December 2, 2020 5:26 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Arizona Democrat and former astronaut Mark Kelly has been sworn into the Senate. Kelly defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally in last month’s election. By taking office, Kelly has narrowed GOP control of the Senate to a 52-48 advantage. That won’t do much to weaken Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s control of the chamber. But it does set the stage for the two runoff Senate elections in Georgia in January. If Democrats win both of those races, they will control the 50-50 chamber because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast tie-breaking votes. (Photo: CNN)
December 2, 2020 4:27 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – People magazine has named George Clooney, Dr. Anthony Fauci (FOW’-chee), Selena Gomez and Regina King as the “2020 People of the Year.” The magazine revealed its list Wednesday as part of a year-end double issue with four covers. The four will be celebrated for their positive impact in the world during a challenging 2020. Clooney, Fauci, Gomez and King will be separately featured on the magazine covers of the issue, which is out Friday. Clooney is lauded for his advocacy work. Fauci for the fight against COVID-19, Gomez for aiding mental health initiatives and King for her support of marginalized communities.
December 2, 2020 3:53 pm
UNDATED (AP) – U.S. health officials say staying home for the upcoming winter holidays is the best way to stay safe and protect others. But for those who ignore that advice, COVID-19 testing before and after trips is an option. Many Americans didn’t follow CDC guidance against traveling over Thanksgiving so the agency announced the testing option during a Wednesday briefing. The health agency also announced new guidelines that shorten recommended quarantines after close contact with someone infected with coronavirus. Now people can resume normal activity after 10 days, or seven days if they receive a negative test result. That’s down from the 14-day period recommended since the pandemic began.
December 2, 2020 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up on specific complaints and information they’ve received, but they’ve uncovered no evidence that would affect the final results. Trump’s attorney and presidential campaign scoffed that they hadn’t seen “any semblance” of an investigation of his complaints by his attorney general’s department.
December 2, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department is investigating a secret scheme to lobby White House officials for a pardon as well as a related plot to offer a hefty political contribution in exchange for clemency. That’s according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. Most of the information in the 18-page court order is redacted, including the identity of the people whom prosecutors are investigating and whom the proposed pardon might be intended for. But the document from August does reveal that people are suspected of having acted to secretly lobby White House officials to secure a pardon and that, in a related scheme, a political contribution was floated in exchange for a pardon.
December 2, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic leaders have swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort. They’re cutting their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half in hopes of breaking a monthslong logjam and delivering much-sought aid at the end of a tempestuous congressional session. It’s aimed at budging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who so far has been unwilling to abandon a $550 million Senate GOP plan that has failed twice this fall. The new plan would establish a $300 per week jobless benefit, send $160 billion to help state and local governments, revive popular “paycheck protection” subsidies for businesses, and bail out transit systems and airlines.
December 2, 2020 4:07 am
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – U.S. hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are trying to lure nurses and doctors out of retirement, recruiting students and new graduates who have yet to earn their licenses and offering eye-popping salaries in a desperate effort to ease staffing shortages. The number of U.S. patients in the hospital with the virus has more than doubled over the past month to a record high of nearly 100,000, pushing medical centers and health care workers to the breaking point.
December 2, 2020 4:06 am
Drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech say they’ve won permission for emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in Britain. That is the world’s first coronavirus shot to be approved that’s backed by rigorous science – and a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. The move Wednesday makes Britain one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population as it tries to curb Europe’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak. Other countries aren’t far behind: The United States and the European Union also are vetting the Pfizer shot along with a similar vaccine made by competitor Moderna Inc. British regulators also are considering another shot made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Pfizer said it would immediately begin shipping limited supplies to the U.K.
December 2, 2020 4:02 am
CHESTER, Pa. (AP) – Police say a man who asked to use a phone made off with approximately $24,000 from a casino in Pennsylvania. The heist took place around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday at Harrah’s Casino in Chester. Police say the suspect asked an employee in the area where customers bet on horse races if he could use the phone. The employee was counting cash from a money drawer. Police say the employee turned away for a moment and the suspect grabbed the cash and took off. Police plan to review surveillance video. The investigation is ongoing.
December 2, 2020 4:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Regional “strike teams” will fan out across Pennsylvania over the next 12 weeks in a bid to improve the state’s coronavirus testing efforts. Health officials are anticipating a post-Thanksgiving surge in new cases. The Department of Health is expanding an existing contract with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, which will dedicate five virus testing teams to the new effort. Each week, the teams will operate temporary testing sites in counties identified as virus hot spots, eventually making it to every Pennsylvania county that doesn’t have its own health department. Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday the goal is to make sure that “everyone who needs a test in Pennsylvania can get one.”
