October 19, 2021 4:53 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal regulators are expected to authorize the mixing and matching of COVID-19 booster shots this week. The upcoming announcement by the Food and Drug Administration is likely to come along with authorization for boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots. It follows the OK last month of a third dose for the Pfizer vaccine for many Americans. The FDA was also expected to say that using the same brand for a booster was still preferable. The move was previewed Tuesday by a U.S. health official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement.
October 19, 2021 1:49 pm
The company that makes iconic household products like Tide and Gillette is warning its customers that prices will be going up. Procter & Gamble said the costs of freight and the materials that go into making the products are going up so they’re passing the increase on to consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported. P&G estimates the increase in freight and transportation costs will be at least $200 million higher than in the past, Fox Business reported. Materials to make the products are expected to cost the company $2.1 billion, CNBC reported. The company also blamed the increased cost of warehousing products, Reuters reported. The price increase is in addition to the rising costs P&G announced earlier this year for diapers and toilet paper, among other products. Grooming, skincare and oral care are among the products that will have higher prices, Fox Business reported. In total, there will be increases in nine out of 10 categories. Not only are costs to produce the products going up, so is the demand for the products, the company said Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
October 19, 2021 10:43 am
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – A gang that kidnapped 17 members of a U,S.-based missionary group has demanded a $17 million ransom for them. That’s according to Haiti’s justice minister, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. Liszt Quitel says the gang is demanding $1 million per person for the 16 Americans and one Canadian. A wave of kidnappings in Haiti has prompted a protest strike that shuttered businesses, schools and public transportation in a new blow to the country’s anemic economy. Unions and other groups vowed to continue the shutdown Tuesday.
October 19, 2021 4:12 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Authorities say a man charged with raping a woman on a commuter train just outside of Philadelphia harassed her for more than 40 minutes while multiple people held up their phones to seemingly record the assault without intervening. The police chief for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said at a news conference Monday that more than two dozen train stops passed as the man harassed, groped and eventually raped the woman. Police do not believe a single witness on the train dialed 911. They are investigating whether some bystanders filmed the assault. Officers responded within about three minutes of a 911 call from a transportation authority employee at the train’s last stop.
October 19, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan is stepping down following the chaotic American withdrawal from the country. The State Department says former ambassador to the United Nations and Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad will leave the post this week after more than three years on the job. Khalilzad had served as the special envoy for Afghan reconciliation since September 2018, when the-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought him on board to lead negotiations with the Taliban and the Afghan government. An Afghan native, Khalilzad negotiated a U.S. agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 that ultimately led to the end of America’s longest-running war.
October 19, 2021 4:08 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas Republicans have approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and could decrease political representation for growing minority communities in the nation’s largest red state. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the maps late Monday night, and they will now be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott who is expected to sign them into law. The redrawn congressional districts may make it easier for incumbents to hold their seats and decrease Black and Hispanic communities’ political influence, even as those voters drive Texas’ growth. Advocates and Democratic lawmakers have denounced the proposed maps claiming racial discrimination. Civil rights groups sued Monday before GOP lawmakers finished pushing through the new maps.
October 19, 2021 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is moving swiftly to hold at least one of Donald Trump’s allies in contempt. That’s happening as the former president is pushing back on the probe in a new lawsuit. Trump is aggressively trying to block the committee’s work by directing former White House aide Steve Bannon not to answer questions in the probe while also suing the panel to try to prevent Congress from obtaining former White House documents. Lawmakers on the House committee say they will not back down as they gather facts and testimony about the attack of Trump’s supporters.
October 19, 2021 4:06 am
BROOKSHIRE, Texas (AP) – Authorities say no one was seriously hurt when an airplane bound for Boston ran off a runway and burned near Houston. The Federal Aviation Administration says the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 was carrying 21 people when it rolled through a fence and caught fire while trying to take off from the Houston Executive Airport in Brookshire on Tuesday morning. The FAA says everyone made it off the plane safely. The only reported injury was a passenger with back pain. The Texas Department of Public Safety says the plane was headed to Boston. The aircraft is registered to a Houston-area investment firm. (Photo: CNN)
October 19, 2021 4:04 am
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A petition launched in opposition of the proposed tolls on the I-79 bridge has so far garnered more than 1,000 signatures. “Tell Harrisburg Bureaucrats that WE pay their salary and we refuse this new toll on I-79,” the petition reads. PennDOT has proposed tolling the bridge, along with eight others across the commonwealth as part of the “Major Bridge P3 Project.” The revenue, according to the department, would go towards repairing and improving the bridges. In regard to I-79, PennDOT has stated it plans to widen the interstate through Bridgeville and make traffic improvements. Toll rates would likely be between $1 to $2 and would “pay for the project and ensure PennDOT can use its other resources on other local projects. Otherwise, to make this project happen, PennDOT would have to pull the project costs from other highway and bridge needs,” the department previously said. Our news partners at Channel 11 reached out to PennDOT, with a spokesperson stating “no final decision” has been made regarding any of the nine proposed bridges. The statement claims public input is “critical” to any project, particularly one involving a toll.
October 19, 2021 3:59 am
The Peters Township School Board met Monday evening and compared to recent meetings, the tone of the meeting was much quieter. Much of the meeting was taken up by public comment. That comment centered on the district’s health and safety plan, push back on the mask mandate in schools and an effort to bring better dialogue between residents and the school board. Fifteen people spoke in two comment periods. The main topics were asking board members why they could not have a dialogue at the meeting instead of the public stating their concerns and waiting for an answer. Board members were called out in general for not responding to emails. The mask mandate continues to be a topic with some residents wondering why Peters Twp. does not push back against the mandate as other school districts allegedly are doing. The solicitor answered questions about the mandate indicating that the school district is following guidelines from the Department of Health and pointed out the penalties associated with not following the mandate, including loss of accreditation in certain areas and legal jeopardy for individual board members. Director Lisa Anderson pointed out that the district is tied up in litigation and certain questions simply cannot be answered until the litigation is complete. In the business section of the meeting, the agenda included a first reading of changes to the district’s policy manual. One of the policy items concerns revisions to the public participation in board meetings. Anderson explained that this was brought about by the recent changes in Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act law. Anderson stated that the policy was derived from language provided by the Pennsylvania School Board Association and a study of surrounding area school districts policies on public comment. The board will vote on all policy changes at their November 15 voting meeting.
