August 17, 2021 4:30 am
QUINCY, Calif. (AP) – Firefighters battling flames in Northern California forests are girding for new bouts of windy weather, and a utility has warned thousands of customers it might cut their electricity to prevent new fires from igniting if gusts damage power lines. Conditions that suppressed the huge Dixie Fire overnight gave way Monday afternoon to gusty winds that prompted an evacuation order for the small mountain community of Janesville. Forecasts call for similar winds through Thursday. Meanwhile, Pacific Gas & Electric says winds predicted for Tuesday night may force public safety power shutoffs to 39,000 customers in parts of 16 counties.
August 17, 2021 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has announced that he and husband Chasten have become parents. Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate, posted the news Tuesday on Twitter. He says he and Chasten are “overjoyed” and that had wanted to grow their family for some time. He says the process isn’t done yet and that they would share more details soon. Buttigieg has talked publicly about his desire to become a father since his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Buttigieg and Chasten got married in June 2018, and Buttigieg’s own father died six months later.
August 17, 2021 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot. The goal is to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. An announcement was expected as soon as this week, with doses beginning to be administered widely once the Food and Drug Administration formally approves the vaccines. U.S. health officials recommended boosters last week for some with weakened immune systems.
August 17, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says the Taliban have agreed to allow safe passage for civilians seeking to leave Afghanistan. U.S. commanders at the Kabul airport are coordinating with the Taliban while accelerating the evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghan allies. Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby says there have been no hostile actions by the Taliban, and that several hundred members of the now-defeated Afghan army are at the airport assisting in the evacuation. He said the U.S. military intends to complete the evacuation by Aug. 31, and that any decision to extend it would require presidential approval.
August 17, 2021 4:12 am
In what was an emotional and sometimes argumentative school board meeting, the Peters Township School Board voted to amend their health and safety plan for the 2021-2022 school year. Thirty residents spoke at the beginning of the meeting. Most that spoke were in favor of the health and safety plan in effect that allowed parental choice as to whether students could attend class with or without masks. That public comment went on for nearly two hours. Fifteen minutes later director Lisa Anderson opened the discussion on possible amendments to the plan. Director Rebecca Bowman put forth a motion calling for universal masking of all students, kindergarten through 12th grade, teachers and staff that would be reviewed at the end of the first semester. Anderson wanted to amend that amendment keeping students 12 and under masked but all others optional. Much discussion was held by the board with input from Superintendent Dr. Jeannine French, on how positive cases and associated quarantines would be addressed. Ultimately, Anderson’s amendment failed 6-3. Bowman’s original amendment passed on a roll call vote 5-4. Residents attending the meeting stormed out threatening law suits and extreme displeasure with the vote. Several indicated voting campaigns against the 5 members who voted in favor of the measure. Some of the parents in attendance are threatening to send their students to class without masks. District officials did not want to comment until they were absolutely clear on how this decision will affect operations in the district.
August 17, 2021 2:40 am
A Canonsburg man, charged with rape, appeared by video Tuesday, during his plea hearing in Washington County Court to request a jury trial. Nineteen-year-old Brady Hugh Paul is facing multiple charges, including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, strangulation and corruption of minors. Authorities say the alleged incident occurred on December 12, 2020, when Paul reportedly raped a sixteen-year-old girl at his home in Canonsburg. Paul allegedly also offered the girl marijuana. His trial has been scheduled for October 12th.
August 16, 2021 4:30 am
QUINCY, Calif. (AP) – Thousands of Northern California homes remain threatened by the nation’s largest wildfire and officials warn the danger of new blazes erupting across the West is high because of unstable weather. Thunderstorms haven’t produced much rain, but whipped up winds and generated lightning strikes across the northern Sierra where crews were battling the month-old Dixie Fire. Extreme heat returned Sunday, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees. More than 100 large wildfires were burning in more than a dozen states in the West, a region seared by drought and hot, bone-dry weather that turned forests, brushlands, meadows and pastures into tinder.
August 16, 2021 4:29 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Three tropical systems are churning early Monday in the Atlantic basin and threatening to impact the U.S. Gulf Coast, some Caribbean islands including earthquake-damaged Haiti, and the island of Bermuda. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Fred could make landfall by Monday evening along the Florida Panhandle. Heavy rain and storm surge were expected. Tropical depression Grace is forecast to move over Hispaniola and possibly cause flooding and mudslides just days after a 7.2 magnitude quake hit Haiti. Tropical depression eight formed Sunday near Bermuda and is expected to become a tropical storm sometime Monday.
August 16, 2021 4:28 am
LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) – Many of the Haitians injured during a powerful earthquake over the weekend are lying in the open, under burning heat, waiting for help as hospitals overflow with patients. Thousands more in the quake zone are sleeping outside for a second night, clutching small transistor radios tuned to the news. Officials have raised the death toll from Saturday’s earthquake to at least 1,297. And the devastation could soon worsen. Tropical Depression Grace is predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night, bringing the potential for heavy rain, flooding and landslides. The country’s Civil Protection Agency says the magnitude 7.2 earthquake also left at least 5,700 people injured.
August 16, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration has approved a significant and permanent increase in the levels of food stamp assistance available to needy families. It’s the largest single increase in the program’s history. Starting in October, average benefits for food stamps will rise more than 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. The increased assistance will be available indefinitely to all 42 million beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The increase coincides with the end of a 15 percent boost in SNAP benefits that was ordered as a pandemic protection measure. In practical terms, the average monthly per-person benefits will rise from $121 to $157.
