November 22, 2020 7:46 am
U.S. health officials Saturday agreed to allow emergency use of a second antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19, an experimental medicine that President Donald Trump was given when he was sickened last month. The Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. drug to try to prevent hospitalization and worsening disease from developing in patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms. The drug is given as a one-time treatment through an IV. The FDA allowed its use in adults and children 12 and over who weigh at least 88 pounds (40 kilograms) and who are at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 because of age or certain other medical conditions. Emergency authorization allows use of the drug to start while studies are continuing to establish safety and effectiveness. Early results suggest the drug may reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression, the FDA said.
November 22, 2020 7:41 am
Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is leading a suit filed Saturday in Pennsylvania challenging the use of mail-in ballots predominately cast by Democrats in lifting Joe Biden to victory in the presidential race in the state and seeking to block certification of the election results. The lawsuit was filed in the state Commonwealth Court, just two days before the deadline for counties to certify the results of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, and marks the latest attempt in court by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to overturn Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs contend that the GOP-controlled Legislature never followed the proper constitutional procedures to expand exceptions to in-person voting to institute a system of universal mail-in voting and are asking the court to throw out non-absentee mail-in ballots.
November 22, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — According to officials, a second week of substantial level of COVID transmission has the Washington School District moving to full remote learning. The District made the decision Friday afternoon to have students learn from home from Monday, November 23rd to no earlier than Monday, January 4th 2021. Pandemic Coordinator and nurse Cheryl Blosl says the district will continue to access and monitor the coronavirus spread in the community and make another decision on December 21st as to whether remote learning will be extended past the January 4th end date.
November 22, 2020 1:18 am
EIGHTY FOUR, Pa. – Westbound lanes of Interstate 70 in Eighty Four were closed for a time Saturday morning following a rollover accident involving two cars. According to reports, the accident happened just before 11:00 a.m. near exit 25 on I-70 west. Witnesses on scene said one of the vehicles involved was a pickup truck. According to reports, a 21-year-old male was taken to Washington Hospital for head lacerations and back pain. The highway was closed to conduct an accident investigation following the crash. There is no word on how that accident occurred or who was involved.
November 21, 2020 4:27 am
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say four men with connections to white supremacists are accused of illegally making firearms and two of them discussed shooting protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally. A news release from the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that the men have been charged in a superseding indictment with conspiring to make, transport and sell firearms and then hide the sales from the federal government. The indictment also says two of the men indicted discussed on social media shooting protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally in Boise, Idaho, in August. Authorities say one of the four men is currently a Marine and two are former Marines.
November 21, 2020 4:26 am
China is starting mass testing on 3 million people in a section of the northern city of Tianjin and has tested 4,015 others in a hospital in Shanghai after the discovery of a pair of cases there. The National Health Commission recorded seven new domestically transmitted cases Saturday, including five in Tianjin and two in Shanghai. Tianjin on Friday reported community transmission involving four different individuals and another case. In response, local authorities sealed off the residential community where the people lived as well as a hospital and a kindergarten. On Saturday, authorities have starting testing all residents in the Binhai district of Tianjin. Authorities in Shanghai sealed off a hospital after a husband and wife tested positive for COVID-19.
November 21, 2020 4:25 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – The U.S. and Taiwan are stepping up cooperation in a newly created economic dialogue, in another move from the outgoing Trump administration to increase official exchanges with the self-ruled island. The two sides signed a five-year agreement establishing the U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, which is meant to be held annually. The deal falls short of a long-desired bilateral trade agreement, but is a significant step that increases cooperation between Washington and Taipei. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory to be reunited by force if necessary, has criticized such steps as provocation. Taiwan and the U.S. do not have a free trade agreement. However, Taiwan in August announced the easing of restrictions on imports of American beef and pork.
November 21, 2020 4:24 am
While President Donald Trump vows to press ahead with efforts to overturn the election, judges across the country have consistently swatted down his legal challenges. Trump’s campaign has failed to make any real headway in court without proof of widespread fraud, which experts widely agree doesn’t exist. Experts say Trump won’t succeed in stopping President-elect Joe Biden from taking office in January. But his repetition of baseless claims that the race was rigged is undermining public confidence in the election system while instilling in his supporters the idea that Biden will be an illegitimate president.
November 21, 2020 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden turned 78 Friday, and he’ll soon take the reins of a politically fractured nation facing the worst public health crisis in a century, high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice. As Biden wrestles with those issues, he will be attempting to accomplish another feat: demonstrating to Americans that age is but a number. Biden will enter office as the oldest president in the nation’s history, displacing Ronald Reagan. Reagan left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years, 349 days old.
November 21, 2020 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department has scheduled three more federal executions during the lame-duck period before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, including two just days before his inauguration. The announcement comes a day after the federal Bureau of Prisons carried out the eight federal execution this year after a 17-year hiatus, and it is likely to increase pressure on Biden to take a public stance on whether his administration would continue to schedule executions once he is sworn in. The Justice Department is scheduling the executions of Alfred Bourgeois for Dec. 11 and Cory Johnson and Dustin Higgs for Jan. 14 and 15.
