Rates of breast cancer — the second leading cause of cancer deaths in U.S. women — climbed 1% a year from 2012 to 2021, and even more sharply among women younger than 50 and among Asian American/Pacific Islander women of all ages, according to an American Cancer Society report published Tuesday.

The biennial report is among the most comprehensive and detailed studies of breast cancer occurrence over recent years. One in 50 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer by age 50, the authors said, based on National Cancer Institute calculations.

The sharpest increases in young adults by age during the decade were among women in their 20s, whose rate increased about 2.2% a year, though their absolute risk remains very low, at about 6.5 per 100,000 women.

These so-called early-onset cancers pose special challenges. Striking in early adulthood or midlife, they tend to be aggressive yet are often missed because they are not expected, and routine screenings are aimed at older adults.

This year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the age for initiating mammography to 40 from 50, reversing an earlier decision to raise the screening age. The American Cancer Society recommends starting annual mammography screening at 45 for women at average risk, with the option of starting at 40.

Despite the rise in incidence, deaths from breast cancer have plunged, dropping about 10% in the last decade and 44% in the past three decades because of improved screening and treatments.

But the benefits have not accrued equally to all women, according to the report.

Breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths among Black women, who have a 38% higher death rate than white women.

New Georgia election rules under scrutiny

A Fulton County, Ga., judge appeared unlikely to toss out a new rule by the State Election Board requiring county officials to investigate election results, but he said they must certify them.

In two preelection trials Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said state law requires county election boards to certify results one week after Election Day.

Republicans who raised the question agreed that certification is mandatory but with an important caveat. They said individual board members had the right to vote “no” and a majority of members could decide to exclude precincts from certification if they suspected fraud or irregularities.

McBurney didn’t immediately issue rulings after the Republican-controlled State Election Board recently approved a rule calling for an undefined “reasonable inquiry” before certification on Nov. 12.

Democrats who sued said the rule created an opening for rogue election board members to reject the results. They warned the rule could lead to disputes over the vote count.

Trump bows out of ‘60 Minutes’ special

CBS News said Tuesday that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has declined to participate in an interview with “60 Minutes” for its election special, which will go forward next Monday with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris alone.

Television’s top-rated news program regularly invites the two presidential contenders for separate interviews that air back-to-back on a show near the election. This year, it is scheduled for Monday instead of its usual Sunday time slot.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung posted on X: “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact-checking, which is unprecedented.”

“60 Minutes” said Trump’s campaign had initially agreed to an interview before telling CBS that the former president would not appear. The network said its invitation to sit for an interview still stands, and correspondent Scott Pelley will explain Trump’s absence to viewers.

Vice President Harris will appear in a pretaped interviewed with Bill Whitaker.

Vt. Catholic church files for bankruptcy

Vermont’s Catholic church has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 30 lawsuits alleging child sex abuse by clergy decades ago, according to a filing in federal bankruptcy court.

Since 2006, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, the state’s only diocese, has settled 67 lawsuits for a total of $34 million, Bishop John McDermott said in the court filing on Monday. Twenty of those were settled after the Legislature in 2019 removed the statue of limitations on when a claim could be made and the diocese faces 31 more, according to McDermott’s affidavit.

A 2019 report released by the diocese found there were “credible and substantiated” allegations of the sexual abuse of minors against 40 priests in the state since 1950. All but one of those allegations occurred prior to 2000, and none of the priests was still in ministry, the report said. Most of the priests who were named in the report were dead.

To pay the settlements going back to 2006, the diocese, which has 63 parishes and currently employs approximately 54 people, has sold church property, received some insurance funds and used its investments and operating funds, the affidavit states.

Calif. bars legacy admissions at colleges

Private, nonprofit colleges in California will be banned from giving preference in admissions to applicants related to alumni or donors of the school under a new law signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The goal of the measure passed this year by legislators is to give students a fair opportunity to access higher education, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

The law taking effect in Sept. 2025 affects private institutions that consider family connections in admissions, including the University of Southern California, Stanford University, Claremont McKenna College and Santa Clara University.

The public University of California system eliminated legacy preferences in 1998.

Texas executes man in murder of twin girls

A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls more than three decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening.

Garcia Glenn White was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the December 1989 killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were found in their Houston apartment.

White, 61, was the sixth inmate put to death in the U.S. in the last 11 days. His execution took place shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, rejected three last-ditch appeals.

‘Good Times’ actor John Amos dies at 84

John Amos, who starred as the family patriarch on the hit 1970s sitcom “Good Times” and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 84.

He died Aug. 21 of natural causes in Los Angeles. Amos’ publicist, Belinda Foster, confirmed the news of his death Tuesday.

He played James Evans Sr. on “Good Times,” which featured one of television’s first Black two-parent families. Produced by Norman Lear and co-created by actor Mike Evans, who co-starred on “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” it ran from 1974-79 on CBS.

“That show was the closest depiction in reality to life as an African American family living in those circumstances as it could be,” Amos told Time magazine in 2021.

After three seasons of critical acclaim and high ratings, Amos was fired. He had become critical of the show’s white writing staff creating storylines that he felt were inauthentic to the Black characters.

Amos and Lear later reconciled.

— From news services