Hill Country News

Grocery store shelves where baby formula is typically stocked are locked and nearly empty in Washington, D.C., on May 11, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Vulnerable hit hardest by baby formula shortage; Biden invokes Defense Production Act

Even as the House passed legislation Wednesday to provide $28 million aimed at helping to ease a baby formula shortage that has sent families scrambling, it also tried to address a … more

Ariel Cohen, CQ-Roll Call (TNS) | 5/18/22

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., shown Sept. 9, 2020, are advocating that up to $50,000 in student loan forgiveness be given to each individual. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images/TNS)

Democrats press Biden to go big on forgiving student loan debt

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock pitched President Joe Biden to go big with student loan forgiveness during a White … more

Jarrell Dillard, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/18/22

A smoke after shelling rises from an oil refinary near Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, on May 9, 2022, on the 75th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Russian soldier pleads guilty to war crime; Mariupol fighters’ fate uncertain

As the first Russian soldier to be tried for war crimes pleaded guilty to killing a Ukrainian civilian, fears grew Wednesday over the fate of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers who … more

Patrick J. McDonnell and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/18/22

President Joe Biden stands back as first lady Dr. Jill Biden places flowers at a memorial just across the street of the Tops Friendly Market at Jefferson Avenue and Riley Street on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Buffalo, New York. The killing of 10 people in a historically Black neighborhood of Buffalo is being investigated as a hate crime and an act of "racially motivated violent extremism," according to federal officials. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Biden condemns Buffalo mass shooting as terrorism and denounces white supremacy as ‘a poison’

President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned Saturday’s deadly mass shooting in Buffalo as a “racist rampage” and an act of “domestic terrorism,” calling on Americans … more

Courtney Subramanian and Nolan D. McCaskill, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/17/22

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.

Sweeping, limited or no powers at all? What’s at stake in the mask mandate appeal

The definition of “sanitation.” An old court case that involves an underwear manufacturer. Whether people had a fair chance to express their opinions about wearing masks on planes.These disparate … more

Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News (TNS) | 5/12/22

In this Nov. 30, 2021 photo, syringes and other medical equipment are shown during the media tour of the OnPoint supervised drug injection site, in New York. (Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

US overdose deaths soared 15% to top 100,000 last year, CDC says

Deaths from drug overdoses rose almost 15% in the U.S. last year, topping 100,000 and setting another grim record, according to provisional data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An … more

Alex Tanzi, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/11/22

U.S. President Joe Biden replies to questions from the media after discussing inflation and lower costs for working families in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Prices in US outstrip forecasts in sign of inflation persisting

U.S. consumer prices rose by more than forecast in April, indicating inflation will persist at elevated levels for longer and keeping the Federal Reserve on the path of aggressive interest-rate … more

Reade Pickert, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/11/22

A plane landed safely thanks to the help of an air traffic controller who instructed a passenger on how to land the plane at Palm Beach International Airport. (Thomas Barrat/Dreamstime/TNS)

‘I have no idea how to fly the airplane’: Air traffic controller helps passenger safely land at Palm Beach International Airport

A plane landed safely at Palm Beach International Airport after “a possible pilot medical issue in the air,” on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, thanks to the … more

Robin Webb, South Florida Sun Sentinel (TNS) | 5/11/22

Abortion-rights demonstrators protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on May 10, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/TNS)

Senate to vote on abortion rights; Democrats hope to send message

Senate Democrats plan to vote Wednesday on a bill to establish a federal right to abortion in hopes of drawing a sharp political contrast with Republicans who support the Supreme … more

Jennifer Haberkorn, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/11/22

Russian Emergencies personnel clear debris in the partially destroyed Mariupol drama theatre in the city of Mariupol on May 10, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Ukraine retakes territory in the east amid more Russian attacks

Ukraine pressed its counteroffensive against Russian troops Wednesday, pushing them back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv in what observers say could bring a new phase to … more

Laura King and Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/11/22

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the scene during a pre-dawn apprehension in Bell Gardens, California, on March 16, 2020. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Immigration officials created network that can spy on majority of Americans, report says

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has crafted a sophisticated surveillance dragnet designed to spy on most people living in the United States, without the need for warrants and … more

Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/10/22

The Federal Reserve is on what appears to be a longer period of raising rates.

Biggest winners and losers from the Fed’s interest rate hike

Last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it is raising interest rates by half a percentage point, bumping the federal funds rate to a target range of 0.75 to 1.00 percent. The move follows an … more

James Royal, Bankrate.com (TNS) | 5/10/22

A customer looks at a handgun at the Kissimmee, Florida, location of The Armories on Dec. 31, 2020. From 2019 to 2020, homicides involving firearms rose 35% to 6.1 per 100,000 people, a new CDC report says. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

2020 saw most firearm deaths since 1994, CDC reports

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the highest firearm homicide rates since 1994, with substantial increases among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native males and young adults, according … more

Jessie Hellmann, CQ-Roll Call (TNS) | 5/10/22

A North Dakota oil field, pictured in 2015. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune)

Oil sheds almost 10% in two days to drop below $100 a barrel

Oil continued its retreat into a second session as galloping US inflation fueled concerns it would force moves that risk pushing the economy into a recession. West Texas Intermediate fell 3.2% to … more

Julia Fanzeres and Devika Krishna Kumar, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/10/22

This photograph taken on April 26, 2022, shows the Soviet monument to Ukraine-Russia friendship being dismantled in Kyiv. - Authorities in Kyiv on April 26, 2022, began demolishing a monument symbolising historic ties between ex-Soviet Ukraine and Russia, AFP correspondents reported, more than two months after Moscow's troops invaded Ukraine. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Putin defends invasion of Ukraine during display of Russian might

With international pressure mounting and his invasion of Ukraine failing to make significant advances, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a strident speech Monday at an … more

Laura King and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/9/22

Beef will be getting even more expensive at U.S. grocery stores in the months ahead, according to one of the country’s biggest meatpackers. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Steak prices will keep rising, major US meatpacker says

Beef will be getting even more expensive at U.S. grocery stores in the months ahead, according to one of the country’s biggest meatpackers. National Beef Co., controlled by the Brazilian … more

Tatiana Freitas, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/8/22

U.S. first lady Jill Biden speaks with Ukrainian children who fled to Slovakia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Mother's Day at Primary School Tomasikova 31 on Sunday, May 8, 2022, in Kosice, Slovakia. (Zuzana Gogova/Getty Images/TNS)

Jill Biden, Justin Trudeau visit Ukraine; dozens feared dead in school bombing in eastern battle zone

As air-raid sirens wailed repeatedly Sunday in the capital, Kyiv, and in cities and towns across Ukraine, U.S. first lady Jill Biden made a foray into the embattled country, … more

Laura King and Courtney Subramanian, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/8/22

The in vitro fertilization process. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Supreme Court decision may hinder access to IVF, a revolutionary fertility tool of the Roe era

The end of Roe v. Wade would bar women across much of America from aborting a pregnancy. But it also may restrict millions more people trying to get pregnant. State laws banning … more

Michael Wilner, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS) | 5/7/22

A vial of Pfizer COVID-19 booster vaccination sits on a table at a vaccination booster shot clinic on Oct. 1, 2021, in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/TNS)

Long COVID risk worse after delta than omicron, data show

The risk of lingering symptoms after COVID-19 appears influenced by the strain of coronavirus that caused the infection, according to an analysis from the U.K., where an estimated 1.8 million people … more

Clara Hernanz Lizarraga, Bloomberg News (TNS) | 5/7/22

Plastic trash is used to make a sign in Anacostia Park March 21, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Only about 5% of plastic waste gets recycled in US, new report says

PHILADELPHIA — Only 5% to 6% of the 46 million tons of plastic waste generated annually in the U.S. gets recycled, a big dip from the last estimate of nearly 9% just a few years ago, according … more

Frank Kummer, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) | 5/7/22

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