In The News

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education will invoke its civil rights enforcement authority to prevent states from imposing universal bans on wearing face masks in classrooms, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Wednesday. The decision represents a dramatic escalation of... Read More

A recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reviews decades of efforts by scientists to get arsenic out of rice.  Arsenic, in inorganic form, is a pollutant which can stem from industrial processes and pesticides,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Department officials on Wednesday afternoon acknowledged the kind of surprise about the fall of Afghanistan mentioned in a new inspector general’s report. “No, I did not see a collapse of an army of that size in... Read More

Costs associated with the United States' “Global War on Terror” have mounted significantly in the nearly 20 years following the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. The underlying mission of the Global War on Terror in 2001 was to fortify... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Americans who got the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines will be able to obtain booster shots eight months after the date of their second doses, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. Because of the timing element, those who were... Read More

While suburban congressional districts are swelling with new residents, lawmakers in large swaths of rural America and some Rust Belt cities are in need of more people to represent.  In rural Illinois, Republican Rep. Mary Miller's district is short 73,000... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two California voters are suing to block a recall vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom that they say violates the U.S. Constitution. The planned Sept. 14 vote comes amid a backlash against some Democrats, such as New York... Read More

A recent report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance finds that there are now 3 million fewer Americans in the labor force than there were before the pandemic.  “At the pandemics onset, there were 18 million people on temporary... Read More

MADISON, Wis. -- Congressional and legislative district maps that have been used in electoral contests for the past decade should not be used as the starting point for drawing new boundaries using 2020 census data, Wisconsin Democrats say in a... Read More

TOOELE, Utah (AP) — The sound of the helicopter propeller thundered across the horizon as it dipped down toward mustangs dotting the golden brown plain. The horses burst into a gallop at the machine's approach, their high-pitched whinnies rising into... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban have agreed to allow "safe passage" from Afghanistan for civilians struggling to join a U.S.-directed airlift from the capital, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said, although a timetable for completing the evacuation of Americans,... Read More

Seven diversity organizations have joined the call for Congress to revive a tax certificate program intended to encourage minority and women ownership of broadcast stations. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the bill to reestablish the... Read More

A recently released report on the status of illegal online wildlife trafficking has revealed thousands of endangered or illegal animals, parts and trophies are being digitally advertised in the U.S. The report, dubbed Digital Markets: Wildlife Trafficking Hidden in Plain... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Supreme Court of Texas issued a ruling on Sunday voiding temporary restraining orders issued by separate District Court judges that impeded Gov. Greg Abbott’s edict prohibiting local officials from requiring masks to be worn indoors. Local... Read More

In the wake of a powerful earthquake, the U.S. has sent rescue personnel and air support to assist with the search and rescue efforts in Haiti. On Sunday, the U.S. Agency for International Development said it had sent a 65-member... Read More

As a record number of children are being hospitalized with COVID-19, pediatric hospitals are reporting heightened outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus which can be life-threatening to infants and young adults. Usually, outbreaks of RSV hit their peak between December and... Read More

Federal regulators on Monday declared the first-ever water shortage at Lake Mead, a reservoir that feeds into the Colorado River and serves approximately 40 million people in the West. The declaration, issued as part of an outlook for the river... Read More

The great contradiction of Boston's Old North Church is that a site pivotal to the freedom of the nation is the same place where slave owners and traders once worshiped. Now, with a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for... Read More

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban declared an "amnesty" across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate... Read More

Stocks are dropping on Wall Street early Tuesday amid turmoil in Afghanistan and unease about a weaker economic outlook in China. The S&P 500 lost 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%. A report showed Americans cut back... Read More

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A group of more than 100 former and current prosecutors and law enforcement officials is calling on President Joe Biden to prioritize criminal justice reform and make good on his campaign promise to form a task force... Read More

FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) — As temperatures recently reached triple digits, farmer Joe Del Bosque inspected the almonds in his parched orchard in California's agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a deepening drought threatens one of the state's most profitable crops. Del... Read More

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island recently announced a settlement agreement with Brown University, which denied readmissions to undergraduate students taking medical leave for mental health. “The settlement should not be... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta... Read More

WASHINGTON  — President Joe Biden said Monday that he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan and that the government's collapse was quicker than anticipated. Speaking about the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, Biden said that he... Read More

A new study from a team of international researchers finds that our metabolism does not slow down over the span of a lifetime as traditionally believed, but rather stalls from age 20 to 60.  “We can see that infants have... Read More

WASHINGTON — A high-ranking Justice Department attorney urged Congress Monday to clamp down on new state laws that she claims shut out some low-income persons from participating in elections. She described voting rights as more at risk now than any... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Federal courts continued their struggle with state and federal eviction moratoriums in separate rulings Thursday and Friday. A federal judge in Washington ruled Friday that her “hands are tied” to halt the federal eviction moratorium that the Centers... Read More

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has been elected president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. His selection took place at the organization's summer conference in Des Moines, Iowa. “As the job of Secretary of State continues to... Read More

President Joe Biden cut short what was to have been a five-day stay at Camp David Monday and is slated to address the nation this afternoon on the stunning and still unfolding events in Afghanistan. Biden is scheduled to speak... Read More