July 22, 2021 4:14 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Justice Department says it has decided not to open an investigation into whether Pennsylvania violated federal law by ordering nursing homes to accept residents who had been treated for COVID-19 in a hospital. Thursday’s letter comes 11 months after the agency told the governors of Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and New York that it wanted information to determine whether orders there may have resulted in the deaths of nursing home residents. Michigan received an identical letter Thursday. The orders by the four governors were criticized for potentially fueling the spread of the virus. In Pennsylvania, it is far from clear that the policy led to an outbreak or death.
July 22, 2021 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Advocates for the unemployed say the backlog of people in Pennsylvania waiting for a decision on whether they can receive unemployment compensation benefits has ballooned following the introduction of a new online portal for the system. The Mon Valley Unemployed Committee and other advocates say the backlog has surged to about 315,000 people waiting. State officials contend that some applications are fraudulent claims and have reported an “uptick” in fraudulent claims for regular state unemployment benefits. The Mon Valley Unemployed Committee and Community Legal Services in Philadelphia also say thousands of people have reported that their unemployment benefits stopped illegally without any notice.
July 22, 2021 4:11 am
Avella Area students might return to class with new pencils and books, but likely not masks. At Wednesday evening’s school board meeting, Superintendent Cyril Walther announced that all vaccinated students and staff do not have to wear masks. Although the CDC recommends that non-vaccinated people wear masks, the district decided that mask-wearing would be entirely optional for students. “I don’t have any legal means to identify what individuals have been vaccinated and what individuals have not been vaccinated”, said Walther. Otherwise, Walther said the schools will do their best to maintain student distancing. Masks still must be worn on all school buses. For all Avella schools, the first in-service day for teachers is on August 23rd, while the first school day for students is on August 25th.
July 22, 2021 3:35 am
Washington County Commissioners announced on Wednesday that a special meeting scheduled for Friday, July 23rd, has been rescheduled for Thursday, July 29th at nine a.m. The meeting, which was to be held virtually, was to discuss the creation of an eleven-member board to study and review county government. The board, which would first have to be approved by voters in the next election, along with electing eleven county residents to sit on the board, would conduct a review of government operations and could recommend changes. An ordinance to get the process moving had to be advertised for seven days before the commissioners voted on it. Friday’s special meeting, was going to be virtual, and they were expected to vote on whether to put the issue on the ballot for the public to decide. Commissioners say the change in the meeting time and date is an effort to let all residents who want to be heard on the matter attend in person.
July 22, 2021 3:33 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A former medical assistant at the Allegheny County Jail is facing charges of institutional sexual assault and indecent assault after three female inmates filed complaints about the man. Shiquille Desesso was arrested Thursday and was awaiting arraignment, Allegheny County Police said. Online court information showed the 29-year-old Desesso initially declined a public defender, but no other attorney information was available on the court website. The department did not name the inmates or release details of Desesso’s alleged conduct, but called it “concerning” and described it as “inappropriate touching.”
July 21, 2021 1:10 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Kennedy Center Honors is returning in December. The honorees will be Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, “Saturday Night Live” mastermind Lorne Michaels, opera singer Justino Diaz, folk music legend Joni Mitchell and actress-singer Bette Midler. All will be honored on Dec. 5 with a program that includes personalized tributes and performances that are kept secret from the honorees until the event. Organizers expect to operate at full capacity. Last year’s Honors ceremony was delayed for months and later conducted under intense COVID-19 restrictions.
July 21, 2021 4:11 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that’s currently the largest in the U.S., are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to six miles high. Skies over New York City were hazy as strong winds blew smoke east from California, Oregon, Montana and other states. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 606 square miles (1,569 square kilometers) – half the size of Rhode Island.
July 21, 2021 4:08 am
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A federal judge has blocked an Arkansas law banning nearly all abortions from taking effect this month. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law’s enforcement while she considers a challenge to its constitutionality. The measure passed by the majority-Republican Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson was set to take effect July 28. The ban allows the procedure to save the life of the mother and does not provide exceptions for those impregnated in an act of rape or incest. The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, which had challenged the outright ban, hailed Baker’s decision.
July 21, 2021 4:07 am
MISSION, Kan. (AP) – COVID-19 cases have tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation. The spike in infections is straining hospitals, frustrating doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. Across the U.S., the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, up from less than 13,700 on July 6. Health officials blame the delta variant and flattening vaccination rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.
July 21, 2021 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rejecting two Republicans tapped by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. McCarthy is now denouncing the decision as “an egregious abuse of power.” Pelosi on Wednesday refused two of McCarthy’s five picks to the panel, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who was tapped to head the panel, and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Pelosi cited the “integrity” of the probe in refusing to accept those two close allies of former President Donald Trump, whose supporters laid siege to the Capitol that day.
