January 8, 2021 2:17 am
Washington City Council met once again virtually. The meeting was highlighted by promotions in the police department and new hires in the fire department. Civil Service Chairman Richard Beck offered several police candidates for promotion to corporal and sergeant but only two accepted the promotions. Mayor Scott Putnam expressed displeasure with candidates that refused promotion. Beck then offered a list of 40 fire department candidates eligible for hire and council hired the top 3. Council also awarded a bid to Pierce Manufacturing for a new fire truck in the amount of $633,195. That truck will be delivered in the next 12-16 months. In a reorganization function council kept all departments the same with Mayor Scott Putnam heading up Public Affairs; Councilmen Matt Staniszewski leading Parks and Recreation; Ken Westcott, Public Works, Joe Manning, Accounts and Finance and Joe Pintola, Public Safety. The law firm of Dodaro, Matta and Cambest remains as solicitor and the Harshman CE Group, LLC will remain as the city engineer. Council’s next meeting will be held virtually again at 1PM on February 4.
January 7, 2021 5:20 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia lawmaker took video of himself and fellow supporters of President Donald Trump storming the U.S. Capitol, triggering calls for his resignation. The video was deleted off the state lawmaker’s social media page later Wednesday. The footage shows Republican Del. Derrick Evans wearing a helmet and clamoring at the door of the Capitol to breach the building. Lawmakers from other states also traveled to the nation’s capital to protest the results of the Electoral College on Wednesday. It’s unclear if any other elected official forced their way into the U.S. Capitol.
January 7, 2021 1:50 pm
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Authorities have identified the woman who was fatally shot inside the U.S. Capitol as Ashli Babbitt. Family and her social media accounts say she was an Air Force veteran from San Diego and avid supporter of President Donald Trump and his efforts to stay in office. Police say she was part of a crowd that was breaking down the doors to a barricaded room where armed officers stood on the other side. The 35-year-old woman got married in 2019 and she and her husband run a pool company. Her husband says “she loved her country and she was doing what she thought was right to support her country.”
January 7, 2021 9:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania health officials say a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus has been detected in the state for the first time. The Health Department said Thursday that someone in Dauphin County tested positive for the variant “after known international exposure.” Health officials say the patient had mild symptoms and has since completed isolation at home. The new variant first emerged in Britain, sweeping across that country and prompting a national lockdown. It has since been detected in several states.
January 7, 2021 9:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s former acting White House chief of staff resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Thursday, saying “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.” Mulvaney joined a growing list of Trump administration officials who are leaving following the violent riot at the Capitol on Wednesday. The riot occurred after Trump addressed a massive rally in Washington fueled by the president’s baseless allegations that he lost the November election because of election fraud. A mob breached the Capitol building just as lawmakers were working to certify Electoral College votes, sealing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday night to say he was resigning.
January 7, 2021 6:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress has confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the presidential election winner, hours after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers resolved to work almost through the night to uphold the will of the voters. The Capitol was under siege for hours Wednesday, forcing lawmakers into hiding before being evacuated by police. Earlier, at a huge rally near the White House, the president had urged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill to protest his election defeat. Congress eventually resumed after the protest, and lawmakers confirmed Biden won. Trump promised an “orderly transition” on Jan. 20.
January 7, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says there will be an “orderly transition on January 20th” now that Congress has concluded the electoral vote count certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump issued a statement early Thursday acknowledging his term in office is coming to a close just minutes after Congress certified his loss to Biden. Trump says he totally disagrees with the outcome of the election, and claims falsely that the facts bear him out. The final action of the presidential election comes after Trump appeared to excuse the violent occupation of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Wednesday.
January 7, 2021 4:09 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden is calling for the restoration of “simple decency” after a mob incited by his predecessor stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory. Biden had planned to deliver remarks on the economy and the coronavirus pandemic in a speech in his native Delaware on Wednesday. But shortly before he was to begin speaking, demonstrators broke into the Capitol, reaching as far as the House floor and Senate chamber. In his remarks, Biden said the nation’s democracy “is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times.”
January 7, 2021 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and remained for hours on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers into hiding before being ejected by police. Earlier, at a huge rally near the White House, the president had urged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill to protest his election defeat, which he continues to say was actually a victory. Authorities said Capitol Police shot one woman to death, and three other people died from medical emergencies during the protest. Even besides the demonstration, it was a stunning day as a number of lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to overturn the election and keep Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump in the White House. Congress eventually resumed after the protest.
January 7, 2021 4:02 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – California reported its second-highest number of daily coronavirus deaths Wednesday with 459 lives lost. That brings the death toll to 2,504 in the last week as more than a quarter-million newly reported weekly cases portended a continued overwhelming crush on hospitals. The California Hospital Association says Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration should immediately remove bureaucratic red tape that is hobbling medical workers. It says the state should begin coordinating patient care at a statewide level. State officials did not immediately respond to the criticism of their ban on certain elective surgeries in the hardest hit hospitals and requirement that hospitals accept patients from others that have exhausted their intensive care beds.
