January 7, 2022 9:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. employers added a modest 199,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell sharply, at a time when businesses are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans remaining reluctant to return to the workforce. At the same time, Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the nation’s unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to a healthy 3.9%, evidence that many more people found jobs last month. Indeed, despite the slight hiring gain, 651,000 more people reported that they were employed in December compared with November. Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs.
January 7, 2022 4:35 am
The Trinity Area School District made changes to the current health and safety plan. In its planning session on Thursday, board members authorized the superintendent to switch learning models from the current full time model to either a hybrid or fully remote learning module if any or all buildings were to be mandated closed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the governor or Pennsylvania Department of Education. Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise but according to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Donald Snoke, case numbers in Trinity buildings have not forced any closures yet. This authorization allows Superintendent Dr. Michael Lucas to close buildings without a school board vote should such a mandate be issued or if a lack of staff requires a building to close. Snoke is confident that if any building was to close, they are prepared to go to an online learning system with all students, kindergarten through grade 12 already in possession of computers to learn without missing a day of classes.
January 7, 2022 4:32 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Just a year ago, many Republicans joined Democrats in reacting with horror to the Capitol insurrection. But on the anniversary of the attack, top Republicans were far more muted. Some, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, acknowledged the terror of the day but quickly pivoted to bashing Democrats. Many, like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, avoided observances planned at the Capitol. And still others, including some potential 2024 presidential candidates, didn’t say anything at all. It’s all part of the political calculus in a party in which former President Donald Trump remains very much in charge.
January 7, 2022 4:30 am
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to make a virtual appearance before an Albany judge. Prosecutors are moving Friday to dismiss the only criminal charge filed against the Democrat in connection with the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office. A misdemeanor complaint was filed by the local sheriff in October. It accused Cuomo of groping an aide in the executive mansion in December 2020, eight months before he resigned. Albany County District Attorney David Soares told Judge Holly Trexler earlier this week that although the aide was credible, and some evidence supported her account, he believed he couldn’t win a conviction in court.
January 7, 2022 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is forcefully accusing Donald Trump and his supporters of holding a “dagger at the throat of democracy” with his election lies that sparked last year’s deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. Biden used the anniversary of the attack Thursday to warn that America’s system of government remains under urgent threat. The day’s ceremonies were widely attended by Democrats but not by Republicans – a display of the grip that Trump and his views still hold on the party. The nation’s divisions remained clear on a day that many hoped would be one of reconciliation.
January 7, 2022 4:23 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Investigators are looking into whether a 5-year-old who was playing with a lighter set a Christmas tree on fire, sparking a conflagration that killed 12 family members in a Philadelphia rowhome. That’s according to a search warrant application revealed Thursday. City and federal investigators are working to determine the cause of the city’s deadliest single blaze in more than a century. They declined to speculate on a possible cause, adding the fire scene is complex. The fire took the lives of eight children and four adults. Officials have said 26 people had been staying in the three-story brick duplex.
January 7, 2022 4:12 am
(AP) – A winter storm that had already blanketed parts of the South in snow moved into the Northeast, snarling air travel, crushing morning commutes and giving hundreds of school districts struggling to keep kids in the classroom during a wave of new coronavirus cases an excuse to shut down for a one-day respite. Many spots in New England had received more than a foot of snow by late Friday morning. Schools in Boston closed. Providence, Rhode Island, schools switched to distance learning. New York City kept the nation’s largest school system open. Officials were advising people to stay off the roads, and more than 2,400 flights have been scrubbed. Washington County picked up a few inches of snow, but it was enough to cause several accidents around the area, including one that closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 Thursday night. Several fire departments were called out to the accident which involved a tractor trailer (pictured). There were no injuries reported. Several school districts also operated under two hour delays or went to remote learning. Greene County and points south picked up much more snow. (Photo: Charleroi Fire Department FB Page)
January 7, 2022 3:49 am
Authorities say one person was hurt after a mine collapse in Fayette County. The collapse was reported Friday afternoon around three o’clock at Laurel Aggregates on Springhill Furnace Road near Point Marion. The mine is located near the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. There has been no word yet on what may have caused the mine to collapse or how seriously the individual may have been hurt. The mine is owned by Arcosa and is an aggregate facility. Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Mine Safety and Health Admibnistration will be investigating. (Photo: WPXI)
January 7, 2022 3:05 am
Pennsylvania State Police say the search for two missing children, five-year-old Jade Fannon and her three-year-old brother Jayce is over. Troopers say their parents, 30-year-old Curtis Fannon and 25-year-old Brandi Renee Stump took them out of the foster home in which they had been placed by Greene County Children and Youth Services, and then fled with them out of state. Police say the children were found safe, several hours after their parents took them. The parents are now in custody.
January 6, 2022 2:55 pm
(AP) – Peter Bogdanovich, the ascot-wearing cinephile and director of 1970s black-and-white classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” has died. He was 82. Bogdanovich died early Thursday morning at this home in Los Angeles, said his daughter Antonia Bogdanovich. She said he died of natural causes. Considered part of a generation of young “New Hollywood” directors, Bogdanovich was heralded as an auteur from the start. His turbulent personal life was also often in the spotlight, from his well-known affair with Cybill Shepherd while he was married to the mother of his Playmate girlfriend Dorothy Stratten and his subsequent marriage to her younger sister. (Photo: AP)
