January 8, 2022 9:20 am
LOUISVILLE, Colo. (AP) – President Joe Biden has visited Colorado to comfort residents grappling with rebuilding homes and businesses destroyed last week by a rare winter fire. The blaze burned through a pair of heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder. The president met local officials who have been overseeing the fire aftermath, as well as residents whose homes were turned to rubble. Biden praised the courage of the people made homeless by the fire and pledged the full support of the federal government to help rebuild.
January 8, 2022 4:31 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced to life in prison, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man. Greg and Travis McMichael grabbed guns and chased Arbery in a pickup truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan joined the pursuit and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun. Bryan was granted a chance of parole, but must first serve at least 30 years in prison. A jury convicted all three defendants of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and attempted false imprisonment in November. (Photo: ABC)
January 8, 2022 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears skeptical of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation’s large employers. In arguments Friday, the court’s six conservative justices appeared to view the administration’s requirement for businesses with at least 100 employees as overstepping government authority. However, the court seemed more open to a separate vaccine mandate for most health care workers. Seven of the nine justices heard arguments wearing masks for the first time, and an eighth was phoning in. Rulings on legal challenges to the policies from Republican-led states and business groups probably will determine the fate of vaccine requirements affecting more than 80 million people.
January 8, 2022 4:17 am
Treasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI’s excavation. Finders Keepers has filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents on the FBI’s search for the legendary gold. The dig took place in 2018 at a remote woodland site in northwestern Pennsylvania. The FBI has long claimed the dig came up empty, but treasure hunters Dennis and Kem Parada aren’t so sure.
January 8, 2022 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – More extreme time pressures could push the bounds of how Pennsylvania’s elections are run in 2022, with races for U.S. Senate and governor driving voter interest and partisan stalemates in the statehouse sowing uncertainty. With barely a month Friday before candidates can start gathering signatures to qualify for primary ballots, Pennsylvania still has no new map of boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts. A court battle looks inevitable, potentially squeezing the timeline for counties to finalize and mail out ballots. Meanwhile, counties remain unable to persuade the Republican-controlled Legislature to let them process mailed-in ballots before Election Day. That hang-up in 2020’s presidential election dragged out counting for days.
January 7, 2022 3:52 pm
State Police have formally filed charges in connection with a police chase in South Strabane Township on New Year’s Eve. Forty-four-year-old Corey Talley of Washington is facing numerous charges including recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, flight to avoid apprehension, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, careless and reckless driving and a list of traffic violations. Troopers were attempting a traffic stop when they say Talley took off and eventually crashed into a parked vehicle in the parking lot of Washington Hospital. He fled the vehicle but was apprehended after a brief foot chase.
January 7, 2022 12:53 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94. Few movie stars had such an influence both on and off the screen. Before Poitier, the son of Bahaman tomato farmers, no Black actor had a sustained career as a lead performer or could get a film produced based on his own star power. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. (Photo: AP)
January 7, 2022 9:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added a modest 199,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell sharply, at a time when businesses are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans remaining reluctant to return to the workforce. At the same time, Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the nation’s unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to a healthy 3.9%, evidence that many more people found jobs last month. Indeed, despite the slight hiring gain, 651,000 more people reported that they were employed in December compared with November. Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs.
January 7, 2022 4:35 am
The Trinity Area School District made changes to the current health and safety plan. In its planning session on Thursday, board members authorized the superintendent to switch learning models from the current full time model to either a hybrid or fully remote learning module if any or all buildings were to be mandated closed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the governor or Pennsylvania Department of Education. Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise but according to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Donald Snoke, case numbers in Trinity buildings have not forced any closures yet. This authorization allows Superintendent Dr. Michael Lucas to close buildings without a school board vote should such a mandate be issued or if a lack of staff requires a building to close. Snoke is confident that if any building was to close, they are prepared to go to an online learning system with all students, kindergarten through grade 12 already in possession of computers to learn without missing a day of classes.
January 7, 2022 4:32 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Just a year ago, many Republicans joined Democrats in reacting with horror to the Capitol insurrection. But on the anniversary of the attack, top Republicans were far more muted. Some, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, acknowledged the terror of the day but quickly pivoted to bashing Democrats. Many, like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, avoided observances planned at the Capitol. And still others, including some potential 2024 presidential candidates, didn’t say anything at all. It’s all part of the political calculus in a party in which former President Donald Trump remains very much in charge.
