December 11, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says there are “active discussions” within the department about making COVID-19 vaccine booster shots mandatory for service members, even as thousands refuse or seek exemptions from the initial shot mandate. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says there have been no final decisions on the matter. He says Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “absolutely encourages people, if they can and if they qualify, to get the booster. But right now there is no requirement for it.” The department in August announced that it would begin requiring all members of the military – including National Guard and Reserves – to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
December 11, 2021 4:26 am
BOSTON (AP) – Computer security experts around the world are racing to patch one of the worst software vulnerabilities discovered in years. The critical flaw is in an open-source utility widely used by government and industry. Experts say it is already being exploited and the fallout won’t be known for several days. Untold millions of servers have the Java-language code installed. It is used by Apache servers to log user activity. Cybersecurity experts say users of the online game Minecraft have already exploited it to breach other users by pasting a short message into in a chat box.
December 11, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor next week to three U.S. soldiers who fought in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The soldiers are Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, an Army Ranger who died after stepping between Taliban fighters and a U.S. helicopter evacuating wounded in 2018; Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, a Special Forces soldier who fought off insurgents in Afghanistan in 2013; and Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, 35, who suffered fatal injuries in Iraq while rescuing fellow soldiers from a burning vehicle in 2005. The three will be recognized at a White House ceremony on Dec. 16.
December 11, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new government report showing inflation rising at the fastest rate in nearly four decades is raising fresh questions about the fate of President Joe Biden’s social and environment legislation. Both sides are seeking clues on how the numbers may influence pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. The West Virginia moderate has spent months forcing Democrats to trim the 10-year, $2 trillion package. He’s pointedly noted rising inflation as a reason to go slow. The government said Friday that consumer prices grew last month at an annual rate of 6.8%, the highest in 39 years. Both sides are looking at Manchin because his vote is crucial in the evenly divided Senate.
December 11, 2021 4:22 am
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) – Simply counting up the human cost of the horrifying truck crash that killed 55 migrants and injured over 100 is chilling, even for those who survived the disaster on a highway in southern Mexico. About 40 of the survivors are listed with “multiple contusions” at local hospitals, and they are the least injured. Nearly 20 others have fractured bones, often their arms and wrists, suggesting they tried to break the force of the impact when the semi-trailer packed with smuggled migrants tipped over and smashed into a pedestrian bridge. The worst are those with brain injuries or severe internal damage, often crushed chests, abdomens or pelvises. The force of the crash slammed migrants against each other, bashed them into the steel sides of the trailer and threw some onto the roadway.
December 11, 2021 4:21 am
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) – Two people died in severe weather in Tennessee, one person was killed when an apparent tornado ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, and emergency crews in southern Illinois are responding to reports of injuries at an Amazon warehouse after a roof collapsed. At least one fatality was reported in Missouri as severe storms, some believed to be tornadoes, swept across the Midwest and parts of the South. An official says the two deaths in Tennessee occurred in a county in the northwestern part of the state. At least five people were also injured at the Arkansas nursing home. There was also inclement weather in Edwardsville, Illinois, where crews were responding to the Amazon warehouse there amid reports of people injured or trapped. (Photo: AP)
December 11, 2021 2:42 am
(WPXI) – A convicted sex offender was arrested after he allegedly tried to take a 13-year-old girl he’d been messaging on social media out of Connellsville Area Middle School on Wednesday. Jason Meals, 32, drove three hours from his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, to pick up the victim from school. According to the criminal complaint, Meals identified himself as the victim’s uncle and said he was there to take her to a doctor’s appointment. The complaint says that Meals stated the victim told him that she did not have anyone to take her to the appointment and her parents were OK with him doing so. The victim and her sister told school officials they did not know who he was, according to the complaint. Meals also said that he never spoke with the victim’s parents or anyone at the school to confirm. The criminal complaint says that during a police interview, Meals admitted that he had been talking to the victim on Snapchat for a few days and that he knew she was 13. He claimed she knew he was 32 years old.
December 11, 2021 1:52 am
The Little Lake Theatre is always looking to be more inclusive for its audiences. Next fall they will take a big step in having deaf audience members and performers take part in a live stage performance. Little Lake Theatre and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf will team up and perform the musical “Captain Louie, Jr.” employing both deaf and hearing actors. The hearing actors will take part in a 10 week course in American Sign Language (ASL). The production will be performed using voice and ASL. The production is the first of its kind for this area as far as local theatre goes. Normally this mixed performance is reserved for professional troupes that travel the country. This project was made possible through the Pennsylvania Neighborhood Assistance Program funded through the Department of Community and Economic Development. They reached out to Little Lake Theatre and John LaCarte of LaCarte Enterprises in Charleroi and teamed them up to allow LaCarte to make a donation and receive a $16,500 tax credit. A project like this is close to the hearts of both LaCarte and Jena Oberg, Artistic Director of Little Lake Theatre. LaCarte has a child with disabilities and he says this project checked all of his boxes for donation. It is an inclusive program for those with disabilities and he feels theatre is an activity that promotes inclusiveness. Oberg has a daughter who is deaf and a student of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. She is particularly proud to be able to bring this performance not just to Little Lake Theatre, but also to the students of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. The performance of “Captain Louie, Jr.” will open October 6, 2022.
December 10, 2021 1:56 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Michael Nesmith, the wool-hatted, guitar-strumming member of the 1960s, made-for-television rock band The Monkees, has died at 78. His family says Nesmith died Friday of natural causes. Nesmith was a struggling singer-songwriter in 1966 when he saw a trade-publication ad seeking “four insane boys” for a zany TV show about a rock band modeled after the Beatles. He quickly became Mike, the show’s serious but often naive lead guitarist. After the show ended, Nesmith went on to several successful careers. He recorded more than a dozen non-Monkees albums, wrote several books and dozens of songs. He also founded two entertainment companies.
December 10, 2021 10:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has ruled that Texas abortion providers can sue over the state’s ban on most abortions, but the justices are allowing the law to remain in effect. The court acted Friday, more than a month after hearing arguments over the law that makes abortion illegal after cardiac activity is detected in an embryo. That’s around six weeks, before some women even know they are pregnant. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. áThe law has been in place since Sept. 1.
