December 9, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is entering the final phase of review by U.S. government regulators. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday released a positive review of the coronavirus vaccine. The review is a key step to verifying vaccine safety, effectiveness and side effects. áOn Thursday, a group of independent experts will review the FDA’s findings and vote on whether to recommend use of the vaccine. Within days, the FDA is expected to decide whether to allow emergency use of the vaccine in the U.S. Next week, they’ll review a vaccine from another company, Moderna.
December 9, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. cybersecurity official who was fired by President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit over threatening remarks by a lawyer for the president. Christopher Krebs says in the suit that he has been “bombarded” with death threats since attorney Joseph diGenova appeared on the TV network Newsmax and called for him to be killed. DiGenova said that Krebs should be “drawn and quartered” and “taken out at dawn and shot” for his defense of the November election won by Joe Biden. Krebs led a team that helped protect the U.S. election system from interference and knocked down false reports of fraud and other problems with the vote. Trump fired him for his public statements defending the integrity of the vote.
December 9, 2020 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter says his “tax affairs” are under federal investigation. The disclosure on Wednesday puts a renewed spotlight on the questions about his financial dealings that dogged his father’s campaign. In a statement released by the president-elect’s transition office, the younger Biden said he learned about the investigation on Tuesday. He did not disclose details of the matter. Hunter Biden has long been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies, who have accused him of profiting off his political connections. Trump and his supporters also raised unsubstantiated charges of corruption related to Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine at the time his father was vice president.
December 9, 2020 4:05 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California officials are painting a dire picture as upward of 22,000 residents test positive for the coronavirus each day, with about 12% inevitably showing up at hospitals in two to three weeks. Three counties in the San Joaquin Valley region of the state have officially run out of intensive care unit beds, though patients may be sent to other beds in the emergency wards. Meanwhile, the state is seeking help from the federal government and contract providers. California also is opening the first two of 11 alternative care facilities.
December 9, 2020 4:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawmakers are embracing a one-week extension of government funding to buy time for more COVID-19 relief talks. The House on Wednesday easily passed a temporary funding bill that sets a Dec. 18 deadline for Congress to wrap up both a virus relief measure and a $1.4 trillion government spending bill. The Senate is expected to easily pass the bill before midnight Friday to avert a partial government shutdown. Meanwhile, negotiations continue over another round of virus aid. Leaders are in agreement about helping small businesses and preserving extra unemployment benefits, but disagree over the details of the package.
December 9, 2020 4:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration has dived back into Capitol Hill’s confusing COVID-19 negotiations, offering a $916 billion package to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that adds a $600 direct payment to most Americans. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the offer to Pelosi late Tuesday afternoon, he said in a statement. He offered few details, though House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said it proposes the $600 direct payment for individuals and $1,200 for couples, which is half the payment delivered by the March pandemic relief bill. Mnuchin reached out to Pelosi after a call with top congressional GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who remains at odds with Democratic leaders over COVID-19 relief.
December 9, 2020 3:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has rejected Republicans’ last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral battleground. The court without comment Tuesday refused to call into question the certification process in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf already has certified Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump and the state’s 20 electors are to meet on Dec. 14 to cast their votes for Biden. Biden won 306 electoral votes, so even if Pennsylvania’s results had been in doubt, he still would have more than the 270 electoral votes needed to become president.
December 9, 2020 3:56 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors met for the final time in 2020 and delivered a tax cut to residents. Supervisors unanimously approved a measure cutting the township tax from 1.45 mills to 1.25 mills. Supervisors approved the 2021 balanced budget of $1,985,620 unanimously. Items that will be of most interest to residents will be the nearly $500,000 road paving program. Supervisors will also be supplementing the fire department with a pay per call system. Firemen responding to calls will receive a twenty dollar stipend for their efforts on any call. Supervisors also are looking to break ground on a new municipal building in 2021. The tax cut is a 13.8% reduction in taxes. That will translate into roughly a forty dollar savings on a house assessed at $200,000. In other business, supervisors approved a subdivision in the Washington Crown Center to allow for a car dealership to take over the former Sears store. The next meeting for supervisors will be the reorganization meeting scheduled for Monday January 4, 2021 at 5:30 PM. The regular meeting of supervisors will immediately follow the reorganization meeting. All other supervisor meetings will be scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 PM.
December 8, 2020 3:58 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s campaign has lost another round in lawsuits over Pennsylvania’s election. The state Supreme Court refused Tuesday to hear its appeal over nearly 2,000 mail-in ballots in Bucks County in which voters failed to handwrite their name, address or date on the outside ballot-return envelope, or enclosed their ballot in an inner unmarked secrecy envelope that became unsealed. The Trump campaign maintains the ballots should be thrown out. The court has refused previous such Republican requests in other counties. Bucks County’s lawyers contended that Trump’s campaign shouldn’t be allowed to appeal. The number of ballots in question are far too few to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania.
December 8, 2020 3:39 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump celebrated the expected approval of the first U.S. vaccine for the coronavirus, as the White House worked Tuesday to instill confidence in the distribution that will largely be executed by President-elect Joe Biden. Trump sought to emphasize that the expected approvals came before most people thought possible. “They say it’s somewhat of a miracle and I think that’s true,” Trump said. Biden officials were not invited, and representatives from the drug companies also didn’t plan to attend. They’re concerned about politicization of the vaccine effort. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine effort is coming under new scrutiny after failing to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine last summer.
