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By AMANDA SEITZ, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is imploring the nation’s public health agencies to prioritize investigations of vaccine injuries, prescription drug use, and the cause of autism in a new “Make America Healthy Again” report focused on children released on Tuesday. The 20-page report, overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., promises to put an end to childhood diseases in the U.S. by refocusing the nation’s public health agencies on the topics that those in Kennedy’s wide-ranging and politically diverse “MAHA” movement have demanded the government prioritize. His renewed push to…

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The income for the typical U.S. household barely rose last year and essentially matched its 2019 peak, the Census Bureau said Tuesday, a stark illustration of the impact that the pandemic inflation spike had on Americans’ finances. The report also showed that the highest-earning households received healthy inflation-adjusted income increases, while middle- and lower-income households saw little gain. Median household income, adjusted for inflation, in 2024 was $83,730, the Census Bureau said, a 1.3% increase from the previous year’s level of $82,690. The median is the midpoint between the highest- and lowest-income…

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican-led House turned aside Democratic objections Tuesday and passed a plan backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional districts so that Republicans could win almost all of them. The rare mid-decade redistricting plan, which now heads to the state Senate, is aimed at bolstering Republicans’ national prospects in next year’s U.S. House elections. It comes after a similar move by Republican-led Texas and a counter-offensive in Democratic-led California, which still needs voter approval. Other states, including Republican-led Indiana and Florida and Democratic-led Maryland and New…

Ridesharing has provided innumerable benefits to California workers and consumers. Until Uber and Lyft arrived, ride-seekers were reliant on outmoded taxicab operations. For riders, that meant calling 800 numbers or standing in the street to flag a cab. Cars often were grimy. Drivers were stuck paying off the massive costs of medallions—the inflated fees cab companies paid for a permit. Now, rideshare drivers—the vast majority of whom perform this work on a part-time basis—can choose their own hours. Consumers can easily hail rides from their phones. But unions didn’t like the set up and they enlisted the help of Democratic…

For 25 years, Robert Bonner was committed to working under McDonald’s iconic Golden Arches. But by the time the native Floridian had severed ties with the franchise founded in Des Plaines by Ray Kroc in 1955, he burned everything that was related to the restaurant chain — awards, shirts, valuable collectibles — in his backyard. Bonner was the owner-operator of six McDonald’s stores in Illinois and the St. Louis region. But he left the chain after enduring numerous alleged racist actions from McDonald’s that he says impeded his opportunity for entrepreneurial growth and generational wealth. “Those Golden Arches … you…

By Todd Woody | Bloomberg Most California homes were built long before the state required they be constructed to withstand wildfires. Now, sellers of older homes in high-risk areas must disclose to potential buyers not only a dwelling’s susceptibility to fire but what they’ve done to address those vulnerabilities. As climate change intensifies natural disasters, states across the US have been mandating that home sellers disclose risks such as flooding. But the California disclosure is the first to zero in on a property’s ability to survive a catastrophe. Also see: Advocates push for mandatory retrofitting of existing homes in fire zones…

TOKYO (AP) — Nearly all female athletes have completed sex testing ahead of the athletics world championships this month in Japan. World Athletics said Tuesday that more than 95% percent of tests — a genetic screening to determine the athlete’s sex at birth — have been completed in the lead up the world championships that will take place in Tokyo beginning this weekend. The governing body for track and field said the remainder of the tests — for the French and Norwegian teams and some athletes based in France, both being countries where genetic testing for non-medical reasons is banned…

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer Cracker Barrel said Tuesday it’s suspending remodels of its restaurants after criticism from many longtime fans. The announcement came two weeks after Cracker Barrel backtracked on a separate plan to modernize and simplify its logo. Fans of the chain had also loudly criticized that move. Lebanon, Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel said Tuesday that just four of its 660 restaurants had been remodeled as part of a test for the brand. The remodels, which began last year, added more comfortable seating, brighter lights, lighter paint and a simplified assortment of antiques but kept signature elements like…

By Robbie Sequeira, Stateline.org In the past month or so, federal courts have dealt a string of blows to conservatives’ push for the biblical Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools. Yet as states lose over required religious displays, many are working on another route to faith-based education by allowing kids to attend off-campus religious instruction. This year, Iowa, Montana, Ohio and Texas passed laws guaranteeing parents the right to have their children excused during the school day for free, off-campus religious instruction, often called “released time.” Those four states are the latest of at least 12 that require…

Investors, just like house hunters, like a bargain. And in California, that means looking inland. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed data from Cotality – previously known as CoreLogic – tracking the share of single-family home purchases made by people not occupying the property. My focus was on the average pace of the past 18 months – last year and the first six months of 2025 – and how those investment patterns compared to the previous nine years. What stands out: Seven of California’s 10 most significant increases in investor share of homebuying were nowhere near the Pacific. Yes, the top two…