August 28, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Across the county, the offices of members of Congress have become makeshift crisis centers. The lawmakers are being flooded with requests for help getting people onto one of the last flights coming out of the Kabul airport before Tuesday. That’s President Joe Biden’s deadline for the withdrawal of all U.S. military forces out of Afghanistan. The requests run into the hundreds, and sometimes the thousands, for each lawmaker. The work is gut-wrenching with stories of people they’re trying to help being turned away from the Kabul airport. Still, there are successes amid one of the largest airlifts in U.S. history.
August 28, 2021 4:24 am
CECIL, Pa. (AP) – The Rev. George T. DeVille fills the gold-plated container – called a pyx – with 15 consecrated Holy Communion hosts. After distributing Communion to members of St. Oscar Romero Parish inside Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cecil, he takes Communion to residences of the faithful, some homebound, others recovering from medical issues and others uncomfortable returning to services because of the pandemic. Praying with them as they receive the host is “an honor,” said DeVille, who has been a priest for 64 years. As a senior parochial vicar, he is the oldest priest still active in an assignment in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
August 28, 2021 4:12 am
AMWELL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — West Penn Power took care of a power outage affecting nearly 400 residents in Washington County Saturday morning. The issues were reportedly stemming from Vance Station Road near the KOA Campground. Municipalities with outages at the time included Amwell, South Strabane, North Franklin, North Strabane and the City of Washington. The power company had the power restored around 6:00 a.m.
August 27, 2021 4:25 am
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) – A community on the shore of Lake Tahoe issued an emergency declaration and a tourism group discouraged visitors from coming amid smoky skies from a major wildfire. South Lake Tahoe declared an emergency Thursday to be better prepared if evacuations are ordered and the community is threatened by the Caldor Fire. Some residents under evacuation warnings cleared up pine needles and flammable debris from their homes; others fled. Firefighters were trying to stop the fire before winds and temperatures pick up and humidity drops. The fire is one of nearly 90 blazes burning in the West.
August 27, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 3.5 million people in the United States said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August. The court says in an unsigned opinion Thursday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reimposed the moratorium Aug. 3, lacked the authority to do so under federal law. The justices are rejecting the administration’s arguments in support of the CDC’s authority.
August 27, 2021 4:23 am
MIAMI (AP) – Tropical Storm Ida has prompted a hurricane warning for New Orleans and an emergency declaration for the state of Louisiana as it pushes across the Caribbean toward an anticipated strike on Cuba Friday. Forecasters say Ida could be near major hurricane strength by the time it reaches the northern Gulf Coast. That’s projected to happen sometime late Sunday or early Monday. Tropical Storm Ida is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Dangerous storm surge is possible for the Gulf Coast depending on the tide by the time the system reaches the U.S.
August 27, 2021 4:22 am
UNDATED (AP) – President Joe Biden’s national security team has told the president that another terror attack is “likely” in Kabul, and that “maximum force protection” measures are being taken at the airport in the Afghan capital. White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not go into detail on the assessment Biden received from his team one day after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and scores of Afghans outside the airport. Psaki says the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule “will be the most dangerous period to date.” Biden has said he intends to complete the evacuation by Tuesday’s deadline.
August 27, 2021 4:20 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Evacuation flights from Afghanistan have resumed with new urgency a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing the Taliban’s takeover. The U.S. says further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war. Kabul residents say several fights took off Friday morning. Thursday’s bombings near Kabul’s international airport killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said, in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in a decade.
August 27, 2021 4:15 am
BURGETTSTOWN, Pa. – (WPXI) – Confusion and frustration are reported at The Pavilion at Star Lake as KISS fans flocked to the venue to see the band take the stage. KISS member Paul Stanley reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. Our news partners at Channel 11 say the gates were scheduled to open at 6 p.m. but they were closed and there was nobody there. LiveNation’s website simply had a banner that says the show was rescheduled. Calls to both LiveNation and Star Lake were unanswered. Around 7:30 p.m. a social media message from Star Lake said the show will be rescheduled.
August 27, 2021 2:51 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Top Republican lawmakers have rejected Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s call for legislation mandating masks in schools, saying it should remain a local decision. Leaders of the GOP-controlled House and Senate said Thursday that many local officials had already made decisions about masking in schools. The Republican response came one day after Wolf asked GOP leaders to summon lawmakers to Harrisburg to pass legislation requiring schools and child care facilities to require masks in classrooms.
