February 12, 2021 4:15 am
Pennsylvania school superintendents, school boards and teachers unions are coming together to ask Gov. Tom Wolf to prioritize school staff for the COVID-19 vaccine. The education groups call it an “absolutely essential” step toward reopening schools and keeping them open. More than 4 million people in Pennsylvania are currently eligible for the vaccine, with teachers and other essential workers next in line. In a letter to Wolf on Thursday, the education groups contended that “school staff members and students are in a uniquely dangerous position” and need to be vaccinated right away. The Wolf administration says it’s following federal government guidance on vaccinations.
February 12, 2021 3:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. airlines are pressing their case against requiring coronavirus testing of passengers on domestic flights. The CEOs of several major airlines met Friday with the White House’s coronavirus-response coordinator to lobby against a testing requirement. They say it would further undermine air travel, which is still running at less than half its pre-pandemic level. A person familiar with the discussions says the Biden administration isn’t currently planning to impose a testing requirement. But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that such a requirement is under consideration to slow the spread of COVID-19.
February 11, 2021 4:11 am
Joe Biden has held his first call as president with Xi Jinping, pressing the Chinese leader about trade and Beijing’s crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong. A White House statement says Biden raised concerns about Beijing’s “coercive and unfair economic practices.” Biden also pressed Xi on China’s actions toward Taiwan and human rights abuses against Uighur and ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province. China’s state broadcaster says Xi pushed back against those concerns and warned, “The U.S. should respect China’s core interests.” The two leaders spoke just hours after Biden announced plans for a Pentagon task force to review U.S. national security strategy in China.
February 11, 2021 4:10 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Lucasfilm says Gina Carano is no longer a part of “The Mandalorian” cast after many online called for her firing over a social media post that likened the experience of Jews during the Holocaust to the U.S. political climate. A spokesperson with the production company said in a statement on Wednesday that Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm with “no plans for her to be in the future.” Carano played the recurring character Cara Dune on the “Star Wars” series. She deleted the post but it was widely shared online and spurred the #FireGinaCarano hashtag to trend.
February 11, 2021 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic prosecutors in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial say rioters believed they were acting on the “president’s orders” to storm the Capitol to undo Joe Biden’s election victory. The House prosecutors wrapped up their opening arguments Thursday, with the Trump legal team getting its chance to make its case on Friday. Biden said he believes “some minds may be changed” after gripping video of the deadly siege, but conviction seems unlikely. The Democrats say terrible trouble like the January attack – or worse – will continue to vex American politics unless Trump áis convicted and barred from future office. Thursday’s session followed the previous day’s raw and visceral video of last month’s insurrection.
February 11, 2021 4:05 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Larry Flynt, who turned his raunchy Hustler magazine into an empire while fighting numerous First Amendment court battles, has died. He was 78. His attorney says Flynt died Wednesday in Los Angeles. Flynt’s career began with Ohio strip clubs but in 1974 he founded Hustler, an unashamedly crude and hard-core skin magazine that offended conservatives and feminists, who said it demeaned women. Flynt fought numerous court battles over obscenity and other charges and depicted himself as a fighter for free speech. He also staged political stunts, such as offering $10 million in 2017 for information to impeach President Donald Trump.
February 11, 2021 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Federal prosecutors are appealing the release of a Pennsylvania woman accused of using a large pipe to break a window in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. and giving directions to fellow insurrectionists about how to take the building. A magistrate found that Rachel Marie Powell poses a “danger to the community,” but that she could be released on $10,000 unsecured bond with home detention and electronic monitoring. Prosecutors are appealing the decision, saying Wednesday that Powell should remain locked up before trial. The FBI says Powell is the woman in a pink hat shown in video shouting instructions through a bullhorn.
February 11, 2021 3:59 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)-Health officials with the Allegheny County Health Department reported that the first case of the UK variant of COVID-19 has been identified in a patient in the county. The person does not know how they contracted the virus. ACHD director Dr. Debra Bogen said at a news conference Wednesday that she has suspected this coronavirus strain has been in the county “for a while.” Two cases of that strain have been found in Pennsylvania already, one in Centre County and the other in Bucks County. Despite this news, Bogen said it was encouraging that the number of cases and hospitalizations in the county was dropping. She said the positivity rate in the county was still at 6% and the number of new cases was about 200 per day.
February 11, 2021 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A Delta Air Lines flight slid off a runway at Pittsburgh International Airport Wednesday evening. Officials said shortly before 6:30 p.m., Delta Air Lines flight 2231 heading to Atlanta slid off a taxiway, which is adjacent to the runway. There were 77 people on board. No injuries were reported. The plane involved was a Boeing 717, which has three seats on one side and two seats on the other in the main cabin. Heavy snow showers were pushing through the region Wednesday evening, but it is not clear at this point if weather was a factor in the incident. It took several hours for emergency crews to get there and get people off the aircraft. A slide could not be used to get people off the plane due to the angle of the plane. Firefighters had to use ladders. Buses were used to shuttle people back to the terminal. A spokesperson for Delta said many passengers chose to continue their travel late Wednesday night on an alternate aircraft it provided. Others left Thursday morning on a regularly scheduled flight. The plane was cleared from the area late Thursday afternoon.
February 11, 2021 2:52 am
DALLAS (AP) – Police say at least five people were killed and dozens injured in a massive crash involving 75 to 100 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate. The pileup on Interstate 35 near downtown Fort Worth happened as a winter storm is dropping freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S. A spokesman for the Fort Worth ambulance service said 36 people were taken to hospitals. Several were critically injured. In suburban Austin, emergency officials said that more than two dozen vehicles were involved in a pileup on an icy highway, and five people were taken to the hospital.
