Penn State announced details this week on how it plans to enforce President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.

Katriona Shea, an Alumni Professor in the biological sciences at Penn State, is co-leader of a national team that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Known as the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub Coordination Team, it brings together researchers from institutions across the United States to offer projections on the pandemic. Shea spoke with WPSU about how scientific modeling works, how it can be used when dealing with pandemics and the Omicron variant.

The Maryland Air National Guard wants to conduct combat training flights just 100 feet from the ground, sparking concerns that noise could cause tourism to decline and impact wild elk and bald eagles.

Suresh Kuchipudi, a professor of virology at Penn State, is one of the lead researchers of a study of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer in Iowa in 2020-21. They found that the number of deer samples that tested positive increased over time, reaching 80% by the end of the year.

Preliminary data out of South Africa suggest COVID vaccines are much less effective at stopping infection from the omicron variant, but there's hope the vaccines will protect against severe disease.

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee — ahead of Wednesday's hearing on the impact of Instagram on kids.

Voting is ending at three stores around Buffalo, N.Y. Starbucks had flown in executives to the area and asked federal officials to delay the ballot count.

Buck O'Neil, the late Negro Leagues first baseman, manager and Major League Baseball coach, had been overlooked for past induction — a point of contention for a long time.

Christmas tree farmers in Vermont are not alone — there is high demand amid a nationwide Christmas tree shortage and record high prices.