February 15, 2021 3:51 pm
(AP) – Health insurance shoppers stuck in a bad plan or unable to find coverage have a new option for help. A sign-up window opened Monday for government insurance markets and runs through May 15 in most U.S. states. It’s available for people who don’t have coverage through work, and it is expected to make finding a plan less of a hassle for people who lost their jobs. The Affordable Care Act created state-based insurance markets for people to buy individual coverage either for themselves or their family. President Joe Biden ordered the markets to reopen late last month.
February 15, 2021 4:22 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Sorrow is reverberating across the country Sunday as Americans joined a Florida community in remembering the 17 lives lost three years ago in the Parkland school shooting massacre. President Joe Biden used the occasion to call on Congress to strengthen gun laws, including requiring background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons. The president said there was no time to wait. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags be lowered to half staff from sunrise to sunset across the state to honor those who perished when a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas opened fire on campus with an AR-15 rifle on Valentine’s Day in 2018.
February 15, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s acquittal at his second impeachment trial may not be the final word on whether he’s to blame for the deadly Capitol riot. The next step for the former president could be the courts. Trump is now a private citizen and is stripped of his protection from legal liability that the presidency gave him. The insurrection at the Capitol is just one of the legal cases shadowing Trump in the months after he was voted out of office. He also faces legal exposure in Georgia over an alleged pressure campaign on state election officials, and in Manhattan over hush-money payments and business deals.
February 15, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol. Pelosi says the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex . and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.” The speaker says in a letter to Democratic colleagues that the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. Bipartisan support appears to be growing for an independent commission.
February 15, 2021 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Police say a 12-year-old was wounded in the head in what investigators believe was an accidental shooting in Pennsylvania. Police in Swatara Township said in a statement that first responders were called to the scene just after noon Sunday. Officers provided emergency aid to the wounded child, who was transported to Hershey Medical Center. A condition report wasn’t immediately available. Police said everyone involved has been identified and is cooperating with authorities. The Dauphin County district attorney’s office is assisting in the investigation.
February 15, 2021 4:09 am
A Winter Storm Warning is now in effect and will continue through 1 p.m. Tuesday for many counties in western Pennsylvania, east central Ohio and northern West Virginia. The warning is in effect for the combination of ice and snow that will come in two different rounds. Snow will become widespread Monday morning. There could be a band of moderate to heavy snow that sets up through the area which will limit visibility and make driving dangerous as snow sticks to untreated surfaces. Overall, it looks like a trace to three inches of snow will be possible Monday morning. There will be isolated spots of snow Monday afternoon, but the second round of steadier snowfall will start Monday evening. Snow may mix with freezing rain or sleet. Right now, the heaviest snow totals will fall across our northwest counties with lesser amounts in our far southeast counties. The National Weather Service says if you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.
February 14, 2021 7:49 am
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Vast numbers of people all over Myanmar flouted orders against demonstrations and marched again Sunday to protest the military takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Large demonstrations were held in the major cities of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyitaw, as well as in far-flung areas dominated by ethnic minorities. Resistance also took place in cyberspace, as a group calling itself BrotherHood of Myanmar Hackers defaced the government’s Myanmar Digital News website, replacing content on its home page with words and pictures against the military takeover. Protesters in Yangon again rallied outside the Chinese and U.S. embassies. They accuse Beijing of propping up the military regime and applaud Washington’s actions sanctioning the military.
February 14, 2021 7:47 am
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan to open 100 vaccination sites by the end of the month was initially embraced by governors and health officials, who considered it a much needed lifeline to get more Americans inoculated against the coronavirus. But reality has quickly set in: Some are hesitating to take the offer, at least for now, saying they don’t need more places to administer doses. They just need more doses. Eager to protect more people against the coronavirus, health officials in Oklahoma jumped at the chance to add large, federally supported vaccination sites. They wanted them in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and a third, mid-size city, Lawton, thinking the extra help would allow them to send more doses to smaller communities that had yet to benefit. Those plans are now on hold after the state learned that the sites would not come with additional vaccines. Instead, the doses would have to be pulled from the state’s existing allocation, and the three sites alone might have used more than half of Oklahoma’s vaccine supply. The Biden administration’s virus response plan calls for opening 100 federally supported vaccination sites by the end of February. It is preparing to mobilize thousands of staffers and contractors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies.
February 14, 2021 7:42 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI)— A Winter Weather Advisory expired at 4 a.m. Sunday due to the threat of freezing rain and freezing fog. A light glaze of ice will be possible on untreated surfaces. A Winter Storm Watch will go into effect at 1 a.m. Monday and continue until 1 p.m. Tuesday for Pittsburgh and points north and west, including Washington County. Two rounds of precipitation are expected. The first wave of snow will develop early Monday morning before sunrise, bringing the threat of a trace to three inches of snow. The lesser amounts will be across Fayette County and the higher amounts will be across our northwest counties. The second wave, which could include a bit of freezing rain, rain or sleet south of I-70 will move in Monday evening into Tuesday. This is where we look to pick up the bulk of our snow accumulation.
February 14, 2021 4:31 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was acquitted Saturday of inciting the horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a U.S. president but exposed the fragility of America’s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency. Barely a month since the deadly Jan. 6 riot that stunned the world, the Senate convened for a rare weekend session to deliver its verdict, voting while armed National Guard troops continued to stand their posts outside the iconic building. The quick trial, the nation’s first of a former president, showed how perilously close the invaders had come to destroying the nation’s deep tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power after Trump had refused to concede the election. Rallying outside the White House, he unleashed a mob of supporters to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol just as Congress was certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. As hundreds stormed the building, some in tactical gear engaging in bloody combat with police, lawmakers fled for their lives. Five people died. The verdict, on a vote of 57-43, is all but certain to influence not only the former president’s political future but that of the senators sworn to deliver impartial justice as jurors. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict, but it was far from the two-third threshold required.
Trump, unrepentant, welcomed the his second impeachment acquittal and said his movement “has only just begun.” He slammed the trial as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country.”
Though he was acquitted of the sole charge of incitement of insurrection, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment count of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Voting to find Trump guilty were GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.
