April 15, 2020 9:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. retail sales plummeted 8.7% in March, a record drop as the viral outbreak closed down thousands of stores and shoppers stayed home. Sales fell sharply across many categories: Auto sales fell 25.6%, while clothing store sales collapsed, dropping 50.5%. U.S. consumer confidence has plunged and the vast majority of Americans are hunkered down at home under shelter in place orders. Grocery store sales did jump by nearly 26% as Americans hoarded food and consumer items. A category that mostly includes online sales rose 3.1%.
April 15, 2020 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. governors are starting to map out plans for reopening their economies as world leaders battling the coronavirus pin hopes on tests, technology and a coordinated approach to ease restrictions on movement that have slowed the outbreak but strangled the global marketplace. States from coast to coast are coordinating in regional coalitions, as President Donald Trump appears to back off his claim of absolute authority on when and how to loosen restrictions across the country. The International Monetary Fund predicts the world economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression in the 1930s and shrink by an estimated 3% this year.
April 15, 2020 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has issued a stark warning for Americans to “ignore the lies” and “insist on the truth” as the U.S. assesses next steps in the coronavirus crisis. Pelosi released a letter with a scathing outline of President Donald Trump’s handling of the outbreak as Trump spoke during a Tuesday briefing and signaled his eagerness to re-open the economy. In the letter to House Democrats, Pelosi says, “If we are not working from the truth, more lives will be lost, economic hardship and suffering will be extended.” Congress isn’t expected to reconvene until at least May 4 to protect lawmakers from the virus.
April 15, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is walking back previous assertions that he has the absolute authority to decide when it’s time to reopen the economy ravaged by the coronavirus. Trump now says he will leave it to governors to determine the right time and manner to revive activity in their states. In remarks Tuesday, the president said he would be speaking with governors, probably on Thursday, to discuss his plans. Democratic and Republican governors had sounded the alarm after Trump asserted Monday that he and he alone would determine when and how to reopen the economy, despite clear constitutional limitations on federal powers.
April 15, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The secretary-general of the United Nations says now isn’t the time for the U.S. to withhold financial support from the U.N. health agency, the World Health Organization. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is cutting off payments to the WHO because, in his view, the organization failed to do enough to stop the coronavirus virus from spreading after it first surfaced in China. In response, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the WHO “absolutely critical” to the global effort to combat the disease caused by the coronavirus. Trump said the U.S. would review the WHO’s actions before deciding whether to resume the aid.
April 15, 2020 4:09 am
Top Chinese officials secretly determined they were likely facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus in mid-January, ordering preparations even as they downplayed it in public. Internal documents obtained by the AP show that because warnings were muffled inside China, it took a confirmed case in Thailand to jolt Beijing into recognizing the possible pandemic before them. Still, it was nearly a week before officials warned the public. In that week, tens of thousands dined at a mass banquet and millions traveled through Wuhan, at the center of the outbreak. Experts say an earlier warning could have saved lives.
April 15, 2020 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania counties have processed about 283,000 applications for mail-in and absentee ballots, and nearly three times more applicants are from Democrats compared to Republicans. The state’s primary has been moved back to June 2, so the numbers are likely to continue to climb. Four years ago, before mail-in balloting was allowed in the state, about 84,000 Pennsylvanians cast primary votes by absentee ballot. Officials say concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak are driving interest in remote voting. The Health Department said Tuesday that 60 new deaths from the coronavirus were reported over the past day, raising the total to 584.
April 15, 2020 4:04 am
For the second month in a row, North Strabane Supervisors limited their meeting numbers to one per month. Supervisors had a busy agenda and one of the items approved was an additional month of meeting cancellations. The May legislative meeting will be cancelled and all council business will be conducted on May 19 during what would normally have been their agenda meeting. Council also authorized a declaration of emergency to coincide with the county and the state of Pennsylvania. This declaration is to make reimbursements to the township easier when dealing with PEMA and FEMA for any kind of pandemic expenditures. Supervisors also extended the discount rate for real estate taxes until April 30. Taxes paid after April 30 and until December 31 will be levied at the face rate. No penalty will be assessed until January 1, 2021. Additionally supervisors froze several capital projects until funds begin to come into the township coffers. The biggest project to be frozen was the road paving project. Supervisors also formalized the furloughs of 12 township employees. Township Manager Andrew Walz spoke to all of the employees being furloughed and he states that they all understand the circumstances. Walz also indicated that all are having their health benefits paid and he expects all of them to return once the pandemic eases.
April 15, 2020 2:55 am
A tractor trailer carrying paper towels caught fire late Tuesday night on Interstate 70 in Washington County. Smoke was seen rising from the rig just after 10:30 p.m. in the westbound lanes in Somerset Township. The highway was shutdown for several hours while crews cleaned up the mess and removed the tractor trailer. It has since reopened to traffic. No one was hurt.
April 14, 2020 10:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Joe Biden in a video saying Biden has “all the qualities we need in a president right now.” That gives Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a boost from the party’s biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures. Obama and Biden are known to be close friends from their two terms in the White House, and Biden leaned heavily on his affiliation with Obama throughout the Democratic primary. Obama released a 12-minute video on Tuesday endorsing his former vice president. Obama is eager to take a more active public role in the campaign, aides say.
