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NATIONAL
Teen pregnancy in U.S. falls to 'historic low' 3 dead in courthouse shooting Tug reaches disabled cruise ship
LOS ANGELES -- Births to women age 15 to 19 and 20 to 24 in the U.S. declined to "historic lows" in 2011, declining to 31.3 births per 1,000 women, said researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics.
Writing in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, Brady E. Hamilton and colleagues summarized vital statistics from birth certificates and death records in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Overall, there were 3,953,593 births in the U.S. in 2011, 1 percent fewer than in 2010. The birth rate was 12.7 births per 1,000 total population, the lowest rate ever reported in the nation.
Breaking the data down by ages, birth rates fell for women age 15 to 29 and rose for women 35 to 39 and 40 to44. Rates were unchanged for women 30 to 34 and 45 to 49.
Significantly, among teenagers 15 to 19 the birth rate fell 8 percent.
In all, 40.7 percent of babies were born to unmarried women in 2011, a slight decline from 2010 -- and by race.
The report also summarized mortality data: overall, 2,513,171 people died in the U.S. in 2011, at a rate of 7.4 people per 1,000 -- a record low.
WILMINGTON, Del. -- Motivated by a yearslong custody dispute, a gunman opened fire Monday morning in the New Castle County Courthouse lobby just as the building was opening to the public for the day, exchanging shots with police and leaving three people -- including the shooter -- dead, authorities said.
Delaware State Police Sgt. Paul Shavack said the suspected gunman and two women are dead. Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams said in a phone interview that one of the women killed was the shooter's estranged wife,.
Earlier, Shavak said the gunman opened fire before he passed metal detectors in the lobby. Shavack said two police officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
HOUSTON -- Passengers aboard a cruise vessel stranded in the Gulf of Mexico had limited access to bathrooms and food on Monday as they waited for two tugboats to arrive to tow them to Mexico, Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement.
The Carnival Triumph has been floating aimlessly about 150 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula since a fire erupted in the aft engine room early Sunday, knocking out the ship's propulsion system.
The ship, which left Galveston, Texas, on Thursday and was scheduled to return there Monday, will instead be towed to Progreso, Mexico, and the 3,143 passengers on board will fly back to the United States. There are also 1,086 crew members aboard the ship. They are to arrive in Mexico on Wednesday.
One of the tugboats arrived Monday afternoon and the other is expected to arrive Monday evening, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said in an email.
When another Carnival cruise ship, the Legend, rendezvoused with the stranded vessel Monday, supplying Triumph passengers with food and supplies, Texas resident Brent Nutt was able to briefly chat with his wife, Bethany, who could draw a cellphone signal from the visiting cruise line.
Passengers were given food, Nutt said, and some of the bathrooms are working. But the ship is dirty, Nutt said his wife told him. "There's water and feces all over the floor."
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