August 29, 2021 1:23 am
A Washington County judge has denied a request to reverse the mask mandate at Peters Township School District. Senior Judge Katherine Emery denied the temporary injunction requested by parents who are against the mandate. Therefore, the decision by the school board requiring masks for everyone in all district buildings stands. The attorney representing the parents said they are disappointed, but the lawsuit will move forward.
August 28, 2021 4:30 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered a mandatory evacuation for a small area of the city outside the levee system. But with Hurricane Ida intensifying so much over a short time, she said it wasn’t possible to do so for the entire city. Forecasters say Ida could grow to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm with top winds of 140 mph when it nears the U.S. coast late Sunday. The National Hurricane Center says Ida already has top winds of 80 mph and should rapidly intensify as it speeds across warm Gulf waters and slams into Louisiana. Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared an emergency for all of Louisiana.
August 28, 2021 4:29 am
BEIJING (AP) – China’s defense ministry has protested the passage of a U.S. Navy warship and Coast Guard cutter through the waters between China and Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China. A statement posted Saturday on the ministry’s website called the move provocative and said it shows that the United States is the biggest creator of security risks in the Taiwan Strait. The USS Kidd guided-missile destroyer and Coast Guard cutter Munro sailed through the passage Friday. Such exercises are seen as a warning to China, which recently conducted drills near Taiwan and has not renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
August 28, 2021 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States military struck back at the Islamic State in Afghanistan on Saturday, acting on President Joe Biden’s vow to hit the extremists in retaliation for a suicide bombing claimed by IS that killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at Kabul airport Thursday. A U.S. Central Command statement said a drone strike targeted an IS planner in the eastern province of Nangahar. It said initial indications were that the target was killed. Biden said Thursday he would strike back at the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said.
August 28, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Across the county, the offices of members of Congress have become makeshift crisis centers. The lawmakers are being flooded with requests for help getting people onto one of the last flights coming out of the Kabul airport before Tuesday. That’s President Joe Biden’s deadline for the withdrawal of all U.S. military forces out of Afghanistan. The requests run into the hundreds, and sometimes the thousands, for each lawmaker. The work is gut-wrenching with stories of people they’re trying to help being turned away from the Kabul airport. Still, there are successes amid one of the largest airlifts in U.S. history.
August 28, 2021 4:24 am
CECIL, Pa. (AP) – The Rev. George T. DeVille fills the gold-plated container – called a pyx – with 15 consecrated Holy Communion hosts. After distributing Communion to members of St. Oscar Romero Parish inside Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cecil, he takes Communion to residences of the faithful, some homebound, others recovering from medical issues and others uncomfortable returning to services because of the pandemic. Praying with them as they receive the host is “an honor,” said DeVille, who has been a priest for 64 years. As a senior parochial vicar, he is the oldest priest still active in an assignment in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
August 28, 2021 4:12 am
AMWELL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — West Penn Power took care of a power outage affecting nearly 400 residents in Washington County Saturday morning. The issues were reportedly stemming from Vance Station Road near the KOA Campground. Municipalities with outages at the time included Amwell, South Strabane, North Franklin, North Strabane and the City of Washington. The power company had the power restored around 6:00 a.m.
August 27, 2021 4:25 am
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) – A community on the shore of Lake Tahoe issued an emergency declaration and a tourism group discouraged visitors from coming amid smoky skies from a major wildfire. South Lake Tahoe declared an emergency Thursday to be better prepared if evacuations are ordered and the community is threatened by the Caldor Fire. Some residents under evacuation warnings cleared up pine needles and flammable debris from their homes; others fled. Firefighters were trying to stop the fire before winds and temperatures pick up and humidity drops. The fire is one of nearly 90 blazes burning in the West.
August 27, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 3.5 million people in the United States said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August. The court says in an unsigned opinion Thursday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reimposed the moratorium Aug. 3, lacked the authority to do so under federal law. The justices are rejecting the administration’s arguments in support of the CDC’s authority.
August 27, 2021 4:23 am
MIAMI (AP) – Tropical Storm Ida has prompted a hurricane warning for New Orleans and an emergency declaration for the state of Louisiana as it pushes across the Caribbean toward an anticipated strike on Cuba Friday. Forecasters say Ida could be near major hurricane strength by the time it reaches the northern Gulf Coast. That’s projected to happen sometime late Sunday or early Monday. Tropical Storm Ida is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Dangerous storm surge is possible for the Gulf Coast depending on the tide by the time the system reaches the U.S.
