September 29, 2021 3:19 am
Two drivers who were hurt in an accident Tuesday afternoon at the Meadows Race Track in North Strabane Township will require surgery. In a statement, The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association says a horse piloted by James Dodson took a bad step entering the far turn and fell to the track. A second horse driven by Chris Shaw could not avoid the fallen horse and also fell, flipping Shaw from the bike. Dodson bounced to his feet quickly and was taken to an area hospital for treatment of a broken collarbone and will undergo surgery. According to a Facebook post on Wednesday, Shaw suffered multiple injuries, including a broken nose and several fractures throughout his body, some of which will require surgery. The horses were reportedly not injured.
September 28, 2021 5:40 pm
(AP) – Nurses and hundreds of other staff members will soon begin wearing panic buttons at a Missouri hospital where assaults on workers tripled after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cox Medical Center Branson is using grant money to add buttons to identification badges worn by up to 400 employees who work in the emergency room and inpatient hospital rooms. Pushing the button will immediately alert hospital security, launching a tracking system that will send help to the endangered worker. The hospital hopes to have the system operational by the end of the year. Missouri isn’t alone. A February report cited hundreds of COVID-related attacks worldwide.
September 28, 2021 4:11 am
GLENDALE, Ky. (AP) – Ford and a partner company say they plan to build three major electric-vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025. áIt’s a dramatic investment in the future of EV technology that will create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker’s future manufacturing footprint toward the South. The factories will be built on sites in Kentucky and Tennessee. They will make batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles that will be produced in North America. Combined, they mark the single largest manufacturing investment the 118-year-old company has ever made and are among the largest factory outlays in the world.
September 28, 2021 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Lawyers for teachers who don’t want New York City schools to impose a vaccine mandate for them and other workers say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. They announced their intentions late Monday just after a federal appeals panel gave the green light for New York City to impose the mandate after days of court wrangling. The city’s Department of Education say the mandate will now go into effect at the end of Friday. The plaintiffs argue that teachers who are placed on unpaid leave because they have not complied with the order will be irreparably harmed.
September 28, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Homicides in the U.S. in 2020 increased nearly 30% over the previous year, the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records. That’s according to figures released Monday by the agency. Homicides and non-negligent manslaughters climbed an estimated 29.4% to 21,570, an increase of 4,901 over 2019, FBI data showed. It is the highest estimated total since the early 1990s, when homicides stayed above 23,000 a year as drug wars played out in many places in the U.S. Other crimes, including property offenses, robbery and rape, dropped in 2020.
September 28, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The top U.S. military officer has called the 20-year war in Afghanistan a “strategic failure.” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also has acknowledged to Congress that he had favored keeping several thousand troops in the country to prevent a collapse of the U.S.-supported Kabul government and a rapid takeover by the Taliban. Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee pointed to Milley’s testimony on Tuesday as evidence that President Joe Biden had been untruthful last month when he suggested the military had not urged him to keep troops in Afghanistan. Milley refused to say what advice he gave Biden.
September 28, 2021 4:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican senators have blocked a bill to keep the U.S. government funded and allow borrowing. But Democrats determined to avoid a federal shutdown say they will try again this week. All this as Democrats also press ahead on President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy agenda. The tangled efforts Monday are not necessarily linked. But the fiscal year-end deadline to fund government operations past Thursday is up against the Democrats’ desire to make progress on Biden’s $3.5 trillion federal government overhaul. Republicans reject Biden’s package as too big. And they won’t vote for more borrowing to pay past debts.
September 28, 2021 3:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Legislation that has cleared a Pennsylvania House committee would give school districts the authority to decide whether student athletes must wear masks while playing. The Republican-controlled committee approved the measure on a party-line vote. It would give “exclusive authority” to schools, recreational clubs and similar groups to set masking policy for youth athletes. Republican state lawmakers have promised to mount a legislative response to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide mask mandate for schools. But so far, there has been no movement by the GOP on a wider mask mandate bill. The Wolf administration’s masking order already exempts youth athletes from having to cover their faces during practice or games.
September 28, 2021 2:43 am
Pennsylvania State Police say they have arrested a state trooper following a disturbance call Monday morning in Claysville. Police say Trooper Dustin Schumacher is facing felony and misdemeanor charges related to the incident, including aggravated assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Charges were filed by the Troop B Belle Vernon Criminal Investigation Unit. Trooper Schumacher, who is a resident of Claysville, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Robert Redlinger and transported to Washington County Prison. Bail was set at $5,000. Trooper Schumacher enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in April 2016 and graduated as a member of the 146th cadet class. He is assigned to the patrol section of Troop B, Belle Vernon. Trooper Schumacher has been suspended without pay pending resolution of the criminal charges against him.
September 27, 2021 1:45 pm
UNDATED (AP) – A federal judge says the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan four decades ago can be released unconditionally from the restrictions he’s been living under next year if he remains mentally stable. John Hinckley Jr. was 25 when he attacked the president. Jurors found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Now he’s 66, and he’s been living in Williamsburg, Virginia, since leaving a Washington hospital five years ago. Doctors oversee his medication and therapy. He can’t have a gun. And he can’t travel far without informing his doctors. Hinckley’s lawyer says he no longer poses a threat. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said Monday that he’ll sign off on the plan this week. (Photo: CNN)
