January 1, 2021 4:01 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The revelry and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that typify Times Square on New Year’s Eve were replaced by empty streets and an eerie quiet as the final moments of 2020 ticked away. Some celebrity performers took to stages set up in the mostly empty square to sing to a small group of masked essential workers. In the final minutes before midnight, Jennifer Lopez sang the Aerosmith classic “Dream On” beneath a blast of confetti. Spectators were banned from the area and were urged to watch the ball drop on television. Still, modest throngs of people gathered just outside the police perimeter and kissed and cheered at the stroke of midnight.
January 1, 2021 3:54 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday. Freezing rain could cause icy conditions on surfaces, including roads, bridges, and sidewalks. Temperatures rose overnight to near freezing Friday morning. Precipitation will develop from the southwest mid-morning. With temperatures near freezing at this time, there will be a chance of freezing rain or ice in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. This threat will be short-lived as temperatures climb above freezing by late morning. The greatest threat of ice will be in northeast counties such as Clarion, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and the ridges of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties. These areas could see up to 0.10 inches of ice. Crews advise to stay off the roads if possible during that time.
January 1, 2021 1:38 am
(WPXI) – A young child has died in a fire at a Butler home. The fire started around noon on Knox Avenue and authorities say firefighters arrived at the home, finding it fully engulfed in flames. A father and his three children were still inside. The father and two of his children were able to make it out. One of the kids did not. The age and name of that child hasn’t been revealed, but fire officials said it is a young family. The home is also considered a total loss, gutted by the fast moving fire. There was also some damage to a home next door. None of the firefighters were injured, but officials said several were affected emotionally by the death of the child on New Year’s Eve.
January 1, 2021 1:10 am
UNDATED (AP) – Former federal attorney general and Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh has died at age 88. Thornburgh died Thursday morning at a retirement community facility outside Pittsburgh, his son David said. The cause is not yet known. Thornburgh built a reputation as a crime-busting federal prosecutor in Pittsburgh and won praise for his cool handling as governor of the Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown in 1979.
December 31, 2020 9:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 but remain elevated at 787,000 as a resurgent coronavirus grips the U.S. economy. While at the lowest level in four weeks, the new figures released Thursday by the Labor Department are nearly four times higher than a year ago before the coronavirus struck. Employers continue to cut jobs as rising coronavirus infections keep many people at home while state and local governments re-impose restrictions. Jobless claims were running around 225,000 a week before the pandemic struck with force last March causing weekly jobless claims to surge to a high of 6.9 million in late March as efforts to contain the virus sent the economy into a deep recession.
December 31, 2020 4:16 am
GRAFTON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin health system said Wednesday that 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine that had to be discarded after they were left unrefrigerated now appear to have been deliberately spoiled by an employee. Aurora Medical Center first reported on the spoiled doses on Saturday, and said they had been accidentally left out overnight by an employee at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton. In a statement late Wednesday, Aurora said the employee involved “today acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration.” Aurora’s statement said they had fired the employee and referred the matter to authorities for further investigation. Their statement said nothing about a possible motive for the action.
December 31, 2020 4:14 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A winter storm moving across parts of Texas and Oklahoma could dump up to 18 inches of snow in places before moving eastward and possibly spawning tornadoes. The National Weather Service says 12 to 18 inches of snow in southwestern Texas is possible by Thursday. Some snow is also expected in northwest Arkansas. Forecasts say the storm then will move eastward, creating a threat of tornadoes across Louisiana and southern Mississippi on New Year’s Eve as the colder temperatures are met with moisture and warmer air. The storm produced what forecaster Jeremy Grams said was likely a brief tornado in Corsicana, Texas, on Wednesday.
December 31, 2020 4:13 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump is cutting short his Florida holiday vacation and will be returning to Washington on Thursday, a day earlier than originally expected. The White House has offered no explanation for the change. It was announced hours after Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said that he will raise objections next week when Congress meets to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November election. The challenge in Congress is a futile effort to remain in power that Trump has been pushing following the failure of scores of legal challenges by his campaign to the election outcome.
December 31, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Republican senator says he’ll object when Congress meets next week to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri says he’ll protest the Electoral College certification because “some states, including notably Pennsylvania” didn’t follow their election laws. A Biden spokeswoman is dismissing Hawley’s move as “antics” that will have no bearing on Biden being sworn in on Jan. 20. Hawley isn’t giving specifics or evidence in the statement he released announcing his intentions. Hawley’s move is likely to force votes in the House and Senate that would delay the certification of Biden’s win, but not change the outcome.
December 31, 2020 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has all but shut the door on President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks. The Republican leader says Congress has provided enough pandemic aid and he’s blocked another attempt by Democrats to force a vote. McConnell is unwilling to budge, despite political pressure from Trump and even some fellow GOP senators. Trump wants the recent $600 checks increased threefold. But McConnell is dismissing the idea of “survival checks” in a House-passed bill, saying the money would go to plenty of American households that don’t need it.
