions of Americans and other initiatives that Republicans call too costly, economically damaging and brazenly partisan.The... Read More

President Joe Biden is being accused of backpedaling on his pledge to reopen the nation's schools after the White House added fine print to his promise and made clear that a full reopening is still far from sight.Biden's initial pledge... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The meetings begin each day not long after dawn. Dozens of aides report in, coffee in hand, joining by Zoom from agency headquarters, their homes or even adjacent offices.The sessions start with the latest sobering statistics meant... Read More

WASHINGTON - The White House on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court it believes the Affordable Care Act should be upheld, reversing the position taken by the Trump Administration. The justices heard oral arguments in November in multiple cases involving a... Read More