Survey: Little progress against teen vaping

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest government study on teen vaping suggests there’s been little progress in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of kids. The data seems to show more high school students vaping, with 14% saying they had done so recently, according to survey results released Thursday. In last year’s survey, about 11% said they had vaped recently. But experts cautioned that a change in the survey makes it difficult to compare the two: This year, a much higher percentage of participants took the survey in schools, and vaping tends to be reported more in schools than in homes.

2 dead, 6 injured in stabbings on Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An attacker with a large kitchen knife killed two people and wounded six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip before being arrested Thursday, police said. Three people were hospitalized in critical condition and another three were in stable condition, according to Las Vegas police who said they began receiving 911 calls about the stabbings around 11:40 a.m. on the north end of the Strip. Authorities said the suspect identified himself to police and they are working to determine his “true identity.” They described him as Hispanic and in his 30s, and said he does not appear to be a Las Vegas resident.

Biden to designate national monument

DENVER (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to designate its first new national monument, preserving a World War 2-era alpine training site and providing a boost to the reelection campaign of the state’s senior Senator, Michael Bennet, according to a person familiar with the process. The designation is expected to come next week, when the president will join Bennet, a fellow Democrat, and other elected officials in Colorado, according to the person, who declined to be identified discussing the designation before it is formally announced. Bennet is locked in a re-election fight with Republican businessman Joe O’Dea, during which the Democrat has pushed the president to preserve Camp Hale, about 20 miles south of Vail.

FBI finds US crime rate steady in 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI estimates violent crime rates didn’t increase substantially last year, though they remained above pre-pandemic levels, according to annual crime data. But the report presents an incomplete picture, in part because it doesn’t include some of the nation’s largest police departments. Violent and property crime generally remained consistent between 2020 and 2021, with a slight decrease in the overall violent crime rate and a 4.3% uptick in the murder rate, both of which are not considered statistically significant, the analysis found. That suggests an improvement over 2020, when the murder rate in the U.S. jumped 29% during the COVID-19 pandemic that created huge social disruption and upended support systems.