March 27, 2021 4:24 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Florida is threatening to sue the federal government if it doesn’t lift its pandemic ban on cruise lines using U.S. ports. Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Attorney General Ashley Moody said Friday that the state is being harmed economically by the industry’s U.S. shutdown. They said cruises are being operated safely around the globe with restrictions and protocols and no new coronavirus outbreaks have been tied to a ship. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut down the industry a year ago after several outbreaks early in the pandemic were tied to cruise ships. It did not respond to an email seeking comment.
March 27, 2021 4:23 am
DALLAS (AP) – Federal officials are investigating a Southwest Airlines pilot whose R-rated rant about liberals in Northern California was captured on air traffic control transmissions. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the investigation Friday. He says FAA rules prohibit pilots from talking about things other than the flight while taxiing and at low altitudes. It happened earlier this month as a Southwest plane was getting ready to take off from San Jose, California. The pilot makes a profanity-filled tirade, apparently against liberal attitudes in the San Francisco Bay Area. He mixes in a few G-rated words too, like “weirdos.”
March 27, 2021 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks burst to their best day in three weeks Friday, helping Wall Street to return to record heights and avoid what could have been a second straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 added 1.7%, and both it and the Dow set all-time highs. Some of the biggest gains came from companies whose profits are likely to jump the most if COVID-19 vaccinations and massive spending by the U.S. government juice the economy as much as economists expect. Banks got a boost from some loosening of regulatory restrictions by the Federal Reserve and a continued rise in bond yields. Crude oil jumped and helped lift energy stocks.
March 27, 2021 4:22 am
BESSEMER, Ala. (AP) – Amazon workers and labor advocates are making a final push for the union vote at the company’s warehouse outside Birmingham, Alabama. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont headlined a Friday rally. He says a labor victory against the tech and retail giant would resonate across the country. If voted down, it would be another loss for organizers hoping to win a rare labor victory in the Deep South. Workers supporting the union say they face relentless quotas and poor working conditions. Amazon is fighting the union effort. The company argues the warehouse created jobs with an average pay of $15.30 per hour and benefits including health care, vision and dental insurance.
March 27, 2021 4:20 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Kenosha police say 55 people are facing charges related to violent demonstrations after the police shooting of Jacob Blake last summer. Kenosha Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake seven times in August, leaving him paralyzed. Blake, who is Black, was holding a pocket knife. The shooting spurred several nights of violent protests. Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said Friday that 49 adults and six minors are facing charges. The tally does not include charges against Kyle Rittenhouse, an Illinois teenager accused of shooting and killing two protesters and injuring a third. Sheskey has not been charged in Blake’s shooting, but Blake has filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of using excessive force.
March 27, 2021 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard is becoming the House’s first African American sergeant-at-arms. Maj. Gen. William Walker will lead House security measures as Congress is still dealing with the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and figuring out how to keep lawmakers safe. Walker was closely involved with the security that day as he sent troops to back up overwhelmed Capitol Police. He will replace Paul Irving, who resigned immediately after the insurrection. Walker’s appointment comes as the House is ramping up its investigations into the insurrection on Jan. 6.
March 27, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is including rivals Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China among the invitees to the first big climate talks of his administration. The U.S. hopes the event will help shape, speed up and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution. The president is trying to revive a U.S.-convened forum of the world’s major economies on climate that George W. Bush and Barack Obama both used and Donald Trump let languish. Leaders of some of the world’s top climate-change sufferers, do-gooders and backsliders round out the rest of the 40 invitations being delivered Friday. It will be held virtually April 22 and 23.
March 27, 2021 4:15 am
MONROEVILLE (WPXI) — On Friday night, Monroeville Police responded to the Cambridge Square Apartments to investigate a shooting. When officers arrived, a 3-year-old female was found with a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead. A detective believes the child’s sibling, a 5-year-old, was handling an unsecured firearm and accidentally shot their sister. Allegheny County Police tell our news partners at Channel 11 the firearm is legally owned by a person who lives in the residence and that person is cooperating with the investigation.
March 27, 2021 1:20 am
National forecasters are very optimistic about the future growth of the economy both nationally and locally here in Washington County. Dr. Joel Naroff, President of Naroff Economics, spoke to the Washington Chamber of Commerce during a webinar Thursday as part of the Chamber’s state of the Economy. Naroff says this is a rare time period where is extremely optimistic about economic growth in the United States. Naroff says the federal government’s stimulus for both businesses and people are having a great impact so far, but he warns that there could be a leveling off from the stimulus surge in the years 2022 and 2023 when businesses need to start making money on their own once again. The forecaster says locally, Washington County is in a great spot because the people and businesses in this area are helping keep Pittsburgh growing, even as workforces are largely based from home. Naroff also says Washington’s energy sector will keep playing a vital role in the national economy for years to come.
March 26, 2021 4:28 pm
DALLAS (AP) – Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lonesome Dove” and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a mother-daughter relationship in “Terms of Endearment,” has died. He was 84. McMurtry died Thursday night of heart failure, according to a family statement issued through a publicist on Friday. The statement did not say where he died but noted that he’ll be buried “in his cherished home state of Texas.” Several of McMurtry’s books became feature films, including the Oscar-winners “The Last Picture Show” and “Terms of Endearment.” His epic 1986 Pulitzer winner “Lonesome Dove,” about a cattle drive from Texas across the Great Plains during the 1870s, was made into a popular television miniseries that starred Robert Duvall, who has often cited the project as a personal favorite and likened his role as retired Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae to acting in “Hamlet.”
