September 21, 2021 4:05 am
A national social media trend is making its way into the bathrooms of our local school districts. Superintendents are reporting damage from Washington County to Westmoreland County because of the TikTok bathroom and devious lick challenges. “They break a soap dispenser, basically trash the bathroom, damage the mirror, things of that nature,” explained Trooper Steve Limani. Limani said two girls who are students at Hempfield High School will be arrested after the damage was caught on social media. The Charleroi High School is having the same problems. An entire sink was pulled off the wall. “You are talking about criminal mischief but it’s really institutional vandalism and it’s even more severe,” Limani said. He said depending on the damage, students could be charged as adults and face felony level charges.
September 20, 2021 5:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court will hear arguments on December 1 in Mississippi’s bid to have the landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion overturned. The justices will be at their seats in the marble courtroom for the biggest test of abortion rights in decades. The court is allowing live audio of the session, but members of the public will not be able to attend in person because of the coronavirus pandemic. Reporters who cover the court regularly will be present. The court issued its arguments calendar for December on Monday. (Photo: CNN)
September 20, 2021 7:25 am
Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11. The vaccine maker said Monday it plans to seek authorization for this age group soon in the U.S., Britain and Europe — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children. Pfizer studied a lower dose of its two-dose vaccine in more than 2,200 kindergartners and elementary school-aged kids. The kids developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults.
September 20, 2021 4:31 am
NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) – FBI agents and police swarmed the home of a young man wanted for questioning in the disappearance of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito. At least a dozen agents and police officers converged Monday on the North Port, Florida, home Brian Laundrie shared with his parents. That comes a day after authorities announced the discovery of a body believed to be hers at a Wyoming national park. She had disappeared during a cross-country trip with Laundrie. A cause of death hasn’t yet been determined. Petito and Laundrie left in July in a converted van but Laundrie returned to Florida alone Sept. 1. He has been named a person of interest but has disappeared. A search of a Florida park turned up nothing.
September 20, 2021 4:29 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – “The Crown” is the winner of the best drama series Emmy Award, giving Netflix its first top series win. “Ted Lasso” won best comedy series, delivering a top prize to the fledgling streaming service Apple TV+. Netflix also claimed the last trophy when “The Queen’s Gambit” won best limited series. The trifecta was a first for streaming services and cements their rise in the television industry. Jason Sudeikis won best comedy actor, while co-stars Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein won the best supporting actors in a comedy series. “The Crown” stars Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor, Gillian Anderson and Tobias Menzies all won drama series trophies.
September 20, 2021 4:28 am
DEL RIO, Texas (AP) – U.S. officials say more than 6,000 Haitians and other migrants have been removed from an encampment at a Texas border town. They also defended a strong response that included immediately sending migrants back to their impoverished Caribbean country and the use of horse patrols to stop them from entering the town. It’s a massive show of force that signals the beginning of what could be one of America’s swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants or refugees in decades. In all, U.S. authorities moved to expel many of the more 12,000 migrants camped around a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
September 20, 2021 4:25 am
UNDATED (AP) – COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did – approximately 675,000. And like the worldwide scourge of a century ago, the coronavirus may never entirely disappear. Instead, scientists hope the virus that causes COVID-19 becomes a mild seasonal bug as human immunity strengthens through vaccination and repeated infection. For now, the pandemic still has the United States and other parts of the world in its jaws. U.S. deaths are running at over 1,900 a day on average, and the country’s overall toll has topped 673,000. The 1918-19 influenza pandemic killed 675,000 people in the U.S. when it had a population one-third the size of what it is today. (Photo: CNN)
September 20, 2021 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden goes before the United Nations this week to address the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses. He’s eager to make a pitch for greater global partnership at a time when allies are becoming increasingly skeptical about how much U.S. foreign policy really has changed since Donald Trump left the White House. Biden will address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, hold a virtual COVID-19 summit on Wednesday, and meet with Pacific allies at the White House on Friday. Amid all the diplomacy, allies will be conducting a quiet assessment of Biden, asking if he’s lived up to his campaign promise to be a better partner than Trump.
September 20, 2021 4:15 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Democrats in Pennsylvania’s state Senate are suing to block a Senate Republican-approved subpoena seeking voter information and to put a stop to what Republicans call a “forensic investigation” of last year’s presidential election. Democrats sued two days after the Republican-controlled Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee voted Wednesday to issue a subpoena for detailed state election records, including the names of who voted in last year’s presidential election, their birth date, address, driver’s license number, and the last four digits of their Social Security number. The 53-page lawsuit was filed Friday. The subpoena is an outgrowth of former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that he was cheated out of victory last November.
September 20, 2021 4:14 am
HILLSVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a local police officer in western Pennsylvania shot and killed a man who had stabbed or slashed four people, including another local officer. State police in Lawrence County say officers from several local police departments were called to Mahoning Township shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday and found a man “armed with a cutting instrument” who was alleged to be responsible for stabbing three people. They said the 34-year-old man attacked and injured an officer, and another local officer fired, killing him. Police said the 24-year-old officer, a 15-year-old youth and two Ohio men were injured. Their conditions weren’t immediately available.
