December 16, 2021 4:09 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Legislative Reapportionment Commission is advancing new preliminary Pennsylvania state House and Senate maps over objections from the state House’s Republican leader. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 5-0 for the Senate map and 3-2 for the House map on Thursday. A vote on the final maps is likely a month or more away. The approval on Thursday is a key step in the once-in-a-decade process that will reverberate politically for years to come. There are about two months left before candidates are scheduled to begin circulating nominating petitions to get on the May 17 primary ballot.
December 16, 2021 4:02 am
Wednesday evening brought about a change in the Ringgold School District. School Directors voted to amend the health and safety plan and require masks to be worn by students and staff immediately. This comes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out on Friday, the mandatory mask requirement implemented by the Wolf administration back in August. A last minute addition to the agenda passed by a 5-4 vote. Public comment on the new agenda item was split evenly with support for and against the wearing of masks by students. A roll call vote determined the change in policy by the same 5-4 margin. Superintendent Randall Skrinjorich pointed to several issues as reason for the change. A large increase in positive cases and quarantine of students after the holiday drew attention to the issue. Had masks not been returned for use, Skrinjorich indicated that following state guidelines, not wearing masks would increase the number of close contacts with infected individuals and cause increases quarantines. Finally Skrinjorich indicated that the safety of students and staff are of utmost concern. The district does not want to be in a position where students would not be able to learn because of a lack of teachers or support staff and buildings would have to close. In other district business, the board accepted the resignation of Rachel Roberts. She is the teacher that allegedly assaulted a student in her classroom. The district had no comment on the resignation stating that they do not comment on employee matters.
December 15, 2021 1:58 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is asking the federal government to send health care workers to bolster hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under strain from persistent staffing shortages and the latest COVID-19 surge. The Wolf administration asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday to send strike teams to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in the hardest-hit areas of the state. Pennsylvania is also requesting that the federal government send 1 million rapid at-home coronavirus tests and increase the state’s allocation of monoclonal antibody treatments. Statewide, hospitalizations are up by two-thirds since last month.
December 15, 2021 4:19 am
DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. (AP) – President Joe Biden saw firsthand the striking devastation in two Kentucky towns rendered unrecognizable by deadly tornadoes as he offered prayers and comfort Wednesday to residents left homeless. In Dawson Springs, Biden walked through piles of debris. Shattered Christmas decorations were tangled up with shards of furniture and strewn clothing. Trees were uprooted among homes reduced to rubble. Earlier, in Mayfield, among the dozens of communities pummeled by the storm, the president held hands in prayer with a county official and a pastor. More than 30 tornadoes tore through Kentucky and seven other states over the weekend, killing at least 88 people. Thousands of residents have lost their houses or are without power. (Photo: AP)
December 15, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after he ceased to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. It is the first time the House has voted to hold a former member in contempt since the 1830s. The House vote sends the matter to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, where it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether to present the case against the former Republican congressman to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.
December 15, 2021 4:14 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A federal appeals court panel has lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health workers, creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country. Wednesday’s decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps an injunction in place only for 14 states that sued in its circuit. A separate preliminary injunction pending before the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to 10 additional states. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had previously said it would not enforce the vaccine rule while injunctions were in place.
December 15, 2021 4:12 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Chauvin’s plea Wednesday means he will not face a federal trial in January, though he could end up spending more years behind bars. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted this spring of state murder and manslaughter charges for pinning his knee against Floyd’s neck as the Black man said he couldn’t breathe during a May 25, 2020, arrest. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in that case. Three other former officers – Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao – were indicted on federal charges alongside Chauvin earlier this year. They are still on course for trial early next year on those charges, with a state trial still to come.
December 15, 2021 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress has approved a $2.5 trillion debt limit hike, sending legislation to avert a catastrophic default to President Joe Biden for his signature. The flurry of action, which stretched into Wednesday’s early morning hours, came just shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for avoiding a national default. The debt limit must be raised to cover the cost of spending decisions that have already been made by Congress under both Republican and Democratic majorities. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says this is about “paying debt accumulated by both parties.” The bill drew only one Republican vote in the House.
December 15, 2021 4:09 am
A man who led city police on a car chase through the city faced a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. A hearing was held for Deshawn Dean-Mitchell of Penn Hills, but when asked to identify himself on video from the Washington County Jail, the defendant stated his name was Devontae Dean-Mitchell of Washington. Prior to the hearing, a lady who did not wish to be identified or comment, indicated that she was the mother of Deshawn Dean-Mitchell and pointed to a man seated next to her and identified that man as Deshawn. When the hearing started, both were present when the jailed defendant identified himself as Devontae Dean-Mitchell. During the hearing three city police officers testified to an original call for occupants of a vehicle brandishing a weapon in Lincoln Terrace. When approached by officers the vehicle took off on a car chase involving three police cars reaching speeds of nearly 60 mph according to testimony. Dean-Mitchell hit an embankment and rolled his vehicle causing him and another occupant to have to be extricated through the rear window. During interviews at the scene and at the police station Dean-Mitchell identified himself as Deshawn. At the scene of the accident police found an electronic scale that was ejected from the car. They also found suspected crack cocaine and several baggies on Dean-Mitchell’s person. Dean-Mitchell will face 12 felony and misdemeanor charges of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person and drug possession. He will also face a charge of providing false information to a police officer. Dean-Mitchell will be positively identified in the coming weeks once finger prints have been processed.
December 15, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is again aiming to put its presidential primary in position to determine the winner, rather than let other states play that role. The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to move up Pennsylvania’s primary elections in presidential election years by five weeks to the third Tuesday in March. Critics of Pennsylvania’s current date – the fourth Tuesday of April – say its presidential primary clout is diminished by its late vote. The bill goes to the House. A spokesperson for the House Republican majority said it hasn’t been discussed in the caucus. The Senate passed an identical bill last year, but it died in the House.
