PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, Aug. 12 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Mid-Atlantic Regional Information Office issued the following report on the consumer price index in the Northeast Region for July 2020: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Northeast increased 0.4 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau's regional commissioner, noted that the recent increase was due mostly to an inc  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Center for Strategic and International Studies issued the following commentary by Judd Devermont, director with the Africa program: The idea that Providence, the capital of the smallest state in the union, has such an outsized connection to the world's second-largest continent tends to surprise Washington bureaucrats. Many of our nation's diplomats regard Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, and New York City as more consequential hubs for U.S.-African relations. Providenc  more

BOSTON, Massachusetts, Aug. 15 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release on Aug. 13: The Mystic River Watershed Association, in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced its annual Water Quality Report Card on the Mystic River watershed for 2019. For the sixth year in a row, water quality monitoring data show that water quality for bacterial levels in the main stem of the Mystic River, including the Upper and Lower Mystic Lakes,   more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 -- The Federal Election Commission issued the following weekly digest: Commission meetings and hearings No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week. Advisory Opinions Request Closed Advisory Opinion Request 2020-03 (McCutcheon for Freedom). On August 10, the Commission sent a closeout letter to the requestor as the Commission currently lacks a quorum of four Commissioners to take action on advisory opinion requests. Enforcement The Commission made p  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 -- The Federal Reserve issued the following Fed Notes article by economist David A. Benson and senior economist Ken Onishi: * * * This note analyzes competition and concentration in "middle market" lending using loan level data obtained from large bank holding companies' Y14 reports to the Federal Reserve. The middle market segment is typically considered to be credit for firms larger than small businesses but too small for large-scale commercial lending or syndicated credi  more

BOSTON, Massachusetts, Aug. 15 [TNSrj] -- Massachusetts General Hospital issued the following news release: Investigators led by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have made discoveries at the single cell level to uncover new details concerning mitochondrial diseases - inherited disorders that interfere with energy production in the body and currently have no cure. The findings, which are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, could eventually benefit affected patients.  more

BOSTON, Massachusetts, Aug. 15 -- The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew E. Lelling, issued the following news release: LaFrance Hospitality, operator of 14 hotels in New England, has entered an agreement under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to resolve allegations that the showers in the accessible rooms of their New Bedford Marriott Fairfield hotel were inaccessible to persons with disabilities. LaFrance Hospitality failed to install permanent show  more

BETHESDA, Maryland, Aug. 15 -- The AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) will host an online event entitled "How to Get Away with Murder: A Guide to Laboratory Disinfection" on Sept. 17 from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. (ET): The posted description from the association states: Any scientific laboratory should be clean, but biological laboratories need to more than just 'clean', they need to be free of most, if not all, microorganisms. For BL1 or BL2 laboratories working with human cells   more

PORTLAND, Oregon, Aug. 15 -- Oregon Health and Science University issued the following news release: Oregon Health & Science University is building a resource for OHSU researchers with newly available national Medicaid data, a critical source for understanding and evaluating access, quality, and the cost of care for low-income Americans. This Medicaid data - known as the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System - was recently made available to researchers across the U.S. This create  more

BIDDEFORD, Maine, Aug. 15 -- The University of New England issued the following news release: People's race, sexual orientation, income, and social standing are all factors in their access to medical care and the quality of the care they receive. For Black individuals and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, these social determinants of health are often the source of inequities that can lead to substandard care. These disparities and underlying structural in  more