September 14, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats have unveiled a sweeping proposal for tax hikes on big corporations and the wealthy to fund President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan. Congress is speeding ahead to shape the far-reaching package that touches almost all aspects of domestic life. The proposed top tax rate would revert to 39.6% on individuals earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for couples. There would be a 3% tax on wealthier Americans making beyond $5 million a year. For big businesses, the proposal would lift the 21% corporate tax rate to 26.5%. The tax hikes are in line with Biden’s own proposals.
September 14, 2021 4:14 am
HOUSTON (AP) – The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Hurricane Nicholas has made landfall along the Texas coast, bringing the threat of up to 20 inches of rainfall to parts of the Gulf Coast. The hurricane center says the storm touched down on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles west southwest of Sargent Beach, Texas, with maximum winds of 75 mph. Nicholas was the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. The biggest unknown about Nicholas was how much rainfall it would produce in Texas, especially around flood-prone Houston. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says authorities have placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast. Storm-battered Louisiana was also expected to see heavy rain and flooding from Nicholas.
September 14, 2021 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – People would need to wear masks at all indoor events and some outdoor events under new legislation that is expected to be introduced at Tuesday’s Allegheny County Council meeting, according to our news partners at Channel 11. Under the new proposal, sponsored by council members Bethany Hallam and Olivia Bennett, people would be required to wear masks at any outdoor gathering of more than 250 people. Anyone who fails to comply could be fined up to $100. If passed, it would be effective until Apr. 30, 2022, unless the council acts to repeal it sooner, according to reports. “It’s not taking away personal freedoms. It’s giving our people the right to live. This virus is killing people and so we’re leading and we’re making these decisions. We have to make the decisions that are going to help save our constituents’ lives,” Bennett said. “The goal is for it to look kind of like what we were doing at the beginning of the pandemic.”
September 14, 2021 2:50 am
Washington Health System’s President and CEO Brook Ward wants to assure the public that beds in both Washington and Waynesburg Hospitals are available despite reports of rising Covid numbers in the county. Ward says that part of the reason for availability is the county’s 70% vaccination rate. The problem facing the hospitals is a shortage of staff, but that could be solved by rearranging some staff or programs, but Ward says there has not been a need for such actions yet. There are currently 31 in-patients in both hospitals, the high last year was 58.
September 14, 2021 2:30 am
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Four Brownsville Senior High School students were rushed to the hospital Monday morning after state police troopers said they may have overdosed. According to troopers, state police were called at around 7:15 a.m. for a report of four children that were taken to a nearby hospital “for unknown medical issues.” Investigators said the students may have eaten THC edibles on school property, leading to the medical issues. The students were released from the hospital in stable condition. Troopers are still investigating. The superintendent issued this statement to our news partners at Channel 11: “Unfortunately, we had a student discipline issue in our high school today involving 4 students. The State Police and local ambulance service were contacted. However, reports circulated on social media regarding our students’ well-being are not accurate.”
September 14, 2021 2:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The union that represents corrections officers in Pennsylvania prisons wants a state court to intervene over the governor’s recent mandate that they all get coronavirus vaccines or submit to weekly testing. The six-page Commonwealth Court complaint over a rule Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced last month requests that the court issue a preliminary injunction to end mandatory testing unless inmates, visitors and outside vendors are also subject to the requirement. Wolf a month ago announced that about 25,000 employees of Pennsylvania’s prisons and state health care and congregate care facilities would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 7 or take weekly tests for the virus.
September 13, 2021 1:41 pm
NEW ORLEANS (AP) –
A Louisiana man who is the oldest living World War II veteran in the United States has marked his 112th birthday. Lawrence Brooks celebrated Sunday with a drive-by party at his New Orleans home hosted by the National World War II Museum. Festivities included a Jeep parade, a live performance from the museum vocal trio and entertainment from New Orleans musicians. Drafted in 1940, Brooks was a private in the Army’s mostly Black 91st Engineer Battalion. The unit was stationed in New Guinea and the Philippines and built infrastructure such as bridges, roads and airstrips.
September 13, 2021 11:44 am
NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. (AP) – Authorities are asking for help from the public in their search for a teenage suspect who opened fire at a popular Halloween attraction in western Pennsylvania over the weekend, killing one 15-year-old youth and wounding another. Allegheny County police said 15-year-old Steven Eason of Wilmerding was shot in the chest and stomach Saturday night at the Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles. The other youth is in stable condition. Detectives said Eason and friends knew the other youth casually and went to his aid when they saw him in a confrontation with the 15- to 17-year-old suspect, who drew a handgun and fired three times.
September 13, 2021 4:27 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Britney Spears has announced her engagement to her boyfriend Sam Asghari with an exuberant post displaying a diamond ring engraved with the word lioness. The news comes days after her father filed to end the court conservatorship that has controlled the singer’s life and money for 13 years. She announced the engagement with a short video of the couple winking, smiling and kissing. The couple met on a music-video set in 2016. The singer told a judge in June she wanted to marry Asghari and have a baby with him as she made an impassioned plea to end the conservatorship
September 13, 2021 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Allies of former President Donald Trump are calling those charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol “political prisoners.” Such rhetoric ahead of a rally planned for Saturday at the Capitol is the latest attempt to explain away what played out for all the world to see when rioters loyal to Trump stormed the building to try to stop Congress from certifying the election for President Joe Biden. Many Republicans who had voted to challenge Biden’s victory have not said if they will attend the rally. Rally organizer and former Trump campaign strategist Matt Braynard says those jailed are being unfairly prosecuted.
