MINNEAPOLIS / AP Minnesota’s first-in-the nation ban on soaps containing the once ubiquitous germ-killer triclosan takes effect Jan. 1, but the people who spearheaded the law say it’s already having its desired effect on a national level. The federal government caught up to Minnesota’s 2014 decision with its own ban that takes effect in September 2017. Major manufacturers have ...

  HOUSTON / AP Houston’s first underground drinking water reservoir — a decades-old collection of more than 200 concrete columns inside a cavernous space near downtown — had been unused for years and was set for demolition when a nonprofit group reimagined it as something new: a public space. The 87,500-square-foot-space, dubbed the “Cistern” and reminiscent of ancient European water ...

  Reuters Global stocks were mixed on a day when many markets were closed for a holiday. Japanese shares fell as the yen gained against the dollar, while Chinese equities recovered from earlier losses. The Topix index slipped in Tokyo on trading volumes around 40 percent below the 30-day average. The Shanghai Composite Index erased a drop of as much ...