April 27, 2021 4:09 am
NEW DELHI (AP) – India has added more than 320,000 new coronavirus cases as a grim surge weighed on the country’s sinking health system. Tuesday’s increase ended a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic. However, the decline likely reflects lower weekend testing rather than reduced spread of the virus. Meanwhile, foreign aid was arriving. A shipment of medical aid received from Britain included 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators. France is sending breathing machines, ICU gear and oxygen generators in a shipment expected to be sent later this week. The White House was moving to share raw materials for vaccine production to India and was working to satisfy other requests.
April 27, 2021 4:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education could merge six of its 14 universities into two new institutions. It released planning documents Monday, two days before an expected board vote on the plan. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a vote to proceed starts a 60-day public comment period. A final vote would be scheduled for this summer, with implementation in 2022. Chancellor Dan Greenstein warns that some system schools aren’t sustainable without radical change. Under the plans, Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Lock Haven universities in northern Pennsylvania would merge, as would California, Clarion and Edinboro in western Pennsylvania. All six campuses would remain open, with integrated faculty and curriculum.
April 27, 2021 4:03 am
Peters Township Council authorized the spending of $60,000 to hire a consulting firm to help determine the best design to improve a spillway and dam on Peters Lake Park. In 2012 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a letter to the township alerting them that the current spillway does not meet current catastrophic flood standards and must be improved. Those standards are 22 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. According to Township Manager Paul Lauer, the largest rainfall in his history in the township came during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. According to Lauer the spillway still had plenty of capacity to contain flooding, but the spillway does not meet DEP standards. The township will work with Rizzo International Inc. to develop a design concept to present to the DEP for their approval. Lauer estimates that the earliest any construction could begin would be late 2022 or early 2023.
April 27, 2021 3:12 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia aims to entice residents aged 16 to 35 to get a coronavirus shot with the promise of a $100 savings bond. Republican Gov. Jim Justice said Monday the move was to “jumpstart” immunizing the demographic that officials say are most likely to be currently spreading the virus. There are about 380,000 people in the age range. The new incentive was announced as the state tries to turn around its sluggish vaccination program. Officials are also considering proposals to make vaccine clinics more ubiquitous by holding events at schools, fairs and more businesses.
April 27, 2021 2:22 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The official word on Monday that Pennsylvania’s population growth continues to lag behind the nation’s marks the 10th consecutive decade the Keystone State has lost clout. The state will have one fewer electoral votes to offer presidential candidates in the next election – from 20 to 19. It also will have one less representative in the U.S. House. The Census figures show Pennsylvania’s resident population crept to just over 13 million last year from 12.7 million in 2010, a gain of 2.4%. That’s far behind the nation’s growth of 7.4%. That could mean Pennsylvania will see a reduced share of federal money for Medicaid, social programs and infrastructure.
April 26, 2021 4:26 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says the U.S. will begin sharing its entire stock of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with the world once it clears federal safety reviews. As many as 60 million doses are expected to be available for export in the coming months. The move greatly expands on the Biden administration’s action last month to share about 4 million doses of the vaccine with Mexico and Canada. The AstraZeneca drug is widely in use around the world but has not yet been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The White House is increasingly assured about the supply of the three vaccines being administered in the U.S.
April 26, 2021 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department is opening a sweeping probe into policing in Louisville, Kentucky over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death by police during a raid at her home. The 26-year-old Taylor, emergency medical technician had been studying to become a nurse, was roused from sleep by police who came through the door using a battering ram. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired once. A no-knock warrant was approved as part of a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found at her home. Monday’s announcement was made by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
April 26, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Kamala Harris is making the case before United Nations members that now is the time for global leaders to begin working on how they will respond to the next global pandemic. The virtual address Monday was Harris’ second to a U.N. body since her inauguration. It comes as the United States makes progress on vaccinating the public and much of the world struggles to acquire vaccines. Harris told the U.N. members, “At the same time that the world works to get through this pandemic, we also know that we must prepare for the next.”
April 26, 2021 4:21 am
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday that more than eight-million vaccination doses have been administered, with more than three-point-two-million residents fully vaccinated. According to the CDC, as of Monday morning, Pennsylvania has administered first doses of vaccine to more than forty-seven-percent of its eligible population, and the state ranks 10th among all 50 states for first doses administered by percentage of population. Pennsylvania ranks 5th among all 50 states for total doses administered, according to a news release. COVID cases are continuing to climb – but state health officials say they are still below what they were at the height of the spring peak on May 3, 2020. Statewide percent positivity for the week of April 16 – April 22 decreased to 8.6 percent. Statewide, there were more than five-thousand new COVID cases reported over a forty-eight-hour period, and just five new deaths. In Washington County, there were fifty new cases and no new deaths. Allegheny County reported 311 new cases and one new death and in Greene County, there was one new death and four new coronavirus infections.
April 26, 2021 4:19 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A Pittsburgh woman is wanted after police stated that she hit a man with a vehicle on Tuesday, killing him, before driving off. Ausha Brown, 25, is wanted on homicide charges after the incident in the 7600 block of Kelly Street. Pittsburgh police officers were flagged down by two women who directed them to a man laying in the road around 11 p.m. Tuesday. They told police he had been struck by a vehicle which drove off. According to court documents, police found evidence on the scene including a purse with a Port Authority Card with the name of Ausha Brown. Additionally, witnesses ID’d Brown through Facebook pictures and security video placed Brown at the scene in her black expedition. The man, identified as Von Washington, 31, of Pittsburgh, was taken to the hospital in critical condition by paramedics where he later died. Police were able to determine through text messages that Washington accused Brown of seeing other people.
