September 24, 2021 4:05 am
TAMAQUA, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania school district that openly flouted a statewide mask mandate for K-12 schools has reversed course and says it will require universal masking for students and others inside school buildings. The Tamaqua Area School Board voted 6-3 on Tuesday night to comply with the masking order from the state Health Department, which requires students, staff and visitors to cover their faces while indoors. Pennsylvania school districts had largely followed the masking order, even as some exploited an apparent loophole that made it easier for parents to request medical exemptions for their children. But Tamaqua had opted to make masks optional, drawing the ire of state officials.
September 24, 2021 4:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s attorney general is suing to block a Republican-approved subpoena to state election officials in what Republicans call a “forensic investigation” of last year’s presidential election spurred on by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that he was cheated. The lawsuit from state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is the second thus far targeting a subpoena approved last week by the Republican-controlled Senate committee. Shapiro’s office broadly asked the court to block the subpoena because, it said, it serves no legitimate legislative purpose and stems from Trump’s baseless claims. The suit also says granting the subpoena’s request for voter information would violate a person’s constitutional right to privacy.
September 24, 2021 2:43 am
Three people were arrested Wednesday night in a drive-by shooting in the 400 block of Duquesne Avenue in Canonsburg. Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome tells WJPA News that it happened around six o’clock. There were no injuries and Rhome says police were able to make the arrests very quickly. All three are being held in the Washington County Jail. Rhome says the investigation is ongoing but he says the incident was an isolated one and there is no threat to the public. Rhome says he went door to door in that neighborhood last night to reassure residents that they were safe.
September 23, 2021 9:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week for a second straight week to 351,000, a sign that the delta variant of the coronavirus may be disrupting the job market’s recovery, at least temporarily. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims rose by 16,000 from the previous week. As the job market has strengthened, unemployment aid applications, which generally track layoffs, have tumbled since topping 900,000 early this year, reflecting the economy’s reopening after the pandemic recession. Still, jobless claims remain somewhat elevated: Before the pandemic tore through the economy in March 2020, they generally numbered about 220,000 a week.
September 23, 2021 9:54 am
U.S. officials say the Biden administration’s special envoy to Haiti resigned, protesting large-scale expulsions of Haitian migrants to their homeland wracked by civil strife and natural disaster. Daniel Foote was appointed to the position only in July, following the assassination of Haiti’s president. Even before the migrant expulsions from the small Texas border town of Del Rio, the career diplomat was known to be deeply frustrated with what he considered a lack of urgency in Washington and a glacial pace on efforts to improve conditions in Haiti. A sharply worded resignation faults U.S. policy toward the Caribbean nation.
September 23, 2021 8:54 am
South Strabane Township police have confirmed that they have located 65 year old John Ruffing and he is safe. An update was posted by the police department around 7:30 a.m Thursday morning. The post thanked all those who participated in the search but did not provide any other details. Ruffing had been the subject of a search since he was last seen at his home in Windsor Highlands Saturday afternoon. He was without medications needed for several health issues. In an email to WJPA News, Police Chief Drew Hilk says this is all the information they will be releasing. (PHOTO; South Strabane Township Police Department Facebook)
September 23, 2021 4:13 am
(AP) – The U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 is poised for a major new phase: Government advisers on Thursday recommended booster doses of Pfizer’s vaccine for millions of Americans. This, despite concern that the extra shots will do little to slow the pandemic. Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the extra doses for people 65 and older, nursing home residents, and those ages 50 to 64 with underlying medical conditions – once they’re at least six months past their last Pfizer dose. It also said people ages 18 to 49 with underlying conditions could choose a booster.
September 23, 2021 4:11 am
COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Police say a shooting at a Tennessee grocery store east of Memphis has left one person dead and 12 others wounded, and the shooter has been found dead. Chief Dale Lane of the Collierville Police Department said the shooting happened Thursday afternoon at a Kroger grocery outlet in that community about 30 miles east of Memphis. He said 13 people in all were shot and 12 of them were taken to hospitals, some with very serious injuries. He said police SWAT team officers went aisle to aisle to take people to safety inside the store. He says the shooter was subsequently found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
September 23, 2021 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate negotiators say bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices have ended without agreement. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has told reporters that bargainers were not making progress on issues like whether to hold individual officers personally liable for abusive behavior. The breakdown marks an unproductive end to an effort that began after killings of unarmed Black people by officers sparked protests across the U.S. Booker says there were also unresolved differences over raising professional standards and collecting data on police use of force. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ that Democrats rejected a deal on some issues.
September 23, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is pushing in person for fellow Democrats to hasten work on his “build back better” agenda. Biden and congressional Democrats are laboring to bridge party divisions that threaten his big proposals. In hours of back-to-back meetings Wednesday at the White House, Biden told them to come up with a framework and topline budget figure they can live with soon, even next week. The House is to vote soon on the first part of Biden’s plan – a nearly $1 trillion public works package. That vote Monday now serves as a deadline.
