A report released by the U.S. Air Force Thursday determined engine failure followed by crew error was responsible for a plane crash in Afghanistan late last January. The two Air Force aviators aboard the Bombardier E-11A aircraft died in the crash.

There is some hope for area students and families who would like to see New York state again allow high schoolsports deemed ‘higher-risk’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as football, basketball, ice hockey, wrestling, volleyball and competitive cheer.

On Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration issued new guidance for sports and recreation activities in schools, and it says that as of February 1, participants in higher risk sports and recreation activities can take part in those sports “as permitted by the respective local health authorities.” 

You've got mail. Somewhere. Probably.

The U.S. Postal Service is still digging out from under an avalanche of mail sent during the recent holiday season.

But for much of the past year the postal system has been strained by the impact of COVID-19 on its workflow and workforce.

In addition, operational changes ostensibly designed to stop the system from hemorrhaging money helped create a backlog of mail.

And the head of the Postal Service pledges that more changes in the name of cost savings are coming soon.

Each week, we answer "frequently asked questions" about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."

Nearly a year into the pandemic, the most talked about piece of apparel is an item that folks barely even thought about back in the early days of 2020.

Yes, we're talking about masks.

Aid groups who help resettle refugees in the U.S. are hopeful about what President Biden's actions will mean for people fleeing persecution.

Twitter permanently banned an account believed to be linked to Iran's supreme leader Friday after it posted a threatening image that included former President Donald Trump.

For more than 100 years "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" has been known as the Black national anthem. Rep. James Clyburn says it's time for it to be honored as the national hymn, and on Jan. 13, he filed a bill to try to make that official.

Clyburn told USA Today that making it a national hymn would help unite Americans.

The hospitalization rate in New York due to COVID-19 has steadily dropped in recent weeks, according to state data, with two consecutive days of significant declines Wednesday and Thursday.

Hospitalizations in New York declined by more than 200 on Thursday, bringing the number of people hospitalized down to 8,846 — less than half of the pandemic’s peak in April.

With a spotlight on COVID-19 vaccine distribution shortcomings, there's another bottleneck that could prevent inoculations from significantly speeding up in the near future: Pfizer's and Moderna's ability to scale up manufacturing and deliver doses to the U.S. government.

The companies promised to deliver 100 million doses apiece to the United States by the end of March. But they'll need to make huge leaps in a short time to meet that goal.