US vaccine advisers say not all babies need a hepatitis B shot at birth

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted Friday to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.

Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. studio and streaming business for $72 billion

NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix has struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max. The $72 billion deal announced Friday would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership — and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm, which has released popular titles such as “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.”

Grand jury transcripts from abandoned Epstein investigation in Fla. can be released, judge rules

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge has given the Justice Department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of underage girls in Florida. The case ultimately ended without any federal charges being filed against the millionaire sex offender. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said Friday that a recently passed federal law ordering the release of records related to the cases overrode the usual rules about grand jury secrecy. The new law compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the materials they’ve amassed during investigations into Epstein. When the documents will be released is unknown.

Fed’s preferred inflation gauge stayed elevated in September as spending weakened

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation changed little in September, likely easing the way to a widely expected interest rate cut by the central bank next week. Prices rose 0.3% in September from August, the Commerce Department said Friday, in a report that was delayed five weeks by the government shutdown. It matched the increase recorded during the previous month. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 0.2% in September from August, the same as August, and a pace that if it continued for a year would bring inflation closer to the Fed’s 2% target.