
Unemployment claims rise to 242,000, the highest in 3 months
CBSN
Applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to a three-month high last week but remained within the same healthy range of the past three years.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts had projected that 220,000 new applications would be filed.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs.

The threat of tornadoes moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, a day after a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up dust storms that caused deadly crashes and fanned more than 100 wildfires in several central states. Fatalities were reported in Missouri and Texas.

A Canadian woman who had appeared in an "American Pie" movie was detained for several days by U.S. immigration officials while attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the U.S. to renew her work visa, according to her mother. The woman's father expects his daughter to be able to return to Canada as early as Friday.

When the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970, its mission was to protect the environment and human health. Since then, scientists, health experts and advocates have worked to implement regulations aimed at protecting and cleaning the air we breathe and the water we drink. Many of these regulations, which were aimed at cleaning up the air, also helped reduce carbon emissions, which can contribute to climate change – so it was a win for our bodies and the planet.