September 29, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is hunkering down at the White House to try to strike a deal on his potentially historic $3.5 trillion government overhaul. Biden canceled a Wednesday trip to Chicago to keep negotiating with members of his own party. All eyes are turning to Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to see what they can live with. Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she may shelve a Thursday vote on a companion $1 trillion public works bill without movement on Biden’s package. As if that’s not enough, Congress has more votes set to prevent a federal shutdown and debt default.
September 29, 2021 4:06 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – It’s premiere time for the film academy’s long-awaited museum. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opens Thursday in Los Angeles. The project has been in the works for a decade and fulfills an idea nearly a century old. Visitors can see the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” the sled from “Citizen Kane” and the droids from “Star Wars.” The featured inaugural exhibit is on the works of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. One of the two buildings is topped by a glass dome that architect Renzo Piano hopes will lead to the nickname “The Soap Bubble.”
September 29, 2021 4:05 am
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) – Dollar Tree, the national chain of stores that promises everything for a buck, will begin introducing items on its shelves that will exceed $1. The company said this week that it’s responding to customer requests and said pushing the $1 barrier will allow for a better mix of products. However, the change to prices at Dollar Tree, which have been unchanged for decades, comes with inflation rising above 4% in July. Prices have risen across the spectrum as the global economy emerges from the pandemic.
September 29, 2021 4:04 am
UNDATED (AP) – Video-sharing tech platform YouTube on Wednesday announced immediate bans on false claims that vaccines are dangerous and cause health issues like autism, cancer or infertility. áThe tech company also deleted the accounts belonging to some of the most notable propagators of vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories. The ban on vaccine misinformation extends to all approved immunizations and comes as countries, including the U.S., struggle to ramp up vaccination rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 29, 2021 3:19 am
Two drivers who were hurt in an accident Tuesday afternoon at the Meadows Race Track in North Strabane Township will require surgery. In a statement, The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association says a horse piloted by James Dodson took a bad step entering the far turn and fell to the track. A second horse driven by Chris Shaw could not avoid the fallen horse and also fell, flipping Shaw from the bike. Dodson bounced to his feet quickly and was taken to an area hospital for treatment of a broken collarbone and will undergo surgery. According to a Facebook post on Wednesday, Shaw suffered multiple injuries, including a broken nose and several fractures throughout his body, some of which will require surgery. The horses were reportedly not injured.
September 28, 2021 5:40 pm
(AP) – Nurses and hundreds of other staff members will soon begin wearing panic buttons at a Missouri hospital where assaults on workers tripled after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cox Medical Center Branson is using grant money to add buttons to identification badges worn by up to 400 employees who work in the emergency room and inpatient hospital rooms. Pushing the button will immediately alert hospital security, launching a tracking system that will send help to the endangered worker. The hospital hopes to have the system operational by the end of the year. Missouri isn’t alone. A February report cited hundreds of COVID-related attacks worldwide.
September 28, 2021 4:11 am
GLENDALE, Ky. (AP) – Ford and a partner company say they plan to build three major electric-vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025. áIt’s a dramatic investment in the future of EV technology that will create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker’s future manufacturing footprint toward the South. The factories will be built on sites in Kentucky and Tennessee. They will make batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles that will be produced in North America. Combined, they mark the single largest manufacturing investment the 118-year-old company has ever made and are among the largest factory outlays in the world.
September 28, 2021 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Lawyers for teachers who don’t want New York City schools to impose a vaccine mandate for them and other workers say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They announced their intentions late Monday just after a federal appeals panel gave the green light for New York City to impose the mandate after days of court wrangling. The city’s Department of Education say the mandate will now go into effect at the end of Friday. The plaintiffs argue that teachers who are placed on unpaid leave because they have not complied with the order will be irreparably harmed.
September 28, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Homicides in the U.S. in 2020 increased nearly 30% over the previous year, the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records. That’s according to figures released Monday by the agency. Homicides and non-negligent manslaughters climbed an estimated 29.4% to 21,570, an increase of 4,901 over 2019, FBI data showed. It is the highest estimated total since the early 1990s, when homicides stayed above 23,000 a year as drug wars played out in many places in the U.S. Other crimes, including property offenses, robbery and rape, dropped in 2020.
September 28, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top U.S. military officer has called the 20-year war in Afghanistan a “strategic failure.” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also has acknowledged to Congress that he had favored keeping several thousand troops in the country to prevent a collapse of the U.S.-supported Kabul government and a rapid takeover by the Taliban. Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee pointed to Milley’s testimony on Tuesday as evidence that President Joe Biden had been untruthful last month when he suggested the military had not urged him to keep troops in Afghanistan. Milley refused to say what advice he gave Biden.
