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.
October 25, 2020 6:26 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Multiple agencies were on scene for an apartment fire in the City of Washington Saturday morning. According to reports, the blaze broke out around 5:40 a.m. on the 300 block of East Wheeling Street near the W&J Campus. This is not a campus building, and crews on scene said no college students lived in the apartment. Callers reported heavy smoke coming from an upstairs door. The City of Washington was joined by North Strabane, South Strabane, North Franklin and Canton Township Fire Departments. Officials say the fire was knocked down around 6:15 a.m. The scene was cleared just before 7:00 a.m. There is no word on what caused the fire, and there were no injuries reported.
October 24, 2020 4:13 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric says it may power to some 1 million people this weekend in central and Northern California, which could see the most dangerous fire weather of the season. PG&E says it could begin safety shutoffs Sunday morning as gusts and low humidity ramp up the risk of downing power lines and sparking massive fires in tinder-dry brush. The shutoffs in 38 counties could last into Tuesday. PG&E equipment has been blamed for sparking some of the most devastating fires in recent years, including a 2018 blaze in Butte County that killed 85 people. This year, wildfires already have destroyed some 9,200 buildings and killed 31 people.
October 24, 2020 4:13 am
FOLEY, Ala. (AP) – Authorities say a U.S. Navy training plane traveling from Florida has crashed in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane. Navy spokesman Zach Harrell says both people in the T-6B Texan II training plane died Friday. No injuries were reported on the ground. Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby told news outlets that responders encountered and extinguished a “large volume of fire” that had engulfed a home and cars. The crash occurred near the city of Foley and the town of Magnolia Springs. A Navy spokeswoman says the plane had flown out of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, about 30 miles northeast of Pensacola.
October 24, 2020 4:12 am
India has reported 53,370 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally past 7.8 million. The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 650 deaths, driving the country’s toll to 117,956. The highest number of new infections is coming from Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka states. They’re also reporting the maximum number of daily recoveries. Last month, India hit a peak of nearly 100,000 cases in a single day, but since then daily infections have fallen by about half and deaths by about a third, even as testing has remained consistent. India is still adding more than 50,000 cases a day as the country prepares for a festival season when large crowds gather. Health officials warn about the potential for the virus to spread.
October 24, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – As President Donald Trump sows doubts about the election, an obscure government agency he created is working behind the scenes to inspire confidence in the vote amid unprecedented challenges. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which Trump signed into existence in 2018, is working with other parts of the government to safeguard an election in the middle of a pandemic. Trump hasn’t made it easy by predicting that voting at a time of COVID-19 will be a “disaster,” insisting mail-in balloting is a recipe for fraud and dismissing reports of Russian interference. CISA quietly offers a counternarrative on these issues and more, and its director projects optimism about the election.
October 24, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans and Democrats are unleashing millions in eleventh-hour spending in Senate races. But with Election Day less than two weeks off, much of it is coming in states that wouldn’t normally see late spending. They include normal GOP strongholds like Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina and Texas. President Donald Trump’s unpopularity is putting red-leaning seats into play and Democratic candidates are raising so much money that national Democrats can afford to spend money in races they might normally ignore.
October 24, 2020 4:09 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – The United States is approaching a record for the number of new daily coronavirus cases in the latest ominous sign of the disease’s grip on the nation. The surge’s impact is being felt in every section of the country. Among the latest developments: a lockdown at the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota and a plea by a Florida health official for a halt to children’s birthday parties. There’s an increasingly desperate situation at a hospital in northern Idaho, which is running out of space for patients and considering airlifts to Portland, Oregon, or Seattle. The surge in the U.S. mirrors a similar spike in Europe.
