May 29, 2021 2:40 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is lifting its mask mandate no later than June 28. The Department of Health announced Thursday that it will no longer require unvaccinated people to wear masks in public on June 28 or once 70% of adults are fully vaccinated, whichever comes first. People are considered fully vaccinated once they are two weeks beyond their last required dose of COVID-19 vaccine. According to federal data, 70% of Pennsylvania residents aged 18 and over have already received at least one vaccine dose, with just over half of the adult population fully vaccinated.
May 29, 2021 1:11 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Temperatures are going in the wrong direction heading into the holiday weekend. And it will be soggy to start the weekend, too. You’ll need the sweatshirts and jackets Saturday. A big push of cool air will keep high temperatures in the upper 50s, more than 15° below the average high temperature for this time of the year. On and off showers will add to the dreariness. Sunday will still be cloudy and damp with isolated showers. It all pays off Memorial Day with a good deal of sunshine and highs back in the 70s.
May 28, 2021 1:49 pm
SAN DIEGO (AP) – U.S. officials say they will fast-track the immigration court cases of families arriving on the southwest border. The move comes comes as the Biden administration has eased some asylum restrictions that had expelled many arriving immigrant families from the country. Under the plan, immigrant families stopped on the border starting Friday could be placed in expedited immigration court dockets in 10 cities. Immigration judges would aim to decide their cases within 300 days of an initial hearing. The immigration courts are notoriously backlogged and it can take years for immigrants to get a decision on whether they can remain in the country legally.
May 28, 2021 1:44 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is proposing a $6 trillion budget for next year that fails to slow spiking government debt. It seeks tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for ambitious infrastructure and safety-net programs. Biden has already announced major plans on infrastructure and won a major victory on COVID-19 relief earlier this year. But Friday’s rollout tallies up the cost and incorporates them into the government’s existing budget framework, including Social Security and Medicare. That provides a fuller view of the administration’s fiscal posture. The government’s accumulated debt is topping a mammoth $28 trillion.
May 28, 2021 12:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans have blocked the creation of a bipartisan panel to study the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The Senate fell sort of the 60 votes needed to consider a House-passed bill that would have formed a 10-member commission evenly split between the two parties. It was another sign of GOP fealty to former President Donald Trump and an overtly political effort to shift the focus off of the violent insurrection of his supporters that day. Trump has called the bill a “Democratic trap.” Four people died in the riot, and a police officer collapsed and died afterward of what authorities said were natural causes.
May 28, 2021 9:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says people traveling for Memorial Day weekend should be patient because there will be long lines at U.S. airports. Mayorkas told ABC on Friday the Transportation Security Administration has been in a hiring surge so it can be ready for increased travel this weekend and over the summer as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Mayorkas notes masks are still required in airports and on airplanes and probably will continue to be required until mid-September. Airline executives say domestic leisure travel is at pre-pandemic levels, and the number of people passing through U.S. airports daily is likely to top 2 million before the week is over.
May 28, 2021 4:18 am
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) – Officials say two people are dead and 10 others are missing after their boat overturned near the Florida Keys. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a location several miles off Key West around 1 p.m. Thursday. Officials say crews rescued eight people and pulled two bodies from the water. Two Coast Guard cutters and several small boats continued to search the area Thursday evening for the missing passengers. There was no immediate sign of the overturned boat. The Coast Guard said the survivors reported they left Puerto de Mariel, Cuba, on Sunday and capsized Wednesday evening.
May 28, 2021 4:17 am
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – A man who was working at a California rail yard when a gunman killed nine people says the attacker worked regularly with the victims and believes they were targeted. The worker says Samuel Cassidy stuck out as a loner and that he didn’t hurt people he encountered as he went to another building, where more shots were fired. A sheriff also told The Associated Press on Thursday that the shooter appeared to target some of the victims. Sheriff’s officials described him as “a highly disgruntled employee.” A Biden administration official also says he spoke of hating his workplace while he was detained by U.S. customs officers after a 2016 trip to the Philippines.
May 28, 2021 4:14 am
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is joining the fight against Donald Trump, urging fellow conservatives to reject the former president’s divisive politics and the Republican leaders who emulate him. Ryan made the remarks Thursday during an evening address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California after two years of relative silence. Referencing the Capitol insurrection that Trump inspired, Ryan said it was “horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end.” He says conservatives are at a crossroads and urged Republicans against embracing “the populist appeal of one personality” or “second-rate imitations.”
May 28, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans are poised to block the creation of a special commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That action would dash hopes for a bipartisan investigation amid a GOP push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them. A vote on the procedural motion was bumped to Friday after delays on an unrelated bill. Broad Republican opposition was expected even as Capitol Police officers and family of an officer who died went office to office asking GOP senators to support it. The siege was the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s win over President Trump.
