March 18, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans still divided over former President Donald Trump’s legacy are seizing on his signature campaign issue: immigration. The GOP is leaning in on the highly charged issue amid a spike in border crossing that are straining U.S. facilities. They are blaming Biden for rolling back many of Trump’s hardline policies and taking a kinder tone. The push comes as Republicans contend with President Joe Biden’s early popularity, good news about vaccinations, and Americans’ embrace of the COVID relief bill that they opposed. It’s an issue that some believe could help unite the party as they head into the 2022 midterm elections.
March 18, 2021 4:17 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Police say “nothing is off the table” in their investigation of the deadly shootings at two Atlanta massage parlors, including whether the slayings were a hate crime. Those attacks and a third one near the suburban town of Woodstock killed eight people. The shootings prompted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to change their plans for a previously scheduled trip to Atlanta. The pair postponed a political event in favor of meeting Friday with Asian American community leaders. A 21-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, is charged with murder in the killings. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.
March 18, 2021 4:14 am
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – The prospect of more tornadoes overnight and into Thursday across the Deep South had forecasters advising residents to take extra precautions after a wave of storms pounded the region throughout the day Wednesday, leaving a trail of splintered trees and damaged buildings. The weather service says roughly 16 million people in the Southeast could see powerful storms through early Thursday. And a region of nearly 3 million stretching from southeastern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana across Mississippi into Alabama was at particular risk for big twisters that stay on the ground for miles. Scattered damage was reported in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
March 18, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats appear poised to claim victory in the House’s first votes this year on immigration. But moving legislation on the divisive issue all the way through Congress to President Joe Biden is an uphill fight. The House is set to vote Thursday on one bill giving over 2 million young Dreamer immigrants and others full legal status and a chance for citizenship. A second measure would do the same for around 1 million immigrant farm workers. Both seem certain to pass the House. But party divisions and solid Republican opposition mean pushing immigration legislation through the Senate remains difficult.
March 18, 2021 4:12 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – America’s top diplomat has pressed China to use its tremendous influence to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, calling it a source of instability and danger. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke at the end of security talks in Seoul, hours after North Korea said it will ignore a U.S. offer to resume negotiations because of its hostile policy. The talks, which also involved Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean officials, came as President Joe Biden is pushing to restore America’s alliances in Asia in the face of growing challenges from China and North Korea. Blinken says Beijing has a critical role to play to persuade North Korea to denuclearize because most of the North’s external trade goes through China.
March 18, 2021 4:05 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — One person was flown from the scene of a crash and fire along Interstate 79 North Wednesday night. It happened just before 10:30 p.m. between the Houston and Canonsburg exits. North Strabane Township Fire officials say the vehicle was on fire and up against a guardrail when they arrived. The injured occupant was out of the vehicle. After being evaluated by first responders a medical helicopter was then requested. There is no word on the identity of the victim nor their condition. Both North and Southbound lanes of the Interstate were closed for more than an hour. Traffic returned to normal around 11:40 p.m. (PHOTO: North Strabane Township Fire Department Facebook)
March 17, 2021 5:28 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Treasury Department says it has sent out 90 million economic impact payments totaling $242 billion since President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan last week. The bulk of those payments were made by the IRS as direct deposits. Officials said Wednesday that recipients started to see the payments showing up in their bank accounts last weekend. In addition, Treasury has mailed out roughly 150,000 checks worth about $442 million. Processing of the payments began last Friday, the day after Biden signed the American Rescue Plan.
March 17, 2021 4:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Authorities say a 21-year-old man has been captured hours after eight people were killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors. Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia, was taken into custody in Crisp County on Tuesday night. Crisp County is about 150 miles south of Atlanta. Four people were killed at a massage parlor in Acworth. Shortly after, three people were killed at a spa in northeast Atlanta, while a fourth person was killed at another spa across the street. The killings came amid a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.
March 17, 2021 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is warning ominously of a “scorched earth” landscape if Democrats use their new majority to bring an end to the Senate filibuster process. Senators have been considering changes to the decades-old rules that typically require 60 votes to advance legislation. With Democrats controlling the chamber that’s evenly split 50-50, they’re facing a tough time approving their priorities and President Joe Biden’s agenda. McConnell unleashed the dire forecast Tuesday, implying that Republicans would grind business to a halt by refusing to give consent for routine operations. Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the warnings as a “diversion.”
March 17, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election. That’s according to a declassified intelligence assessment that found broad efforts by the Kremlin and Iran to shape the outcome of the race but ultimately no evidence that any foreign actor changed votes or otherwise disrupted the voting process. The report was released Tuesday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and represents the most detailed assessment of the array of foreign threats to the 2020 election. These included efforts by Iran to undermine confidence in the vote and harm Trump’s re-election prospects as well as Moscow operations that used Trump’s allies to smear Joe Biden, the eventual winner.
