October 25, 2021 3:40 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Little by little, we’re finding out more about what happened on the set of “Rust” before Thursday’s firearm tragedy that killed the movie’s cinematographer. New court records released yesterday contain the account of a camera operator working on “Rust.” Reid Russell told a detective Alec Baldwin was careful with weapons on set. Russell says once, Baldwin made sure a child actor wasn’t near him when firearms were used. As for what went down last week, Russell says Baldwin was rehearsing a scene in which he was to draw his gun while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera. Before that, authorities have said, assistant director Dave Halls handed a weapon to Baldwin and declared it a “cold gun,” meaning it would be safe to use. But it wasn’t – and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot to death. (Photo: CNN)
October 25, 2021 3:36 pm
(AP) – Tumbling COVID-19 case counts have some schools around the U.S. considering relaxing their mask rules, but deaths nationally have been ticking up over the past few weeks. Some rural hospitals are also showing signs of strain and cold weather is setting in. The cold sends people indoors, where the virus can more easily spread. The University of Washington’s influential COVID-19 forecasting model is predicting increasing infections and hospitalizations in November. COVID-19 deaths per day have begun to creep back up again after a decline that started in late September. Deaths are running at about 1,700 per day, up from close to 1,500 two weeks ago.
October 25, 2021 2:58 pm
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) – The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline spiked 13 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.44 per gallon. The price at the pump is $1.22 higher than a year ago. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says Sunday the rise comes as the cost of crude oil surges. Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in the San Francisco Bay Area, at $4.65 per gallon. The lowest average is in Houston, at $2.91 per gallon. The survey says the average price of diesel jumped 14 cents to $3.59 a gallon.
October 25, 2021 12:38 pm
North Strabane Township Police Chief Brian Hughes has confirmed there was an armed robbery at the Marathon Gas Station along Race Track Road. Hughes says there were two individuals involved. One was a male, but the gender of the other individual was not released. According to scanner reports via Washington County 911, an individual with a pistol held up the station just before four o’clock. He is described as a white male, about five-foot-ten and wearing a blue hoodie and khakis. He was reportedly wearing a COVID-type mask and fled in a small, dark colored vehicle. He allegedly got away with about a hundred-dollars. Chief Hughes confirmed there were no injuries.
October 25, 2021 10:29 am
Moderna says its low-dose COVID-19 vaccine is safe and appears to work in 6- to 11-year-olds. It is the second U.S. vaccine aimed at eventually being offered to children. Already the Food and Drug Administration is considering kid-sized doses of the Pfizer vaccine for elementary school-aged children – and if regulators give the OK, shots could begin early next month. As for Moderna, the company said half-dose shots induced strong levels of virus-fighting antibodies in youngsters, with temporary side effects such as fever and fatigue.
October 25, 2021 7:59 am
CAIRO (AP) – Sudan’s military has seized power, dissolving the transitional government hours after troops arrested the prime minister and other officials. Thousands of people flooded into the streets to protest Monday’s coup. The Sudan Doctors’ Committee said security forces opened fire on some of the crowds, and three protesters were killed. The takeover threatens the country’s shaky progress toward democracy. It comes more than two years after protesters forced the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and just weeks before the military was expected to hand the leadership of the council that runs the country over to civilians. After the early morning arrests of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and others, thousands poured into the streets of the capital and its twin city to protest.
October 25, 2021 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) – James Michael Tyler, the actor known widely for his recurring role as Gunther on “Friends,” has died. He was 59. Tyler died Sunday at home in Los Angeles from prostrate cancer, said his manager, Toni Benson. Tyler was first diagnosed with advanced prostrate cancer in 2018. Tyler had appeared briefly in 1990s series like “Just Shoot Me!” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” before being cast as a background character in the second episodes of “Friends” in 1994. Over the show’s multi-year-run, he became the most frequently recurring guest star on the series playing Gunther, the Central Perk worker with an unrequited affection for Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel.
October 25, 2021 4:20 am
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Haiti’s capital has been brought to the brink of exhaustion by fuel shortages, after staggering along despite an earthquake, the assassination of the president, gang violence and mass kidnappings. More than two weeks of fuel deliveries interrupted by gang blockades and abductions of fuel truck drivers have driven residents of Port-au-Prince to a desperate search for gasoline and diesel. The fuels are widely used to run generators needed to compensate for the country’s unreliable electrical system. Protests have broken out and the capital’s foremost pediatrics hospital says it has only three days of fuel left to run ventilators and medical equipment. A spokesman for Saint Damien hospital warns that the situation there “is very critical.”
October 25, 2021 4:17 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A powerful storm barreled toward Southern California after flooding highways, toppling trees and causing mud flows in areas burned bare by recent fires across the northern part of the state. Drenching showers and strong winds accompanied the arrival of an atmospheric river – a long and wide plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding was reported across the San Francisco Bay Area. To the north, the California Highway Patrol closed State Route 70 in Butte County because of mudslides within the massive Dixie Fire burn scar. The weather service’s Sacramento office warned of “potentially historic rain.”
October 25, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy bill is drawing the backing of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. A person who requested anonymity to discuss Manchin’s position tells The Associated Press the senator is agreeable to the White House’s new approach on the tax proposals. Biden spent hours Sunday at his home in Delaware with Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Democrats are trying to wrap up talks on the social services and climate change package now being eyed at $1.75 trillion, though it could still climb higher.
