August 19, 2022 7:53 am
FARGO, N.D. (AP) – The school board in North Dakota’s most populous city has reversed course on its decision to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at its monthly meetings. The group decided to reconsider at a special meeting Thursday following complaints from conservative lawmakers and widespread bashing from citizens. Seven of the nine members of the Fargo Board of Education, including four newcomers who took office in June, had voted last week to cancel a previous board edict to recite the pledge that passed a couple of months before the election. The new board said the oath did not align with the district’s diversity and inclusion code. All but one of the board members voted to reinstate the pledge, saying the controversy was a distraction to the district.
August 19, 2022 4:14 am
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met the U.N. chief and Turkey’s leader in Ukraine. Little progress was reported on expanding Ukraine’s grain exports, the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant and efforts to help end the war. It was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first visit to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war, and the second by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. The leaders also discussed exchanges of prisoners of war and a proposed U.N. fact-finding mission to a prison in Russian-occupied Ukraine where 53 POWs were killed last month.
August 19, 2022 4:11 am
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Dire consequences could result if states, cities and farms across the American West cannot agree on how to cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River. Hydroelectric turbines may stop turning. Las Vegas and Phoenix may be forced to restrict water usage or growth. Farmers may have to stop planting some crops. Yet for years, seven states that depend on the river have allowed more water to be taken from it than nature can replenish. Despite widespread recognition of the crisis, the states missed a deadline this week to propose cuts. And the government stopped short of imposing cuts on its own.
August 19, 2022 4:10 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to put forward proposed redactions as he committed to making public at least part of the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Thursday gave prosecutors a week to submit a copy of the affidavit with proposed redactions for the information it wants to keep secret. It comes a little more than a week after the FBI seized classified and top secret information during a search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week. A prosecutor said the investigation into whether Trump illegally stored classified records is still “in its early stages.”
August 19, 2022 4:03 am
Washington County Commissioners voted to approve the acceptance of a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for the purpose of helping with election integrity. The grant will total more than $733,000 and was funded by state legislature through Act 88 of 2022. Commissioner Diana Irey-Vaughn is pleased to be getting the funding and looks for it to help the county elections office greatly. Director of Elections Melanie Ostrander says that there are qualifications on how the money is to be used. She states that the monies are to be used to help counties obtain resources to count mail-in and absentee ballots beginning on Election Day. According to Ostrander there are 9 categories that monies from the grant may be used. Some of them are paying workers to help tabulate mail in and absentee ballots, purchase of equipment to help tabulate those ballots, pay for poll workers, and help with the payment of printing and postage for the office to comply with a national registration of voters and the printing of ballots. The grant is designed to be an ongoing funding source and the monies are to be used during the fiscal year that the grant is issued.
August 18, 2022 1:56 pm
(AP) – A person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press that Deshaun Watson has reached a settlement with the NFL and will serve an 11-game suspension and pay a $5 million fine rather than risk missing his first season as quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. Watson was accused of sexual misconduct by two dozen women while he played for the Houston Texans. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Thursday in disclosing the settlement between Watson and the league, which had sought to ban him for at least one year for violating its personal conduct policy. As part of the settlement, Watson may return for the Browns’ game on Dec. 4 in Houston.
August 18, 2022 8:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Slightly fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continues to be the strongest segment of the U.S. economy. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending August 13 fell by 2,000 to 250,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s number, which raised some eyebrows, was revised down by 10,000. The four-week average for claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 2,750 to 246,750. Unemployment applications generally reflect layoffs and are often seen as an early indicator of where the job market is headed.
August 18, 2022 4:23 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to put forward proposed redactions as he committed to making public at least part of the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Thursday gave prosecutors a week to submit a copy of the affidavit with proposed redactions for the information it wants to keep secret. It comes a little more than a week after the FBI seized classified and top secret information during a search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week. A prosecutor said the investigation into whether Trump illegally stored classified records is still “in its early stages.”
August 18, 2022 4:21 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A Taliban police spokesman in Afghanistan’s capital says the toll from a mosque bombing has risen to 21 people killed with 33 others wounded in the attack. Khalid Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, gave the figures Thursday to The Associated Press after the bombing at the Sunni mosque. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack Wednesday, though the Islamic State group’s affiliate in the country has been blamed for a series of similar assaults. They’ve stepped up attacks targeting the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents’ takeover last August as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country.
August 18, 2022 4:19 am
HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) – The U.S. government will hold talks with Taiwan on a trade treaty in a new sign of support for the self-ruled island democracy China claims as its own territory. The announcement comes after Beijing launched military drills that included firing missiles into the seas around Taiwan in an attempt to intimidate the island after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The announcement by the U.S. Trade Representative made no mention of tension with Beijing but said the negotiations were meant to enhance trade and regulatory cooperation, a step that would entail closer official interaction.
