KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States headed Dec. 13 from Michigan to distribution centers across the country, with the first shots expected to be given in the coming week to health care workers and at nursing homes.

WASHINGTON — The head of the Food and Drug Administration says his agency has told Pfizer that it “will rapidly work” to grant emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine following a positive recommendation by government advisers.

President-elect Joe Biden says he won’t immediately lift tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on many imports from China or break Trump’s initial trade deal.

Hurricane Delta rapidly intensified into a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds Oct. 6 on a course to hammer southeastern Mexico and then grow to a potentially catastrophic Category 4 on approach to the U.S. Gulf coast this week.

Traffic deaths in the U.S. fell for the third consecutive year in 2019, the government’s road safety agency reported.

Lawmakers who criticized regulators over the way they approved the Boeing 737 Max will propose changing the way that the Federal Aviation Administration certifies new plane designs and uses private-sector employees to perform safety analysis.

Homeowners and businesses along the soggy Gulf Coast began cleaning up Sept. 17 in the wake of Hurricane Sally, even as the region braced for a delayed, second round of flooding in the coming days from rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains.

Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore in Alabama with 105 mph winds and torrential rain Sept. 16, swamping homes and trapping people in high water along the Gulf Coast as it crept inland for what could be a long, slow and disastrous drenching across the Deep South.

Developing countries’ difficulty in containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic will keep a lid on global oil demand, particularly in India, the OPEC cartel said Sept. 14 as it cut its forecasts.

House Democrats said Sept. 8 they will investigate whether Postmaster General Louis DeJoy encouraged employees at his former business to contribute to Republican candidates and then reimbursed them in the guise of bonuses, a violation of campaign finance laws.