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When the agency's purchase of $31,000 (£22,000) in furniture was revealed, Mr Carson said he was "surprised" by the cost and was cancelling the order. But a newly revealed email sent to Mr Carson's assistant in August seems to contradict his spokesman's statement. Congress has launched an investigation into the purchase. The House Oversight Committee has requested documents explaining the decision to buy the dining set, which exceeds the $5,000 spending limit the federal government allow for decorating government offices.

In her powerful new book, “Nomadland,” award-winning journalist Jessica Bruder reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are — as the subtitle says — “surviving America in the twenty-first century.” Not quite homeless, they are “houseless,” living in secondhand RVs, trailers and vans and driving from one location to another to pick up seasonal low-wage jobs, if they can get them, with little or no benefits.

Job creation saw another powerful month in February, with companies adding 235,000 positions, ADP and Moody's Analytics reported Wednesday.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has identified to Fox News the captain who, according to sources, directed responding deputies and units to “stage” or form a “perimeter” outside Stoneman Douglas High School, instead of rushing immediately into the building, as the mass shooting unfolded there. Multiple law enforcement and official sources said the commands in the initial moments after Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire would go against all training which instructs first responders to “go, go, go” until the shooter is neutralized. As law enforcement arrived, the shooter’s identity and exact location were still unknown.

When China's legislators gather Monday, they are expected to set the stage for President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely, as they vote on a constitutional amendment to end presidential term limits.  

It turns out it’s tough to give teachers raises when you slash taxes for a decade. Striking teachers and other public employees in West Virginia have shut down schools across the state for more than a week, flooding the capitol in Charleston each day to rebuke their lawmakers. The workers are demanding significant raises to their stagnant pay and a clear plan to curb rising premiums in the state employee health care program.

Michelle Obama is hopeful about the next generation of leaders in the US. The former first lady of the US, 54, has been meeting many younger leaders through her work with the Obama Foundation. It's given her a lot of optimism about their approach to leading the country. "They're tired of watching us do the same old thing and expect different results," Obama said at Klick Health's Muse event in New York on Tuesday. "So I'm optimistic about the future. There are some bright young people out there doing some amazing things."

NEWS Ben Carson asks HUD to cancel order for $31,000 dining set Stephanie Ebbs Stephanie Ebbs Good Morning AmericaMarch 1, 2018 Ben Carson asks HUD to cancel order for $31,000 dining set Ben Carson asks HUD to cancel order for $31,000 dining set The Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed Thursday that Secretary Ben Carson has asked the agency to cancel an order for a $31,000 dining set for his office suite after the agency came under scrutiny for the cost of the furniture. "At the request of the Secretary, the agency is working to rescind the order for...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development spent more than $31,000 on a new table and chairs for the dining room adjacent to Secretary Ben Carson's office — revelations that came just months after an official that warned against high expenses was moved to a new role within the department. The former senior HUD official, Helen Foster, has since filed a complaint that she was demoted in retaliation for raising concerns about granting extra funds to redecorate Carson's office and other issues within the department.

The Atlanta Police Department says it is still following leads in the search for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employee who went missing earlier in February. Atlanta Police Department Major Michael O'Connor said that Timothy Cunningham was last leaving work early on Feb. 12, saying he didn't feel well. Police believe that Cunningham made it to his northwest Atlanta home, but from there the trail goes cold.

His next door neighbor, Viviana Tory, says Cunningham said something odd to her husband the day he went missing, reports CBS News' Omar Villafranca. "He told my husband to tell his wife – me – to erase his cellphone number from my cellphone," Tory said. Investigators returned to the woods around Cunningham's house Monday searching for more clues. His family found his wallet, his car, even his beloved dog all left behind in his Atlanta home. Cunningham's father, Terrell, drove from Maryland to Georgia after not hearing from his son for two days.

President Donald Trump has suggested that arming some teachers would help to stop deadly school shootings. But in a viral #ArmMeWith rallying cry, educators are calling on political leaders to “arm” them with they really need: books and school supplies as well as time and resources. Teachers Olivia Bertels and Brittany Wheaton created the movement, USA Today reported.

A faith based foster care program is at risk of losing its license. South Carolina Department of Social Services is challenging Miracle Hill Ministries to stop recruiting only Christian families.

Ford's North America president Raj Nair is leaving the company, effective immediately. The announcement follows an internal investigation into reports of inappropriate behavior, Ford said Wednesday. The inquiry determined "certain behavior by Nair was inconsistent with the company's code of conduct."

The vicious MS-13 gang, stifled under former President George W. Bush, exploded during the Obama era fueled by 300,000 illegals, including those given amnesty under the DACA program, and has now been linked to crimes in 22 states, according to a new report. Since 2012, 207 murders have been tied to the gang called “Mara Salvatrucha,” and there are over 500 cases nationwide of MS-13 members being charged in major crimes, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Multiple guns, including an AR-15 style rifle, ammunition, grenades, a ballistic vest, and a list of grievances against fellow students were found at the home of the Maryland teen charged with bringing a loaded gun and knife to Clarksburg High School last week, according to prosecutors and a Montgomery County police officer who spoke in court Tuesday.

Let’s face it. Almost every child has likely had some type of meltdown in public, causing great embarrassment to both the child’s parent and to other witnesses in the vicinity. But while such disrespectful behavior is embarrassing at age two, it’s downright horrifying the older a child gets. Dr. Leonard Sax recently experienced one of these horrifying displays of disrespect in his medical practice. He describes the scenario in a recent edition of The Wall Street Journal:

As a call for action continues from Florida high school students and teens around the nation, Furman Political Science Professor, Dr. Danielle Vinson, believes the generation might be able to enact change in Washington. "For them to come up and start calling out politicians, I think that's a very powerful image. It's something that we haven't really seen a lot in the wake of school shootings," said Dr. Vinson.

It seemed like it could be the great mystery of our time: What unspecified threats require Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt to fly almost exclusively in business or first class? A spokesperson told CBS News on Tuesday that "due to security concerns" the secretary "has a blanket waiver to fly in first or business class,"

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday reiterated a commonly held view among US intelligence officials that China is seeking to become a global superpower through unconventional means — but he framed it as both a governmental and a societal threat to the US. Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee alongside the heads of other US intelligence agencies, Wray said that to undermine the US's military, economic, cultural, and informational power across the globe, China was using methods relying on more than just its state institutions.