February 25, 2022 2:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Wolf administration is asking the state Supreme Court to keep the state’s mail-in voting law in place while the justices consider a lower-court ruling throwing it out. Lawyers for the Department of State in a Thursday filing argued the court should overturn a Commonwealth Court ruling that means the popular voting law may no longer be in effect as of March 15. That’s a week after the Supreme Court is expected to hear oral argument in the case. The state lawyers argue that eliminating mail-in voting ahead of the spring primary season “would, if anything, only exacerbate voter confusion and the danger of disenfranchisement.”
February 24, 2022 5:54 pm
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Three former Minneapolis police officers have been convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care when Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as the 46-year-old Black man was handcuffed and facedown on the street on May 25, 2020. Thao and Lane were also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. The videotaped killing sparked protests in Minneapolis that spread around the globe as part of reckoning over racial injustice. Chauvin was convicted of murder last year in state court and pleaded guilty in December in the federal case. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.
February 24, 2022 1:41 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks tumbled worldwide Thursday after Russia’s attack of Ukraine sent fear coursing through markets and upped the pressure on the high inflation already squeezing the global economy. The S&P 500 sank 1.1% to continue its dismal start of the year. European stocks dropped even more, with the German DAX down 4%. Price swings for commodities were also much sharper in Europe than in the US because the continent’s economy is more closely tied to Russia and Ukraine. Bond yields fell as investors sought safety, while oil and gold rose. The conflict could send prices even higher at gasoline pumps and grocery stores.
February 24, 2022 9:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell to a 52-year low after another decline in jobless aid applications last week. Jobless claims fell by 17,000, from 249,000 to 232,000 for the week ending Feb. 19, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 7,250 to 236,250. In total, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 5, a decrease of about 112,000 from the previous week and the lowest level since March 14, 1970, the government said.
February 24, 2022 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of children in America living in poverty jumped dramatically after just one month without the expanded child tax credit payments, according to a new study. Advocates fear the lapse in payments could unravel what they say were landmark achievements in poverty reduction. Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimates 3.7 million more children were living in poverty by January. That’s a 41% increase from December, when families received their last check. The federal aid started last July but ended after President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill stalled in the sharply divided Congress.
February 24, 2022 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, charging that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “chose this war” and his country will bear the consequences. The sanctions target Russian banks, oligarchs, and high-tech sectors. The penalties fall in line with the White House’s insistence that it would look to hit Russia’s financial system and Putin’s inner circle, while also imposing export controls that would aim to starve Russia’s industries and military of U.S. semiconductors and other high-tech products. Biden, for now, is holding off imposing some of the most severe sanctions, including cutting Russia out of the international SWIFT bank payment system. (Photo: AP)
February 24, 2022 4:06 am
The European Union says it is planning the “strongest, the harshest package” of sanctions it has ever considered at an emergency summit Thursday, as the Russian military attacked Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “the target is the stability in Europe and the whole of the international peace order, and we will hold President (Vladimir) Putin accountable for that.” She said that “we will present a package of massive and targeted sanctions to European leaders for approval.” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called it the “strongest, the harshest package” ever considered.
February 24, 2022 4:06 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A presidential adviser says Ukraine lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear site, where Ukrainian forces had waged a fierce battle with Russian troops. Adviser Myhailo Podolyak told The Associated Press that Ukrainian authorities did not know the current condition of the facilities at Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Podolyak said, “After the absolutely senseless attack of the Russians in this direction, it is impossible to say that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced several hours earlier Thursday that Russian forces were trying to seize the plant. A nuclear reactor at the plant 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, exploded in April 1986. (Photo: ABC News)
February 24, 2022 4:02 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A man is dead after he was shot in the back in Pittsburgh Wednesday evening. According to investigators, officers were called to the area of Reifert Street near Roll Way for reports of a shooting just after 6 p.m. They found the 18-year-old victim in the area of Wilbur Street. Officers rendered first aid before the man could be taken to a local hospital. Police said he later died from his injuries. No one is in custody at this time and police said they’re still investigating.
February 23, 2022 1:57 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials say some people getting Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines should consider waiting up to eight weeks between the first and second doses. That’s instead of the three or four weeks previously recommended. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly changed its advice on Tuesday. They says they are reacting to research showing that a longer interval can provide more enduring protection against the coronavirus. They also say the longer wait may help diminish an already rare vaccination side effect: a form of heart inflammation seen in some young men. The suggestion doesn’t apply to those under 12 years old or over 65.
