With the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children, many elementary schools around the country are preparing to offer the shots, which educators see as key to keeping students learning in person and making the classroom experience closer to what it once was. Some district leaders say offering vaccine clinics on campus, with the [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of intelligence officers could soon face dismissal for failing to comply with the federal government's vaccine mandate, leading some Republican lawmakers to raise concerns about removing employees from agencies critical to national security. Several intelligence agencies had at least 20 percent of their workforce unvaccinated as of late October, said U.S. [...]
Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus weekly under government rules that took effect last week. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said companies that fail to comply could face penalties of [...]
DETROIT (AP) — The number of traffic deaths in the first six months of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006, the government reported Thursday, a sign of growing reckless driving during the coronavirus pandemic. The estimated number was 18.4 percent higher than the first half of last year, prompting Transportation Secretary Pete [...]
OMAHA, Neb. — At least 59,000 meatpacking workers caught COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released last week. The meatpacking industry was one of the early epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic, with workers [...]
Even as schools have returned in full swing across the country, complications wrought by the pandemic persist, often falling hardest on those least able to weather them: families without transportation, people with limited income or other financial hardship, people who don't speak English, children with special needs. Coronavirus outbreaks in school and individual quarantine orders [...]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A group representing Navajo communities is presenting its case to an international human rights body, saying federal regulators violated the rights of tribal members when they cleared the way for uranium mining in western New Mexico. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights based in Washington, D.C., decided earlier this year that [...]
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (AP) — Sometimes when she's feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby. Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at [...]
MIAMI (AP) — Banned from the Florida hospital room where her mother lay dying of COVID-19, Jayden Arbelaez pitched an idea to construction employees working nearby. "Is there any way that I could get there?" Arbelaez asked them, pointing to a small third-story window of the hospital in Jacksonville. The workers gave the 17-year-old a [...]
NEW YORK — Food companies are coming under renewed pressure to use less salt after regulators spelled out long-awaited guidelines aimed at reducing sodium levels in dozens of foods including condiments, cereals, french fries and potato chips. The voluntary goals finalized this week for 163 foods are intended to help lower the amount of salt [...]