April 1, 2021 2:43 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – President Joe Biden wants $2 trillion to reengineer America’s infrastructure and expects the nation’s corporations to pay for it. The Democratic president traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unveil what will be a hard-hatted transformation of the U.S. economy. It includes $621 billion for roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure. The plan would also move the country away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energy. It would be financed by raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, among other measures. That could lead to fierce resistance from the business community and thwart attempts to work with Republican lawmakers.
April 1, 2021 2:43 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says every adult in Pennsylvania will qualify for COVID-19 vaccines starting April 19. Emergency responders, grocery workers and others will be able to set up shots immediately. Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said Wednesday the new timeline is possible because the state’s rate of vaccinations has quickened. Starting Wednesday, vaccine appointments are being expanded to include police, corrections officers and other law enforcement; volunteer and professional firefighters; grocery employees; and food and farm workers. Next will be Phase 1C starting April 12. That group includes workers in transportation and logistics, water and wastewater, communications and media, public health, legal services, finance and construction.
March 31, 2021 8:53 am
Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and strongly protective in kids as young as 12. The announcement Wednesday marks a step toward possibly beginning shots in this age group before the next school year. Most COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out worldwide are for adults, who are at higher risk from the coronavirus. Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized for ages 16 and older. But vaccinating children of all ages will be critical to stopping the pandemic. In a study of 2,260 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15, preliminary data showed there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated adolescents compared to 18 among those given dummy shots.
March 31, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – G. Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talk show host after emerging from prison, has died at age 90. His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death Tuesday but did not reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to COVID-19. Liddy, a former FBI agent and Army veteran, was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate burglary, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He spent four years and four months in prison, including more than 100 days in solitary confinement. After his release, Liddy became a popular, often provocative radio talk show host. He also worked as a security consultant, writer and actor.
March 31, 2021 4:15 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Proposed overhauls of Texas’ power grid that buckled during February’s deadly winter storm are moving through the state legislature. Some of the reforms passed Tuesday in the Texas Capitol include new oversight and mandates that power plants prepare for more extreme weather. More than 100 people died in subfreezing weather in Texas as widespread blackouts spiraled into one of the worst power outages in U.S. history. Many families went without water and heat for days with no indication of when the power might be restored.
March 31, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, says he is being investigated by the Justice Department but denies any criminal wrongdoing. Gaetz, who represents parts of western Florida, is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to travel with him, and he is under investigation to determine if he violated federal sex trafficking laws. That’s according to a person familiar with the case who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Gaetz told Axios the allegations against him were “as searing as they are false.”
March 31, 2021 4:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Authorities searching for a man who viciously attacked an Asian American woman near New York City’s Times Square are asking the public for help – not only in locating the suspect, but also in doing its part to disrupt further assaults. Police on Tuesday blanketed the midtown Manhattan neighborhood with wanted posters and offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the man seen on surveillance video Monday brutalizing the woman as she walked to church. Officials admonished bystanders for doing nothing to stop the man as police say he kicked and stomped the 65-year-old woman.
March 31, 2021 4:11 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis officer who put his knee on George Floyd’s neck defended himself to a bystander afterward by saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something.” Prosecutors at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial Wednesday laid out the rapidly escalating sequence of events, playing store security video of Floyd inside Cup Foods and still more footage of him outside. Together, witness accounts and video began to show how events spun out of control, as a scene of people apparently joking around inside the neighborhood market soon gave way to the sight of officers struggling with Floyd and putting him on the ground.
March 30, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky are making impassioned pleas to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19. Walensky warned on Monday of a potential “fourth surge” of the virus and spoke of a “recurring feeling … of impending doom.” Biden said the virus will get worse, not better “if we let our guard down now.” He said that “people are letting up on precautions, which is a very bad thing.” Walensky spoke of hope but added, “Right now, I’m scared.”
March 30, 2021 4:21 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The teenager who shot the widely seen video of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer charged in his death testified Tuesday that Derek Chauvin “just stared at us” and didn’t react to bystander pleas. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier said Chauvin and another officer on the scene put their hands on their Mace when bystanders wanted to intervene. She says she began recording because “it wasn’t right, he was suffering, he was in pain.” Earlier, a man who was among onlookers shouting at Chauvin to get off Floyd last May says he called 911 to report a murder after Floyd was removed by paramedics. Prosecutors led off their case by playing portions of Frazier’s video, which sent waves of outrage around the globe.
