September 10, 2021 4:14 pm
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – The on-again, off-again ban imposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent mandating masks for Florida school students is back in force. The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a Tallahassee judge should not have lifted an automatic stay two days ago that halted enforcement of the mask mandate ban. The upshot is that the state could resume its efforts to impose financial penalties on the 13 Florida school boards currently defying the mask mandate ban. The U.S. Department of Education has begun a grant program for school districts that lose money for implementing anti-coronavirus practices such as mandatory masks.
September 10, 2021 2:50 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – A Florida businessman who gained notoriety for helping Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information on Joe Biden in Ukraine has pleaded guilty to seeking illegal foreign campaign contributions in an effort to build a marijuana business in the U.S. Igor Fruman entered the plea Friday in Manhattan federal court after reaching a deal reached with prosecutors. Fruman’s plea agreement does not require the 56-year-old to cooperate in other cases. That charge was part of a wide-ranging indictment that had charged Fruman and others with various crimes. Giuliani was not charged in this case, but has been under investigation for his Ukraine dealings while serving as then-President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers.
September 10, 2021 2:09 pm
Funeral services were held Friday for 66-year-old Rodney Rohrer of West Middletown. Rohrer passed away on Sunday, September 5th, in his home, following a lengthy illness. Rohrer served as operations manager for Ambulance & Chair Service since 1996, retiring from that position in April 2020. Rohrer was a proponent of emergency medicine advancements and development. He also served on the Emergency Medical Services Institute/EMS West Board from 2002 until the present. He was on the Executive Committee/Executive Board from 2004 until 2020. He was a member of the Washington County EMS Council from 1996 through the present serving on many committees and projects including EMSOF and Conference activities. He was also active with the Washington County Opioid Overdose Coalition since 2016. Funeral services were held in Beallsville, followed by a procession into the city of Washington and onto Main Street where the procession passed underneath an American Flag hanging from two fire trucks.
September 10, 2021 4:16 am
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) – Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base went into lockdown for several hours while security officials investigated reports of a shooter on the campus. Officials from the 88th Airbase Wing eventually gave the all-clear around 1:40 a.m. Friday morning and say there is no threat and no one injured. A spokesman says two individuals reported hearing one gunshot Thursday night. The report launched a series of events leading to the lockdown. Responders conducted two sweeps of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. That’s a large, three-story facility at the base that is the Department of Defense’s primary source for foreign air and space threat analysis. Officials are investigating what caused the sound.
September 10, 2021 4:14 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Justice Department is suing Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the law is invalid, “to enjoin its enforcement, and to protect the rights that Texas has violated.” The Texas law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity – usually around six weeks, before some women know they’re pregnant. In announcing the suit, Attorney General Merrick Garland says, “The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent.”
September 10, 2021 4:13 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Los Angeles board of education has voted to require students 12 and older to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend in-person classes in the nation’s second-largest school district. The board’s vote Thursday makes Los Angeles by far the largest of a very small number of districts with a vaccine requirement. Nearby Culver City imposed a similar policy last month for its 7,000 students. LA has more than 600,000 students. Under the plan for Los Angeles, students 12 and up who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities need to get both of two shots by the end of October. Others have until Dec. 19.
September 10, 2021 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Transportation Security Administration is increasing the penalty for people who violate the mandate to wear masks on planes, trains and other forms of transportation to help stop the spread of COVID-19. President Joe Biden warns that violators should “be prepared to pay.” First-time offenders would face a potential fine of $500 to $1,000 and second offenders could face fines ranging from $1,000 to $3,000. The fine currently starts at $250. The Department of Homeland Security says the new fines will take effect Friday and the requirement to wear masks on planes, buses and other forms of transportation will remain in effect until at least Jan. 18.
September 10, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant. The government’s expansive new rules, announced Thursday, mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. Biden is also signing an executive order requiring vaccination for all employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government. No testing opt-out is expected to be included for the executive branch requirement.
September 10, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A loophole in Pennsylvania’s new mask mandate for schools is allowing untold numbers of students to go to class without having to cover their faces. The state health secretary’s order requiring masks to be worn inside K-12 school and child care facilities took effect Tuesday. It includes an exemption for students who claim it would cause or worsen a medical condition. But the masking order does not require a student to produce a doctor’s note or other supporting medical documentation. Now some school boards that oppose the statewide mandate are allowing students to come to class unmasked with just a parent’s signature.
September 10, 2021 4:03 am
SQUIRREL HILL – (WPXI) – The phones at Kids Plus Pediatrics have been ringing off the hook. Parents have been asking doctors to essentially lie so their kids won’t have to wear a mask to school. “People say, ‘Can you just sign this?’ Of course we aren’t doing that unless there’s a medical reason,” explained Dr. Todd Wolynn. That’s the question Wolynn and his colleagues have been hearing nonstop. Parents want him to sign a “mask exemption” form or an excuse for their child, so they won’t have to wear a mask while in school. “We are not going to change our professional and ethical stance because someone says ‘Can you write me an exemption?,’ that’s providing permission to infect,” Wolynn said. When parents hear that answer, they sometimes get aggressive. “Our staff is getting beaten up, verbally threatened, ‘I’m gonna come down there’ and bravado and bully people around,” Wolynn said. However, he says they will write medical excuses for children who actually need them; however, those cases are rare.
