Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to investigate a case of monkeypox in a Massachusetts resident who had recently traveled to Canada by private transportation. Testing in Massachusetts found orthopox virus infection Tuesday night, and CDC labs confirmed as monkeypox this afternoon. […]
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U.S. Soccer, USWNT & USMNT Players Achieve Equal Pay with Identical Economic Terms; First Federation to Equalize FIFA World Cup Prize Money
CHICAGO (MAY 18, 2022) – The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the United States Women’s National Team Players Association (USWNTPA) and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association (USNSTPA) have agreed to terms of historic, first-of-their-kind collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that achieve equal pay and set the global standard moving forward in international soccer. […]
Justice Department sues to compel a U.S. Businessperson to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act
The Department of Justice today filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to compel Stephen A. Wynn, a U.S. businessperson and hotelier who previously served as the CEO of Wynn Resorts, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as the agent of the People’s […]
Statement by President Joe Biden on International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Jill and I stand in support and solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex, (LGBTQI+) people in the United States and around the world. And we join with Americans across the country to reaffirm our commitment to the ongoing work of upholding human dignity […]
U.S. wildfire dangers seen spreading east as climate risks grow
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2022 – (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – From New Jersey to Georgia, U.S. states thousands of miles from wildfire hotspots in the west face a growing risk from forest blazes as global warming makes “safe havens” increasingly rare, researchers warned on Monday. Wildfires pose at least a moderate risk to more than 30 […]
Justice Department Files Complaint and Proposed Consent Decree to Ensure Safety of Abbott Laboratories’ Infant Formula
WASHINGTON — The United States has filed a complaint and a proposed consent decree that, if entered by a federal court in the Western District of Michigan, would allow Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) to resume manufacturing powdered infant formula at its Sturgis, Michigan, facility but also would require the company to take specific measures designed to […]
CFPB Releases Report on Mortgage Servicing Metrics
WASHINGTON, D.C. May 16, 2022 — Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report examining mortgage servicers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data, collected across 16 large servicers from May through December 2021, reveal homeowners continue to face significant risks and challenges connected to working with their mortgage servicers. This problem is […]
U.S. hospices vary widely in prescribing of “comfort kit” medications
When a person nearing the end of their life enters hospice care, their hospice agency’s doctors may prescribe a “comfort kit” of small amounts of medications that their caregivers can give them in case of urgent, distressing symptoms such as severe anxiety, agitation, delirium, nausea and more. They may also get other prescriptions as their […]
Cutting air pollution emissions would save 50,000 U.S. lives, $600 billion each year
MADISON, Wis. May 16, 2022 — Eliminating air pollution emissions from energy-related activities in the United States would prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths each year and provide more than $600 billion in benefits each year from avoided illness and death, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers. Published today in the […]
Select Committee Subpoenas Five Members of Congress
Washington, DC, May 12, 2022—Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) today announced that the Select Committee has subpoenaed Representatives Kevin McCarthy, Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks for deposition testimony as part of the committee’s investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and its causes. The Select Committee is subpoenaing […]
Department of the Interior Releases Investigative Report, Outlines Next Steps in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2022 — Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland today released Volume 1 of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. This report lays the groundwork for […]
LGBTQ people four times more likely than non-LGBTQ peers to choose a college away from home to find acceptance
May 11, 2022 – A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law conducted in collaboration with the Point Foundation, the nation’s largest LGBTQ scholarship fund, finds LGBTQ people were four times more likely than non-LGBTQ people to report having picked a college in a different city or state in search of […]
Bill to Protect Abortion Rights Falls Short of Passage in Second Senate Vote
Statement from Nancy Northup, president & CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights: “This is an unprecedented moment. We are likely on the precipice of losing Roe v. Wade, and with it half of the population would lose the right to control their own bodies and futures. We need federal legislation to protect abortion access […]
On Senate Floor, Warren Calls on Senate to Pass Women’s Health Protection Act and Fight Back Against Republican Extremism
Washington, D.C. May 10, 2022 – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate on the need to protect the Constitutional right to abortion and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would enshrine the right to an abortion in federal law. This comes after […]
Study: Cost-Related Barriers Prevent Low-Income Women in the U.S. from Using Their Preferred Contraceptive Method
May 10, 2022 – Up to 40% of women with low incomes in the United States would use a different contraceptive method—or would start using a method—if cost were not a factor, according to a new Guttmacher Institute study published today. National data from 2015–2019 suggest that 23% of low-income female contraceptive users* would prefer to […]
April was an active month for tornadoes, wildfires and late-season winter weather
Key Points: The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in April was 50.7°F, which is 0.4°F below average, ranking in the middle third of the 128-year record. Generally, temperatures from the Northwest to the Great Lakes and into the mid-Mississippi Valley were below average, with much of the Southwest, Deep South and portions of the […]
Draft Overturning Roe v. Wade Quotes Infamous Witch Trial Judge With Long-Discredited Ideas on Rape
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, in a draft opinion obtained and published this week by Politico, detailed his justifications for overturning Roe v. Wade, he invoked a surprising name given […]
President Biden Announces Karine Jean-Pierre as White House Press Secretary
Today, President Biden announced Karine Jean-Pierre has been promoted to be Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary. Karine will step into the Press Secretary role replacing Jen Psaki, who will depart from the White House on May 13. Statement from President Biden: “I am proud to announce that Karine Jean-Pierre will serve as the […]
Vigilante Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Supreme Court declined to immediately block a citizen-enforced ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy (S.B. 1503). The Oklahoma state legislature passed the ban on April 28 with anti-abortion lawmakers forestalling any debate or questions. The Court issued its ruling shortly before Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the bill. As a result, until the […]
Chair Raskin, Ranking Member Mace Request Justice Department Briefing on Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture Program
Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. Nancy Mace, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting information about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) efforts to address longstanding abuses of its Equitable Sharing Program, which allows state and local governments to partner with DOJ by transferring […]