Analysts say this year's lower tax refunds are largely to blame for a sizable drop in retail spending in the first quarter. UBS says its initial estimate of tax refunds received this season was too optimistic by a whopping $25…
The Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a formal request to the IRS requesting six years of President Trump's tax returns, a long-awaited move by Democrats to obtain the records using their House majority. Rep. Richard…
Although U.S. coal plants are becoming less profitable, global carbon emissions are higher than ever. China, the world's largest user of renewable energy, also burns the most coal. Coal is responsible for one-third of the global temperature increase since the…
A man has been slashing people's faces as he rides by them on a bicycle in and around Los Angeles, police said. Investigators told CBS Los Angeles eight people have been attacked within the past two weeks. On Monday morning,…
Washington — A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Wednesday to authorize $400 million in humanitarian aid to crisis-stricken Venezuela and intensify the U.S. campaign to isolate the increasingly authoritarian government of Nicolás Maduro, who has held on to power…
Avocado prices spiked 44 percent for the week ending Tuesday when President Trump threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border. "This is retailers getting as many avocados as possible just in case they close the border," one trade expert said. Tomato…
Animals lawyering up? A North Carolina bill would put animal abusers' names and faces on an online registry, much like a sex offender registry. The North Carolina Animal Abuser Registry Act was introduced by Senators Floyd McKissick and Danny Britt.…
Two 17-year-old boys who jumped into a Northern California irrigation canal to rescue a dog were killed when they grabbed onto an electrified bridge, authorities said Tuesday. Jacob Hourmouzus and Jacob Schneider died of electrocution, according to the Solano County…
Recent storms may have ended California's drought when it comes to water, but not when it comes to quakes, according to scientists. The state is in the midst of an earthquake drought. Seismologists are saying there haven't been enough powerful…
The United States Department of Agriculture is ending a controversial food-safety testing practice that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of cats since 1982. USDA officials announced on Tuesday that toxoplasmosis research will no longer use cats to…
Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is addressing a joint session of Congress Wednesday morning. Stoltenberg met with President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Mr. Trump has taken a somewhat combative stance…
A Pennsylvania judge handed out the first jail sentences in the hazing death of Penn State University sophomore Timothy Piazza. The 19-year-old student died in February 2017 after an alcohol-fueled event at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. Piazza's death led…
Students in Indiana's Elkhart School District are served breakfast and lunch at school, but may go hungry on nights and weekends. So, the school joined forces with an innovative nonprofit to ensures kids in need have enough to eat. The…
The Facebook ads dangled what they claimed were huge state tax breaks for U.S. homeowners if they installed new solar-energy panels. There was just one hitch: None of it was true. Hundreds of scam ads used photos of President Donald…
An Alabama man is expected to appear in court Wednesday after new DNA technology linked him to a decades-old double murder. Coley McCraney, 45, faces charges in the 1999 killings of two high school students, Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley.…
A federal judge on Tuesday granted Wisconsin's request to withdraw from a multi-state lawsuit seeking repeal of the federal health care law and another lawsuit challenging a rule related to the law. The orders are big wins for Gov. Tony…
La Mesa, Calif. -- Dozens of women are suing a Southern California hospital, claiming they were secretly filmed during medical procedures including having surgery and giving birth, according to a report. The lawsuit filed last week says female patients were…
Undated photo provided by attorney Chris Stewart shows LaDerihanna Holmes AP DeKalb County, Ga. -- Dekalb County Police say they've arrested a suspect in a recent hit-and-run that severely injured a nine-year-old girl who was playing in her yard, CBS…
The legal, ethical and societal implications of the digital revolution underway in the United States and across the world are likely to become "exponentially more complicated" with the advent of 5G, the next generation of faster and more stable mobile…
Nebraska governor on devastating flooding Addy Tritt went into her local Payless shoe store in Hays, Kansas, and bought out the store. Then, the 25 year old donated the shoes. The recent graduate of Kansas' Fort Hays State noticed Payless…
The House Oversight Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to subpoena Carl Kline, the former director of personnel security at the White House, as part of its investigation into the White House security clearance process. And the committee also voted…
One problem that plagues solar and wind power projects is the intermittent nature of their output, which varies with weather conditions. Battery storage on a big-enough scale can solve that problem by storing power made during favorable weather and releasing…
The Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved a series of new gun control bills, including a ban on using certain assault-style weapons. The vote comes about five months after a gunman who police say was armed with an AR-15 rifle…
Americans in poor, rural counties are more likely to be audited by the IRS than taxpayers in richer areas. The most audited county in the U.S. is Humphreys County, Mississippi, where median household annual income is $24,000. Higher audit rates…