The coronavirus pandemic has sparked the emergence of Femtech, a category of software, diagnostics, products, and services that use technology to focus on women’s health. Now Nurx, the largest digital practice for women’s health, is seeing a continued surge in requests for at-home delivery of birth control after COVID-19, during ... Read More

Hospitalizations in some regions of Florida are increasing at their fastest rate since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as it records more new cases than any other state. Florida recorded 73,199 cases over the course of last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirty-five percent of U.S. ... Read More

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Fred Ware and his son were researching the history of the home he’s owned in the Hartford suburbs since 1950 when they discovered something far uglier than they expected.  Tucked in a list of rules on the home’s original deed from the developer was a provision that ... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As a member of the secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Angus King has reason to worry about hackers. At a briefing by security staff this year, he said he got some advice on how to help keep his cellphone secure. Step One: Turn off phone. Step Two: Turn it ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s latest leap into the Senate’s up-and-down efforts to clinch a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal comes with even more at stake than his coveted plans for boosting road, rail and other public works projects. The outcome of the infrastructure bargaining, which for weeks has encountered one ... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced a new proposed rule Wednesday morning that’s intended to strengthen domestic supply chains and bolster the nation’s manufacturing sector by establishing a higher threshold for products to qualify as made in the United States. The announcement comes ahead of Biden’s appearance this afternoon at ... Read More

First-term Texas State Rep. Jake Ellzey defeated fellow Republican Susan Wright in a special runoff  election in Texas’s 6th Congressional District Tuesday night, dealing former President Donald Trump a defeat in terms of the enduring power of his endorsement. Ellzey received 53.3% of the vote to Wright’s 46.7%. The seat opened ... Read More

Biometric technology identifies you based on your biological characteristics: your fingerprint, your iris, your face.  It can even measure how you walk, your gait, said Steve Crown, vice president and general counsel at Microsoft, during Tuesday’s Center for Strategic & International Studies’ event on the human rights issues associated with ... Read More

A study by Chinese researchers examines the ability of acupuncture treatment to suppress inflammatory stress, improve immunity, and regulate nervous system function to help patients with COVID-19.  “Acupuncture is widely used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as osteoarthritis, pancreatitis, obstructive emphysema, but in China, it is also used in ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — “This is how I’m going to die, defending this entrance,” Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell recalled thinking, testifying Tuesday at the emotional opening hearing of the congressional panel investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Gonell told House investigators he could feel himself losing oxygen as he was crushed by ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The New Democrat Coalition on Tuesday unveiled three new policy task forces which will focus on rural reinvestment, future of work and capitalism, and trade. The second slate of coalition task forces for the 117th Congress join previously announced panels focusing on climate change, health care, immigration and infrastructure. Coalition Chair ... Read More

The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it is ready to release more than $311 million in funding for high-speed broadband deployment across 36 states through its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.  Working to clean up the RDOF “waste” such as winning bids to deploy in areas that are already served, FCC Acting Chairwoman ... Read More

WASHINGTON — A new two-part study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a D.C.-based national security think tank, has said that civilian and judicial oversight will be crucial to limiting the potential human rights abuses from government use of facial recognition technology. This would need to include operational rules ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. dollar risks losing its preeminence in international transactions unless the Federal Reserve moves promptly to sponsor a digital currency, economists told Congress Tuesday. Once again, the main competitive threat to U.S. currency comes from China, according to witnesses at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing. The Chinese ... Read More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday afternoon said fully vaccinated people should now wear face masks if they live or work in a location experiencing a surge in delta variant cases. The new guidance effectively reverses a recommendation from May, when the CDC said fully vaccinated people did not ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday released a 21-point plan aimed at processing asylum claims quickly and deporting those who do not qualify. “Asylum and other legal migration pathways should remain available to those seeking protection. Those not seeking protection or who don’t qualify will be promptly removed to their countries ... Read More

The U.S. combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, President Joe Biden announced Monday. However the president would not say whether he planned to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, which now number about 2,500. The announcement came during an Oval Office session with Iraqi Prime ... Read More

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state is embarking on a massive experiment in police reform and accountability following the racial justice protests that erupted after George Floyd’s murder last year, as nearly a dozen laws took effect Sunday. But two months after Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bills, law enforcement officials remain uncertain ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moderna said Monday it plans to expand the size of its COVID-19 vaccine study in younger children to better detect rare side effects, such as a type of heart inflammation recently flagged by U.S. health authorities. The company said it is in talks with the Food and Drug Administration ... Read More

California and New York City announced Monday that they would require all government employees to get the coronavirus vaccine or face weekly COVID-19 testing, and the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to receive the shot. Meanwhile, in a possible sign that increasingly ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced they are working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and all characterizing flavors in cigars.  Menthol flavoring has been known to have a cooling effect that allows for deeper nicotine intake and ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Cuban Americans made a plea for the United States to help the people of their home country Monday during a protest in Washington, D.C.  From a rally at the White House and during a march to the nearby Cuban Embassy, more than a thousand protesters shouted and carried signs ... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is keeping existing COVID-19 restrictions on international travel in place due to concerns about the surging delta variant of the virus among the unvaccinated. “Given where we are today [with] the more transmissible Delta variant … spreading both here and around the world … we will maintain existing travel restrictions,” ... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden celebrated the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Monday and announced new guidance suggesting long-term COVID-19 could be considered a disability in some cases under federal civil rights laws.  “For our nation, the ADA is more than a law … It’s a testament to our ... Read More

ST. LOUIS — City and county leaders in St. Louis announced Friday they are reinstituting mask mandates for vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens alike, a decision already set to be challenged in court by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. The mandate was reinstated in response to a new surge in positive COVID-19 cases throughout ... Read More

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Student Identification Card Suicide Prevention Act, requiring public and private schools in the state to provide a crisis hotline resource of their choosing on student ID card. “This law not only provides our students with easy access to a vital resource, it will also serve ... Read More

As the old adage goes, the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Is anyone in charge going to do any soul searching to ask why history has yet again repeated itself in Afghanistan? American and allied troops evacuated their base at Bagram Airfield earlier ... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, didn’t realize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection until his wife called him. He was inside the Capitol, sitting in the upper gallery of the House, hoping for what he called a “bird’s-eye view of the process” and ... Read More

An investigation by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International revealed thousands of people were targeted by spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group Technologies. Hundreds of human rights activists, government officials, business executives and journalists worldwide had their cellphones compromised by the “Pegasus” spyware, remotely ... Read More

Heat waves across the country this year have shattered temperature records, and climate scientists expect it to keep getting worse. Some policy options for dealing with the lethal and inequitable impact of heat have been recommended by researchers. In addition to increasing risk for numerous health conditions, from cardiovascular disease to respiratory ... Read More