Teen birth rates decline in most US states The U.S. teen birth rate fell 25 percent over five years to a record low of 31 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The teen birth rate per 1,000 by state in 2011, and percentage decline since 2007: New Hampshire, 14, 29 percent

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report. In 22 states, teen Hispanic birth rates plunged at least 40 percent, which was described as "just amazing," by the report's lead author, Brady Hamilton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the CDC announced the overall improvement in teen births: a record low of 31 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. The teen drop in the last five years coincided with an overall decline in births, which experts attribute to a weak economy that dampened enthusiasm for having children. Hispanic women have been part of that trend, possibly due to the economy and to illegal immigration crackdowns in some states that reduce the number of young Hispanic females entering the country from Mexico and other nations, said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health. "There is more attention on education, career, and the future," said Dr. Janet Realini, head of Healthy Futures of Texas, a San Antonio-based organization focused on preventing teen and unplanned pregnancies.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. The center has experience in facial reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer and its experts have practiced face transplants on cadavers. The donor, a 34-year-old man, was chosen from a national registry of potential donors after his age, gender, blood group and body features were determined to be a good match for the injured man. "In such an extensive injury, where the structures close to the skull base and in contact with the brain area are exposed, any infection would be dangerous, not to mention the impossibility to function normally, including problems with breathing, with eating," Maciejewski said. Another member of the transplant team, surgeon Dr. Maciej Grajek, told The Associated Press that the patient was receiving drugs to ward off any potential viral, bacterial or skin infections, but the face is alive and is healing. Dr. Zbigniew Wlodarczyk, who has performed limb transplants in Poland but was not involved in the face transplant, told the AP the surgery was groundbreaking because it was carried out on a fresh injury and on tissues that have not healed, but that leaving such an extensive wound open would have led to infection and the patient's death.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A plan to merge two South Texas universities into one and create a new medical school cleared one of its last hurdles Wednesday night with a final vote of approval by the state Senate. Perry, who is expected to sign the bill into law, called the vote "a historic moment for the future students who will fill the classrooms, proudly call this university their alma mater, and create a brighter future for themselves and their families." The university would be eligible to gain "emerging research university" status, which would allow it to compete for state money that is supposed to help schools attract research and private grants.

(AP) — A school bus slammed into the back of another one Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving four buses in northern Indiana, leaving about 50 middle and high students with non-serious injuries and one driver seriously injured. The crash injured 55 people, including three of the four bus drivers, Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Chad Hill said. Photos from the scene showed the bus in the back of the collision had heavy damage to the front end, with the hood of the vehicle lying in the road.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker submitted a bill Wednesday to expand Medicaid to thousands more low-income Ohioans, with the hope that by adding changes such as copayments for some of the newly eligible that she could sway more of her GOP colleagues to back the idea. Sears said her plan would also impose barriers on so-called "doctor shopping," where patients get prescription drugs from multiple health care practitioners without the prescribers' knowledge of the other drugs. Opponents of Medicaid expansion fear being stuck with the long-term costs of the program, which now is being paid for mainly by the federal government. Many conservatives in the Legislature also are philosophically against the idea of expanding government programs and opposed to Obama's law, which calls for mandated health coverage.

(AP) — As state and federal officials continue to investigate a cluster of serious respiratory illnesses in Alabama, one person remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition in the southeastern part of the state battling an unknown strain of influenza-like illness complicated by pneumonia. State health officials are waiting for results of lab tests Thursday morning that will identify its origins and provide answers to what is making people so sick and how it is transmitted. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health's website, few if any cases of flu were reported in May after a particularly active flu season.

(AP) — Republican Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday he is hopeful he can still broker an agreement with the Republican-led Legislature to expand government health insurance for low-income adults, despite the state's tentative budget deal that leaves out the Medicaid expansion. Snyder told The Associated Press during an interview in Washington that while the budget deal he reached with GOP leaders in the Legislature on Tuesday does not include the expansion, they could come up with a solution after the final budget is passed. In Washington, Snyder is meeting with officials from President Barack Obama's administration to discuss the Michigan House Republican's proposal to expand Medicaid — with significant limitations — as well as other issues like immigration and cyber security, spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said. Republican lawmakers have touted the plan as the first such proposal in the country and one that would make people healthier and save taxpayer dollars, but it has been heavily criticized by Democrats.

The number of Los Angeles dispensaries has surged since 2007, outnumbering Starbucks coffee shops and prompting a series of unsuccessful efforts by lawmakers to bring order to the industry. Supporters of the winning measure, which was put on the ballot by the City Council and supported by both mayoral candidates, said it would balance the needs of ailing patients who say they need the drug with concerns about loitering and crime related to pot shops that popped up across the city. The current number of landlords and shop owners could be around 2,000, said Jane Usher, special assistant city attorney, though officials have had difficulty determining firm numbers as new dispensaries open and others close. Under the new law, which will take effect after the election is certified in about a month, dispensaries that aren't eligible to remain open will be notified by city officials to close or face possible civil or criminal action. Shops that can remain open still run the risk of being shut down by the U.S. government, which deems marijuana illegal and has raided clinics, prosecuted owners and filed lawsuits against landlords in California.

The original 75-year agreement approved in December by an executive-branch council and finalized by Perdue just before she left office has drawn criticism from Republican legislative leaders, who say the $68 million the deal generates doesn't represent fair market value. Legislative attorneys have argued the original deed language requires the state to receive fair market value and devote those resources to mental health to avoid any potential lawsuits from people claiming the state hasn't provided adequate mental health care. Like the Senate version, the House bill directs proceeds specifically to mental health and requires the city to carve out a piece of the property for a consolidated Department of Health and Human Services facility.