U.S. home births increased slightly in the pandemic’s second year, rising to the highest level in decades, according to a government report published Thursday. Among almost 4 million births in 2021, nearly 52,000 occurred at home, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed. That’s up about 12% from… Read More

Have U.S. drug overdose deaths stopped rising? Preliminary government data suggests they may have, but many experts are urging caution, noting that past plateaus didn’t last. U.S. overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s driven by opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like… Read More

Two new U.S. studies show that automatic emergency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40%. The studies released Tuesday, one by a government-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to… Read More

A food poisoning outbreak tied to deli meat and cheese has sickened 16 people, including one who died, U.S. health officials said Wednesday. Most were hospitalized and one illness resulted in the loss of a pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illnesses date back to… Read More

A large fire burned Monday inside a chemical plant on the coast of Georgia, where authorities ordered nearby neighborhoods to evacuate because of threats from toxic smoke and potential explosions. Emergency responders safely evacuated a small handful of employees working when the fire broke out at about 4 a.m. Monday… Read More