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.
May 28, 2021 4:08 am
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – During a hearing at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union hall in Robinson, the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee heard testimony from local manufacturing, business and labor representatives about ways to make Pennsylvania more competitive. The speakers raised several issues ranging from speeding up the permitting process to reducing the commonwealth’s net corporate income tax, which sits at 9.9% — the highest rate in the nation. There was a sense of urgency in some of the testimony in the wake of US Steel’s decision to pull out of a $1.4 billion investment in its Mon Valley facilities. “That’s why we wanted to come here to the carpenter’s hall. Talk to the trades, talk to businesses, talk to manufacturers. What is Pennsylvania doing right in attracting new investment, new companies, new businesses and creating new jobs? What are (we) doing wrong?” Senator John Yudichak of Luzerne County said. The union provides a free apprenticeship program, and members showed interest in investing state dollars. There were a couple of contentious moments over manufacturing needs and the impact on the environment. However, Simpson believes they can bridge that divide and find additional ways to help businesses.
May 28, 2021 4:04 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Four firefighters and one civilian were injured when a Philadelphia Fire Department firetruck crashed into a building after a collision with another vehicle. The firetruck had left a nearby fire station Thursday and had its lights and siren on as firefighters headed to a report of a house fire a little after 4 p.m. in North Philadelphia, according to an emailed police incident report. The truck collided with a car and was propelled into the building at 7th Street and Girard Avenue, police said. Details of what caused the crash were not immediately available.
May 27, 2021 5:28 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration has informed Russia that it will not rejoin a key arms control pact even as the two sides prepare for a summit next month between their leaders. U.S. officials say Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians on Thursday that the administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities in both countries. The Trump administration withdrew from the treaty last year, and the lower house of Russia’s parliament voted last week to follow suit. But until Thursday, the two sides had said the treaty could still be salvaged.
May 27, 2021 8:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to 406,000, a new pandemic low and more evidence that the job market is strengthening as the virus wanes and economy further reopens. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that applications declined 38,000 from 444,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly applications for jobless aid – a rough measure of the pace of layoffs – has fallen by more than half since January.
May 27, 2021 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans say they want congressional bargainers to reach a bipartisan deal on revamping policing procedures by summer or abandon the effort. The comments by the two lead GOP bargainers on the issue came a day after George Floyd’s family used visits to the White House and the Capitol to prod lawmakers to act. Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham are both South Carolina Republicans. Scott tells reporters, “I think it’s June or bust.” And Graham says a deal will emerge before Congress takes a July recess “if it’s going to happen.” The Senate is about to start a recess and the full House is already gone.
May 27, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is asking U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble” their efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of minimizing the possibility that the coronavirus emerged from a lab accident, the administration is responding to both U.S. and world pressure for China to be more open about the outbreak. Biden said Wednesday there is insufficient evidence to conclude “whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.” Biden directed U.S. national laboratories to assist with the investigation and called on China to cooperate. He held out the possibility that a firm conclusion may never be known.
May 27, 2021 4:22 am
FLOWER MOUND, Texas (AP) – Police in a Dallas suburb say three officers have been shot and wounded while answering a report of a suicidal person. Police in Flower Mound, Texas, say the three officers responded to the 7 p.m. Wednesday report and were trying to contact the man, who was alone in the house, when gunfire erupted. The officers returned fire but have had no contact with the man since and a standoff has ensued. Two officers were taken to hospitals in stable condition, while the third was treated at the shooting scene and cleared.
May 27, 2021 4:21 am
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – An employee who gunned down eight people at a California rail yard and then killed himself as law enforcement rushed in had talked about killing people at work. The ex-wife of Samuel Cassidy says even more than a decade ago, he was often resentful of his work. Authorities say Cassidy opened fire Wednesday at a light rail facility in San Jose. He then shot himself. One wounded man is in critical condition. It’s the 15th mass killing in the U.S. this year. All have been shootings. Eighty-six people have died.
