February 9, 2021 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial has opened in the Senate with graphic video of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on Congress after the defeated former president whips up a rally crowd. He shouts that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” as he encourages a futile fight over his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump is charged by the House with inciting the violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election. Prosecutors argue Trump committed a “grievous constitutional crime,” but his defense team insists his fiery words at the rally were just figures of speech. His lawyers also say that trying a former president is unconstitutional. The debate over that constitutional question is expected to highlight the opening day
February 9, 2021 3:10 am
Washington County Commissioners continue to distribute funding to municipalities and organizations to help offset costs that they encountered during the coronavirus pandemic. Two organizations received their share on Monday. The Washington Health System received a check for $1.95 million for costs associated with their Covid-19 testing site and several facility upgrades necessitated by patient needs. South Strabane Township received $303,866 to help reimburse that township for cleaning supplies and computer network upgrades. All of the monies distributed come from the federal CARES Act. Organizations were able to apply for reimbursement for supplies and upgrades to facilities and equipment needed to combat the Covid-19 virus.
February 8, 2021 4:45 pm
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Advocates say inmates who set fires and broke windows at a St. Louis jail over the weekend did so to protest inhumane conditions, including a lack of personal protective equipment to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a leader of the group Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing St. Louis said during a virtual rally Sunday that the uprising was “an act of courage” necessitated by inmates’ basic needs not being met. More than 100 inmates broke out of their cells at the downtown facility on Saturday and smashed windows and set fires. A corrections officer was attacked by detainees and was hospitalized but is expected to recover.
February 8, 2021 12:34 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States has dropped more than 6% from the previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses. Catholic education officials say that’s the largest single-year decline in at least five decades. One key factor is the difficulty for many parents of paying tuition fees averaging more than $5,000 for grades K-8 and over $10,000 for secondary schools. Nationwide enrollment has fallen by 110,000 students from the 2019-2020 school year to about 1.6 million. In the 1960s, that figure was more than 5 million. In addition, more than 200 Catholic schools were permanently closed last year.
February 8, 2021 7:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman launched a campaign Monday for U.S. Senate in 2022. Fetterman, a Democrat, will be looking to fill the seat that Republican Sen. Pat Toomey will vacate when he leaves office next year. Fetterman’s website now has information for people to support him for Senate. Fetterman released the following statement Monday morning:
“I’m running for the United States Senate for the same reason I ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and Mayor of Braddock 16 years ago, because I believe in a set of core truths. I believe in the dignity of work and the dignity of a paycheck. I believe the union way of life is sacred. I believe in healthcare as a fundamental, basic human right. I believe in environmental justice, I believe our criminal justice system needs a significant overhaul. I believe that the war on drugs needs to stop and we need to legalize marijuana across this country. I believe that the LGBTQIA community deserves the same rights and protections that the rest of us enjoy in this country. I believe that every community and every county in Pennsylvania is worth fighting for. As a member of the United States Senate, I will never stop fighting for these core values and these communities, just as I have for the last 20 years.” (Photo: WPXI)
February 8, 2021 4:23 am
RISHIKESH, India (AP) – At least nine people are dead and 140 are missing in India after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke off, releasing a torrent of water and debris that slammed into two hydroelectric plants. Experts say the disaster Sunday appears to point to global warming. Video from India’s northern state of Uttarakhand showed the muddy floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring on downstream. The disaster turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-colored moonscape. Many villages were evacuated. Power plants further downstream were saved by opening up their gates. Hundreds of rescuers were working into the night to find trapped victims.
February 8, 2021 4:20 am
BOSTON (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed by Whole Foods Market employees who alleged the supermarket chain discriminated and retaliated against them when it barred them from wearing Black Lives Matter face coverings. More than two dozen current and former workers from 11 stores said in the July lawsuit that Whole Foods violated federal law that bars discrimination based on race. But a federal judge Friday said that because the company did not single out the workers based on race, it did not discriminate. Whole Foods said it agreed with the decision. A lawyer for the employees pledged to keep pursuing the case.
February 8, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is set to announce this week that it will reengage with the much-maligned U.N. Human Rights Council that former President Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago. The decision to join the Geneva-based UNHRC as an observer with an eye toward seeking election as a full member reverses another Trump-era move away from multilateral organizations and agreements. U.S. officials say Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a senior U.S. diplomat in Geneva will make the announcement on Monday in a step likely to draw criticism from conservative lawmakers and the pro-Israel community.
February 8, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the country is still in a “deep hole” with millions of lost jobs but that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan could generate enough growth to restore full employment by next year. Republican senators argues that Biden’s proposal is too expensive. Meanwhile, House Democrats plan to propose boosting the child tax credit, now at a maximum of $2,000, to as much as $3,600 per child annually. That’s according to information obtained The Associated Press. The proposal will be part of the COVID-19 relief bill they are writing that is expected to largely follow Biden’s plan.
February 8, 2021 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s defenders in the Senate are rallying around the former president before his impeachment trial, dismissing it as a waste of time and arguing the former president’s fiery speech before the Capitol insurrection does not make him responsible for the violence of Jan. 6. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi on Sunday made clear that Trump should and will be acquitted and says if holding Trump accountable means that the Senate must convict him, then “no,” Trump won’t be held accountable. Asked if Congress could still consider other punishment, such as censure, Wicker said it was time to move on and “that ship has sailed.”
