April 24, 2020 2:18 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)– The administration of Gov. Tom Wolf is cautioning that a declining case count is just one factor that officials will consider in deciding whether a region of the state is ready to begin emerging from the pandemic. The state’s reopening plan says each geographic region must report a 14-day total of 50 or fewer new coronavirus infections per 100,000 residents in order to be considered for an easing of restrictions. But officials said Thursday they’ll also be looking at the availability of diagnostic testing, the ability to quickly contain flareups and other factors.
April 23, 2020 5:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Few Americans say they regularly look to or trust President Donald Trump as a source of information about the coronavirus pandemic. That’s according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 28% of Americans say they regularly get information from Trump about coronavirus and only 22% say they have high levels of trust in what the president is telling the public. Confidence in Trump is higher among his supporters. Still, only about half of Republicans say they have a lot of trust in Trump’s information on the pandemic.
April 23, 2020 7:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as job cuts escalated across an economy that remains all but shut down, the government said Thursday. Roughly 26 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the five weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began forcing millions of employers to close their doors. About one in six American workers have now lost their jobs since mid-March, by far the worst string of layoffs on record. Economists have forecast that the unemployment rate for April could go as high as 20%.
April 23, 2020 5:52 am
Police are investigating after a pair of break-ins at local convenience stores. Washington County 9-1-1 tells us that police responded after an alarm sounded at the Gabby Food Mart along Pike Street around 12:30 a.m. The store is right across the street from the Chartiers Township Municipal Building. About thirty minutes later, South Strabane Township police were called to the Get-Go store in Strabane Square for a report of a similar break-in. South Strabane Township Police Chief Drew Hilk says “unknown actors forced entry to the closed store and stole and undetermined amount of cash and merchandise”. According to Hilk, the investigation includes checking surveillance cameras from area businesses. No other information is being released at this time.
April 23, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House is reassembling to send President Donald Trump a fourth bipartisan bill to help businesses crippled by the coronavirus. Anchoring the nearly $500 billion measure is a request by the administration to replenish a fund to help small- and medium-size businesses with payroll, rent and other expenses. Supporters are already warning that more money will be needed almost immediately for the business-backed Paycheck Protection Program. But battle lines are forming over the next measure amid growing demands to help out state and local governments, the Postal Service and first responders.
April 23, 2020 4:15 am
MADILL, Okla. (AP) – One person has been killed as an apparent tornado tore through southern Oklahoma. The storm hit the area around Madill, Oklahoma, about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday clusters of severe weather roared through parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Marshall County Emergency Management Director Robert Chaney says the person’s body was found about a quarter-mile from a J&I Manufacturing trailer plant just outside Madill. Chaney said he had no other information about the person who was killed. Chaney said J&I Manufacturing took a direct hit from the storm. The storm also hit fence wire manufacturer Oklahoma Steel and Wire in Madill.
April 23, 2020 4:14 am
DETROIT (AP) – Hundreds of workers at Ford, General Motors, Toyota and other companies have offered to work in a wartime-like effort to stem shortages of protective medical gear and equipment. Even though most of their factories are shut down to slow the spread of coronavirus, they have stepped up to help fill a critical shortage. Many would get most of their pay even if they stayed at home.
April 23, 2020 4:13 am
BOSTON (AP) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling with shortages of workers at its health care facilities as it cares for veterans infected with the novel coronavirus. The agency responsible for the health care of 9 million veterans is also facing shortages of the equipment necessary to protect employees from contracting the virus. That’s according to VA staff and internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. The documents show about 1,900 VA health care workers have become sick with the coronavirus, and 20 have died. Another 3,600 health care workers are quarantined and unable to work because they have been exposed.
April 23, 2020 4:12 am
The Trump administration says most international students and any students who entered the United States illegally will be barred from receiving emergency education grants. Congress approved the grants as part of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package. New guidelines issued by the Education Department on Tuesday say that only students who qualify for other federal financial aid can receive the money. College leaders and student advocates have blasted the change, saying Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is imposing new limits that were not included in the rescue package. But Education Department officials say the guidance is in line with other federal rules and the bill that created the grants.
April 23, 2020 4:10 am
ATLANTA (AP) – President Donald Trump says he told Georgia’s governor that he “disagreed strongly” with his decision to reopen some nonessential businesses that had been shuttered to contain the coronavirus. Speaking at a White House briefing Wednesday evening, Trump said he told Gov. Brian Kemp that he had misgivings over the governor’s plan, but would not stand in his way. Trump says the Republican governor is doing “what he thinks is right.” Kemp’s decision has been questioned because the state has yet to show continuing progress with tracking and testing for the virus.
