Washington Digest: Senate Completes Tax Benefits Bill, Adjourns

Kristin Jones | KFF Health News (TNS) More than 60 years ago, policymakers in Colorado embraced the idea that early intervention could prevent child abuse and save lives. The state’s requirement that certain professionals tell officials when they suspect a child has been abused or neglected was among the first mandatory reporting laws in the nation. Since then, mandatory reporting laws have expanded nationally to include more types of maltreatment — including neglect, which now accounts for most reports — and have increased the number of professions required to report.

Jeff Ostrowski | Bankrate.com (TNS) As homebuyers grapple with record prices this spring, mortgage rates have also crept up. On a 30-year fixed loan, the average rate was 7.39% as of May 1, according to Bankrate’s survey of large lenders, marking three straight months of 7% rates. Blame inflation. It’s still stubbornly elevated, rising to 3.5% in March, and that’s led to dialed-back expectations about how quickly the Federal Reserve cuts rates this year, if at all.

Ted Rossman | Bankrate.com (TNS) “Revenge travel” has been a big theme the past couple of years as Americans have been raring to go here, there and everywhere after hunkering down during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Transportation Security Administration screened a record-high 858.5 million passengers in 2023. But it hasn’t been a smooth ride for travelers.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Sergei Bobrovsky has a plan. Although the Panthers will have to wait until Monday to play either Boston or Toronto in the opener of the second round of the playoffs, Florida coach Paul Maurice is not concerned about whether star goaltender Bobrovsky will be rusty. “Sergei’s got a plan for just about everything,” Maurice said.

MIAMI GARDENS – During most of the 24 weekends on the 2024 Formula One circuit, the high-speed Grand Prix auto race is the focal point, the main thing. And there are celebrity-laden parties wrapped around the race. At the Miami Grand Prix, it sometimes seems the other way around. At the Miami Grand Prix it sometimes seems that the parties and celebrity sightings are the main thing, and the race is the sideshow. Whatever is going on, people are watching.

Defense lawyers in the YNW Melly murder case are getting back to work, at least behind the scenes, though it will still be months before a second jury hears the bloody details. Broward Circuit Judge John J. Murphy issued a ruling this week allowing background work, such as sworn witness interviews, to continue while key issues are considered by the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Most criminal cases are put on hold while critical questions are under appeal, and Melly’s case has both sides challenging Murphy’s decisions. Prosecutors want the appeals court to allow them to introduce a 20-minute documentary produced by Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, 25.