U.S. regulators clear way for more monkeypox vaccine

WASHINGTON >> Thousands more doses of monkeypox vaccine are expected to soon begin shipping to the U.S. after federal health officials said they had completed an inspection of the overseas plant where they were manufactured.

The update from the Food and Drug Administration comes amid growing frustration about limited access to the two-dose vaccine as thousands of people in New York City, California and other parts of the U.S. await a chance to get the shot.

The U.S. government has purchased more than 1.1 million completed doses of the vaccine produced by Bavarian Nordic in Denmark. But the company said earlier this week it needed authorization from an on-site FDA inspection before it could begin sending most of them to the U.S.

An FDA spokeswoman said late Wednesday that regulators “expedited and completed an inspection of the company's plant.”

Tribute: The flag-draped casket bearing the remains of Hershel W. “Woody” Williams of Huntington, W. Va., is carried by service members from the U.S. Capitol after lying in state Thursday. Williams, the last remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, died at age 98. He was awarded the medal at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Officials suggest pipeline firm hid problems after spill

BILLINGS, MONT. >> U.S. prosecutors suspect a Wyoming company of potentially concealing problems with a pipeline that broke in 2015 and spilled more than 50,000 gallons of crude into Montana's Yellowstone River, fouling a small city's drinking water supply, court filings show.

The government is suing Bridger Pipeline for violations of environmental laws in the 2015 spill, which came after the line buried beneath the Yellowstone became exposed and broke when ice scoured the river bottom near Glendive, Montana.

A survey of Bridger's pipeline on the company's behalf in 2011 included a note that the pipe was buried only 1.5 feet beneath the evershifting river bottom. That would have put it at heightened risk of breaking. But after the spill, prosecutors alleged, company representatives referenced a second survey when they told federal regulators that the pipeline had been buried at least 7.9 feet.

U.S. solicits help as it defines old growth and mature forests

BILLINGS, MONT. >> U.S. officials on Thursday solicited outside help as they craft definitions of old growth and mature forests under an executive order from President Joe Biden.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management issued a notice seeking public input for a “universal definition framework” to identify older forests needing protection.

Biden in April directed his administration to devise ways to preserve older forests as part of the government's efforts to combat climate change. Older trees release large volumes of global warming carbon when they burn.

Biden's order called for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over the next year to define and inventory all mature and old growth forests on federal land. After that, the agencies must identify the biggest threats those forests face and come up with ways to save them.

No deaths in Virginia flooding that washed out homes, roads

GRUNDY, VA. >> Rains that swiftly flooded a remote corner of southwest Virginia washed out roads, tore homes from their foundations and left people scrambling to find loved ones in areas where phone service was knocked out completely.

Authorities feared the worst Wednesday as they were inundated with calls from people who said they were unable to reach family members, leaving a total of 44 people unaccounted for, said Billy Chrimes, a search and rescue specialist with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. But by noon Thursday, everyone had been located.

“We walk into it as a worst-case scenario. We plan for the worst, we hope for the best, and once again, that's been the case,” Chrimes said.

First responders in Buchanan County began receiving reports of rising water and damage Tuesday night after a torrential rainstorm swamped the mountainous area.

Protesters leave buildings as president sends resignation

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA >> Protesters retreated from government buildings Thursday in Sri Lanka, restoring a tenuous calm to the economically crippled country, and the embattled president at last emailed the resignation that demonstrators have sought for months.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled a day earlier under pressure from protesters enraged by the island nation's economic collapse. He emailed his resignation a day later than promised, according to an official.

But with a fractured opposition and confusion over who is in charge, a solution to the country's many woes seemed no closer following Rajapaksa's departure. And the president has further angered the crowds by making his prime minister the acting leader. Protesters have pressed for both men to leave and for a unity government to address the economic calamity that has triggered widespread shortages of food, fuel and other necessities.