November 2, 2021 2:20 am
(WPXI) – The city of Pittsburgh plans to implement a vaccine mandate for all city employees, including police, firefighters, and emergency medical services workers. The mandate will go into place on December 22. Statistics released by the city several weeks ago revealed that 40-percent of the police officers are not vaccinated. Two officers, both from Zone 6 in the West End, have died from Covid-19.
November 1, 2021 4:30 am
DALLAS (AP) – Flight cancellations are skyrocketing at American Airlines. The airline has canceled more than 900 flights on Sunday, or one-third of its schedule for the day. That brings American’s three-day total to more than 1,800 canceled flights. The airline is blaming staffing shortages and high winds that at times shut down its busiest airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International, late last week. It’s similar to a meltdown at Southwest Airlines three weeks ago. American says about 1,800 flight attendants are returning from leave soon, and it expects to hire at least 600 more by year end. American also says it’s hiring pilots and reservations agents to gear up for the holidays.
November 1, 2021 4:28 am
NEW YORK (AP) – About 9,000 New York City municipal workers were put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that took effect Monday and thousands of city firefighters have called out sick in an apparent protest over the requirement. Mayor Bill de Blasio said about 9 in 10 city workers covered by the mandate have gotten vaccinated and there have been no disruptions to city services as a result of staffing shortages. New York has more than 300,000 city employees. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said firehouses remained open but 18 of the department’s 350 units were out of service and “many units are understaffed.”
November 1, 2021 4:26 am
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Sydney’s international airport has come alive with tears, embraces and laughter as Australia’s border opened for the first time in 20 months. Australia eased travel restrictions Monday, betting that vaccination rates are now high enough to mitigate the danger of allowing international visitors again after maintaining some of the lengthiest and strictest border controls anywhere during the coronavirus pandemic. The new freedoms mean that outbound fully vaccinated Australian permanent residents and citizens can leave the country for any reason without asking the government for an exemption from a travel ban that has trapped most at home since March 15, 2020. Incoming vaccinated Australians are able to come home without quarantining in a hotel for two weeks.
November 1, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is taking up challenges to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second largest state after six weeks of pregnancy. The justices are hearing arguments Monday in two cases over whether abortion providers or the Justice Department can mount federal court challenges to the law, which has an unusual enforcement scheme its defenders argue shield it from federal court review. In neither case is the constitutionality of the law directly at issue, but the motivation for both lawsuits is that the Texas ban conflicts with landmark Supreme Court rulings that prevent a state from banning abortion early in pregnancy.
November 1, 2021 4:21 am
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) – President Joe Biden is swinging the focus of his battle for fast action against global warming from the U.S. Congress to the world. Biden will make his appeal to global leaders at a U.N. summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday. Biden will ask them to commit to the kind of big climate measures that the U.S. president is still working to nail down at home. The Glasgow climate summit is often billed as essential to putting the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord into action. Biden is due to announce climate initiatives including billions of dollars in hoped-for legislation to help poorer communities abroad.
November 1, 2021 4:18 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man is in critical condition after being stabbed in Pittsburgh’s South Side around midnight Sunday. The incident occurred at the intersection of S 21st and Sarah streets, where police were called for a stabbing. When first responders arrived, they located a man with a stab wound to the right armpit. Medics transported the victim to a local hospital in critical condition. The suspect was taken into custody at the scene.
November 1, 2021 4:17 am
(WPXI) Starting Dec. 6th, all University of Pittsburgh students, faculty and staff members across all campuses will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved exemption. If they fail to comply, students won’t be allowed to enroll in classes for the spring semester and/or live on campus and faculty members will face discipline. According to a notice issued Monday, more than 93% of students, faculty and staff members disclosed they were fully vaccinated during the course of the fall semester. University officials said not requiring the vaccine “is not sustainable in the long term.” Currently enrolled students who are not vaccinated will not be eligible to enroll in Spring 2022 term classes or live in the residence halls as of January 1st, 2022. Students who enroll for Spring class prior to December 1st but fail to provide proof or obtain an exemption by this deadline will be unenrolled. Current faculty and staff who are not vaccinated will be subject to disciplinary action, which will include loss of access to electronic resources and other disciplinary actions up to and including termination of employment.
November 1, 2021 3:29 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Employees in Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration are being offered five days of paid leave for getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the year. The administration in an email to employees Monday said the five days of “verification leave” can be used between Dec. 20 and March 31. It says an employee who is already fully vaccinated and has verified that status to the administration will automatically receive the additional five days of leave. The administration already offers a paid day off to get vaccinated. (Photo: AP)
October 31, 2021 8:21 am
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jay-Z’s added another title to a resume that includes rapper, songwriter, Grammy winner, billionaire business mogul, and global icon — Hall of Famer. The self-proclaimed “greatest rapper alive” was inducted Saturday night as part of an eclectic 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class that included Foo Fighters, Carole King, Tina Turner, The Go-Gos and Todd Rundgren. Once a drug dealer on the tough streets of Brooklyn, New York, Jay-Z rose through the rap world with hard, straight-forward songs that often portrayed the struggles of Black people in America. His catalogue includes songs like “Hard Knock Life,” “99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind” as well as 14 No. 1 albums. Following a video introduction that included President Barack Obama, LeBron James and David Letterman, Jay-Z was inducted by comedian Dave Chappelle, who praised him for being an inspiration.
