Keith Urban’s boundary-pushing album “Ripcord” has spawned several top country singles and led him to pick up seven nominations including entertainer of the year and album of the year at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. Lady Antebellum announced the nominations Thursday on “CBS This Morning” for the awards show, which will be held April in Las Vegas and aired live on CBS. Urban is also nominated for male vocalist of the year, single record of the year and song of the year. Six-time nominee Miranda Lambert could make …

The political climate in the United States is stressing out Americans, according to a new study. Researchers from the American Psychological Association found that 57 percent of Americans say the “current political climate is a very or somewhat significant source of stress,” according to a poll done in January. Nearly half of Americans, 49 percent, say the outcome of the 2016 presidential election was also a source of stress, but there were differences depending on which party those polled belonged to. For Democrats, 72 percent said the outcome was stressful, …

WATCH: People in America: Meet Tuhin Das — Poet, Activist and Writer in Exile … From: MeNeedIt

The Senate Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to run the White House budget office, giving the Republicans’ tea party wing a voice in Trump’s Cabinet. South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney squeaked through the Senate on a 51-49 vote. Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who’s emerging as perhaps the most vocal critic of the Trump administration, opposed Mulvaney for past House votes supporting cuts to Pentagon spending.   “Mulvaney has spent his last six years in the House of Representatives pitting the national debt against our military,” McCain said. …

President Donald Trump has weighed in on child autism, apparently without a complete grasp of the research.   Trump in the past has promoted debunked theories linking vaccines to autism, and shortly before his inauguration was considering a commission on the matter. Such comments have alarmed health professionals. Just last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics and dozens of other health organizations signed a letter to Trump saying claims that vaccines aren’t safe “have been disproven by a robust body of medical literature,” and offering to meet with him to …

Organizers in cities across the U.S. are telling immigrants to miss class, miss work and not shop Thursday as a way to show the country how important they are to America’s economy and way of life. “A Day Without Immigrants” actions are planned in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Austin, Texas. The protest comes in response to President Donald Trump and his 1-month-old administration. The Republican president has pledged to increase deportation of immigrants living in the country illegally, build a wall along the Mexican border, and ban people …

Fossils including sharks, sea reptiles and squid-like creatures dug up in Idaho reveal a marine ecosystem thriving relatively soon after Earth’s worst mass extinction, contradicting the long-held notion life was slow to recover from the calamity. Scientists on Wednesday described the surprising fossil discovery showing creatures flourishing in the aftermath of the worldwide die-off at the end of the Permian Period about 252 million years ago that erased roughly 90 percent of species. Even the asteroid-induced mass extinction 66 million years ago that doomed the dinosaurs did not push life …

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have several brain regions that are slightly smaller than usual, more evidence that the disorder should be considered a neurological condition, a new study says. The study, the largest review of ADHD patients’ brain scans ever conducted, might also provide clues for developing new treatments. “If you know what region of the brain is involved in ADHD, you could possibly target that part with medication,” said Martine Hoogman of Radboud University in the Netherlands, the study’s lead author. ADHD causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, …

Training young farmers to turn agriculture into a business is key to eradicating poverty and curbing economic migration, the new president of the U.N. agricultural development agency said Wednesday. Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, predominantly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and many rely on farming to survive, according to the United Nations. Countries need to provide them with better equipment and infrastructure to carry out world leaders’ ambitious plan to end poverty and hunger by 2030, according to Gilbert Houngbo, head of the International Fund …

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday criticized Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s stewardship of the U.S. economy and urged her to halt work on financial regulation until President Donald Trump names new policymakers to the central bank. In a tense hearing before the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee, Republicans made clear they will keep pressing the Fed to trim its large holdings of bonds and set interest rates based on established mathematical rules. “We must be vigilant to ensure that our central bankers do not one day become our central planners,” …