U.S. health spending recovers after two slow years: CMS
(This Dec. 5 story corrects first paragraph to say growth was slower not declined in previous years, removes reference to projected spending in eighth paragraph)
Second evacuation lifted in Texas city hit by explosion, chemical fire
Authorities on Thursday lifted a second evacuation order in a week for thousands of people in a Texas city as U.S. safety officials began examining what caused the latest in a series of chemical plant fires in the state.
EPA chief says agency working to address biofuels industry concerns over blending mandates: source
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler told a biofuels company in a phone call on Thursday that the agency is working to address industry concerns over biofuel blending requirements that have sparked outrage across the Farm B…
Emotion-sensing robot launches to assist space station astronauts
An intelligent robot equipped with emotion-sensing voice detectors was headed to the International Space Station after launching from Florida on Thursday, becoming the latest artificial intelligence-powered astronaut workmate in orbit.
Trump administration sued over new social media disclosure rules
Two documentary film groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging Trump administration rules adopted this year that require nearly all visitors to the United States to disclose social media user information from the last five years.
At Iowa event, Biden gets into spat over Ukraine
On a day when Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sought to fortify his foreign policy credentials in his quest to take on Donald Trump next year, he mixed it up with an Iowa voter over his son’s alleged role in the Ukraine scandal that has bee…
TPC Port Neches, Texas blast due to ‘fundamental failure’: U.S. safety board
A Nov. 27 explosion at the TPC Group petrochemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, was due to a “fundamental failure in the system,” U.S. Chemical Safety Board member Manuel Ehrlich said on Thursday.
Texas City lifts evacuation after air levels of cancer-causing chemical drop: officials
Thousands of residents of an East Texas city who fled elevated air levels of cancer-causing petrochemicals were allowed to return to their homes on Thursday after leaks at a chemical plant were halted, officials said.
Police swoop on Latin King gang, scores arrested on East Coast
Dozens of members of the Latin Kings gang, one of the world’s largest criminal organizations, were arrested on Thursday in Massachusetts and along the East Coast on federal racketeering, gun and drug charges, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 48, cases of illness to 2,291
U.S. health officials on Thursday reported one new case and one more death from a respiratory illness tied to vaping over a two-week period, taking the total death toll to 48.
