December 15, 2020 3:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Top Washington negotiators continue to reach for a long-delayed agreement on COVID-19 relief, but rank-and-file Democrats appear increasingly resigned to having to drop a demand for fiscal relief for states and local governments whose budgets have been thrown out of balance by the pandemic. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin by phone Monday evening and continues to press for help for struggling states and localities. But top Democratic allies of President-elect Joe Biden came out in support of a $748 billion plan offered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and hinted they won’t insist on state and local aid now.
December 15, 2020 3:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Electoral College has formally confirmed that Joe Biden will be the nation’s next president, giving him a solid electoral majority of 306 votes to affirm his victory in last month’s election. The state-by-state voting Monday took on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost. Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met under various threats. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. For all the defeated Republican president’s objections, there was little suspense and no change as all the electoral votes allocated to Biden and Trump in last month’s popular vote went to each man.
December 15, 2020 3:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Hundreds more U.S. hospitals are gearing up to vaccinate their workers, and federal health officials are reviewing a second COVID-19 shot. About 400 hospitals and other health care facilities will get their first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday. The expansion comes one day after the nation’s death toll surpassed a staggering 300,000. State officials are rationing the first shots to front-line health workers and nursing home residents. In Washington, D.C, the Food and Drug Administration is set to publish its analysis of a second potential COVID-19 vaccine, developed by drugmaker Moderna. If cleared, U.S. officials predict they will have supplies to give 20,000 first injections by year’s end.
December 15, 2020 3:08 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Washington County is taking immediate actions to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The county announced Monday new precautionary measures to the Courthouse Square office building. Effective at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, all county offices in the building are closed to the general public. Access to the facility will be by appointment only and members of the general public who wish to conduct business with an office in the building must schedule an appointment with the particular office. The closure is set to last until Monday, January 4th 2021.
December 15, 2020 3:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Department of Health says the state will receive an initial shipment of more than 110,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The health department said Monday that nearly 90 hospitals across the state will receive an initial 97,500 doses directly from Pfizer. The first shots will be given to health workers, first responders and residents and staff in nursing homes and other congregate settings. UPMC, which was among the first to get a shipment, said it began administering the shots on Monday
December 15, 2020 2:56 am
Peters Township Council adopted its 2021 budget on Monday evening. As anticipated, no tax increase was needed to approve the $33,794,462 spending plan. The budget is based on $20,000,000 in revenues and the balance will be paid in bond issues that the township has floated and now will be spent. The biggest ticket items in the budget are $12,000,000 being allocated to parks and recreation for the further development of Rolling Hills Park and the initial development of an aquatic center. Road maintenance comes in at $1.7 million for paving and storm drain upkeep. Money is set aside for the design of a new fire station to be built in Venetia. The actual construction of the new facility is planned for 2022. Township Manager Paul Lauer was pleased that no tax hike is necessary in 2021, but he did caution that the township took on an additional $300,000 in spending in 2020. He said that he anticipates some sort of tax hike in 2022.
December 14, 2020 3:39 pm
CARROLL TOWNSHIP, Pa) On Dec. 14, Monongahela Valley Hospital was among the first health systems in Western Pennsylvania to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. “In order to receive the vaccine in the first shipment, we met all of the qualifications mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” explained Margaret Brown, PharmD., director of Pharmacy at Monongahela Valley Hospital. “We have the ability to maintain the vaccine at the temperatures required and the capabilities to vaccinate the number of people stipulated within the designated time frame.” “We are thrilled that Monongahela Valley Hospital is at the forefront of helping to put a stop to the spread of this virus,” said Louis J. Panza Jr., the Hospital’s president and CEO. “Since the pandemic began, we have been vigilant to provide our staff with the proper personal protective equipment and to maintain a clean and safe environment. Having the ability to immunize our staff and physicians is another key action in keeping our community safe.” MVH received the Pfizer vaccine which is administered in two doses approximately 21 days apart. The Pfizer vaccine is 50% effective after the first dose and 95% effective after the second dose. (Photo courtesy of MVH. Douglas Prentice, Monongahela Valley Hospital’s storeroom manager, (L) takes delivery of one of Western Pennsylvania’s first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine from UPS personnel Bryan Johnson (C) and Stephen Burdelski (R).
December 14, 2020 8:41 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Google users in the U.S., Europe, India and other parts of the world were briefly unable to access their Gmail accounts, watch YouTube videos or get to their online documents during an outage Monday. Thousands of complaints popped up around 7 a.m. Eastern along the East Coast of the U.S. The company said it’s aware of the problem on its dashboard page. That was followed by another message that said service has been restored for some users. and a a resolution for all users was expected in the near future. There were similar updates for Google’s many other services, such as Docs, Hangouts and Chat. The company did not reply immediately to a request for comment.
December 14, 2020 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Presidential electors are meeting across the United States on Monday to formally choose Joe Biden as the nation’s next president. Monday is the day set by law for the meeting of the Electoral College. In reality, electors meet in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to cast their ballots. The results will be sent to Washington, and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside. The electors’ votes have drawn more attention than usual this year because President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election and continued to make baseless allegations of fraud.
December 14, 2020 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Hackers broke into the networks of the Treasury and Commerce departments as part of a global cyber-espionage campaign revealed just days after a leading cybersecurity firm said it had been breached in an attack that industry experts said bore the hallmarks of Russian tradecraft. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm were investigating what experts and former officials said appeared to be a large-scale penetration of U.S. government agencies – apparently the same monthslong cyberespionage campaign that also afflicted the prominent cybersecurity firm FireEye.
