May 14, 2021 4:25 am
President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Friday with six immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children who benefited from an Obama-era policy that protected them from deportation. The Oval Office meeting comes as Biden looks to press Congress to pass legislation codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that then-President Barack Obama instituted by executive action in 2012. President Donald Trump tried to phase out DACA during his administration, but the Supreme Court ruled he didn’t properly end the program. The DACA recipients Biden is scheduled to meet with include teachers, a medical resident and a nursing home aide.
May 14, 2021 4:23 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel says it is massing troops along the Gaza frontier and calling up 9,000 reservists ahead of a possible ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory. Egyptian mediators rushed to Israel for cease-fire efforts but showed no signs of progress. The stepped-up fighting came as communal violence in Israel erupted for a fourth night. Jewish and Arab mobs clashed in the flashpoint town of Lod. The fighting took place despite a bolstered police presence ordered by the nation’s leaders. The four-day burst of violence is the most intense fighting Israel has ever had with Hamas. It has also sparked the worst Jewish-Arab violence inside Israel in decades.
May 14, 2021 4:07 am
Jury deliberations are underway in the trial for Chris Williams, the 55 year old Waynesburg man charged with aggravated assault for the shooting of 17 year old Anthony Ward at the Regal Cinemas at the Washington Crown Center in March of 2019. The defense called on Williams’ wife and her friend that accompanied Williams to the movie that night. Testimony was emotional and contradictory to everything presented by the prosecution. Closing arguments were held after a lunch break. Defense attorney Alexander Lindsay indicated that the case was about two narratives. He stated that Williams’ recollection of the facts that he was the victim was true because of all of the emotion that filled his and his wife’s testimony. The teenagers involved could not be believed because they are “not like individuals that you and I know”. The prosecution countered in their closing argument stating that Williams’ behavior was completely unhinged and called the defense an “unmitigated disaster”. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Patrick Schulte described for jurors, line by line, of each charge how the prosecution’s witnesses presented evidence to convict Williams on each of the aggravated assault charges he faces. Jurors deliberated for four hours on Thursday. Deliberations resume at 9:00 am Friday.
May 14, 2021 2:42 am
Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Thursday that the state’s mask order is now in line with the CDC’s guidance issued earlier in the day. The CDC guidelines that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a face covering while indoors or outdoors is now automatically in effect in Pennsylvania. This only applies to fully vaccinated people. Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said in a news release. Masks are still required for unvaccinated people until 70% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. State officials said the CDC’s guidance says fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities that they did prior to the pandemic without wearing a mask or physically distancing except where required by law, rule and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
May 14, 2021 2:35 am
Authorities are investigating a death Thursday afternoon around one-thirty at the Washington County Correctional Facility as a possible suicide. The Washington County Coroner’s Office says 53 year old Gregory Roddy of New Derry, Pa. was found unresponsive in a cell during a regular check by a corrections officer. They say the individual was transported to Washington Hospital and was pronounced dead in the emergency department. The coroner’s office says the cause and manner of death are pending.
May 13, 2021 2:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is easing indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places. The new guidance was announced Thursday at the White House. It will still call for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but could ease restrictions for reopening workplaces and schools. The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, says, “We have all longed for this moment — when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
May 13, 2021 1:33 pm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement of a weekly $1 million prize to entice Ohioans to get coronavirus vaccines is raising questions and objections. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers say it isn’t appropriate to use federal pandemic dollars for the lottery, which also will provide five full-ride college scholarships to vaccinated young people. The Republican governor says people may think it’s a waste of money or that he’s crazy. But he says the real waste is a loss of life to the virus now that the vaccine is available. President Joe Biden’s senior COVID-19 advisor, Andy Slavitt, says anything that draws attention to vaccines is a good thing.
May 13, 2021 9:26 am
McDonald’s is raising pay at 650 company-owned stores in the U.S. as part of its push to hire thousands of new workers in a tight labor market. Ninety-five percent of McDonald’s are franchisees, and it’s also encouraging them to raise wages. The fast-food giant followed Chipotle, which also announced pay hikes this week. Wages and benefits for U.S. workers have been growing quickly as vaccinations increase and employers try to meet growing demand at restaurants and other businesses. McDonald’s said its hourly wages will increase an average of 10% over the next few months to $13 per hour, rising to $15 per hour by 2024.
May 13, 2021 9:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 473,000, a new pandemic low and the latest evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs as consumers ramp up spending and more businesses reopen. Applications declined 34,000 from a revised 507,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims – a rough measure of the pace of layoffs – has fallen significantly from a peak of 900,000 in January. Instead of cutting jobs, many employers are struggling to attract enough applicants for open positions.
May 13, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans are seeking to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. At a hearing Wednesday, some Republicans tried to shift the narrative by painting the Trump supporters who stormed the building as patriots. And Democrats clashed with Donald Trump’s former Pentagon chief over the government’s unprepared response. Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified publicly for the first time about the events and defended their respective agencies’ responses to the chaos. But the hearing almost immediately devolved into partisan bickering, with Democrats accusing Republicans of rewriting history and GOP lawmakers insisting their party had been unfairly vilified for objecting to election results.
