June 9, 2021 3:21 am
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier announced that on Tuesday the new unemployment benefits system is now on line and accepting claims. The new system replaces a 40 year old outdated mainframe that made filing for benefits complicated and processing claims cumbersome. The new system will make filing easier and faster. Staff will need less time to process claims. A soft launch took place at 3 a.m. with more than 41,000 individuals filing claims by 10:40 a.m. Feedback from individuals indicated that direct deposit client accounts show payment type as debit card. The issue is a display issue and will not affect payment type. A small percentage of users experienced issues logging in with their Keystone ID. A fix for that is underway. Filers may make claims at benefits.uc.pa.gov.
June 8, 2021 5:55 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he wasn’t swayed by civil rights leaders who implored him to back his party’s sweeping voting rights bill. The West Virginia moderate says that Tuesday’s meeting was “excellent” but that nobody “changed positions.” A participant said Manchin was “fairly well dug in.” Manchin’s opposition has effectively doomed a key Democratic priority in the Senate. Senate Democrats have said they are open to changes to try to address Manchin’s concerns. But it’s unclear whether that will be enough. Republicans are staunchly opposed to the bill and vow to block it in the Senate.
June 8, 2021 5:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has ended talks with a group of Republican senators on a big infrastructure package. The president is walking away from talks with lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito after the two spoke Tuesday, according to an administration official granted anonymity to discuss the private thinking. Biden has started reaching out to senators from both parties as he strives to build bipartisan compromise. Republicans offered a $928 billion proposal, which included about $330 billion in new spending. Biden was seeking a $1.7 trillion investment in roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
June 8, 2021 6:48 am
The Washington County Controller says they found ‘areas of deficiencies and/or non-compliance that we feel must be addressed’ in the Register of Wills Office. It follows the annual audit of the department. Controller Michael Namie says he believes a ‘lack of institutional knowledge’ within the office contributed to the problems especially during a time when the office was undergoing staff changes. James Roman was elected Register of Wills in November of 2019. Among the Controller’s concerns; bank account reconciliations were not always performed and the staff member who prepared deposits and took them to the bank was also responsible for processing transactions leading to a lack of oversight. It also found ‘untimely’ payments to the state and county in regards to inheritance tax and monthly Register of Wills and Orphans Court revenue payments to the Commonwealth.
June 8, 2021 4:14 am
UNDATED (AP) – Federal regulators have approved the first new drug for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly 20 years, leaving patients waiting to see how insurers will handle the pricey new treatment. Health care experts expect broad coverage of the drug, which was approved Monday. But but what that means for patients will vary widely depending on their health insurance plan. In some cases, that could mean coming up with several thousand dollars to pay for what the insurer doesn’t cover. Insurers also are expected to require pre-approval of both the drug and brain scans needed to monitor patients before they agree to coverage.
June 8, 2021 4:12 am
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A Southern California couple could face a murder charge over a road rage shooting that killed a 6-year-old boy last month on a freeway. Marcus Eriz and Wynne Lee are facing arraignment Tuesday, two days after they were arrested in Costa Mesa, southeast of Los Angeles. Orange County prosecutors are considering murder or other charges over the May 21 shooting of Aiden Leos. The boy was killed as his mother drove him to kindergarten. About $500,000 in reward money was offered for information leading to arrests. Authorities say they believe they have the car and gun used in the killing.
June 8, 2021 4:12 am
TORONTO (AP) – Police in London, Ontario, say a driver plowed a pickup truck into a family of five, killing four of them and seriously injuring the other in a deliberate attack that targeted the victims because they were Muslims. Authorities say a young man was arrested in the parking lot of a nearby mall after the incident Sunday night. Police say the dead were a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl. A 9-year-old boy was reported in serious condition. Twenty-year-old Nathaniel Veltman is in custody facing four counts of first-degree murder. The city’s mayor says the incident “was an act of mass murder perpetuated against Muslims.”
June 8, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The chief executive of the massive fuel pipeline hit by ransomware last month is expected to detail his company’s response to the cyberattack and to explain his decision to authorize a multimillion-dollar payment when he testifies before Congress this week. Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount will face the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, one day after the Justice Department revealed it had recovered the majority of the $4.4 million ransom payment the company made in hopes of getting its system back online. A second hearing is set for Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee.
June 8, 2021 4:09 am
GHOTKI, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani officials say the death toll from a collision of two trains in the country’s south has risen to 63 after rescuers pulled 12 more bodies from crumpled cars a day after the crash. Rescue work continued into Tuesday in Ghotki, a district in the southern Sindh province where an express train barreled into another that had derailed minutes earlier. The bodies of the killed passengers have been taken to their hometowns for burial. The scope of the collision and the high death toll have stunned Pakistan, even though train accidents are common in this country where successive governments have paid little attention to improving the poorly maintained railroad system.
June 8, 2021 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The state House is advancing revisions to Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law, seeking to make permanent some of the changes put in place temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic. Representatives on Monday voted 164 to 38 for the bill, sending it to the Senate. It would permit dispensing a three-month supply at a time, up from one month’s supply. Patients will be able to continue to pick up their medicine outside a dispensary, rather than coming inside the building. The legislation would ease the process by which contaminants must be removed before the final testing. Grower-processors would be permitted to use pesticides under standards the Agriculture Department would develop.
