February 16, 2021 3:52 am
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) – A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather has claimed more lives. The dead include three people found dead after a tornado (pictured) hit a seaside town in North Carolina and four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm. The storm that overwhelmed power grids and immobilized the Southern Plains carried heavy snow and freezing rain into New England and the Deep South and left behind painfully low temperatures. Wind-chill warnings extended from Canada into Mexico. At least 11 deaths were reported from other causes, including car crashes and carbon monoxide poisoning.
February 16, 2021 3:50 am
EXTON, Pa. (AP) – No arrests have been made in the case of graffiti painted outside the suburban Philadelphia home of one of the attorneys defending former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. A detective with the West Whiteland Township Police Department in Chester County said the graffiti were reported Friday evening at the home of attorney Michael van der Veen. The Philadelphia Inquirer posted a photo showing the word “Traitor” in red paint at the entrance of the driveway and an arrow pointing to the home. Pezick says the home now has private security and police have been patrolling “to deter anything from happening.”
February 16, 2021 3:49 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican Party may meet to discuss censuring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey over his vote to convict Donald Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial. County party officials said the state GOP chairman, Lawrence Tabas, emailed them shortly after Saturday’s impeachment vote to tell them that a meeting is being planned to discuss the Senate’s action. Toomey is one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” A resolution to censure Toomey came up for discussion at the state party’s leadership committee meeting on Feb. 6, weeks after Toomey had said Trump committed “impeachable offenses” in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. They decided against voting on it.
February 16, 2021 3:45 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Lawmakers are kicking off budget hearings as Pennsylvania state government faces a multibillion-dollar revenue gap, a hangover from the ongoing pandemic. Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal to raise the state income tax, but structure it to shift the new burden to higher earners, took center stage at Tuesday’s hearing with Wolf’s revenue secretary, Daniel Hassell. Republicans, who control the Legislature, questioned whether Wolf’s income tax proposal is constitutional and whether it is wise to raise taxes. It is designed to lower taxes on lower-income households and raise them on higher-income households. Democrats countered that Wolf’s proposal can help reduce property taxes, fix the deficit, fairly fund schools and cut taxes for lower-income workers.
February 16, 2021 2:44 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Black Americans attend church more regularly than Americans overall, and pray more often. Most attend churches that are predominantly Black, yet many would like those congregations to become racially diverse. Those are among key findings in a Pew Research Center survey of 8,660 Black adults nationwide about their religious experiences. Pew found there is broad respect for the historical role Black churches have played in seeking racial equality, coupled with a widespread perception they have lost influence in recent decades. Among all Black adults who go to religious services, 60% attend churches where the senior clergy and most or all of the congregation are Black.
February 16, 2021 2:11 am
NORTH HUNTINGTON, Pa. (AP) – Police say a head-on crash on a western Pennsylvania road killed four people and seriously injured one other person over the weekend. North Huntingdon Township police said a westbound vehicle on Route 30 ended up in the eastbound lane and hit another vehicle at about 6 p.m. Sunday. Police said one driver, 51-year-old Thu Thi Xuan Nguyen of Greensburg, died at the scene. Police said two passengers from North Huntingdon, 67-year-old Lan Thi Trinh and 30-year-old Phuongan Trinh Tran, were pronounced dead at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Police said a passenger in the other car, 44-year-old Jeffrey Tomay of McKeesport, also died at the scene and the driver was hospitalized.
February 15, 2021 3:51 pm
(AP) – Health insurance shoppers stuck in a bad plan or unable to find coverage have a new option for help. A sign-up window opened Monday for government insurance markets and runs through May 15 in most U.S. states. It’s available for people who don’t have coverage through work, and it is expected to make finding a plan less of a hassle for people who lost their jobs. The Affordable Care Act created state-based insurance markets for people to buy individual coverage either for themselves or their family. President Joe Biden ordered the markets to reopen late last month.
February 15, 2021 4:22 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Sorrow is reverberating across the country Sunday as Americans joined a Florida community in remembering the 17 lives lost three years ago in the Parkland school shooting massacre. President Joe Biden used the occasion to call on Congress to strengthen gun laws, including requiring background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons. The president said there was no time to wait. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags be lowered to half staff from sunrise to sunset across the state to honor those who perished when a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas opened fire on campus with an AR-15 rifle on Valentine’s Day in 2018.
February 15, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s acquittal at his second impeachment trial may not be the final word on whether he’s to blame for the deadly Capitol riot. The next step for the former president could be the courts. Trump is now a private citizen and is stripped of his protection from legal liability that the presidency gave him. The insurrection at the Capitol is just one of the legal cases shadowing Trump in the months after he was voted out of office. He also faces legal exposure in Georgia over an alleged pressure campaign on state election officials, and in Manhattan over hush-money payments and business deals.
February 15, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol. Pelosi says the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex . and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.” The speaker says in a letter to Democratic colleagues that the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. Bipartisan support appears to be growing for an independent commission.
