November 19, 2021 10:14 am
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) – The White House says President Joe Biden will briefly transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris when he undergoes a “routine colonoscopy.” Press secretary Jen Psaki says Biden will be under anesthesia Friday during the procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Harris “will work from her office in the West Wing during this time.” The 78-year-old Biden is the oldest person to serve as president and is at Walter Reed for his first routine physical since taking over at the White House. Biden had his last full exam in December 2019. Doctors reported then he was “healthy, vigorous” and “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”
November 19, 2021 9:26 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. is moving to open up COVID-19 booster shots to all adults, letting them choose another dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Regulators authorized broader use of the shots Friday, seeking to simplify what has been a confusing list of who’s eligible. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has to agree before tens of millions more Americans qualify, The agency’s scientific advisers voted in support of the move. The U.S. government is trying to get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that experts fear could snowball into a winter surge with upcoming holiday travel.
November 19, 2021 4:23 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – Defense attorneys for the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery rested Thursday after calling a total of seven witnesses. The people who testified in the men’s defense included the man who fatally shot Arbery, Travis McMichael. Six neighbors testified about their concerns regarding crime in the neighborhood. McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man in a pickup truck after he ran past their home from the house under construction. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video. All of the defendants are white.
November 19, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has joined with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to revive what used to be a North American tradition before the Trump presidency. Together they made the case Thursday that their nations can work together and show that “democracies can deliver” even as they try to sort out their differences on key issues. As Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador spoke of their mutual respect, the three leaders also found themselves negotiating fresh strains on trade, immigration, climate change and other matters.á
November 19, 2021 4:19 am
AURORA, Colo. (AP) – Three people were shot Friday in the parking lot of a high school in the Denver suburb of Aurora, and the school is on lockdown, police said Friday. The shooting came after six students from another Aurora high school were shot and injured Monday at a park near their school. The Aurora Police Department tweeted that two of the people shot shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Friday outside Hinkley High School were taken to a hospital and that a third managed to get to a hospital on their own. No additional details were immediately available and police did not immediately respond to telephone messages seeking comment.
November 19, 2021 4:18 am
A surge in COVID-19 cases in the Upper Midwest has some Michigan schools keeping students at home ahead of Thanksgiving. In Minnesota, the military is sending medical teams to relieve hospital staffs overwhelmed by patients. Meanwhile, the federal government is moving closer to expanding booster shots for everyone in the U.S., though many states aren’t waiting. Massachusetts and Utah became the latest to say anyone 18 or older can roll up a sleeve for one. Cold weather states continue to dominate the fresh wave of cases over the last seven days, including New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wisconsin. But the Southwest has trouble spots, too, including Arizona and New Mexico.
November 19, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) -A sharply divided House has approved the Democrats’ sweeping social and environment bill, a big victory for President Joe Biden. Republicans solidly opposed the measure, but Democrats prevailed after the party’s progressives and moderates ended months of disputes over its size and scope. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where moderates like West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin are poised to curtail the bill further. The measure would bolster child care assistance, create free preschool, curb seniors’ prescription drug costs and combat climate change. Passage came after new cost estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would cause federal deficits to grow by $160 billion over the coming decade.
November 19, 2021 4:10 am
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Pennsylvania State Police units were at a home in Canton Township as part of an investigation an alleged murder suicide. Officials told our news partners at Channel 11 two residents were found dead in the home along Skylark Drive from apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators said there was no sign of anyone outside the home being involved in the incident. State Police say the victims involved were identified as Samuel Mayberry, 89, and Dolores Mayberry, 93. Investigators said the couple could have been dead since yesterday afternoon. The investigation is being assisted by the Washington County District Attorney’s office.
November 19, 2021 2:17 am
According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a Greene County man accused with two others of ripping off 22 customers of more than $2 million in a bogus investment scheme involving a fictitious South Carolina green energy power plant project admitted to his guilt Thursday in federal court. Robert Irey, 59, of Clarksville, pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud conspiracy. Irey admitted that he and two cohorts — Jonathan Freeze, of Pittsburgh and Kevin Carney, 59, of Euclid, Ohio — told investors they had $100 million in financing for a waste-to-energy power plant when in fact they didn’t have enough to pay their own living expenses. They promised a high return on investment, didn’t pay off, and then used the money they fleeced from victims to pay for rent, restaurant meals, clothes, weddings and vacations, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Karl. The three were indicted this summer following an investigation by U.S. postal inspectors and the FBI. Irey is free on bond, pending sentencing, which has been set for March. Cases against Carney and Freeze are pending.
November 18, 2021 5:55 pm
(AP) – CVS Health will close hundreds of drugstores over the next three years, as the health care giant adjusts to changing customer needs and converts to new store formats. The company said Thursday that it will close about 300 stores a year for the next three years as it looks to reduce store count density in some locations. The total of around 900 amounts to nearly a tenth of the roughly 10,000 retail locations CVS Health operates. The company also sells insurance and runs prescription drug plans for big clients like insurers and employers.
