The nation’s leading health officials said Wednesday that the U.S. is moving closer to the point that COVID-19 is no longer a “constant crisis” as more cities, businesses and sports venues began lifting pandemic restrictions around the country. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing that […]

NEW YORK (AP)  While New York works on launching a legal market for recreational marijuana, some entrepreneurs dove into a legal gray area by saying they're not selling pot but giving it away while people buy something else. Now, the state is saying they have jumped the gun and need to stop. The Office of […]

By Jamey KeatenAssociated Press Late-night partying at clubs. Elbow-to-elbow seating in movie theaters. Going without masks in public, especially in Europe and North America: Step by step, many countries are easing their COVID-19 restrictions amid hopes the omicron wave may have passed its peak. The early moves to relax precautions, based on declining or flattening […]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The leaders of good government groups called Wednesday for New York’s Legislature to hold public hearings before passing new Congressional and legislative district maps in the coming days. The state’s independent redistricting commission has so far failed to come to agreement on a single set of maps for lawmakers to consider, after […]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Gov. Kathy Hochul has raised nearly $22 million for her election campaign, a huge sum that gives her a dominant advantage over a narrowing field of opponents in the Democratic primary. Hochul's haul, raised in just five months, dwarfed her closest competitors among both Democrats and Republicans, according to campaign finance filings […]

WASHINGTON (AP) Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest threat to the U.S. economy. Prices rose […]

WASHINGTON (AP) This year’s tax filing season will begin on Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last year, the Internal Revenue Service announced Monday. The IRS is warning that a resurgence of COVID-19 infections on top of less funding authorization from Congress than the Biden administration had requested could make this filing season particularly challenging. […]

By Marina Villeneuve Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) In her first State of the State address Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined an agenda for an economic comeback from the coronavirus pandemic and new government investments in health care, housing and renewable energy. Hochul, the state’s first female governor, spoke before a limited, socially […]

By Lisa Mascaro & Ashraf Khalil Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) It’s one of the most far-reaching of all the federal aid programs launched during the COVID- 19 pandemic – up to $300 per child going directly into the bank accounts of families on the 15th of every month. But the last checks went out Wednesday, […]

By Rebecca Reynolds Associated Press Near the Tidal Basin in Washington, crews have cleaned grime off the white marble exterior of the Jefferson Memorial and fixed cracked stone to prevent falling debris. At the Statue of Liberty, plans are in the works to waterproof the exterior of the massive stone fort built in 1807 that […]