May 28, 2021 12:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans have blocked the creation of a bipartisan panel to study the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The Senate fell sort of the 60 votes needed to consider a House-passed bill that would have formed a 10-member commission evenly split between the two parties. It was another sign of GOP fealty to former President Donald Trump and an overtly political effort to shift the focus off of the violent insurrection of his supporters that day. Trump has called the bill a “Democratic trap.” Four people died in the riot, and a police officer collapsed and died afterward of what authorities said were natural causes.
May 28, 2021 9:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says people traveling for Memorial Day weekend should be patient because there will be long lines at U.S. airports. Mayorkas told ABC on Friday the Transportation Security Administration has been in a hiring surge so it can be ready for increased travel this weekend and over the summer as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Mayorkas notes masks are still required in airports and on airplanes and probably will continue to be required until mid-September. Airline executives say domestic leisure travel is at pre-pandemic levels, and the number of people passing through U.S. airports daily is likely to top 2 million before the week is over.
May 28, 2021 4:18 am
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) – Officials say two people are dead and 10 others are missing after their boat overturned near the Florida Keys. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a location several miles off Key West around 1 p.m. Thursday. Officials say crews rescued eight people and pulled two bodies from the water. Two Coast Guard cutters and several small boats continued to search the area Thursday evening for the missing passengers. There was no immediate sign of the overturned boat. The Coast Guard said the survivors reported they left Puerto de Mariel, Cuba, on Sunday and capsized Wednesday evening.
May 28, 2021 4:17 am
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – A man who was working at a California rail yard when a gunman killed nine people says the attacker worked regularly with the victims and believes they were targeted. The worker says Samuel Cassidy stuck out as a loner and that he didn’t hurt people he encountered as he went to another building, where more shots were fired. A sheriff also told The Associated Press on Thursday that the shooter appeared to target some of the victims. Sheriff’s officials described him as “a highly disgruntled employee.” A Biden administration official also says he spoke of hating his workplace while he was detained by U.S. customs officers after a 2016 trip to the Philippines.
May 28, 2021 4:14 am
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is joining the fight against Donald Trump, urging fellow conservatives to reject the former president’s divisive politics and the Republican leaders who emulate him. Ryan made the remarks Thursday during an evening address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California after two years of relative silence. Referencing the Capitol insurrection that Trump inspired, Ryan said it was “horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end.” He says conservatives are at a crossroads and urged Republicans against embracing “the populist appeal of one personality” or “second-rate imitations.”
May 28, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans are poised to block the creation of a special commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That action would dash hopes for a bipartisan investigation amid a GOP push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them. A vote on the procedural motion was bumped to Friday after delays on an unrelated bill. Broad Republican opposition was expected even as Capitol Police officers and family of an officer who died went office to office asking GOP senators to support it. The siege was the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s win over President Trump.
May 28, 2021 4:08 am
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – During a hearing at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union hall in Robinson, the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee heard testimony from local manufacturing, business and labor representatives about ways to make Pennsylvania more competitive. The speakers raised several issues ranging from speeding up the permitting process to reducing the commonwealth’s net corporate income tax, which sits at 9.9% — the highest rate in the nation. There was a sense of urgency in some of the testimony in the wake of US Steel’s decision to pull out of a $1.4 billion investment in its Mon Valley facilities. “That’s why we wanted to come here to the carpenter’s hall. Talk to the trades, talk to businesses, talk to manufacturers. What is Pennsylvania doing right in attracting new investment, new companies, new businesses and creating new jobs? What are (we) doing wrong?” Senator John Yudichak of Luzerne County said. The union provides a free apprenticeship program, and members showed interest in investing state dollars. There were a couple of contentious moments over manufacturing needs and the impact on the environment. However, Simpson believes they can bridge that divide and find additional ways to help businesses.
May 28, 2021 4:04 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Four firefighters and one civilian were injured when a Philadelphia Fire Department firetruck crashed into a building after a collision with another vehicle. The firetruck had left a nearby fire station Thursday and had its lights and siren on as firefighters headed to a report of a house fire a little after 4 p.m. in North Philadelphia, according to an emailed police incident report. The truck collided with a car and was propelled into the building at 7th Street and Girard Avenue, police said. Details of what caused the crash were not immediately available.
May 27, 2021 5:28 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration has informed Russia that it will not rejoin a key arms control pact even as the two sides prepare for a summit next month between their leaders. U.S. officials say Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians on Thursday that the administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities in both countries. The Trump administration withdrew from the treaty last year, and the lower house of Russia’s parliament voted last week to follow suit. But until Thursday, the two sides had said the treaty could still be salvaged.
May 27, 2021 8:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to 406,000, a new pandemic low and more evidence that the job market is strengthening as the virus wanes and economy further reopens. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that applications declined 38,000 from 444,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly applications for jobless aid – a rough measure of the pace of layoffs – has fallen by more than half since January.
