January 7, 2021 4:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is defending his department’s response to the storming of the Capitol. In his first public comment on the mayhem from Wednesday, Sund says officers “acted valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions.” He says rioters “actively attacked” Capitol police and other law enforcement officers with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and took up other weapons. Lawmakers from both parties have pledged to investigate law enforcement’s actions and questioned whether a lack of preparedness allowed a mob to occupy and vandalize the building. The city’s mayor calls the police response “a failure.”
January 7, 2021 3:58 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A divided state court is throwing out a victims’ rights Pennsylvania constitutional amendment that voters apparently supported by a wide margin. Commonwealth Court on Thursday ruled the so-called Marsy’s law amendment bundled too many changes together. The ruling means officials may not tabulate the votes for it in November 2019. Court filings have said unofficial tallies indicated it massed by a wide margin. The judges say it ran afoul of a Pennsylvania Constitution provision that requires amendments to address a single subject only.
January 6, 2021 3:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – One person has been shot at the U.S. Capitol as dozens of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building and violently clashed with police. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity amid a chaotic situation. The exact circumstances surrounding the shooting were unclear. The person said the victim had been taken to a hospital. Their condition was not known.
January 6, 2021 2:21 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Capitol locked down Wednesday with lawmakers inside as violent clashes broke out between supporters of President Donald Trump and police. An announcement was played inside the Capitol as lawmakers were meeting and expected to vote to affirm Joe Biden’s victory. The skirmishes occurred outside the building, in the very spot president-elect Biden will be inaugurated in just two weeks. Protesters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear. Some tried to push past the officers who held shields and officers could be seen firing pepper spray into the crowd to keep them back. Meanwhile, Capitol Police are evacuating some congressional office buildings as well. Police told congressional staff members they should evacuate the Cannon House Office Building and the building that houses the Library of Congress. As a result, the certification vote has been paused as protesters breach the capitol. (Photo: CNN)
January 6, 2021 2:16 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans have mounted their first challenge to Joe Biden’s win during a joint session of Congress. An objection made by Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar and signed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has forced votes in both the House and Senate. The two chambers now have two hours to debate the challenge. Trump’s allies are acting out the pleas of supporters at his huge rally up Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House to “fight for Trump.” The last-gasp effort is all but certain to fail, with bipartisan majorities in Congress prepared to accept the November results.
January 6, 2021 4:12 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dr. Dre says he will be “back home soon” after the music mogul received medical treatment at a Los Angeles hospital for a reported brain aneurysm. The rapper and producer said in a social media post Tuesday night that he’s thankful for the “well wishes.” TMZ reported that he suffered a brain aneurysm Monday and was recovering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, has produced hits for Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and more. He’s won six Grammys.
January 6, 2021 4:11 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The crush of patients with the coronavirus is so severe in Los Angeles that they exceeded the normal capacity at one community hospital. The interim chief of operations and nursing at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital said on Tuesday that it had 135 patients with COVID-19 at the hospital that has a capacity of 131 beds. It was treating 215 total patients. It’s emblematic of the surge of coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County that has overwhelmed medical staff, created a shortage of oxygen and led to a directive to ambulance crews to stop transporting patients they can’t revive in the field.
January 6, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Defying President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence says he doesn’t have the power to discard electoral votes that will make Democrat Joe Biden the next president on Jan. 20. That’s what Pence says in a statement issued minutes before he was to begin presiding over a joint session of Congress to count those votes. Pence says it is “my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” In the days before the joint session, Trump has pressured his vice president to toss electors from battleground states that voted for Biden.
January 6, 2021 4:08 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Democrat Raphael Warnock has won one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs, becoming the first Black senator in his state’s history and putting the Senate majority within the party’s reach. Warnock, a pastor who spent the past 15 years leading the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. It’s a stinging rebuke of outgoing President Donald Trump, who traveled to Georgia to rally for Loeffler and the Republican running for the other seat, David Perdue. The focus now shifts to the second race between Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff. That contest was too early to call as votes were still being counted.
January 6, 2021 4:04 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Eight Republican members of Congress from Pennsylvania say they’ll oppose the state’s electoral votes being cast for President-elect Joe Biden. Those eight will join dozens of other Republicans around the country who President Donald Trump has enlisted to challenge the Electoral College vote when Congress convenes in a joint session Wednesday to confirm Biden’s 306-232 win. In statements last week, they complained about election-related policies of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and decisions by the state Supreme Court, generally dealing how mail-in ballots were to be collected and counted.
