Teen births fall again
Teen births fall again
NEW YORK (AP) — Teen pregnancies fell again last year, to another historic low, a government report shows.
“The continued decline is really quite amazing,” said Brady Hamilton, the lead author of the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, the birth rate for U.S. teens dropped 8 percent. Rates have been falling since 1991, and this marks yet another new low.
Experts cite a range of factors, including less sex, positive peer influence, and more consistent use of birth control.
Research has shown that teen pregnancy and childbirth cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $9 billion each year and have negative health and social consequences.
The new report is based on a review of most of the birth certificates filed last year. There were nearly 4 million births. That’s down slightly from the 2014 total, by about 4,300.
Beyond California, Sanders signaling post-primary future
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the primary season near its end, a defiant Bernie Sanders declared Saturday that the Democratic presidential process should not be decided by party leaders and elected officials, predicting a contested summer convention against rival Hillary Clinton.
Speaking to reporters three days before the California primary, Sanders showed few signs of surrender, vowing to take his bid to the Philadelphia convention in July. He urged news organizations not to anoint Clinton as the presumptive nominee through a combination of pledged delegates and superdelegates.
“It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night,” Sanders said.
He said by the end of the primaries on June 14 neither candidate would have enough pledged delegates to declare victory and would be dependent upon superdelegates to reach the magic number. “In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention,” he said.
Clinton currently leads Sanders among pledged delegates by a count of 1,769 to 1,501, an edge of 268 pledged delegates. An Associated Press count of superdelegates shows Clinton leading 547 to 46.
Seine River peaks in Paris, top museums stay shut for days
PARIS (AP) — The Seine River peaked early Saturday around Paris, hitting its highest level in nearly 35 years — almost 15 feet above average — then began a slow descent. That drew a collective sigh of relief but authorities cautioned it could take up to 10 days for the river to return to normal.
It will take at least four days before tourists in the French capital get a chance to view art at the world-class Louvre Museum, where workers have been scrambling to move 250,000 artworks from basement storage areas to rooms upstairs to keep them safe from flooding.
The Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” said it won’t reopen until Wednesday, while the Orsay Museum, known for its impressionist art, was closed at least through the weekend. Other Paris landmarks shut down due to flooding include the national library and the Grand Palais, Paris’ opulent exhibition center, which was built more than 100 years ago.
Nearly a week of heavy rain has led to serious flooding across parts of France, Germany, Romania and Belgium.
The death toll from flooding in France rose to four, with 24 others injured, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday after a government crisis meeting, bringing the flooding death toll across Europe to 18.
By wire sources