November 8, 2021 4:21 am
HOUSTON (AP) – Mourners began building a memorial to those lost at a Texas concert as authorities said they would watch video, interview witnesses and review concert protocols to determine how eight people died when fans suddenly surged toward the stage to watch rapper Travis Scott. Flowers and votive candles surrounded NRG Park in Houston Sunday as city officials said they were just starting to investigate how pandemonium started Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event headlined by Scott. An estimated 50,000 people were in attendance. The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27, and 13 people were still hospitalized.
November 8, 2021 4:17 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Republicans this weekend projected newfound confidence about their chances of retaking control of Congress in 2022 at the first large party gathering since they claimed major victories in Tuesday’s off-year elections. The mood was jubilant at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, where potential future presidential candidates worked to woo some of the party’s biggest and most influential donors. Those appearing included former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov, Chris Christie, as well as candidates running for Congress and governor next year.
November 8, 2021 4:15 am
(AP) – The U.S. has fully reopened its borders with Mexico and Canada and lifted restrictions on travel that covered most of Europe. The new rules set the stage for emotional reunions nearly two years in the making and provided a boost for the travel industry decimated by the pandemic. Lines moved quickly Monday morning at San Diego’s border with Mexico, the busiest crossing in the United States. That’s despite the added checks for vaccinations required to enter the country. The new rules also allow air travel from a series of countries from which it has been restricted since the early days of the pandemic. Air travelers need proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test.
November 8, 2021 4:13 am
BEIJING (AP) – Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of U.S. warships in its northwestern desert, possibly to practice for a future naval clash. China is massively upgrading its military, and its capability and intentions are increasingly concerning to the United States. The images captured by Maxar Technologies show the outlines of a U.S. aircraft carrier and a destroyer at a desert location in Xinjiang. The independent U.S. Naval Institute said the mock-ups were part of a new target range. China has emphasized countering other naval forces in building up its military and has concentrated its vessels in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy remains predominant; however, its ships are spread across several regions where U.S. interests lie.
November 8, 2021 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Jake Corman is the ranking Republican in Pennsylvania’s state Senate. He is widely expected to run for governor and has begun inviting donors to an announcement next Thursday night. The event is billed as a “special announcement” in Corman’s hometown of Bellefonte. Corman’s entry into the race would swell an already big field of Republicans running for governor. It’s double-digits deep and growing. The party is searching for a nominee to potentially succeed outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. Corman is the Senate’s president pro tempore and has served in the Senate since 1999. Corman has said he would discuss his political plans after Tuesday’s election.
November 8, 2021 4:08 am
KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) – A female high school hockey goalie in Pennsylvania is returning to the ice Monday for her first school game since she was the target of vulgar and abusive chants from spectators. The chants from students at Armstrong High School targeted the female goalie for the Mars Fighting Planets at an Oct. 28 game near Kittanning. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League on Thursday barred Armstrong students from attending their school’s hockey games and placed the team on probation. Team USA Women’s Hockey Olympian Meghan Duggan has even weighed in with support for the player.
November 8, 2021 4:07 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Louis Lipps Jr. was arrested on suspicion of DUI after a crash Saturday night on Mount Washington. According to a criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the 30 block of Ruth Street for an accident report just before 11 p.m. The responding officer found Lipps behind the wheel of a 2012 Ram pickup truck. His wife was in the front passenger seat. Police said the truck had crashed into a trailer in front of a home on Ruth Street. The complaint stated Lipps didn’t know he had hit the trailer when the officer informed him of what allegedly happened. The officer asked him to step out of the truck and performed a field sobriety test. Lipps allegedly “almost fell/stumbled to the ground to the point officers had to catch him from falling over.” When asked how much he had to drink, the complaint said Lipps responded “A lot.” He was taken to the Zone 6 police station and given a breath test. It yielded a blood alcohol content of .235%. He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and was charged with two counts of driving under the influence. Lipps is set to be inducted into the Steelers’ Hall of Honor next weekend before the game against the Detroit Lions at Heinz Field. Lipps played wide receiver for the Steelers and the New Orleans Saints from 1984 to 1992. He retired as a Steeler in 1993.
November 7, 2021 1:50 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s military began its annual war games in a coastal area of the Gulf of Oman, state TV reported Sunday, less than a month before upcoming nuclear talks with the West. The report said navy and air force units, as well as ground forces, were participating in a more than 1 million square-kilometer (386,100 square-mile) area east of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Nearly 20% of all oil shipping passes through the strait to the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean. The drill comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of America from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. State TV said brigades including commandos and airborne infantry deployed for the annual exercise. Fighter jets, helicopters, military transport aircraft, submarines and drones were also expected to take part in the drill. It wasn’t immediately clear how long the exercise would last. Dubbed “Zolfaghar-1400,” the war games are aimed at “improving readiness in confronting foreign threats and any possible invasion,” state TV said. U.S. officials said last week that Iran had seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman last month and was still holding the vessel in its port.
November 7, 2021 1:48 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily halted the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or face mask requirements and weekly tests. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the action stops President Joe Biden “from moving forward with his unlawful overreach.” “The president will not impose medical procedures on the American people without the checks and balances afforded by the constitution,” said a statement from Landry, a Republican. The U.S. Labor Department’s top legal adviser, Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda, said the department is “confident in its legal authority to issue the emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing.” OSHA has the authority “to act quickly in an emergency where the agency finds that workers are subjected to a grave danger and a new standard is necessary to protect them,” she said.
November 7, 2021 1:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday hailed Congress’ passage of his $1 trillion infrastructure package as a “monumental step forward for the nation” after fractious fellow Democrats resolved a months-long standoff in their ranks to seal the deal. “Finally, infrastructure week,” a beaming Biden told reporters. “I’m so happy to say that: infrastructure week.” The House passed the measure 228-206 late Friday, prompting prolonged cheers from the relieved Democratic side of the chamber. Thirteen Republicans, mostly moderates, supported the legislation while six of Democrats’ farthest left members opposed it. Approval of the bill, which promises to create legions of jobs and improve broadband, water supplies and other public works, sends it to the desk of a president whose approval ratings have dropped and whose nervous party got a cold shoulder from voters in this past week’s off-year elections. Democratic candidates for governor were defeated in Virginia and squeaked through in New Jersey, two blue-leaning states. Those setbacks made party leaders — and moderates and liberals alike — impatient to produce impactful legislation and demonstrate they know how to govern. Democrats can ill afford to seem in disarray a year before midterm elections that could give Republicans congressional control.
