February 7, 2022 4:20 am
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australia will open its borders to all vaccinated tourists and business travelers from Feb. 21. The country had imposed some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 home. When the border restrictions were relaxed in November, international students and skilled migrants were prioritized over tourists in being welcomed back to Australia. Tourist operators have been lobbying the government to bring tourists back sooner. The southern hemisphere summer is in its final month.
February 7, 2022 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Transit authorities in Pittsburgh have closed a busway bridge after finding that a portion of the span had shifted, an action that comes a week after the collapse of a bridge in a city park. The Port Authority of Allegheny County said the 1,052-foot bridge on the South Busway in the city’s Mount Washington neighborhood is used only by Port Authority buses and light rail vehicles. Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said engineers and a bridge consultant said the span was “stable” but shouldn’t be used until repairs are made. Officials said the bridge, built in 1977, was deemed satisfactory after an October 2020 inspection.
February 7, 2022 4:14 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf is preparing to pitch his eighth and last budget proposal to lawmakers, as the Democrat pushes Republicans to spend more federal pandemic aid now and Wolf looks to secure one more big boost in state funding for public schools. The details of Wolf’s budget plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year starting July 1 will be released Tuesday. State accounts are brimming with cash, thanks to federal aid and a booming economy, and Democrats floating bullish spending plans. Republican majorities in the House and Senate have remained steadfast that federal pandemic aid and state reserves be used conservatively to ward off deficits.
February 7, 2022 4:13 am
Work continues to restore power across Washington County. West Penn Power says there are now only a little under 500 customers without power as of Monday afternoon. The outages are scattered throughout the county. Many customers have been without power since Thursday night. Crews have been working around the clock to try and restore power following a massive ice, sleet and snow storm. At one point, there were more than 21-thousand West Penn Power customers without service. The result of heavy ice bringing down trees and power lines. According to their website, the company hopes to have the majority of customers back on line by 10 or 11 p.m Tuesday night. Several area schools are still being impacted by the storm. The McGuffey School District is closed. The Fort Cherry School District had remote learning because of secondary road conditions and the Avella School District posted on their social media accounts that they switched from a two-hour delay to a flexible instruction day Monday because of water and heat issues at district building and the condition of some roads. Meanwhile, downed utilities are causing a couple of road closures in the county. PennDOT says West Finley Road (Route 3037) in West Finley Township between Beham Ridge Road and Majorsville Road is closed, as is Zion Road (Route 3022) between South Bridge Road in Morris Township and Craft Creek Road in East Finley Township.
February 7, 2022 4:12 am
Five days after a massive winter storm rolled through and knocked out power to more than 21-thousand West Penn Power customers in Washington County, the utility company now has under 50 customers without service. According to their outage website, West Penn expects most of those customers to have their service restored by this afternoon. Hundreds of utility workers have been working around the clock to restore service after heavy ice, sleet and snow brought down countless trees and power lines. There are no reports of any school delays or schedule changes for Tuesday morning.
February 6, 2022 8:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Any person convicted of a disruption on board a flight should be added to the national “no fly” list, Delta Air Lines told the U.S. Department of Justice. In a letter to the Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Thursday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said there should be “zero tolerance” for any behavior that affects flight safety. Bastian noted that while such incidents of bad behavior represent a small fraction of overall flights on Delta, the rate of incidents on the airline has increased nearly 100% since 2019. “This action will help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft,” Bastian wrote in the letter furnished to The Associated Press by Delta Air Lines.
February 6, 2022 8:12 am
HONOLULU (AP) — A giant U.S. government fuel storage installation hidden inside a mountain ridge overlooking Pearl Harbor has provided fuel to military ships and planes crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean since World War II. Its very existence was a secret for years. Even after it was declassified, few people paid attention — until late last year, when jet fuel leaked into a drinking water well, showed up in tap water and sickened thousands in military housing. Now the Navy is scrambling to contain what one U.S. lawmaker calls a “crisis of astronomical proportions.” Native Hawaiians, veterans, liberals and conservatives across Hawaii are all pushing to shut down the tanks even though the Navy says they’re vital to national security. Military medical teams have examined more than 5,900 people complaining of symptoms including nausea, headaches and rashes. The military has moved about 4,000 mostly military families into hotels and has flown in water treatment systems from the U.S. mainland. In the first six weeks since the water crisis emerged, the Navy spent more than $250 million addressing the public health emergency.
February 6, 2022 8:10 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs including its capability to produce nuclear device components in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, U.N. experts said in a new report. The panel of experts said in the executive summary of the report obtained Saturday night by The Associated Press that there was “a marked acceleration” of Pyongyang’s testing and demonstration of new short-range and possibly medium-range missiles through January, “incorporating both ballistic and guidance technologies and using both solid and liquid propellants.” “New technologies tested included a possible hypersonic guiding warhead and a maneuverable re-entry vehicle,” the panel said. North Korea also demonstrated “increased capabilities for rapid deployment, wide mobility (including at sea), and improved resilience of its missile forces.” The experts said North Korea “continued to seek material, technology and know-how for these programs overseas, including through cyber means and joint scientific research.”
February 6, 2022 8:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has assembled at least 70 percent of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials say. The officials, who discussed internal assessments of the Russian buildup on condition they not be identified, sketched out a series of indicators suggesting Putin intends an invasion in coming weeks, although the size and scale are unclear. They stressed that a diplomatic solution appears to remain possible. Among those military indicators: an exercise of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces that usually is held each fall was rescheduled for mid-February to March. That coincides with what U.S. officials see as the most likely window for invasion. The officials made no suggestion that a prospective conflict would involve the use of nuclear weapons, but the Russian exercise — likely involving the test-launching of unarmed long-range missiles on Russian territory — could be used as a message aimed at deterring the West from intervening in Ukraine.
February 6, 2022 8:05 am
MCKEES ROCKS (WPXI) — Allegheny County police are investigating a shooting that took place in McKees Rocks around 10:21 a.m. Saturday morning. According to police, the shooting took place in the 400 block of Broadway Avenue. Police said first responders found an adult man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to an area hospital. Allegheny County Police Department detectives are initiating the investigation. There’s no word on the victim’s condition or if anyone is in custody. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call the County Police Tip Line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
