January 19, 2022 4:10 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Major international airlines have canceled flights heading to the U.S. or changed the planes they’re using. The moves Wednesday represented the latest complication in a dispute over concerns that 5G mobile phone service could interfere with aircraft technology. Carriers took widely different approaches to the brewing crisis affecting international travel, from Emirates drastically reducing its U.S.-bound flights to Air France saying it would fly as normal. It wasn’t immediately clear why the airlines made those decisions – or whether they took into account a pause in the rollout of the new high-speed wireless service near key airports. But some said they received warnings from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration or Boeing that the plane maker’s 777 was particularly affected.
January 19, 2022 4:07 am
The Peters Township School Board voted to maintain its universal mask requirement for students and staff with their most recent update to their health and safety plan. Directors voted on two options on keeping masks in schools and the least restrictive of the options was approved. The 5-4 roll call vote approved masks in schools as long as Washington County is in a high level of community transmission based on the PA Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard. Masks will become strongly recommended once the county enters substantial or low levels of community transmission. According to Superintendent Dr. Jeannine French, the dashboard is updated weekly on Monday. If Washington County were to enter into substantial or low levels of transmission, parents would be notified of the change in mask requirements on the district website and by an email blast letting them know the change would take effect two days later on Wednesday. Directors are not concerned about a yo-yo effect of moving in and out of masking requirements. It is their feeling that once cases trend downward, they will maintain that downward trend, so they feel it is unlikely that masks would be optional one week and required the next.
January 19, 2022 2:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially launch. The website, COVIDTests.gov, now includes a link for Americans to order four tests per residential address, to be delivered by the Postal Service. It marks the latest step by President Joe Biden to address criticism of low inventory and long lines for testing during a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron varian. A White House official website is “currently in its beta phase” and operating at a “limited capacity ahead of its official launch” on Wednesday. To order your free COVID-19 tests, click here COVIDTests.gov.
January 19, 2022 2:14 am
(WPXI) – Pittsburgh Police and Pittsburgh School Police are at Oliver Citywide Academy in Marshall-Shadeland after a student was shot on a school van outside the school. Pittsburgh Public Schools confirm that two people approached the van at dismissal and fired shots into the van. PPS says that a student, a 15-year-old boy, was in the van and taken to the hospital. Police say that the victim was shot twice in the chest. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
January 18, 2022 10:36 am
Traffic got by slowly along Interstate 70 in Belle Vernon Tuesday morning after a multi-vehicle crash left a dump truck stuck on the concrete median. State Police in Belle Vernon said the right-lanes in both directions were able to stay open but moved very slowly causing major traffic delays. There were no reports of any injuries and no word on what may have caused the crash. . Numerous crews responded to the scene and were controlling fluids leaking from the truck. (Photo: WPXI)
January 18, 2022 7:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Ukraine this week and meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalate over a possible Russian invasion of its neighbor. The State Department says Blinken will travel to Kyiv on a hastily arranged trip to show U.S. support. The trip follows inconclusive diplomatic talks between Moscow and the West in Europe last week that failed to resolve stark disagreements over Ukraine and other security matters. Instead, those meetings appear to have increased fears of a Russian invasion. Blinken also will travel to Berlin, where he’ll meet with his German, British and French counterparts.
January 18, 2022 4:21 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A federal appeals court has dealt opponents of Texas’ strict abortion law another defeat. The ruling Monday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans raises concerns by opponents that the state’s near-total ban on abortions will remain intact for the foreseeable future. The Texas law bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected. That’s usually around six weeks and before some women know they are pregnant. The latest ruling sends a narrow challenge to the law to the Texas Supreme Court, which is entirely controlled by Republicans. There’s no timetable for when the court might take up the case.
January 18, 2022 4:18 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A year-old report by Washington’s Afghanistan watchdog has now been declassified and shows that it warned back in early 2021 that the Afghan air force would collapse without critical U.S. aid and training. That was months before President Joe Biden announced the end to America’s longest war. The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction was declassified on Tuesday. It offers stark warnings about the capabilities of Afghanistan’s air force to survive in a post-U.S. Afghanistan, saying it would not be able to maintain the aircraft it possessed or train a new generation.
January 18, 2022 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Voting legislation that is a cornerstone of the Democratic agenda and átop priority for civil rights leaders is on track for defeat. President Joe Biden’s own party is poised to let the bill fail as two hold-out senators are unwilling to change the Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster. As the Senate opened debate Tuesday, the two Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, faced stark criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations. Their refusal to change what civil rights leaders call the “Jim Crow filibuster” comes at a time when advocates warn states are making it more difficult to vote.
January 18, 2022 4:11 am
PEACH BOTTOM, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say two people were found dead after an early morning fire in a Pennsylvania home. State police in Lancaster County say a passerby reported the blaze in the two-story Fulton Township home just after 3:30 a.m. Monday. Chief Phil Smith of the Robert Fulton Fire Company told LNP newspaper that crews arrived to find the home engulfed in flames. State police say two people were later found dead as fire crews were clearing debris. Their names weren’t immediately released. Smith said damage was estimated at about $300,000 to the structure and its contents. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, but police said it didn’t appear suspicious.
