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Nursing coordinator Beth Springer looks into a patient's room in a COVID-19 ward at the Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La., in August. Despite a decline in COVID-19 cases in the United States over the last several weeks the country's total deaths are close to 700,000. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption

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Gerald Herbert/AP

700,000 people have died from COVID in the U.S., where cases are just beginning to fall

Health experts say the latest wave of the pandemic has peaked. An estimated 70 million eligible Americans remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to the highly contagious delta variant.

Annie Parfait, a Houma Nation elder, sits outside her home in Dulac, La., on Sept. 21, three weeks after Hurricane Ida made landfall in southeast Louisiana. Parfait, 70, rode out the storm at the Houma Nation Headquarters in Houma, La. Annie Flanagan for NPR hide caption

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Annie Flanagan for NPR

Pushed to the edge, tribe members in coastal Louisiana wonder where to go after Ida

By nature and necessity, the Houma people are a sprawling but tight-knit community in the bayou region. Federal recognition for the tribe could keep them out of harm's way.

This photo provided by Orange County Sheriff's Office shows Miya Marcano in Orlando, Fla. The sheriff's office says she disappeared Friday shortly after 27-year-old maintenance worker Armando Caballero was seen letting himself into her apartment with a master key. Orange County Sheriff's Office/AP hide caption

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Orange County Sheriff's Office/AP

The FBI joins the search for missing Florida college student Miya Marcano

Law enforcement agencies across Florida say they are also working around the clock regarding Marcano's disappearance. She was last seen on Sept. 24.

Teachers protested in August against COVID-19 vaccination mandates in New York. On Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied an emergency appeal from a group of teachers to block the city's vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other staff. Mary Altaffer/AP hide caption

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Mary Altaffer/AP

Justice Sonia Sotomayor turns down an appeal from NYC teachers to block the vaccine requirement

The teachers had filed for the injunction with the Supreme Court justice to keep the mandate from going into effect. Those who don't get shots face suspension without pay on Monday.

DjelicS/Getty Images

How reading aloud can help you bond with your kids and make them a better reader

It's not always easy to convince kids that reading isn't a chore. But reading aloud can help. Here are a few ways to help you find joy — and value — in reading aloud as a family.

How reading aloud can help you bond with your kids and make them a better reader

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United States gymnasts Kaylee Lorincz and Simone Biles hug after a Senate Judiciary hearing about the Inspector General's report on the FBI's handling of the Larry Nassar investigation on Sept. 15, 2021. Saul Loeb/Pool/AP hide caption

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Saul Loeb/Pool/AP

The FBI mishandled Larry Nassar's case. Now the Justice Department is focusing on victim support

The department outlined a broad new push to support crime victims, including coordinating with state and local authorities in cases where federal charges won't be brought.

After the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., news organizations started to keep their own tallies of deaths, which turned out to be higher than the government's numbers. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

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Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

More than 17,000 deaths caused by police have been misclassified since 1980

Public health data experts have a new way to calculate the underreporting of people killed by police. Criminologists call the results "interesting" but are reserving judgment on the accuracy.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (shown here Tuesday) has announced a COVID vaccine mandate for all of the state's schoolchildren. Aric Crabb/AP hide caption

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Aric Crabb/AP

California will require students to be vaccinated against COVID once the shots are fully approved

The nation's first vaccine mandate of its kind means all schoolchildren need to get the vaccines once they get final FDA approval for each age group; the FDA has OK'ed them for those 16 and up so far.

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