WASHINGTON — The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued a new rule on Tuesday aimed at better protecting the nation’s miners from health hazards associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica, also known as silica dust.  Inhaling crystalline silica, a known carcinogen, can cause serious lung and other diseases, such as ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020. U.S. government officials will work with the countries to develop better testing, ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House Freedom Caucus on Monday warned House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other GOP leaders in the chamber not to try to use Iran’s attack on Israel this past weekend as “bogus justification” for sending additional military aid to Ukraine. The warning, in the form of a statement posted ... Read More

NEW YORK — Dozens of prospective jurors were dismissed Monday on the first day of jury selection for the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump in New York City. He faces felony charges for allegedly paying $130,000 in 2016 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair he had with [&... Read More

WASHINGTON — Attorneys general from 24 states and one state legislature have asked a federal appeals court to stay a new methane emissions rule rolled out by the Environmental Protection Agency. Unveiled in December and finalized on March 8, the rule aims to sharply reduce methane and other harmful pollutants from the oil and natural [&... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week issued a key air quality permit to Dominion Energy’s planned offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The agency issued the project’s final Clean Air Act Outer Continental Shelf air quality permit on April 9, following a 30-day public ... Read More

Foreign competition, tariffs and soaring production costs have U.S. steel mills teetering on the brink of failure. New legislation introduced in March will prevent illegal steel imports from Mexico from coming into the United States, and it needs support.  Losing our domestic steel capacity would be an economic ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas companies will have to pay more to drill on federal lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a final rule issued Friday by the Biden administration. The Interior Department’s rule raises royalty rates for oil drilling by more than one-third, ... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — If you’re feeling — YAWN — sleepy or tired while you read this and wish you could get some more shut-eye, you’re not alone. A majority of Americans say they would feel better if they could have more sleep, according to a new poll. But in the U.S., ... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump arrived Monday at a New York court for the start of jury selection in his hush money trial, marking a singular moment in U.S. history. It’s the first criminal trial of any former U.S. commander-in-chief and the first of Trump’s four ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Feeling tired and sluggish? If so, low iron could be to blame. Iron is an essential mineral necessary for several critical bodily functions. While most people get enough iron, women and athletes may be at a higher risk for an iron deficiency. Here, we’ll explain what iron does in your ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Metabolism is a common buzzword used to sell products and convey different theories. Many popular myths and questions surround this process. Are certain foods good or bad for your metabolism? Do some people have a slower or faster metabolism than others? Here, we’ll use the latest scientific research to try ... Read More

WASHINGTON – Iran launched a drone against Israel, the Israeli military said Saturday afternoon, in apparent retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike in early April on the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus, Syria. President Joe Biden cut short his weekend stay at his vacation home in Rehoboth, Delaware, and has returned to the ... Read More

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — With a nod toward Kermit the Frog, it’s not always easy going green, no matter how good one’s intentions. At least that appears to be the experience of shopping center giant Tanger, which wants to install solar panels on six of the eight buildings at its ... Read More

WASHINGTON — As the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors prepare to convene in Washington, D.C., for the IMF-World Bank spring meetings next week, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, spoke about how this event comes at a delicate moment for the global economy. “Making the right ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Office of Special Counsel sent an advisory this month to federal agencies warning them to be careful about trying to squelch employees’ right to complain about workplace issues. The advisory follows incidents in which supervisors overstepped their authority to enforce non-disclosure agreements on employees. The non-disclosure agreements — sometimes ... Read More

While relatively new, the app-based rideshare and delivery industry has already become ubiquitous so that it can be hard to remember life before rides, meals, groceries and goods were available on-demand at the press of a button. App-based platforms have fundamentally transformed how we move, earn and live so quickly — in just ... Read More

LOS ANGELES — Independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West has chosen fellow university professor and Black Lives Matter activist Dr. Melina Abdullah, of California State University, to be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election. West, the popular author, lecturer and Dietrich Bonhoeffer professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary ... Read More

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers are considering criminalizing adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, a proposal advancing in one of the most eager states to enact policies aimed at the LGBTQ+ community. Republican senators advanced the legislation Thursday on a 25-4 vote. It must now clear the ... Read More

Almost a quarter of people who were dropped from Medicaid during the post-pandemic eligibility reviews are still uninsured and high costs are preventing them from getting on another plan, a new survey from KFF showed Friday. At least 20 million lower-income Americans have lost their federal health insurance&... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Friday that it is canceling the student loan debt of another 277,000 borrowers as part of a new repayment plan intended to speed relief to those buckling under the load of excessive educational expenses.  The dollar value of the latest round of debt cancellations comes to about $7.4 ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Friday advanced a bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program, a second attempt just days after a conservative revolt prevented similar legislation from reaching the floor. Speaker Mike Johnson brought forward a Plan B that, if passed, would reform and extend a section ... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to the White House Thursday afternoon for a trilateral meeting he called the beginning of a “new era of partnership” in the Indo-Pacific. With that, however, Biden wasted no time in turning to the concerns ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday unveiled the latest steps it is taking to promote responsible clean energy development on public lands while continuing to nudge the nation closer to the president’s goal of creating a carbon-free energy sector by 2035. Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the Interior Department ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Former CBS television investigative reporter Catherine Herridge told a congressional panel Thursday about how reprisals she endured for her reports demonstrate a need for a federal law to protect journalists’ news gathering. Herridge refused a court order in February to reveal her sources for a story about a Chinese American scientist ... Read More

The fiscal year 2024 funding package cut approximately $100 million from the Technology Modernization Fund. This action is perplexing, especially given that the fund is crucial to modernizing federal information technology by enabling an innovative funding model that allows the government to respond in real time to critical needs.   In ... Read More

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill introduced in the House on Thursday would amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit federal funding for medical research that involves experiments on dogs and cats. If passed and signed into law, the Preventing Animal Abuse and Waste Act would effectively end nearly all federal funding of ... Read More

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson, the decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76. The family announced on Simpson’s official X account — formerly ... Read More

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature devolved into shouts of “Shame! Shame!” on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers quickly shut down discussion on a proposed repeal of the state’s newly revived 1864 law that criminalizes abortion throughout pregnancy unless a woman’s life is at risk. The state Supreme Court cleared the way on ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday for an address to U.S. lawmakers meant to underscore the importance of keeping a strong partnership between the two countries at a time of tension in the Asia-Pacific and skepticism in Congress about U.S. ... Read More