October 26, 2020 4:15 am
The number of people casting an early ballot in the presidential election now surpasses those who voted early during all of 2016. That’s more than 58 million people voting with eight days to go before Election Day. Democrats have been dominating early voting, but Republicans are slowly narrowing the gap. That’s because in-person early voting has kicked off in a number of states and President Donald Trump has convinced many of his supporters they should not vote with mail ballots. One out of every 4 of the voters is either new or infrequent, a sign of a potential record-setting turnout.
October 26, 2020 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to speedily take up its case to block counties in the presidential battleground state from counting mailed-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election. The Republican Party’s late Friday filing came four days after the justices divided 4-4 on putting a hold on the extension. The Republican Party’s request could arrive before the U.S. Supreme Court with a new, ninth justice. President Donald Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a battle to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.
October 26, 2020 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has wrapped up the first of three campaign rallies in Pennsylvania, where he told supporters that he wanted to discuss an issue of “existential importance” as he focuses on former Vice President Joe Biden’s policies on energy. Pennsylvania is the second leading producer of natural gas in the country behind Texas. Trump claims that Biden would “abolish the entire U.S. oil industry.” Trump says that means no fracking and no jobs for Pennsylvania families. He is seizing on Biden’s comments in last week’s debate that he would “transition away from the oil industry.” But Biden sought to clarify later that he was talking about ending federal subsidies for oil companies.
October 25, 2020 7:54 am
Jerry Jeff Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78. Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press. “He had battled throat cancer for many years, and some other health issues,” Davis said Saturday. Walker emerged from New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s and he was a founding member of the band Circus Maximus. He moved to Texas in the 1970s and in 1972 scored a hit with his version of the Guy Clark song “L.A. Freeway.” Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band in 1973 recorded an album live in Texas called “Viva Terlingua” that became a classic of the country-rock scene. Walker had since released more than 30 albums.
October 25, 2020 7:51 am
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend on Saturday told about 200 people gathered at an emotional rally in suburban Chicago that she’s fighting “to be strong” for her son. The protest in Waukegan, about 40 miles north of Chicago, was organized by Clyde McLemore, the founder of the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter. It took place less than a day after Police Chief Wayne Walles announced the firing of the officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles added in a brief statement that the male officer had committed “multiple policy and procedure violations.” During the gathering, Clifftina Johnson, Williams’ mother, put a megaphone to her cellphone as Williams passionately spoke to the crowd from her hospital bed as another family member at the rally held her and Stinnette’s 7-month-old son.
October 25, 2020 7:49 am
BALTIMORE — A day after the U.S. set a daily record for new confirmed coronavirus infections, it came very close to doing it again. Data published by Johns Hopkins University shows that 83,718 new cases in the U.S. were reported Saturday, nearly matching the 83,757 infections reported Friday. Before that, the most cases reported in the United States on a single day had been 77,362 on July 16. Close to 8.6 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and about 225,000 have died. Both statistics are the world’s highest. India has more than 7.8 million infections but in recent weeks its daily number have been declining. U.S. health officials have feared the surge of infections to come with colder weather and people spending more time indoors, especially as many flout guidelines to protect themselves and others such as mask-wearing and social distancing. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington currently forecasts that the country’s COVID-19 death toll could exceed 318,000 by Jan. 1.
October 25, 2020 7:47 am
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump assured supporters packed shoulder to shoulder at weekend rallies that “we’re rounding the turn” on the coronavirus and mocked challenger Joe Biden for raising alarms about the pandemic, despite surging cases around the country and more positive infections at the White House. Trump’s remarks came Saturday, hours before the White House announced that a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence had tested positive for the virus. Pence has been in close contact with the adviser, the White House said, but still planned to keep traveling and holding rallies around the country. The revelation of another high-ranking administration official testing positive for the virus coupled with the administration’s decision to continue business as usual punctuated a day that marked the starkly different approaches that Trump and Biden are taking to campaigning in the age of the novel coronavirus. Pence’s office confirmed late Saturday that his chief of staff, Marc Short, had tested positive — the public announcement coming just as Trump was wrapping up a day of big rallies in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, three battleground states that will have enormous impact on deciding the Nov. 3 election.
October 25, 2020 7:45 am
BLAINE, Wash. (AP) — Heavily protected crews in Washington state worked Saturday to destroy the first nest of so-called murder hornets discovered in the United States. The state Agriculture Department had spent weeks searching, trapping and using dental floss to tie tracking devices to Asian giant hornets, which can deliver painful stings to people and spit venom but are the biggest threat to honeybees that farmers depend on to pollinate crops. The nest found in the city of Blaine near the Canadian border is about the size of a basketball and contained an estimated 100 to 200 hornets, according to scientists who announced the find Friday. Crews wearing thick protective suits vacuumed the invasive insects from the cavity of a tree into large canisters Saturday. The suits prevent the hornets’ 6-millimeter-long stingers from hurting workers, who also wore face shields because the trapped hornets can spit a painful venom into their eyes. The tree will be cut down to extract newborn hornets and learn if any queens have left the hive already, scientists said. Officials suspect more nests may be in the area and will keep searching. A news briefing was planned Monday on the status of the nest.
October 25, 2020 7:43 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Republican Party is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to speedily take up its case to block counties in the presidential battleground state from counting mailed-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election. The Republican Party’s late Friday filing came four days after the justices divided 4-4 on putting a hold on the extension. That outcome left in place a state Supreme Court ruling that required county election officials to receive and count mailed-in ballots that arrive up until Nov. 6, even if they don’t have a clear postmark, as long as there is no proof it was mailed after the polls closed. The high court’s action left unresolved the legal issues Republicans raised, and the new request asks the court to take up the Republican Party’s case on an expedited basis. Without an expedited consideration, the Republican Party’s right to appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court’s “power to resolve the important constitutional and legal questions presented for this election—will be irrevocably lost,” the party’s court filing said.
October 25, 2020 7:40 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Former Vice President Joe Biden made it clear during Thursday’s debate he wants to see resources focused on renewable energy. That was echoed Saturday by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. It’s an important issue in western Pennsylvania, with thousands of jobs tied to the natural gas industry and fracking. During a rally Saturday morning on the North Side, Sanders emphasized workers won’t be left out if Biden gets elected. Sanders also spoke about COVID-19 and the need for the federal government to do more to get the virus under control. Pennsylvania is expected to be a key state for Joe Biden or President Donald Trump to win the election.
