July 4, 2020 3:41 am
The Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency announced Friday that the Washington County Greene County Covered Bridge Festival scheduled for September 19-20, 2020 has been cancelled. The Covid-19 emergency is the cause for the cancellation of the traditional arts and crafts festival that has 8 locations and supports over 400 vendors. Jeff Kotula, President of the WCTPA said the decision to cancel the event was to ensure public safety during the Covid-19 situation. Kotula says the event attracts 20,000 people and Department of Health limits to gatherings of no more than 250 people make the event impossible to hold. The cancellation of the Covered Bridge Festival follows several other cancellations in the county, they include the Whiskey Rebellion Festival, PONY Baseball World Series, The Washington County Agricultural Fair and West Alexander Fair.
July 4, 2020 3:40 am
HEMPFIELD, Pa. (AP) – A man who says he fatally beat his 92-year-old father in their home because he believed his father was a vampire has been sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison. Douglas Novak pleaded guilty but mentally ill last November to murder, arson, reckless endangerment and risking a catastrophe charges. Authorities have said he fatally beat Frank Novak with the wooden arm of a dining room chair. Novak’s lawyer said Thursday that his client was off his medication when he attacked his father. But prosecutors say Novak told police he beat his father because the older man was hiding his phone.
July 4, 2020 3:37 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf’s more expansive mask order issued this week as the coronavirus shows new signs of life in Pennsylvania is being met with hostility from Republicans. They are objecting to the Democrat’s use of power, to wearing a mask itself and to what they call confusion it’s causing. It is one of many partisan fights over the coronavirus in a premier presidential battleground state where Democrats blame President Donald Trump for the virus’ devastation and Republicans blame Wolf. Pennsylvania’s state House Republican leaders called Wolf’s expanded mask order “another unenforceable, unilateral mask order.” Five House Republicans are questioning the science behind using a mask to contain the virus.
July 4, 2020 3:33 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The rising number of COVID-19 infections in the Pittsburgh area is helping drive Pennsylvania’s number of confirmed new cases to 667. The state Health Department said Friday the Pennsylvania death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose by 34 to more than 6,700 so far. The number of cases in Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh, rose by 166, prompting the county to close bars and restaurants for a week, starting Friday. Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is recommending that people stay at home for 14 days if they are returning from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas or Utah.
July 3, 2020 4:02 am
Stocks are higher in Asia after a report showed the U.S. job market is recovering from the wreckage of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring. Shanghai led regional gains on Friday, adding 1%, and shares rose across the region despite rising numbers of newly confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea and Japan. Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, finishing the holiday-shortened week with a gain of 4%. Worries about the virus are still weighing on investors, however. Florida reported another sharp increase in confirmed cases, helping to cut the S&P 500’s early gains by more than half. The bond market also showed continued caution.
July 3, 2020 4:00 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — The City of Washington has gotten numerous complaints about residents setting off fireworks in city neighborhoods. City Council was addressed on Thursday during their first face to face regular council meeting about people setting off fireworks on a nightly basis since Memorial Day. West End Resident Fern Sibert told council that the previous night she had to call police about fireworks being set off after 3:00 AM. Mayor Scott Putnam called the behavior ridiculous and instructed affected residents to call 9-1-1 and the events will be reported to City Police. Putnam also indicated that extra police patrols will be used to address fireworks complaints over the holiday weekend. In other council business, Councilman Joe Manning was able to provide a financial update both current and projected. Manning states that financially the city should be ok until the end of the year, but because of lost revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic shut down revenues for 2021 could be down as much as 25%. Budgeted funds for overtime are currently 60% depleted. Two city employees are either currently or will be on military leave of absence due to deployment. That and the extra fireworks patrols this weekend will put a strain on those funds going forward. Manning indicated that his department will keep a very close eye on the budget for the remainder of the year.
July 3, 2020 3:17 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A suspect has died and a police officer who was shot in the head during a Kansas City shooting remains in critical condition. Kansas City police on Twitter said that an officer was hospitalized for emergency surgery after the Thursday evening shooting. The Missouri State Highway Patrol tweeted that the suspect fired at police, who returned fire. The Patrol tweeted that police fatally shot the suspect. The shooting is the second that injured a Kansas City officer Thursday. Three people including a police officer were shot earlier Thursday after a reported robbery at a bus stop.
July 3, 2020 3:16 am
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked a lower court ruling allowing curbside voting in Alabama and waiving some absentee ballot requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conservative justices granted Alabama’s request to stay a federal judge’s order that would allow local officials to offer curbside voting in the July runoff and loosen absentee ballot requirements in three of the state’s large counties. The order will remain stayed while the court decides whether to hear Alabama’s appeal. Alabama argued that it would be confusing to change absentee ballot rules in three of Alabama’s 67 counties and that curbside voting would be a major change done right before the election.
July 3, 2020 3:15 am
HONG KONG (AP) – Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law has left the city for an undisclosed location, he revealed on his Facebook page shortly after testifying at a U.S. congressional hearing about the tough national security law China had imposed on the semi-autonomous territory. Law told reporters in a WhatsApp message that he would not reveal his whereabouts. His departure comes days after Hong Kong’s national security law took effect, targeting vaguely defined crimes of secessionist, subversive and terrorist acts, as well as any collusion with foreign forces. Hong Kong government also said that popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times” is a call for independence and as such could be in violation of the new law.
July 3, 2020 3:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says President Donald Trump was never briefed on intelligence that Russia had put a bounty on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan because there wasn’t corroborating evidence. But former intelligence officials say presidents are routinely informed about intelligence even when it’s not definitively confirmed. They say it strains credulity to think Trump wouldn’t have been told of something so important, whether corroborated or not. Intelligence that may be on shaky ground today may foreshadow tomorrow’s calamity, so briefers are expected to ensure presidents have the fullest possible picture to prepare for something that may soon require full attention.
