October 29, 2020 3:59 am
BOSTON (AP) – Federal agencies say cybercriminals are unleashing a major ransomware assault against the U.S. healthcare system. Independent security experts say it has already hobbled at least five U.S. hospitals this week, and could potentially impact hundreds more. In a joint alert, the FBI and two federal agencies say they have credible information of an imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers. They say malicious groups are targeting the sector with ransomware that could lead to data theft and disruption of healthcare services. Although the attacks coincide with the U.S. presidential election, there is no immediate indication they are motivated by anything but profit.
October 29, 2020 3:55 am
Wednesday was National First Responders Day and an appropriate day to have Washington County Commissioners launch their Washington County First Responders/Public Safety Board. The board is comprised of the three county commissioners, five fire chiefs, one police chief and five consultants in the emergency services profession. The meeting started with Director of Public Safety, Jeff Yates presenting a comprehensive review of everything that the Department of Public Safety does. The committee was asked to give their thoughts on what improvements may be made in the area of public safety, and every one that commented stated that radio communications are deficient and need to be addressed immediately. Commissioner Diana Irey-Vaughn recognized that there is no one to represent emergency medical responders and promised to make that adjustment. The committee will meet monthly.
October 28, 2020 9:25 am
(AP) – A member of the White House coronavirus task force says the increase in U.S. cases isn’t just because of more testing. Admiral Brett Giroir says the proof of the increase is the uptick in hospitalizations and deaths nationwide from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. President Donald Trump has been saying the U.S. is “rounding the turn” on the pandemic. The president also contends the news media are spending too much time focusing on the health crisis. Giroir, who was put in charge of coronavirus testing by Trump, says the nation is at “another critical point” in the response to the pandemic. He is urging people to keep wearing masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing. Giroir says a safe and effective vaccine is “around the corner.”
October 28, 2020 4:20 am
WARM SPRINGS, Ga. (AP) – Joe Biden has traveled to the hot springs town where Franklin Delano Roosevelt coped with polio to declare the U.S. is not too politically diseased to overcome its health and economic crises. He pledged during a campaign stop Tuesday to be a unifying force who can “restore our soul and save this country.” With one week to go before election polls close, President Donald Trump focused on the Democrats’ “blue wall” states he flipped in 2016 – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Melania Trump was on the road, too, the first lady leading her first political rally of 2020.
October 28, 2020 4:19 am
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Surging COVID-19 cases in Chicago have prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to ban indoor dining and bar services and limit the number of people gathering in one place. The rules announced Tuesday take effect Friday and will force diners and bar patrons outdoors and shut down service at 11 p.m. in the nation’s third-largest city. Gatherings are limited to 25 people or 25% of a room’s capacity. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she isn’t sure Pritzker’s new restrictions are targeting the right people and will adversely affect the city’s economy. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the state public health director, said positive test results are climbing and have remained above 8% for three consecutive days. Officials are also troubled by an increase in hospital admissions .
October 28, 2020 4:19 am
A record surge in coronavirus cases has pushed hospitals to the brink in the border cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, confronting health officials in Texas and Mexico with twin disasters in the metropolitan area of 3 million people. Health officials are blaming the spike on family gatherings, multiple generations living in the same household and people under 40 going out to shop or conduct business. The crisis – part of a deadly comeback by the virus across the U.S. – has underscored how closely connected the two cities are economically, geographically and culturally, with lots of people routinely going back and forth across the border to shop or visit with family.
October 28, 2020 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” is making his identify public. Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, says in a tweet: “Donald Trump is a man without character. It’s why I wrote ‘A Warning.'” Taylor has been an outspoken critic of Trump in recent months, and he has a contributor contract on CNN. Taylor’s anonymous essay was published in 2018 by The New York Times, infuriating the president and setting off a frantic White House leak investigation. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says Taylor is “a liar and a coward.” (Photo: CNN)
October 28, 2020 4:15 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Southern California utility is defending its decision to avoid a widespread blackout before a fast-moving wildfire erupted in its area. Facing extreme wildfire conditions this week, Southern California Edison pulled the plug on only 30 customers to prevent power lines from sparking a blaze. A spokesman says winds hadn’t reached the level where safety shutoffs were implemented, although more were put in place later. Two Orange County fires are still burning after forcing some 100,000 people from their homes. Meanwhile, Pacific Gas & Electric this week cut power to some 350,000 customers. Fires did erupt but were contained without serious damage.
October 28, 2020 4:14 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Zeta has crashed ashore in storm-weary Louisiana as a powerful Category 2 storm. Zeta’s landfall on Wednesday afternoon struck the latest blow of an extraordinarily busy Atlantic tropical storm season to a stretch of the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Miami-based hurricane center says a hurricane hunter aircraft confirmed at 4 p.m. Wednesday that the menacing storm had made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana. The fast-moving storm came ashore on the southern Louisiana coastline in a region of the Gulf Coast that has already been in the crosshairs of earlier storms this season.
October 28, 2020 4:12 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The police commissioner in Philadelphia says her department will release 911 tapes and footage from police body cameras “in the near future” in the shooting death of Walter Wallace Jr. Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a briefing Wednesday that officials will do so after talking with Wallace’s relatives to prepare them. She also says the police department should move “as soon as possible” to integrate with mental health services. Mayor Jim Kenney says looting prevention and assistance to the police are the reasons the city asked for the National Guard to be deployed after two nights of unrest after the police killing of Wallace. (Photo: CNN)
