December 2, 2020 4:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republicans attempting to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their lawsuit, three days after it was thrown out by the battleground state’s highest court. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of northwestern Pennsylvania and the other plaintiffs want the court to prevent the state from certifying any contests from the Nov. 3 election, and undo any certifications already made, such as Biden’s victory. They maintain that Pennsylvania’s expansive year-old vote-by-mail law is unconstitutional because it required a constitutional amendment to authorize its provisions. Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania.
December 2, 2020 3:58 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s state treasurer says his agency has come up with plans to prevent shutdowns of highway construction and safety work amid tax collections lagging because of economic fallout from the pandemic. In a statement Tuesday, Treasurer Joe Torsella said he was prepared to authorize financial support to the Motor License Fund to keep contractors paid and on the job through the fiscal year ending June 30. Torsella said he could loan treasury funds to the Motor License Fund, as well as advance a portion of a loan that lawmakers may decide to authorize against future tax collections that go into the fund, such as motorist fees and gas taxes.
December 2, 2020 2:34 am
UNDATED (AP) – Three female former inmates with psychiatric disabilities filed a federal lawsuit accusing an Allegheny County Jail sergeant of using excessive force on them while they were detained. April Walker, LaVonna Dorsey and Alexus Diggs filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Sgt. John Raible and other jail officials. They allege Raible’s supervisors knew he had a history of using excessive force. The lawsuit is the second this year alleging the county’s jail or its employees routinely use physical force or restraint in response to mental health episodes or against people with psychiatric disabilities. An Allegheny County spokeswoman confirmed Raible’s active employment but declined to comment on the lawsuit or on use-of-force policies for inmates with mental health issues.
December 1, 2020 4:10 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working diligently to follow up on specific complaints and information they’ve received, but they’ve uncovered no evidence that would affect the final results. Trump’s attorney and presidential campaign scoffed that they hadn’t seen “any semblance” of an investigation of his complaints by his attorney general’s department.
December 1, 2020 10:47 am
BERLIN (AP) – German officials say two people have been killed and 15 others seriously injured in the southwestern German city of Trier when a car drove into a pedestrian zone. Trier police tweeted that the driver, a 51-year-old man from the area, had been arrested and the vehicle impounded. Police and rescue crews were on the scene and authorities told people to avoid the city center. Mayor Wolfram Leibe told the SWR broadcaster that in addition to the two dead, 15 people had suffered serious injuries. No details were available on the cause of Tuesday’s crash and police didn’t answer their phones or email. Trier is about 120 miles west of Frankfurt, near the border with Luxembourg.
December 1, 2020 9:32 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – An appeals court has questioned whether Bill Cosby’s alleged history of intoxicating and sexually assaulting young women amounted to a “signature” crime pattern. The court on Tuesday cited studies that show as many as half of sexual assaults involve drugs or alcohol. The 83-year-old Cosby hopes to overturn his 2018 sex assault conviction because the judge let prosecutors call five other accusers to testify. The defense says their testimony prejudiced the jury against the actor and comedian. Cosby has spent more than two years at a state prison near Philadelphia. The jury convicted him of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004.
December 1, 2020 4:26 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s top elections official says his office is investigating potential election law violations by groups working to register voters ahead of January’s Senate runoffs. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also is punching back at claims that fraud has tainted the state’s presidential election. Raffensperger said dishonest actors are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims and apparently misleading the president as well. He said during a news conference Monday that his office has 23 investigators probing 250 open cases alleging some kind of election law violation, but none of them cast doubt on the integrity of the state’s election results.
December 1, 2020 4:25 am
Two battleground states, Wisconsin and Arizona, certified their presidential election tallies Monday in favor of Joe Biden, even as President Donald Trump’s legal team continues to dispute the results. Biden’s victory in Wisconsin was certified following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin over Trump, who has promised to file a lawsuit seeking to undo the results. Arizona officials certified Biden’s narrow 10,400-vote victory in that state. Election challenges brought by the Trump campaign or his backers in key battleground states have largely been unsuccessful as Trump continues to allege voter fraud while refusing to concede. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
December 1, 2020 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden says his economic team is “first rate” and will help build an economy that works for all Americans. Biden introduced key members of the team Tuesday in Delaware, including former Fed chair Janet Yellen to become Treasury secretary. Biden described Yellen as one of the “most important economic thinkers of our time.” She would be the first female Treasury secretary if confirmed by the Senate. Biden also introduced Neera Tanden as his choice to run the White House budget office. Tanden’s nomination, however, has encountered early disapproval from some Senate Republicans, who will vote on her nomination. Biden also named his chair and members of the Council of Economic Advisers. He says the CEA chair will serve in the Cabinet. Biden also named a deputy for Yellen.
December 1, 2020 4:23 am
New research shows students have fallen behind in math since the pandemic disrupted school, while most are progressing at a normal pace in reading. The findings released Tuesday by the not-for-profit NWEA show that, compared to last year, students in grades 3-8 scored considerably lower on standardized math tests this fall. áEnglish language arts scores were largely the same. But the researchers caution they may be underestimating the pandemic’s impact on minority and economically disadvantaged students. That is because a sizable number of those students were missing this fall when the standardized testing was done.
